What was your worse car you ever had?

[e86s54]

My worst car...Renault Fuego. Just not made for out climate.

Best car...Toss up between a BMW Z4M Coupe and Audi A4 1.8T Quattro. Honorable mention to Honda CRX and an older Toyota RWD Corolla.

 

[Nodak]

Mine was the first new car I ever bought and it was also my first front wheel drive - a 1984 Mercury Topaz

 

[travelover]

1970's era VW Rabbit with manual transmission. It had a body water leak that followed the wiring into the fuse box, which was in a continual process of self destruction. I had to make sure to leave it in neutral because sometimes when I came out to start it, it was already running. The engine valves also burned out way early and I had to replace them as well as the clutch. What a contrast to the beetles I had previously owned and loved.

 

[VaCollector]

Worst ever ~ 1984 Chevy DIESEL....notice the DIE in diesel....

It came with a 50,000 mile warranty on the engine which was actually pretty
good back in those days.... 51,000 miles, the engine blows....did GM give a
$hit....not even a "We're sorry".....put a new gasoline engine in it....never
trusted it...sold it.....

My runner up POS (piece of poop) was my 1972 MGB....when it
was running, it was a dream....but then WHEN was it running?....Ok...so maybe
it wasn't THAT bad...but if you knew just how NON-mechanically inclined I was (AM!!)
then you'd know that when I tell you that I could change out a fuel pump
on that car in less than 10 minutes...you'd know why I named the car "Adventure"...

'cause it was an adventure every time you drove it especially not knowing just
where you'd be when you broke down....

 

[travelover]

..........I could change out a fuel pump
on that car in less than 10 minutes..........

I thought all MGs came with a rock that was used to tap the electric fuel pump awake.

 

[kumquat]

Our worst was a 95 Dodge Caravan. Two transmissions, a steering rack and most front suspension replaced under warranty. Sold it a month before the warranty expired. Second was a 67 Vauxhall Viva automatic.

 

[grumpy]

My first car was a '67 Volvo. It was great, dependable, drove it for 13 years. When it came time to give it a decent burial, Volvos were out of my price range. So I bought another Swedish car, a Saab. What a lemon! Towed to the dealer 11 times in the first year. Cracked exhaust manifold 4 times in one year. Eight weeks to get the part from Sweden each time. Alternator belt broke due to rubbing against alternator shroud so dealer use hacksaw to saw off shroud. Took dealer to small claims court - got thrown out because I didn't have an expert witness. Sold car a big loss at end of one year warranty period. Oye!

 

[Texas Proud]

LOL... this could be an adventure.... and I have not owned that many cars in my life...


Worst has to be my 85 Mecury Cougar... it was in the shop at leat 5 times under the one year warrenty.... fuel pump went out during that year.. then, like someone else mentioned it created a stalling problem... I took it in many times and paid many thousands to get it 'fixed'... it usually went away for awhile, but then came back... the car also ate batteries... I had the car for 10 years (I did like it for some reason) and put in probably 20 to 30 batteries... most were under warrenty, so I did not have to pay for them.. at around 100K miles the transmission would not go into gear...

Second worst.... and I loved this car.... my 87 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350... quick and fast... there was a transmission mount that (from what I was told) was on a long piece of metal... so the engine would break this on a regular basis (I think 4 or 5 times in the 95K miles I owned it)... it also had the head gasket go out twice.... and mix the coolant with the oil... it had the headlights that would flip up and both went out (used some kind of nylon or plastic gear).... the radiator went out... the alternator (twice)... hmm, at a loss on what else went out, but I know the list is a lot longer...

 

[KingB]

A 1973 Ford Maverick. Bought it new, and never run right. Idles rough, don't start when its cold. And stalls. One time, it stalls right on the railroad track. I was able to restart it and moved away from the track before the next train came in.

I learned to maintain my own cars from this one. Tune up (on par with Ford service without the hassle), brakes, steering idler arm, oil changes.

I finally got rid after 8 years with 54K miles in it.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

My very first car was the worst. 2002 Mustang. In the middle of driving down the freeway in Florida a couple miles from a very backed up toll road, the brakes went out.

 

[rescueme]

My very first car was the worst. 2002 Mustang. In the middle of driving down the freeway in Florida a couple miles from a very backed up toll road, the brakes went out.

Wow; I also own an '02 (GT vert). Everything original - never replaced a thing. Just get the oil changed every year.

BTW, it has slightly over 18K on the odometer ...

 

[Westernskies]

The worst car I ever owned, I only owned for 15 minutes. 1965 Buick Special, supposedly good mechanically, but cosmetically challenged. I bought it for $38 from a guy who was going to "fix it up", starting by repainting it. Apparently he thought you needed to strip all the paint off first, using household paint stripper and a putty knife. He started on the roof. His wife came home, saw his handiwork, pitched a fit and told him to "get rid of it, NOW ". I was 16, and riding by on my bike at the time, he thought he'd show her and yelled out "hey kid, you want to buy a car?" I did and gave him the whole $38 I had in my wallet for it... threw my bike in the trunk and took off for home, signed title in hand. I stopped three blocks later to talk to some friends, when I put it back into D it wouldn't go into gear.. After a few tries I was able to get it into R... so I drove the rest of the way home (about a mile) IN REVERSE. When I got home my dad took one look at it and said... you guessed it- "get rid of it, NOW". Our neighbor owned a repair shop, so he bought it from me... for $125...

