The worst car I ever owned...

That's hilarious, DeadPhish! No one can have a problem visualizing that.

Kinda gives you that Charlie Brown crooked smile, huh, as you explain with your face to your fellow motorists?

 

Sorry, endioildependency, I had a Corvair and loved it. The only problem I had was a constant dirty (oily) rear grill due to rocker box cover leaks. Drove it coast to coast 4 times. Had a head-on with a Ford Fairliner. Totaled the Ford. It cost my insurance co. $400 to fix the Corvair. Cruised it through the midwest at 85 mph (before interstate highways). Drove it through New England in the snow and it was very good even without chains. It just got too crowded on the road with my wife and two growing kids.

Also, tomforst, sorry you had a problem with the Explorer. I traded a 1996 one for the Prius. It never caused me a problem. At 150,000 miles the brakes still had 25% left. It was a good road car. Hated to get rid of it but traded it for the Prius.

Hard to figure the worst car but the 1989 Taurus was probably the least reliable. It always took a lurch to the right as I passed the Ford Dealership. So, I took it there at least once a week. The other real pain in the a.. was a 1956 Plymouth station wagon that also had a fixation on repair shops.

 

Actually, my '65 Corvair was OK, too, except the front bobbed like a cork. Mine was black (my only black car of 36) and looked nice. I also paid $1,995 for it new.

Alas, it didn't come with a mechanic who would automatically pop out and give it a valve job every 25K miles!

 

Great topic. I've had quite a few, most pretty good. But my all time worst was a 1972 Volvo 145E ,in yellow, I bought it new and drove it for 11 years. During that time practically everything that could break did. It's saving grace was that it was easy to work on and, over the years , I learned a lot about how to fix it. I don't know why I kept it so long, I think I must have been trying to punish myself or something. During the time I owned it the thing broke in a vast number of places including: downtown Seattle, downtown St Louis, Kerville Texas, Medford, Oregon, the Cascade Mountains East of Darrington, Washington, and some little place in Arkansas I don't remember the name of. When I sold it I bought a Toyota diesel pickup (yes they did import them at one time) and a Honda Prelude, neither of them ever had a serious problem or left me stranded.

I don't really know what my best car was but the two that were the most fun were: a 1960 MGA 1600 that taught me what cars were really all about, and an English Land Rover that looked like it just came off of safari.

 

1986 Volkswagen Jetta.

BIGGEST P.O.S. I EVER had the utter displeasure of owning. In the two short years I had it, I don't think it went more than 90 days without me having to fix something, or it being in the shop for something or other.

I traded it in for a 1995 Mustang, to which I still have to this day. 145K miles, still runs/drives like the day I bought it.

 

have my prius for just 2weeks now......still loving it ! & glad to make instant savings when buying gas......
i have owned 6 cars....3 new (renault alliance, toyota celica, & 2005 prius) chevy impala, honda accord, honda prelude (still have)

my worst: 84 Renault alliance..... beautful color- reminded me of the tideland pearl..... still looked new when i traded it in........ but just wouldnt start.......it was just plain unreliable when it came time to working....

my fave: 88 toyota celica....finest car on the face of this earth......stolen in 2/95....one month after moving to miami......never 2 be seen again.........i still mourn
although........my new prius has become a bright spot in my life..... time will tell!!

 

Has to be my first car, when I was just about 17...the 1970-something Chevy Nova. There was some problem with the carburetor, where in order to start it, you had to pop the hood, and push down on the flap to unstick it. Hilarious...hadn't thought about that in a while.

After that, I've owned a Honda Accord (1984) and 2 Corollas (1992 and 1995). No problems with any of them, ever! In fact, my 95 is still running strong at almost 200K miles and is being replaced with a Prius in January. I'll pass on the Corolla to another family member who needs a fantastic, reliable car.

 

I'll pass on the Corolla to another family member who needs a fantastic, reliable car.

[snapback]149376[/snapback]​

[/quote]

Aaaaahh, the desired fate of any car well-loved in the family: pass it on to college-bound daughter, or whomever...

...until the darned thing finally DOES break down and go to meet its maker (recycled, hopefully).

 

Toss up for me, I had an '89 Hyundai Excel GLS that vibrated at 55 and above. Was told by dealer after 2-3 visits that it was inherent to the vehicle. HATED IT! It got stolen and totalled...Loved it!

Next most hated was my 2002 Landrover Freelander HSE. What a POS that was. If you didn't need the a/c (couldn't keep the interior cool in Alaska in the winter time!) or cared if your Harmon Kardon (extra cost) stereo vibrated the doors while listening to traffic reports on news radio stations then I guess it was a nice car. I traded it in after suffering all summer long sweating my @ off.(4 months later) Took a $4500 loss on a trade-in but thought it was better than going to jail for bombing the dealership or taking anti-depressant medication for feeling violated and ripped off.

