OT The 'worst' car you ever owned

[RockyMTblue2]

RMB - We are on our 3rd Jeep GC. All bought new and we've probably put a total of 200K miles on them. They have been in the shop for repairs twice. One for a key fob/lock problem and one for a leaking windshield.

Well you won the Jeep lottery for sure ... 3 times.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I don't know if we won the lottery or dodged a bullet. I just looked at the JD Power reliability rating for our last two jeeps and they are not too impressive. When we bought our first (a 2008) the reliability rating was well above average actually ranked among the best". Now not so good. We had a 2011 that we drove for 4 years with no maintenance issues and now drive a 2015. It will probably crap out tomorrow.

 

[JordyG]

Well its a few more days before the 1000th win and with nothing to do today i started thinking about the worst car I ever owned. Turns out its the one I own now I assume pretty much everyone has their own horror story so I'll start with mine.
Four years ago I purchased a new 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a diesel engine. Even tho the diesel was a hefty price adder I was convinced by the salesperson's pitch about their reliability and longevity plus the fuel economy for such a large beast was impressive. Soooo. . .
On the way to visit my son in MD a warning light came on saying the vehicle wouldn't restart in 100 miles as there was an emissions failure. We ended up stranded in a dealership in MD. Some probe fell out - a known issue to Chrysler.
From almost new the car bucked horribly under certain conditions. Eventually Chrysler had the dealership change the heads - car tied up for a week. A month later on RT8 in MA (at night in the cold weather of course) the engine seized up. Chrysler had the dealer change the entire engine. Tied up for a month.
About 6 months later the transmission failed - barely and I mean barely got into the dealership's lot. Chrysler had them change the transmission. Car tied up for 6 weeks.
Then there was the time the brakes barely stopped the car and I almost drove into a restaurant. Eventually the dealership replaced some major part of the brake system (not sure what it was but Chrysler later on had a recall on that).
I don't think I'd recommend this car to anyone.

So, am I supposed to like this? I only feel pain for your luck. I'm sure you can't wait until the warranty ends. Your car sounds like it would make a good boat anchor.

 

[RogueDave]

1980 Chevrolet Citation 4 spd manual Transmission. 4 Transmissions in 3,500 miles...I think CT, Lemom Law was born from publicense experience with that car...

 

[tomcat]

Worst: '71 Pinto. I doubt that explanations are necessary.
Best: Probably a '75 Celica sport coupe. Reliable, fun to drive and I should have never traded it in.

Never had any experience with Jeeps. I read Consumer Reports, and what they have consistently said about them has scared me away, As for Fiats., I had a friend who, years ago, spent most of his spare time trying to keep a Fiat on the road. From him I learned that Fiat stands for "Fix It Again, Tony."

 

[ctfjr]

So, am I supposed to like this? I only feel pain for your luck. I'm sure you can't wait until the warranty ends. Your car sounds like it would make a good boat anchor.

Lol
I have been trying to get Chrysler to do something for me. The best they came up with was a free extended warranty. It just arrived in the mail today - an additional 3 years or 36k miles. Not exactly what I was hoping for.
I'm stuck. The car has taken a real whack in depreciation so I'm probably going to keep it for another year. It has a new engine and transmission

 

[BroadwayVa]

Year after year, yes, decade after decade, Jeep Cherokees have been dismal in repair incidence and it never improved when Chrysler bought them. Now a Fiat and a total foreigner it does not surprise that you've suffered this fiasco with this brand. My sympathies.

A relatives daughter all but committed murder, may have, to get a Jeep Cherokee--she got it, in up western state NY, hope it is all you say it is--that would be so fitting.

 

[Ellie]

Worst: '71 Pinto. I doubt that explanations are necessary.
Best: Probably a '75 Celica sport coupe. Reliable, fun to drive and I should have never traded it in.

Never had any experience with Jeeps. I read Consumer Reports, and what they have consistently said about them has scared me away, As for Fiats., I had a friend who, years ago, spent most of his spare time trying to keep a Fiat on the road. From him I learned that Fiat stands for "Fix It Again, Tony."

Oh, thank you ... I’m not alone! The ‘71 Pinto was back at the dealer by the end of the month with Ford insisting nothing was wrong with it and sent an engineer out to CT to prove it. He drove the car from Torrington down Rt8 and broke down in Waterbury ... had to be towed back to the dealer! They offered me a new Ford Maverick ... refused ... took the money and bought a VW!

 

[Cheddie]

Don't remember the year, but it was 90's vintage VW Passat. The thing had a recall every other month. I became best friends with the dealer service dept I was there so often. Shame, because it was a beautifully driving, very comfortable car when it occasionally was 100%.