The transmission was a simple fix, he had it [-]painted by Earl Scheib for $59 [/-]professionally repainted and drove it for a couple of years.

 

[Orchidflower]

Hey, my first car was a Chevy Vega around 1974...let's see you top that one for bad! Lasted maybe 60,000 miles or even less.
Another was a Toyota Corolla, but it wasn't the car so much as I hated how low it sat. I couldn't even see muhc over the steering wheel to see past the hood, and I'm only 5' 4-1/2" which is pretty average for a woman since 5'5" is average here in America. And it was a baby poop brownish taupe...barf.

 

[martyb]

'94 Ford Ranger w 3.0 V-6 - Many electrical problems that caused the engine to suddenly die, sometimes at highway speeds. It took 3 dealers almost 2 years to figure it out. Huge PITA. In addtion to the engine/computer/electrical problems, I had big trouble with the transmission (automatic) as well as the emissions system. Ended up selling it in 2001 to an hispanic gentleman who spoke no English, for cash money and no questions asked...lol! Serious! It got hauled back to Mexico along with several other vehicles. Don't ask, don't tell.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Kinda hard to pick one...... as a starving college student, I had a whole fleet of short-lived >$500 cars. A '61 VW bug whose brakes went out on Wisconsin Ave in Georgetown and endedup in the Potomac River... a '61 Cadillac hearse (hey - it was cheap!), a '67 Dodge pickup whose previous owner had replaced the brake fluid with kerosene (that was exciting) and, the ultimate, a '73 Vega GT wagon whose engine started drinking a quart of oil every 25 miles when the mileage hit 50,000.
The upside is that it makes me apreciate being able to afford dependable, SAFE and comfortable cars nowadays.

 

[FinanceDude]

Hey, my first car was a Chevy Vega around 1974...let's see you top that one for bad! Lasted maybe 60,000 miles or even less.
Another was a Toyota Corolla, but it wasn't the car so much as I hated how low it sat. I couldn't even see muhc over the steering wheel to see past the hood, and I'm only 5' 4-1/2" which is pretty average for a woman since 5'5" is average here in America. And it was a baby poop brownish taupe...barf.

Sorry, my 75 Gremlin has you beat!!

 

[Janet H]

It's a toss up!

• VW 411 that burned on the side of the road (PA Turnpike) with everything I owned inside
• Renault Le Car that stalled every time you stepped on the brakes hard (turned out they neglected to install the bolts that hold the engine in place). Wipers only worked in second gear, speedo was intermittent and very wrong (would read 110 kph in first gear), rubber roof blew off one day covering the windshield of the semi following, etc

 

[Andre1969]

I've tended to get my cars old...very old. Sometimes older than me! So while I've had some POS'es, I can't fully blame the manufacturer. But, for the worst car I've ever owned, I'd have to say it was a tie between a 1988 Chrysler LeBaron turbo coupe and a 1982 Cutlass Supreme coupe.

The Cutlass Supreme was only $800, purchased in 1993, with 61,000 miles on it. Transmission went out soon after, but was only around $675 to rebuild. The transmission shop said they could probably get it running more or less right for around $150, but that the problem would probably come back. I thought I'd keep that car forever, so I paid for a rebuild. It was fairly good after that for a little while. Needed new front brakes and tires, which are really just maintenance items. And valve cover gaskets, which were minor. But, around the 71 or so thousand mile mark, the 231 V-6 engine lost all oil pressure. A friend of mine replaced the gears in the pump, and got it to run again, but it wasn't long for this earth. I sold it, still running, with around 73,000 miles, for $400.

The Chrysler LeBaron was bought used by my uncle, for around $10,000, in 1990. He sold it to me when I got married, 5 years later, for $2,000. I think it had around 75,000 miles on it by that time. He'd had some work done on it, but nothing too major. It had occasional computer/electrical problems.

When we had it, it was also fairly reliable, up to around 90,000 miles. We had the timing belt replaced (should've been done at 60K, but we let it lapse), and it also needed a camshaft and crankshaft seal (no big deal), but it also needed some major suspension work.

When I got divorced, I let the ex wife have it. In that timeframe, the air conditioner compressor seized up, it needed a new radiator, burned up a couple of sensors, one that caused the engine to idle at 2000 rpm or so. Power antenna broke. Transmission started leaking. The turbocharger stopped working. The last straw was when it blew the head gasket around 118,000 miles or so. She took it someplace and had a new gasket and used head put on, but it still wasn't running right. I told her to let me borrow it and take it to my mechanic. He was able to get it to kinda run, for about $75...said a lot of the vacuum hoses and wires weren't hooked up right. But he also did a compression check on the engine, said it was shot, and to NOT put another dime into it!

