Cars you had that were supposed to be junk but turned out great for you

[SC Maintenance]

Anyone had a car that the world says was junk, but turned out really good for you?

I have a 2nd gen Xterra in my driveway with 388,000 miles - all mine. Every youtube video or blog says there garbage, you will get SMOD, the suspension will fall apart, etc, etc. Yet here it is, with only a couple non wear part repairs needed. Lots of other people seem to do well with them also.

I also had a 1996 Olds Cutlass Supreme with a 3.1 that Consumer Reports posted Stay away. I had zero issues ever except it would eat alternators. It was a super easy swap - right on the top of the engine and 2 bolts. I kept one in the trunk. I knew it was going because the ABS light would come on from low voltage The OEM ones lasted a few years. Rebuilt - forget it.

On the other end I owned a Grand Marquis which was supposed to be the pinnacle of reliability and I had all kinds of problems. I must have gotten the one lemon built.

Anyone else with similar experience? There must be a 300K mile Pinto owner here somewhere.

 

[MSCH]

my 99 Cavalier. lasted 317000 miles.. I suspect it would have made 400 if I wouldn't have ran it out of coolant in the middle of nowhere and kept on driving.

 

[b_b]

2005 grand prix, 250k miles. i had to do a water pump, coolant elbows and front hubs. the rest was general maintenance.

 

[Zee09]

2004 Chevy Aveo I bought for my mother. She picked it not me and I was mortified...lol
Today it still looks great and runs great with very minimal repairs and high miles on it.
Under a different family owner now but I see it often.
I guess I didn't know what I was talking about eh?

 

[Tdbo]

2000 Ford Taurus. I put the first 275K on it.
Sold it to a coworker. He made sure that I was behind the wheel when it turned 300K.
The family sold it off after his death. It had 306K on it then.
They sold it to friends who used it as a DD for the next two years.
Don't know if it is still running or not.

 

[FT92]

one car that surprised me was a 82 ford escort that I put on 200k then my dad drove it for another 50k or so till the body fell apart.

 

[Fla]

A beater 1966 Oldsmobile that I used to have! We never took care of it and used it like a truck. It had a huge trunk in it and I used to haul complete engines and transmissions in it. We drove it half way across the country and back several times and it never let us down. I don't remember the exact model but it was a big four door car and had 425?? cu in engine. The odd thing was that it was a high compression, high performance engine but it only had a 2 bbl carburetor on it. It also had an issue with one of the push rods and that PR kept falling out of place so basically it was only running on 7 cylinders. About 1978 the transmission gave out and we had to have it rebuilt but as far as I remember that was the only thing that we ever had to fix on the car.

 

[macarose]

Here's a surprise. Smart For two. 2014 and 2015 model years.

I bought a small army of them back in 2017 when Mercedes was winding down the inventory on their Car2Go rideshare program.

They had over a thousand of these models and I must have bought over 30 of them. 2014 models with less than 10k miles for only $4000, and 2015 models with about 15k miles for just a little over $5000.

So long as you don't drive like an idiot, these vehicles are easy to service and surprisingly well-engineered. None of my customers ever complained in the years that followed. Plenty of them sold them for more money than what they paid four to five years back.

If you have a lead foot, don't bother. If you have a light foot, these will be cheaper to own than a Prius or an EV if you're willing to learn about basic maintenance. 40+ mpg all day without the headaches.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

my 99 Cavalier. lasted 317000 miles.. I suspect it would have made 400 if I wouldn't have ran it out of coolant in the middle of nowhere and kept on driving.

Cavaliers are cockroaches. They aren't particularly good or desirable cars in anything. But they will always start and get you where you need to go.

 

[MSCH]

Cavaliers are cockroaches. They aren't particularly good or desirable cars in anything. But they will always start and get you where you need to go.

yeah... my opinion too.. I just found a picture of it while looking for something else. tell you how much I loved that car, I had it for about 10 years and this is the only photo I have of it. on jackstands, which was a rare occurrence

, so I must been changing the oil .

 

[Chris142]

1968 scout.

 

[DriveHard]

Two cars I wish I had back, that weren't supposed to be all that great.

