Worst car you've ever owned

[tdyoung58]

90's something Pontiac LeMans
Originally bought for my wife. Until she swiped my Nissan Pathfinder and I got stuck with it.
No A/C, 3 speed, couldn't pass a moped

 

[Janizary]

1984 Chevy Citation.

Purchased new and within the first year it would chose to start, not start, accelerate, ignore the gas pedal, whatever it felt like at the moment. Got rid of the death trap after two major 'fixes' that never fixed the problem.

You know when you hear the story "The car just accelerated on its own" and you never want to believe them? Yeah, been there. Had to kill the engine both times to stop it. Terrifying.

 

[Gullwing]

I haven't had bad cars. But growing up we had an 88 Ford Tempo for a while. Mechanic hated it, every time we brought it to him he had to buy a new special tool. One trip in the Sierras it started to stall. Dad took to one place and "fixed it", next day outside a small town it did it again but was able to coast down the hill. Shop "fixed it". Few hours later in the middle of nowhere it stalled again. Finally got where we were going and a week later took to a Ford dealer who "Fixed it". Traded it in not long after.

 

[Poena238]

I had a 1976 Cadillac Seville that would vapor lock, took about a half hour to be able to restart and run. Only had that car for about a month or so.

Purchased a brand new VW Golf in 2000, traded it in 2006 with less than 50k miles which may seem decent, but I've always drove A LOT. In comparison, my 2002 GMC purchased new already had 50k by that time. That VW was at the dealership for warranty repairs a minimum of three times per year, and was the last VW I've owned.

 

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

Ford Escort. Look up "Thin Film Ignition". It would cut the ignition without warning and not work again until cooled down. I lost my shirt on that car and have never touched a Ford since.

 

[echo1]

'95 Olds Aurora. I'd been looking out for a decent one for some time when I came up on a unit that had 45K miles. I figured that was pretty low milage for an American V8. The first year it was strong and fast but badly under braked for the quickness....then it started to nibble me to death.. AC & heater never worked consistently, then major component fail, tranny went south. While it was out I had the oil leaking POS aluminum V8 resealed, less than 10K miles after tranny rebuild, all the solenoids crashed. Traded it for a broken Dodge RV. It was nowhere near the car my '72 Lincoln Town Coupe 460 was. I wanted to scavenge the Aurora and build a mid-engine AMX with the engine/tranny set up, but I was just getting going with my SKS builds and had a Rallye Minerva basket in the hanger. Too many projects going solo.
Tarus/Sable had the same ignition issues. PAX

 

[FightMeImIrish]

98 Ford Taurus.
Bought it used, within a couple weeks the main transmission gasket went and dumped the fluid all over the street.
Too expensive to get it fixed, and I couldn't fix it myself because everything was hidden behind a big subframe assembly that was too much for me to remove.
Lost my ass on that one.

 

[echo1]

I've had 5 used Sables and got good service out of them except for the film overheat inconvenience. There was a craigslist Ford tranny guy who would pull/do seals for $250. I had him do one of mine. PAX

 

[Mikeee54]

Triumph TR7

 

[elcajun]

Supercharged Benz……you need to dump it when it gets to 80-100K on the odo !

 

[JimBianchi]

1976 AMC Pacer

What waste of money and time.

 

[Gullwing]

Supercharged Benz……you need to dump it when it gets to 80-100K on the odo !

M111?

 

[Coup d'etat]

Yugo. Yes, that's right. I actually owned a beautiful deep red Yugo GV Coupe with a tan interior.
I traded a Rossi 38 Special recolver for it.
It had a 1.1 litre engine and four speed manual trans. It was a licensed copy of the Fiat 128.
I took the miserable CZ carburetor off and put on a two-barrel Weber down-draft from a Fiat X19.
That thing would rev to the moon. I used to race Nissan Sentras with it LOL. I got ridiculous gas mileage with it as long as you stayed under 65 MPH.

 

[Fogie]

78 Scout II…required constant wrenching, it got to where I could pull stuff apart blindfolded after doing it repeatedly and for nearly 20 years. I loved that thing, consistently worst and maybe best ever simultaneously.
I don’t really want to remember a Ford Raptor, it was flat awesome for 50k miles and then suddenly it wasn’t.
A toss up, I guess.

 

[RFSALES]

Purchased a 2018 Honda CRV new. Radio would not work with SIRUS. Then neither fob would open the tail gate had to open manually.
Radio/ info center went black, had to have system reprogramed. Bun warmer on passenger side quit. Tech found bad wire. Radio died for second time reprogramed again worked for a few months then died for the 3rd time.
In February 2021 with 8000 miles on the car I traded it and never missed it. Was under powered and when closing rear doors sound like a hollow tin cab. I could have purchased warranty thru Honda for $4000 cheaper to trade.

