We have owned a bunch of cars, and most have been ultra-reliable.
Two exceptions, an '86 Toyota Van which was pretty bad (my best vehicles were Toyotas though which offset it a little)
The worst was an '04 Audi A4 1.8T CVT
We should have sold it sooner. The original transmission failed before 12K, it was replaced under warranty. That should have been a sign.I suspect that when the tranny was replaced a lot of stuff was done wrong.
All the interior trim was covered in this rubbery coating that wore off. The dealer replaced all of it eventually under warranty, including the door controls, radio, A/C controls, floor vents, etc. The good news about this was that the interior was brand new when we did sell it.
When we bought the car, I thought it was cool that it monitored each light bulb and would warn you when it burned out. I later realized this was required due to the frequency that all the bulbs burned out. I ended up keeping a stock of every single bulb. Except for the Xenon headlights, they never quit.
The front brakes stopped working around 30K, the dealer replaced the ABS pump and claimed it fixed. We said it wasn't and they then chamfered the rear pad leading edge for some reason. My estimate is that the fronts then had about 10% braking power - the rotors would get warm after a hard stop, but not hot enough to burn your finger. The good news was that we never had to replace a front pad, the bad news was that we couldn't stop very fast and we went through rear pads and rotors like crazy. And the back wheels were always black with brake dust, front stayed clean.
The car cruised through its warranty period without any more major failures, but lots of dealer visits. The front of the engine was always covered in oil, but not a huge amount. Three different dealers convinced us it was normal for the cam seals to leak. I continued to let the dealer do the oil changes to make sure we didn't lose the 80K engine (sludge) warranty
Shortly after the base warranty the monthly repairs started to exceed a car payment.
At around 40K there was a major PCV failure, a check valve stuck or leaked and turbo boost was fed into the crankcase, melting a number of the inline check valves and blowing oil out of pretty much every engine seal and the dipstick. This was well over $1,000 to repair. When the dealer did this, they only replaced the failed components and did not replace some of the seals that still leaked including the cam seals. They did do the valve cover gasket though. After this repair I started doing my own repairs to this car, it was now out of warranty and we had no goodwill at the dealer (The dealer we used most of the time was in Melbourne and was honestly pretty good)
shortly afterwards the actual PCV valve located below the intake manifold broke (cracked) at the base and required removing the intake manifold to access well enough to get the broken pieces out. That was a pleasure. /sarcasm
By 45K the engine leaked so much oil, every time I drove it I kind of expected it to catch fire and burn to the ground - which would not have bothered me. everything under the hood was constantly coated in oil and there were drops hanging off all the low points. I had never before or after had a car that leaked oil and was having a hard time swallowing the constant burning smell, etc.
at around 47K we had an inner CV joint fail which seemed strange to me at such a low mileage, but it was a surprisingly easy job compared to other cars I have done. I only use OE parts, so it was stupidly expensive.
Shortly after that we had a coilpack go bad. I new they were troublesome already so I did all 4 and changed the plugs and valve cover gasket for the second time. Not a big deal. a second engine cover clip broke, so I stopped putting the plastic engine cover back on.
Then the end broke off the dipstick one day while I was checking the oil. Not cool - but not a big deal. New dipstick w/ a new O-ring. Next time I checked the oil, the dispick tube broke off near the base of the engine. That was a bit more painful.
around 55K there was another PCV problem, one of the check valves that the dealer did not replace failed - wouldn't have been a big deal except that every piece of hose that I touched crumbled or cracked. I ended up replacing every check valve, jet pump, all the hoses and T's except for the recently replaced main valve that I had replaced 10K earlier. That was about $800 in misc parts - and now the valve cover gasket was leaking again and the rear cam chain tensioner was making noise. The front seals still leaked.
around 58K there was this horrible banging/clattering noise coming from the front of the engine. I traced it to the accessory belt. I could see the tensioner jumping around and the idler pulley had been making noise for a while. I replace the idler/tensioner assembly thinking that was the problem - it wasn't. It turned out to be the clutched pulley in the alternator that was bad. This was another - easiest if you take off the intake manifold fix. I took it to the shop for this one. I didn't have the tools to pull the pulley off and didn't want to deal with it. $800 later I got the car home. Popped the hood to see what had been done, the cable mount broke at the latch. I had to use a 4 foot screwdriver from under the car to release the hood. Once I had the hood open I looked at my $800 pulley and rigged the hood release so it would work without me having to buy a whole new assembly.
http://youtu.be/oZM21-dK1Es
at about 60K I did the valve cover again and saw that the timing belt was totally covered in oil. I looked in the service manual and saw that to do the timing belt you had to put the car in 'service mode' which meant pulling off the entire front clip and moving the radiator and condenser. I took it to an indy shop to have the cam seals done, the rear tensioner/guides replaced and the belt replaced. It was only a little over $1,000 which I thought was completely reasonable. This would be about the 4th time the valve cover had been off in 60K.
At 63K I realized that the car no longer leaked oil, everything worked and looked perfect and I took it to carmax.
When we sold the car it looked like this:
The car looked great and drove great. Based on looks and the way it drove we would buy another one in a heartbeat, but we definitely had a lemon. We had an A8 previously with almost no issues.