 

[toadfoot]

Datsun (before they went to Nissan) B210 hatchback, the hideous orange color. Don’t really remember the year, but it was around 1976. My 1968 AMC Javelin, which was actually a pretty hot car, had blown an engine, the wife an I were recently married without a pot to pee in and the B210 was all we could afford.
Best car was my 2005 Nissan 350Z, which I still drive regularly.

 

[Fishy]

We either have very good luck or very bad luck with cars. More good than bad....we’ve had at least five cars go over 200,000 miles. The latest is our knock-around car, a Passat, that will be retired for good in a couple of weeks with 272,000 miles on the clock. But the bad luck...

When my wife and I first got married, we needed a car adn we collectively had a fortune in “GM bucks”, the GM program that gave you points for money spent on their credit card.

There was a weird sale where GM would double your GM bucks if you bought a car currently in inventory - at the same time, the local Olds dealer was shutting and selling off his cars. Long story made short, we bought a $28,000 Olds Intrigue for about $14,000. And we regretted it instantly.

The engine was taken out of that car so many times that I think it was moonlighting in another car. About a week after we owned the car, I drove it in the rain and almost drowned when water came over the firewall like Niagara Falls. Transmissions, suspension, steering, air condition, an entire door, everything was changed on that car on GM’s dime. In frustration, I asked the dealer how much he would give us in trade on ANYTHING and he said, “there is no way I would get involved with that car.”

We put about 100,000 miles on the car...then a guy was installing hardwood floors for us and he mentioned that he needed a used car for his wife. I think we had three at that moment and he asked if we would consider selling the car. I told him that if he put in another room of hardwood and promised to take that car off my hands before sunset, he could have it.

So he took it. And it stranded his wife on the Deegan near Yonkers Raceway a few weeks later.

 

[uconnfan68]

Tie: Fiat128 or Plymouth Horizon.
Fiat body actually separated from the frame leaving the windshield facing east and me facing south while cornering on 44E.
Horizon brakes quit on me while exiting 84E to 91S leaving me facing those big yellow collision cyclinders at 50-60 mph.

Dozens of other issues with both.

Had a Horizon, bought new in January, door handles broke first really cold day. Lasted 13 years, but when my wife had to enter through the hatchback it was the end of the line.

 

[uconnfan68]

Oh, thank you ... I’m not alone! The ‘71 Pinto was back at the dealer by the end of the month with Ford insisting nothing was wrong with it and sent an engineer out to CT to prove it. He drove the car from Torrington down Rt8 and broke down in Waterbury ... had to be towed back to the dealer! They offered me a new Ford Maverick ... refused ... took the money and bought a VW!

Had a 71 Chevy Vega. Went cross country, lasted about 8 years, but yeah, obsolescence was really built in to those cars.

 

[toadfoot]

Worst: 1972 MGB roadster. Never ran well, countless parts replaced, always broke down, often at exactly the wrong time.

Best: 1996 Infiniti I30. Ran forever, very few issues. Finally donated it with 240k on it and still running well.

Favorite: 1997 BMW Z3 roadster. Still have it, drive it almost every day.

True story about Frodo’s Infiniti. My wife, son and I were living in Ca. and my son was applying to Connecticut College and Amherst College so he and I traveled to New England so he could visit the schools and we stayed with Frodo and his wife. The next day we borrowed the I30 to drive down to New London. Ian stayed over with some of the guys on the swim team and I spent the night at Frodo’s. The next evening I drove down to pick up Ian and as we were returning to Frodo’s, driving north on 85 late that night, we suddenly came upon a tractor pulling some sort of wooden wagon. Problem was it was pitch black, neither the tractor or wagon had any lights, reflectors, nothing and I was nearly on top of it before I finally saw it. I swerved to the left into the oncoming lane only to see the headlights of a car approaching, so I swerved to the right just in front of the tractor. Several seconds down the road Ian and I looked at each other and almost simultaneously said we thought we were going to die. To this day I think the superb handling of the I30 saved our lives. True story.

 

[DaddyChoc]

1986 Ford Mustang LX... not the GT 5.0 model

 

[DaddyChoc]

if you own a Jeep Cherokee... check the back lights/brake lights, once always seems to be out on them. every 10 I've seen 7 of them had this problem. I'm not sure if it's has been corrected in the newer models

 

[tomcat]

Oh, yeah. I had forgotten this. Actually, I've tried to put it out of my mind. For a period of about six months, I owned a Renault LeCar. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to buy, but I found a nearly new one with almost no miles on it for a good price, and, well, I bit. If you don't know this vehicle, let's put it this way: It was so small that in order to enter the rear seating area (if you were insane enough to want to do so), you had to pull lever to get the the front seat to fold forward, as in any two-door, at which time it also slid forward toward the steering wheel, which in principle gave you enough room to lever yourself into the back. I don't think I carried anyone back there except maybe my infant daughter. Of it I did, I have mercifully forgotten it.

