The worst car I ever owned...

My worst vehicle is a '99 Ford Explorer I still own. It's on it's third transmission, there's a problem with the ABS, and the brakes seem to need $500 worth of work at least once a year. This was the first vehicle I didn't buy new, so I bought the extended warantee for the first time ever. It (the warantee) has paid for itself several times over. We just went over 100K miles this week, so the extended warantee has just expired. We hope that all the tranny problems are solved and we really can't afford to replace it until our new Prius is paid for.

 

All the cars I've owned served me well. The worst of the bunch was my '96 Nissan Sentra (I think that was the year) that developed poor idle when cold, and burned oil. In hindsight, I think the catalytic plugged up, causing the PCV blowby to reverse putting oil on the aircleaner and mass air flow meter. I bought it with 60K and traded it in at 120K so I got good use out of it though.

 

I'd have to mention 2, one was a Datsun 4-wheel drive pickup (I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains on a dirt road, and had to go to the dump, etc.). It had a vibration in the drive train that kept it in the shop more than I had it. For a while, I was just driving it down to the Datsun dealer and taking the bus to work from there, pretty much every day. This was just before the "lemon laws" were passed. They finally ended up replacing about everything in the drive train to get rid of me. I sold it shortly afer that to get a family car. Must have been early 1980's.

Even before that I had one of those bulbous Volvo classics, it was a bomb, a 60's car that I had in the early 70's . Drove like a tank, and at odd times the headlights would go out. I finally just gave up on it after several harrowing experiences when the headlights went out after they were "fixed". That car taught me the meaning of "wall job", and the Datsun truck was the last of my car fiascos. Now I research a car for months before buying.

-Roger

 

I can't really say any of the cars I've owned have been bad. Sure, some have had a few problems here or there, but I've never been unhappy with any of them. I don't think there are any cars here that we would never buy again. Here are the cars my wife and I have owned (don't remember all the years, so I won't list them):

Nissan Pickup
Honda Civic
Peugot 502 (I think)
Ford Bronco II
Mercedes 300E
Ford Mustang
Opel Corsa
Toyota Avalon
Mercedes 560SL
Ford Explorer
Volvo XC90


My parents used to have (early 80's) an Audi 4000 which was absolutely horrible. Was in the shop more often than it was on the road. Incredible piece of crap.

 

Here are the cars I owned.

1986 Ford Crown Victoria Police Cruiser
1986 Fiat X1/9
1995 Nissan Maxima
2003 Audi A6 4.2
2005 Toyota Prius

My opinion:
The most reliable car = Maxima
The most unreliable car = A6
The most comfortable ride = A6
If I had to live in one = Ford Crown Vic.
The most fun car = x1/9 (I still own it)
The most uncomfortable car = x1/9
The highest milage = Prius

The verdict is still out on the Prius.

 

My worst car was my first car I ever bought, when I was senior yr in high school
Its 1987 VW Scirocco 16V bought in used with small detail which I did not know.
It was slightly wrecked before and car held it self for 1yr and start many different problem. Worst incident was middle of Texas summer A/C broke down and I could not afford to fix it. So its 95F outside no A/C in car and only able to do is open the window and sun rood(if work).

History
1987 VW Scirocco 16V
1992 Chevy C/K truck (not mine)
1993 Nissan Altima (not mine)
1993 Chevy Camaro Z28
1995 VW GTi VR6
1998 VW Passat GLX
2003 VW GTi 1.8T
Now
2004 Toyota Prius GT B)

 

The worst that I have ever had was a Cadillac. The first year it was in the shop 93 days. The regional Cadillac manager was stupid. The best that I can figure Cadillac spent close to $30,000 on it during that time and they would have been better served giving me a new one. Won't go near a Cadillac!

I still own the best car that I have ever had. 1991 Mercedes Benz 300D. Bought it new and it has 120,000 miles on it. It looks like a new car and is as tight as it was the day I bought it. The jury is still out on the Prius. My '05 has only 2800 miles on it but so far, so good.

 

My worst car ever was a 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, purchased new from a dealer in San Jose, CA. It got 8 mpg on premium and the trunk filled with water everytime it rained.

 

Nah, you just got the "Mobile Hot Tub" option and didn't know it. The car was ahead of it's time!

 

Without a doubt the worst car for us was my wife's 1983 Olds Omega. After 4 transmissions and 2 engines (not to mention thousands of $$$ in "little stuff") she decided to trade it for a Mustang.

It gave it all up pulling into the Ford dealer on the date of exchange. It coasted into a parking space after the engine had died for the last time....

 

1984 Mercury Topaz

I had owned about 35 vehicles (including motorcycles and vans) that I’d buy, fix up, and then sell for a modest profit. Some of them were good, some bad - but this was my first new car.