Two exceptions, an '86 Toyota Van which was pretty bad (my best vehicles were Toyotas though which offset it a little)
The worst was an '04 Audi A4 1.8T CVT
We should have sold it sooner. The original transmission failed before 12K, it was replaced under warranty. That should have been a sign.I suspect that when the tranny was replaced a lot of stuff was done wrong.
All the interior trim was covered in this rubbery coating that wore off. The dealer replaced all of it eventually under warranty, including the door controls, radio, A/C controls, floor vents, etc. The good news about this was that the interior was brand new when we did sell it.
When we bought the car, I thought it was cool that it monitored each light bulb and would warn you when it burned out. I later realized this was required due to the frequency that all the bulbs burned out. I ended up keeping a stock of every single bulb. Except for the Xenon headlights, they never quit.
The front brakes stopped working around 30K, the dealer replaced the ABS pump and claimed it fixed. We said it wasn't and they then chamfered the rear pad leading edge for some reason. My estimate is that the fronts then had about 10% braking power - the rotors would get warm after a hard stop, but not hot enough to burn your finger. The good news was that we never had to replace a front pad, the bad news was that we couldn't stop very fast and we went through rear pads and rotors like crazy. And the back wheels were always black with brake dust, front stayed clean.
The car cruised through its warranty period without any more major failures, but lots of dealer visits. The front of the engine was always covered in oil, but not a huge amount. Three different dealers convinced us it was normal for the cam seals to leak. I continued to let the dealer do the oil changes to make sure we didn't lose the 80K engine (sludge) warranty
Shortly after the base warranty the monthly repairs started to exceed a car payment.
At around 40K there was a major PCV failure, a check valve stuck or leaked and turbo boost was fed into the crankcase, melting a number of the inline check valves and blowing oil out of pretty much every engine seal and the dipstick. This was well over $1,000 to repair. When the dealer did this, they only replaced the failed components and did not replace some of the seals that still leaked including the cam seals. They did do the valve cover gasket though. After this repair I started doing my own repairs to this car, it was now out of warranty and we had no goodwill at the dealer (The dealer we used most of the time was in Melbourne and was honestly pretty good)
shortly afterwards the actual PCV valve located below the intake manifold broke (cracked) at the base and required removing the intake manifold to access well enough to get the broken pieces out. That was a pleasure. /sarcasm
By 45K the engine leaked so much oil, every time I drove it I kind of expected it to catch fire and burn to the ground - which would not have bothered me. everything under the hood was constantly coated in oil and there were drops hanging off all the low points. I had never before or after had a car that leaked oil and was having a hard time swallowing the constant burning smell, etc.
at around 47K we had an inner CV joint fail which seemed strange to me at such a low mileage, but it was a surprisingly easy job compared to other cars I have done. I only use OE parts, so it was stupidly expensive.
Shortly after that we had a coilpack go bad. I new they were troublesome already so I did all 4 and changed the plugs and valve cover gasket for the second time. Not a big deal. a second engine cover clip broke, so I stopped putting the plastic engine cover back on.
Then the end broke off the dipstick one day while I was checking the oil. Not cool - but not a big deal. New dipstick w/ a new O-ring. Next time I checked the oil, the dispick tube broke off near the base of the engine. That was a bit more painful.
around 55K there was another PCV problem, one of the check valves that the dealer did not replace failed - wouldn't have been a big deal except that every piece of hose that I touched crumbled or cracked. I ended up replacing every check valve, jet pump, all the hoses and T's except for the recently replaced main valve that I had replaced 10K earlier. That was about $800 in misc parts - and now the valve cover gasket was leaking again and the rear cam chain tensioner was making noise. The front seals still leaked.
around 58K there was this horrible banging/clattering noise coming from the front of the engine. I traced it to the accessory belt. I could see the tensioner jumping around and the idler pulley had been making noise for a while. I replace the idler/tensioner assembly thinking that was the problem - it wasn't. It turned out to be the clutched pulley in the alternator that was bad. This was another - easiest if you take off the intake manifold fix. I took it to the shop for this one. I didn't have the tools to pull the pulley off and didn't want to deal with it. $800 later I got the car home. Popped the hood to see what had been done, the cable mount broke at the latch. I had to use a 4 foot screwdriver from under the car to release the hood. Once I had the hood open I looked at my $800 pulley and rigged the hood release so it would work without me having to buy a whole new assembly.
http://youtu.be/oZM21-dK1Es
at about 60K I did the valve cover again and saw that the timing belt was totally covered in oil. I looked in the service manual and saw that to do the timing belt you had to put the car in 'service mode' which meant pulling off the entire front clip and moving the radiator and condenser. I took it to an indy shop to have the cam seals done, the rear tensioner/guides replaced and the belt replaced. It was only a little over $1,000 which I thought was completely reasonable. This would be about the 4th time the valve cover had been off in 60K.
At 63K I realized that the car no longer leaked oil, everything worked and looked perfect and I took it to carmax.
When we sold the car it looked like this:
The car looked great and drove great. Based on looks and the way it drove we would buy another one in a heartbeat, but we definitely had a lemon. We had an A8 previously with almost no issues.