 

A 1987 Ford Tempo. In the first ~30,000 miles, I needed to replace the engine mounts (all of them) a total of 4 times!!! This, while I was in college and the cost was a major fraction of a month's income. Turns out they had some sort of problem with the rubber, and it wasn't until I called the CEO's office at Ford that they actually tried to help me (4th set was free...). The service manager at the dealer (in Pasadena, CA) would physically try to hide from me when I'd come in again with problems.

I'll never buy a Ford again. I stayed out of the whole discussion of how bad it is to buy foreign cars, but one US manufacturer lost the right to my business long ago...

 

My worst car also has the distinction of being quite famous. I was the not so proud owner of a 1961 Corvair. Some of you may be too young to remember but this was the car that made Ralph Nader (who?) famous as "Unsafe at any speed". This was a remarkable car. Even though it was rear engine, air cooled, when you started it, exhaust smoke would come out of the dashboard. As opposed to the discussion these days of Miles Per Gallon with the Prius, we would discuss Miles Per Quart (of oil). This car couldn't decide whether to leak the oil or burn it. I used to be re-refined oil in gallon jugs and would drive around polluting the atmosphere at an embarassing rate. I'm not atoning for those sins as a proud Prius owner.

As a postscript, I have to add that I once owned a Volkswagen Fastback which was a very close second to the Corvair in my mind. This had Volkswagen's infamous "Type 3" engine that was configured to self-destruct due to overheating of the #3 cylinder...but I'll save that story for another time

 

Worst? ... well probably have to say the '72 Plymoth Duster. Too many crashes with that thing.

I also had a Dodge Polara with a push-button transmission to the left of the steering wheel. When you opened the hood, you could actually see a lot of the ground below...

Also had a 1966 Karmen Gia which was fun, but got me pulled over too many times because the frame was bent from a previous owner (I guess). The thing had wooden inside door panels.

The Prius is certainly the GREATEST car I've ever owned and pretty much the ONLY car I've ever heard myself say, "I love this car" every time people ask me, "how do you like your Prius?"

 

I learned to drive on in a 197x Ford Maverick. It was the biggest turkey ever: no acceleration, and a heater that never blew more than lukewarm air. When I went on dates in high school, I had to bring along a blanket so the poor girl wouldn't freeze to death in the passenger seat. :lol:

My first car of my own was a 1985 Mazda GLC -- the last year before they came out with the Protege. It was a solid little car that I sold eventually to a friend who drove it until it fell apart at around 110,000 miles. It's one Achilles' heel: no pickup at all -- you had to switch off the A/C to have any hope of merging into highway traffic.

Next car was a 1990 Ford Probe -- had a fair amount of mechanical problems with it but it's the closest I'll ever get to a muscle car -- that 3.0 L V6 gave that puppy some power.

Replaced it with a 2000 Ford Focus -- what a pile of doggy poop! The thing had so many recalls on it in the first year that Ford sent me a Casio wrist watch as a kiss-and-make-up gift. It had 5 outstanding NHTSC safety issues on file when I sold it!

Waiting for my Prius, now... :lol:

Steve

 

The worst car I owned wasn't actually a car. It was a truck.

That truck was a 2005 Chevrolet Colorado. It got worse gas mileage than the 1999 Dodge Ram QC 4x4 it replaced, had flimsy body panels, seats that felt like upholstered plywood, and very, very thin paint - for a truck. It had plastic everywhere...not just the interior, but the exterior as well. Overall, this truck had a very low quality feel to it. And even better than all this was the warranty. The Isuzu i-350, an identical truck to the Colorado with different badging, had a 10-year/10,000-mile warranty while the "upscale" Colorado only had a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty.

Now it's gone, and in it's place is an old, used 1997 Toyota Tacoma. I've never been happier with a truck since

Oh, and sorry to dig up an ancient thread. Next time I'll check dates before posting.

 

2003 Beetle convertible. Electrical on these cars is garbage. Broken from day one. It would take ordering parts from Germany and 3 tries on everything. They would call it something different, so I could not use lemon law.

Always took 2 -3 trips and raising hell to get it fixed. Engine was ok, it had battery issues, electrical, door lock, check engine (coolant sensor), hinge issues, plastic parts that broke, windshield wiper broke and it broke my windshield (which VW would not fix.

Window issues, never right. Convertible top and liner, and wings.