Nissan Xterra that I modded for off road - had the locking rear diff...that thing was unstoppable, and even the family loved it

The second was a 1st gen Honda CRV...I hated it, but it was an amazing first car for my second daughter. With AWD, it went through everything, was perfectly reliable, and held her and her friends and junk. Great car until she rear-ended someone ;-)

 

[atikovi]

96 Sunfire convertible 5-speed with 186K. The engine ran smooth, the shift action precise, the clutch feel light and easy and the body was still tight for a 25 year old J car convertible. One of the best shades of red too.

 

[97prizm]

Here's a surprise. Smart For two. 2014 and 2015 model years.

I bought a small army of them back in 2017 when Mercedes was winding down the inventory on their Car2Go rideshare program.

They had over a thousand of these models and I must have bought over 30 of them. 2014 models with less than 10k miles for only $4000, and 2015 models with about 15k miles for just a little over $5000.

So long as you don't drive like an idiot, these vehicles are easy to service and surprisingly well-engineered. None of my customers ever complained in the years that followed. Plenty of them sold them for more money than what they paid four to five years back.

If you have a lead foot, don't bother. If you have a light foot, these will be cheaper to own than a Prius or an EV if you're willing to learn about basic maintenance. 40+ mpg all day without the headaches.

Ever do a manual transmission swap? They were offered with a manual in Europe.

 

[PandaBear]

Really Good? I haven't have one yet. Not bad and is actually a decent buy? Sure.

2001 Ford Taurus: Was a good price and dad loves the big car feel, transmission didn't blew up on us but had lots of minor problems: warp rotors from factory, broken plastic interior pieces, stuck tranny vent so it burp ATF all over the garage, leaking valve cover gasket, cracked spark plug, bad fuel economy, cheap plastic electronics enclosure under the hood and would blow fuses if I hose the car, roof pin hole leak and they have to weld it shut, etc. Should have bought a Camry instead but it was like 3k cheaper. The Camry that's 3k more would have hold up for 3k more when we sold the Taurus.

1993 Ford Escort: A piece of trash but the valve seat didn't fall off as most said would have. Everything was shot by the time it reaches 99k and 20 years, struts, interior, exterior, MAF, plastic hoses. It still drives bouncing around and it would have last another 50k in the right hand. I was offered $400 but crushed it for $1k. The guy offering $400 said it is not a Corolla so it is only what it is. I think it is better than expectation for a $10k car back then but it is really not that great. Without that clunker $1k deal it would have been a bad deal, but this makes the car a good for me deal.

Personally I don't buy junk intentionally so other than these 2 I didn't have any junk in my fleet, they all have good reputation in reliability.

 

[atikovi]

I was offered $400 but crushed it for $1k.

HUH?

 

[PandaBear]

HUH?

An exporter offered $400, I sold it to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for $1k to "save the air"

 

[GSCJR]

2007 Maxima w/3.5L CVT

My current ride, 2012 Legacy w/2.5L CVT, that replaced the vehicle above

 

[paulo57509]

1982 Pontiac Bonneville (4.1L V6, TH 350, 120k miles)

Another free car.

• Towed into my father's shop.
• "Silent" cam sproket stripped its teeth - owner felt it wasn't worth fixing.
• Replace the timing chain/sprockets.
• Upon starting, the engine knocked like a diesel.
• Everything worked...including the clock.
• Weird rear door windows - they weren't designed to roll down. Just the small, power vent windows swung open.
• AC blew cold.
• Totally neglected light metallic blue paint.
• Typical period GM interior that smelled like BO.
• Crazy amount of part throttle ping. Exhaust passages in the intake manifold were plugged solid.
• "Normal" oil consumption 5000 miles.

I drove this car another 100k miles before the vinyl roof started peeling off.

1979 Pontiac Phoenix Model LJ coupe (350 V8, TH350, can't recall the mileage)

Another free car.

• New carpet already installed.
• Recently painted.
• Recent engine rebuild.

Drove this one for about a year. It left me stranded (fueling issues) twice. I sold it for $1000. Gave $500 to the person that gave me the car. You can see it peeking out behind the bushes.

 

[Skippy722]

2012 Caliber with the 2.slow and CVT. It just worked, never gave me any problems.