After spending time trying to get into the car, I would drive that thing down Route 2 from Montville, where we lived at the time, to Hartford, where I worked. It had absolutely no power, no matter what gear I shifted into, and having to pass another car was an exercise in self-inflicted terror. The end came when I was stopped at a light in East Hartford and another car tapped my front fender. I figured it was just body damage (which it was), but they also broke a headlight and I later found out that because Renault had failed to put fuses on that electrical circuit, it blew out the wiring on that side.

Only later I discovered that the car was a partnership between Renault and Hamilton Beach. The four forward speeds were actually Grate, Chop, Blend and Liquefy.

 

[augustaTC]

1976 Ford Mustang Cobra - Awful handling, so-so brakes and smog strangled V-8 that maybe made 160 hp. All show and no go with awful mileage gas.

 

[SVCBeercats]

1972 Toyota Carolla - lasted four years - we average a little over 12 years per car including this statistical outlier

Why did I buy it? It was cheap and so was I. Also when it got to about 70 mph it would begin to vibrate forcing me to slow down. The car I owned would have eventually killed me. It was a forest green Camaro which I drove way too fast like pegged at 120 mph. Gave it my wife, a far saner driver. Every few months I was replacing some major piece of this car. It began rusting after the first rain. When it actually was road worthy; it wasn't. I was driving with a friend when the engine sputtered and died. I coasted off the road. I lift the hood and removed the air filter. Asked my friend for one of the many broken pencils from the glove compartment. He watched as I inserted it into the carburetor jamming the butterfly valve open. This happened few times a week. No one seemed to be able to fix it and I was not about to spring for a rebuild. I was tooling along one day when the front right wheel simply broke off. Yep, broke off. Not simply come off, broke off! The transmission failed and I had it rebuilt. My wife and her mother picked up the car. On the way home my wife notice she was trailing serious black smoke. Fortunately a super nice guy towed them and the car back to the dealership. The mechanic failed to replace the transmission seals. So it was a new transmission for which they charged us. Even Toyota of America backed the dealer. Fortunately Missouri had an awesome Department of Consumer Affairs in the Office of the Attorney General. We filed a complaint with them. A week later some VP from Toyota called us with many "mea culpas." No charge. We finally gave up after 4 years and bought a new car trading in the Carolla. We pulled into the dealership to pick up the new car and finalize the paperwork. True to form the Carolla died and I had to push it to a parking spot. Just before signing the papers the sales manager told the service manager to go check the Carolla. My blood ran cold. Unbelievably the service manager said he checked last week when we were there. We never signed anything so fast. We sprinted to the new car and burned rubber out of the dealership never to return.

 

[Bliss]

1971 Vega in what I think they called Mediterranean blue. Everything that could go wrong with the car...did.

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I bought one of these used except it was a 2 dr. wagon. Terrible car.

 

[Bliss]

Easily the '79 used Vette I bought with a "salvage" title from a local dealer. That thing never, ever stopped raiding my wallet. Stupid, stupid, stupid

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I bought a 1965 Chevy Nova in 1969 in MO. I needed a car to drive to student teaching at Liberty HS in the fall semester as the only class I needed to graduate. It was an ex-Arkansas State police car with spot-light mounted by driver's side mirror. I got it cheap it should have told me something! In a month it was shooting oil out of the dip stick and I was using a quart of oil a day! After I graduated in January 1970 I got a Nissan that even the dealership couldn't change the oil as bolts/pan/filter were buried inside the motor and mechanics needed special tools to reach everything!

 

[pinotbear]

Datsun (before they went to Nissan) B210 hatchback, the hideous orange color. Don’t really remember the year, but it was around 1976. My 1968 AMC Javelin, which was actually a pretty hot car, had blown an engine, the wife an I were recently married without a pot to pee in and the B210 was all we could afford.
Best car was my 2005 Nissan 350Z, which I still drive regularly.

I had a '68 AMC Javelin as well. Not bad when it was younger, but, as it aged, all sortsa idiosyncrasies developed. One of them involved the windshield wipers - this may have been one of the last vehicles made that had vacuum wipers. When I accelerated, the wipers would stop. I'm in upstate New York; it's hilly, it snows. When I climb a hill, or try to pass somebody on the Thruway, my wipers stop working. I ended up tying hockey skate laces to each wiper and running them in the windows, so I could at least get a good tug or two in, keeping me from being completely blind. As an aside, as you say, kinda a hot car with a baby V-8 in the front.. and, no weight whatsoever in the rear end. As this was the era of rear-wheel drive, perhaps one of the worst cars ever designed for driving on snow. Really, just a giant, over-powered ice skate.

 

[Waquoit]

I had a Mercury Sable that ran like crap and eventually the engine blew. Turns out that Ford built these cars with defective head gaskets. knew about it but did nothing due to the cost. That was my last American car ever. Fourteen years of trouble free driving in Japanese cars since.