 

[flashpan]

I.have a hard time with this one. I've owned a lot of cheap/old cars over the years. Each had their own issues/advantages.
1986 dodge d50 diesel 4x4. Was cool but hella hard when I had to rebuild the engine. Just no parts available.
VW 1985 diesel Jetta, gutless but like 50 mpg.
1984? Nissan pickup, 4cyl 8 plugs (b****) to tune up. Not fast.took this everywhere.
1980 Ford pinto, yup that's all u need to know.
1979 GMC Vandura bought off a guy living in it. Holes inside leaked exhaust fumes inside. Fu for camping with the ladies.
1985? AMC station wagon, actually kinda fun, but carbs sucked. High maintenance. Followed every Toyota anywhere in that one.

Jeeps, YJ XH, JK... Yeah still have death wobbles.

And I could add to the list for all the old jap bikes I've owned.

 

[echo1]

Once upon a decade, I had a '56 VW sunroof $50 rust bucket. Ran renegade with it for 6 months, until it was too dark to drive at night. No lights, tags or floor pan, the only seat sat on 2X4s. But had a strong 36hp engine that I stabbed the motor into a '63 bug and pushed the rotting carcass out to the street. Called the PD and said someone abandoned a rig on my road. That POS oval window sunroof's prolly worth $5K today. PAX

 

[elcajun]

M111?

m113 supercharged. V8

 

[Coup d'etat]

Every BMW I've ever owned. Cursed Satanic sadistic car company.
3rd times the charm.....no more

 

[JR3]

In the late 80's early 90's I had a blue 1979 Triumph TR-7 Victory Edition. Lowered with shaved Yokohama A008 tires (from autocross cars). Crap splined axles would shear the woodruff key under any spirited downshifting cornering. Hard to find parts and of course, Lucas electrics.

Looked like this one but with a white stripe down the side.

 

[Coup d'etat]

Lucas, the prince of darkness LOL.

The reason the Brits drink warm beer is because they have Lucas refrigerators.

 

[Outlaw Kelly James]

So I grew up rather poor. As such anything with 4 wheels that was operational, was way better than the dirty old sneakers and skateboard that mostly got me around. So when I say the worst car I have ever owned was a 2010 Supercharged Range Rover, I promise you, that this is not a flex. I busted my a55 and worked very hard for the same company for many year to be able to afford such a nice vehicle. Fully loaded, Supercharged, all black, 510hp, sitting on 22inch stormer wheels. This vehicle was my absolute dream car. Which turned out to be such a let down. Every time I would start it, seemed like there was always something not functioning correctly. It also got very expensive to own. AS if something broke, you couldn't just buy the part, you would have to buy the sector (complete assembly area and other associated parts). If that makes sense. It was super fun to drive, but an absolute nightmare to keep.

 

[Bumper]

69 VW autostick. Gutless to the max, couldn't get out of its own way. I think it took about 5 minutes to accelerate to 50 mph from a stop, and that was with a tailwind. Though in its defense it was semi-reliable.

 

[Felid'Maximus]

I don't think I have ever had a bad car, but then I also have low standards and a lot of wrenches.

When I buy a car, it usually already has over 200K miles. So I expect them to come with some character flaws.

I feel sometimes like I spend more time fixing my Prius than driving it.

 

[Janizary]

So when I say the worst car I have ever owned was a 2010 Supercharged Range Rover, I promise you, that this is not a flex.

I believe it. Clarkson, May and Hampster were, on many occasions, bagging on Rover about their quality, that something was always broken, breaking, or lurking in the wings for the dramatically-appropriate moment to leave you stranded. They even had a segment on one episode covering issues on brand-new off the showroom floor with stupid problems.

 

[Outlaw Kelly James]

I believe it. Clarkson, May and Hampster were, on many occasions, bagging on Rover about their quality, that something was always broken, breaking, or lurking in the wings for the dramatically-appropriate moment to leave you stranded. They even had a segment on one episode covering issues on brand-new off the showroom floor with stupid problems.

The straw that broke the camels back is when I was up in Utah in the winter. The air bags on the ride suspension froze in the lowered position over night. When I started it the next day, the air bags cracked/torn while lifting to the drive height. The air suspension compressor was able to keep it lifted in drive height, but eventually couldn't keep up and burned up. I was doing about 80mhp when the suspension failed and just dropped.
And needless to say, I almost crashed and I completely ruined 4 tires, ripped up the all the underskirts and other components. Including the air bags that originally failed and then the air compressor that burned up. Which was terrible. But that's not even the worst part. What was even worst was the very very long tow right back to Vegas with my wife's in-laws that were traveling with us. Longest and most expensive ride of my life. Absolutely the worst.

I sold it as soon as I got it fix. Bought a Ford F-150 and have never looked back.