Volkswagon does not back up its dealers or its products.


Best Car 1993 Mercedes E

 

1985 Mercury Topaz. It would just stall out at red lights or wherever you happened to be and wouldn't start again until it damn well felt like it. Nobody could ever fix that thing. Finally left me stranded somewhere between Johnson City and Knoxville TN with a blown head.
The ups, most comfortable car seats ever.

 

My worst care was a porsche .....it was a brand new car and I had nothing but trouble with it...the garage never could fix it and eventually the engine burned out.

 

'79 Honda Civic. My first car that I ever had. It was the size of a shoebox, and I bought it used in '88 for $1000. It proceeded to have all kinds of breakdowns/issues that no one could ever seem to diagnose.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bohous @ May 8 2007, 08:30 PM) [snapback]437868[/snapback]</div>

Hi Bohous,

I had a 1988 Ford Tempo, which had the same problem. Same situation regarding incompetent dealer et al mechanics. Finally said to myself the only way this thing is going to be fixed, is if I debug it myself.

After learning the blink-blink codes by heart, and driving it to a new job some distance from home (old job was very close to home), I found out where it would act up as the weather got warmer one spring. So, I pulled it over into a forest preserve and ran the blink blink codes. Aha! A new one poped up. Fuel Pressure out of tolerance.

Took it to a Dealer and told them that - what did they do - replaced the ignition module I had already replaced - utter dorks. When they called back in an hour and said the repair was unsuccessful, I told them to do the fuel filter and I would take it from there.

Next morning I drove down to a car parts store and bought a fuel pump. After just making it back before the stall-out shenagans kicked in, I put the rear end up on ramps, dropped the fuel tank and replaced the fuel pump.

So I took it out for a test ride - determined to drive the thing to stall. No Stall! 3 hours later I coming back through town, and say - one more loop around and then home to be sure - thing stalled pulling out of as I started out from that very stop light! But this time there was a strong smell of gas. Coasted into a bank parking lot and popped the hood. The fuel filter snap-on connetion had popped loose. The Dealer Mechanic could not even replace a fuel filter correctly! Snapped the connection back on the filter, and drove the car until the steering became unsafe several years later!

This apparently is the hazzard of driving a car to empty in hot weather. You can damage the fuel pump in a way that it runs well enough when cold, but an hour later the thing will peter out, or with the engine running so lean it over-heats. Which can be a real problem. Especially in the middle of a line of cars waiting to go through a toll booth!!

The Ford Tempo was the worse car I have owned. I have detailed the other problems with it on here (multiple alternators, starters, $2500 transmission rebuild at 70K miles, wheel bearing repair), including one amuzing roadside alternator replacement in the middle of a Harley Davidson parade, and the 5 mile hikes in 2 degree weather over to the car parts store for yet another lifetime waranty replacement alternator (with the old one in the back pack).

 

This is an easy question for me! My 99 Mexican built 4x4 Chevy Suburban was the worse vehicle I have ever owned.

I bought it new from a local GM/Chevy Colorado dealer north of Denver. The assembly plant for the vehicle was the General Motors Silao, Mexico SUV-Truck plant. This plant is northwest of Mexico City and has built GM SUV-trucks since 1995 for the USA market. I sold this vehicle with 83000 miles on it last year. The car looked new, always washed and waxed, when I sold it but under the skin a whole different story! In that time here are only a few things I still can still remember:

1) It was on it third engine alternator
2) It was on its second power steering pump
3) It was on its third A/C rebuild. Kept blowing Freon lines/leaks
4) intake manifold and valve cover gaskets replaced due to coolant leak into cylinders and external oil leaks.
5) 4 of the 5 power door lock actuators were replaced
6) 1 of the 5 power door lock actuators was replaced a second time
7) internal fuel tank pump/sending unit failed and disabled vehicle – towed to dealer
8) Third set of front brake rotors and pads
9) Third set of Michelin high mileage tires! This vehicle would not hold alignment
10) Third battery in part caused by multiple failures of alternator shown in point 1
11) On the coldest winter mornings (below zero) the engine sometimes failed to start. The Chevy dealer never found cause. It would start when it warmed up.

The last several months of owning this pig cost several thousand in mechanical repairs just to get it in condition to sell! :angry:

I gladly sold this 12mpg pig and bought a new 2006 Prius! I could not be happier. I was never so happy to get rid of a car as that one.

Right now with $3 US/gallon I'm easily saving several hundred dollars a month on my fuel costs and so far NOTHING has gone wrong with the Prius! It has been the perfect commute car for driving to work getting in the low to mid 50s for miles/gallon.