My first hint was on the back from the dealer when I stopped to pick up a drink – and the battery was dead. Ten thousand miles later I had to get new front tires. The dealer said it was MY driving. One alignment after another failed to fix the problem. So, they replaced ALL four wheels. That didn’t make sense to me, but, hey, they’re the experts. That didn’t fix the tire problem and it turns out one of the replacement wheels was bad, which they declined to replace!

Ultimately, they set up an appointment with the “Regional†service manager. When I arrived for the meeting the dealer manager told me that they never wanted to see me again for that problem. I promised them that I’d NEVER buy a Ford product again in my life – and I haven’t.

It’s not that the car was horrible, but the entire experience was awful.

I’ve only bought Honda’s and Toyota’s since 1988 – of which I’ve had 10. Bad move Ford!!

 

I feel for you, engunneer. Without knowing how bad a car can be, you have no appreciation for how good the Prius really is.

 

1985 Ford EXP Turbo. :angry: This looked similar to an Escort, but with a different front end.
2-seater. Even with the turbo, it was sluggish.
Ignition module failed and was replaced within a month of purchase, then failed again later. Original battery didn't last more than 18 months. The hatch struts failed, or wore out prematurely. Even the roll up cargo hider (similar to the one in the Prius) would either lose its tension or jam. Plus many other problems.
When I traded it in on an Isuzu Trooper about 6 years later, I forget the mileage (less than 80K), the dealer offered only $50 trade-in allowance! I took it. In contrast, my 10 year old, 100K+ miles Honda Accord, got an $1800. trade-in allowance.

 

Mine was a 1975 Rabbit, bought new. It was great fun to drive, but the electrical system was a nightmare. Odd things would happen, like the turn signals interfering with the radio. It was my first new car and only the third car I owned, so I didn't have a lot of experience. In those days, though, the VW dealers were more responsive than they seem to be now, based on testimonies from dissatisfied customers. Still, all in all, it was a better car than many of the nightmares posted here.

For the record, I owned two Ford Escorts, a 1986, bought new, and a 1991 which I got with 98k miles on it. The only annoying problems I had with both cars were the heater cores, which would dump water and fluid into the passenger compartment when they failed. The 86 went through three heater cores in the 12 years I owned it; the 1991 went through 5 in six years. Neither Escort ever left me stranded.

Nothing compares to the Prius (so far, at 17k).

 

1982 Chevy Citation. It was a piece if junk. I bought it new. That same day, it died on the road about ten miles out of town. It rattled, leaked fluids and was in the shop constantly. I sold if off after about a year.

 

My worst NEW car (can't count the beatup 66 plymouth that went through my 2 older brothers!).

It was a POS 75 Firebird.. bought new and I wasn't a fast or abusive driver.. no, with just a 6 cylinder. Tranny went at 50 k, replaced most of the suspension, had stalling problem, plastic quality was crap... & I got rid of it as soon as I got a better job. It was typical of the junk they were producing out of US Automakers back then.(Oh, but it did look good!)

 

76 Charger. If anyone owned a Chrysler product back then you knew that they hated..hated with a passion cool damp days. With my young family in the car I'd be sitting at a stoplight, in North Jersey around this time of year, knowing that when the light went to green I'd step on it and it would stall in the middle of the intersection.

I used to have to carry a hard pack of cigarettes, and I've never smoked, just so that when it stalled I could slam the damn car into Park, pop the hood, jump out and unscrew the wing nut on the air filter, take the air filter off and wedge the hard pack into the carburator, jump back into the car, start it up, reverse course, take out the hard pack, reattach the air filter, close the hood, and jump back into the car, shift into drive and continue along as if nothing ever happened.

Luckily we only had that one for 4 YEARS!!!!! Then we got a beautiful Olds 88 that had to be towed out of our driveway 6 times in 2 years because it wouldnt start at all. Olds took it back and gave us a nice credit toward an '88 98 - that actually did last past 2001. Then in 90 I got my first Camry. End of problems.

kdhspyder

 

1987 Porsche 944S. Every 25,000 miles the timing belt broke and cost $2000 to replace all the valves. Every year it required a $500 "tuneup" or the warranty wouldn't be honored. One time I had an idling problem (2000 rpm) and a Porsche mechanic charged me $1000 to fix it and when I got it back it still wasn't fixed. I paid $34,000 for the car new and sold it 4 years later for $7,500 (well kept in a garage all the time!).

The car itself was really nice: sturdy, great handling and brakes, hatchback, nice looking, smooth ride. But the engine was horrible.

 

Whew. Too painful laughing at some of the stories. Too rich! For me (and I've only owned 3 cars) it's the used 85 Chevy S10 Blazer that I had in high school. The whole carburator system was defective so the mileage was horrid. I began suspecting something was amiss when I got 139 on a 20 gallon (I think) tank. Less than 7 f@#%$! mile per gallon. The wretched thing also had a nasty habit of stalling on somewhat tight turns. It's a real bugger when you loss power brakes and steering in the middle of a turn while going 45 mph!

Forunately, my brother had to suffer with it as well. Though by then we had replaced the carb system and the mpg were much improved.