 

[calmloki]

Hey - I had a Vega, and for all the bad press it served me well - did have to drop the tank in a neighboring town to change the fuel pump once but had pretty good luck with it. Had it floored going up a hill one afternoon and a cop crested the hill - I was busted. He asked what I was doing and I told him honestly that I was seeing how fast it would go. Let me go with a warning, so I feel pretty good about that bright red Vega.

All I've ever bought car-wise was another man's junk. They have all been adventures - including my current 2000 BMW 528 sport wagon. Bought with just under 250,000 miles but it is loaded with gee-gaws and doodads. Had body work done, replaced the transmission that went away, the rear subframe bushings, the water pump and various cooling bits. The navigation system went out, taking with it the onboard computer display and CD player and making the radio function in 2 minute bursts. only. Dual climate control has a sense of humor regarding providing heat here in the desert. Drivers window quit, so now when I go to McDonald's to spend my $2 on lunch I have to open the door and pass the money over the top. Should just open the sunroof so they can toss the food in. I look good in it though, and it's one of my better car experiences!

Was a VW mechanic for some years and had Ghias and bugs and busses and notchbacks and rabbits of both gas and diesel persuasion - think that gives one lowered expectations of what a car should be. Push or pull starting a car? Squeegee as a defroster for the interior windows? Normal. Functional heater? Luxury!

Worst car experience? A $100 urine yellow AMC hornet. It even worked, but what an anemic loathsome numb driving experience. Car had no soul, and was all of a Pablum-ized mediocrity. It didn't even have any bright bad points to make driving an adventure.

 

[MasterBlaster]

1975 Gremlin...........

Believe it or not those old Gremlins are now collector cars.

 

[devans0]

I've owned a Chevy Vega, a Ford Pinto, but the worst two cars were a Ford English Cortina, (my first car) and a Yugo. The Cortina broke down and would take months to get parts shipped.
The Yugo was a bright orange lemon. The timing belt broke on the highway, trashing the engine. I had a new engine put in and it threw the timing belt within a hundred miles. My favorite car is my current one. A Scion Xb. As my wife would say, I'm not a slave to fashion.

 

[Sue J]

For my 21st birthday my dad bought me a 5 year old 1971 VW Beetle. I loved that car! No major problems, so when we needed a 2nd car for DH we bought another Beetle, this one a 1973. I don't remember how many miles it had on it but it had more features (radio and a fan on the defroster) than the 1971 so we thought it was a great car. It very quickly developed a bad glitch in the steering that made left turns difficult. You'd start the turn and then go past a certain point and you had to force the steering wheel so hard that you could pull a shoulder muscle or wrench an elbow. It got so bad that we learned to avoid left turns and make do with multiple right turns. It's amazing what you'll put up with when you are young and foolish.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Kinda hard to pick one...... as a starving college student, I had a whole fleet of short-lived >$500 cars. A '61 VW bug whose brakes went out on Wisconsin Ave in Georgetown and endedup in the Potomac River...

These stories are all funny but this one is flat out hilarious.

 

[Midpack]

I've been lucky. Mostly I've had Honda's (Celica, Camry) and Toyota's (Civic, CRX, Prelude, Element) and they've served us very, very well. We've owned a BMW 325 and an Audi TT that were (too) expensive to maintain, but they were reasonably reliable. We had a Nissan Maxima that was just OK.

I did have a Volvo 850 wagon that had to have the entire AC system replaced at my cost of $1300 (in year 2000 dollars) because Volvo did not properly engineer the system post freon. I had problems with it the last year of warranty, took it in twice (first time recharged, second time they said a hose was too short - after 2 years) and it was "fixed" and went out again. The third time it went out, now about 5K miles of warranty, they tell me the whole system is rotten from the inside out. I appealed with Volvo every way I could, but they never provided any relief whatsoever. I will never buy a POS Volvo again.

Even had a 1973 Chevy Vega in college that was using a quart of oil with each tank of gas at 50K miles because the aluminum block/aluminum cylinder walls didn't hold up. But Chevy re-sleeved the cylinder walls beyond warranty and only charged me $9 for a valve job, so that's more than fair.

 

[M Paquette]

Well, there was the 1972 AMC Hornet, bought used, of course. If you looked at it funny it would overheat and warp the head. I got really good at pulling the engine head and replacing the gasket. I thought about having a second head so I could drive the car while the warped head was in the machine shop. Naturally, I'd never start a trip without a couple of spare water pumps on board.

I thought about listing my old 1962 MG Midget. I rebuilt and resynched the twin SU carburetors weekly, along with refilling the oil and checking the gas level, but that was really just scheduled maintenance. Quarterly maintenance included pulling the engine and transmission, replacing the clutch and throwout bearing, and cleaning the oil off the flywheel and housing. I never had an unexpected breakdown. They were all expected and routine...