What is the worst vehicle you have owned and why?

[SilverSnake]

I have owned 87 cars and trucks in the last 50 years.

Bought a new 2010 Fusion for my wife. Ran great until Ford recalled it for a mandatory PCM reprogram (notice said if I did not bring it in the transmission warranty would be voided). From the day we got it back it shuddered and vibrated at about 45 miles per hour. My wife was embarrassed to take her friends out in the car it was so bad. Multiple trips to the dealer failed to fix the problem. They would say it was a broken transmission cooling line and it was now fixed or some other bogus fix. No change. Elevated to Ford Customer service and after multiple e-mails and phone calls they finally admitted the Ford was aware of the problem but since it was not a safety related issue, the fix was a very low priority. Traded the POS on a 2011 BMW for my wife soon thereafter. CR rated the Fusion as a great and reliable vehicle. What a bunch of B-S. You could not give me a Fusion.

Second worst was a 1984 Corvette. A nightmare of electrical issues from day 1. The dealer had to gut the cars interior to replace the Liquid Crystal gauge module that shorted out. Was on the way to the port at Oakland in 1985 to send the car to my next duty station (Hawaii). C-rapped out on me in the western badlands of Nebraska at 8PM on a Sunday. Trucker pick me up and took me to the next metropolis (Kimball). Finally found a wrecker and we went out to pick up the POS. I had the driver drop the car at the Chevrolet dealer (sideways blocking the service entrance). I was back there when the dealer opened in the AM on Monday. I traded the POS the day after it arrived in HI.

 

[MCompact]

1973 Bronco V8 I inherited from my father; rust-prone, glacially slow, dodgy handling/braking, 13 mpg at best, and nonexistent HVAC.

 

[HM12460]

2001 Taurus. Very poor fit/finish, broke down a lot, not really good on gas either.

 

[littleant]

Well at 16 my first car 1958 Chevy bel air 283. Paid $200.00. The guy delivered it I paid him and he left. I got into the car and me and the seat promptly went through the floor. That was just the beginning. I don't want to talk about it.

 

[OVERKILL]

The 2005 Subaru Forester XT that we owned briefly that was plagued with issues.

 

[SatinSilver]

^ Was it purchased new or used Overkill? Thanks!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
^ Was it purchased new or used Overkill? Thanks!


Used, with impeccable service records.

There is an entire thread about that car on here somewhere.

 

[PeterPolyol]

Hands down the 97 Camry CE.
Shortly after driving off the lot new, it required a head gasket. Luckily that's the only one it needed in our ownership. Then it kept going back for "grinding/moaning" brakes. That problem was never solved and we just concluded that they were inadequate size for the weight of the vehicle that they were just overheating on normal operation. The brakes in that car are by and far the WORST BRAKES I've ever experienced in any automobile in my entire life. Everything about the brakes was wrong. The brake booster was a Piece- when you hit the brakes, you would get this strong "shock absorber" like resistance, complete with the sound of hissing air.

If you made a low speed emergency braking event, the sequence went like this:
-the more urgently you pressed the brake pedal, the more the pedal resisted
-the ABS would start modulating at any opportunity and not stop modulating, drastically increasing braking distances at low speed. Most other, decent ABS systems let the wheel lock below a set speed, not the Camry. It didn't stop until you whacked the car in front. Abyssmal implementation.

About 220K KMs suspension mounts on all 4 corners gave problems. The rears needed strut mounts to remedy clunking, the fronts needed strut mount bearings to remedy coil spring juddering when turning the wheel, 4 struts got replaced.

The engine control system couldn't determine that a Coolant Temp Sensor was erratic and faulty for years, causing major problems with the way it ran & started (causing random stalling and hard, no start conditions). The faulty sensor was serendipitously discovered when I just happened to disconnect the ECT plug with the car idling, and it suddenly went back to normal.

Vacuum Switching Valve illuminated the CEL and had to chase that down to pass inspection. The solenoid is buried in the rear of the engine, below the intake manifold. A real peach to access.

The headlights were junk. It used a nice bulb (H4) in what has to be the worst housing an H4 bulb has ever been installed in. The polycarbonate lenses began clouding in 5 years.

Wiring issue in the trunk causes wires to twist with the trunklid, weaken and eventually break killing the plate lights and the inner trunk tail lights. Classic XV20 camry issue there.

The hood on the car was stupid heavy. I don't know what Toyota was trying to do there (help pass crash tests?) but it gave an already incompetent vehicle even worse dynamics. It was rusting at the edges and at chipped areas.

The door handle got brittle and snapped off one day picking up Thai food. Never broke the door handle off a car before, let alone from degraded plastic.

Body colour paint was a different shade then the bumper covers.

The cloth seats had edge seams opening up and rust perforation at the top of the windshield eventually caused leaks and soaked headliner. I used some beige silicone caulking to fix that.

Other replacement items on the engine were 2 water pumps (done with the belt), one oil pump, one radiator, one tstat, an o2 sensor and a couple of valve cover gaskets.

Fuel efficiency was poor, the trans programming always liked to rev up to 4000 at least, even with ~20% throttle opening. Shift program was definitely tailored to mask the inadequacy of the 2.2L.

At least the transmission hardware and alternator were problem free.

 

[OVERKILL]

^WOW!

 

[jeepman3071]

2000 Buick Century 3.1L. I had it for under a year. Got rid of it with 34,000 miles.

It was previously my grandma's, and she took outstanding care of the car, as she did all of her vehicles. It was stored in a heated garage, and taken to the dealer for service religiously. If my grandma heard a noise, it went to the dealer.

At 34,000 miles, it had some odd electrical issues. The transmission shifted quite hard, which they seemed to be notorious for after some research. The check engine light came on and went off every so often, and every once in a while it would take a few extended cranks to start. The fuel gauge was also very inaccurate. It was comfortable, and surprisingly capable on snowy roads, but the electrical and transmission stuff kinda worried me, especially for only having 30,000 miles.

 

[GMFan]

01 Saturn SL 5spd. Bought used at 88k miles with all maintenance records. After 100k miles everything started to go. At the end it needed a wheel bearing, had blown speaker, radio died, water pump failing, failing timing chain and bad clutch hydraulics. Junked at 135k miles. Then again it cost $9,800 new...

Older guy I bought it from always drove Saturns, I think he knew exactly when to dump them too. I think I paid $3,800 cash for it and put in a few $k in repairs getting it to 135k. Would have been cheaper to buy it new!

Car reminded me of national lampoons vacation when Clark visits the hoover [censored] and every time he puts gum in one hole another area springs a leak. Every time I repaired something, 5k miles later something else broke.

 

[GMFan]

Originally Posted By: gman2304
1985 Subaru GL10 turbo wagon. The automatic transmission grenaded on the way home from the dealer the day I bought it!


Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
The salesman said the first one caught on fire during assembly.


If these aren't bad omens I don't know what is. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: Elevguy
71 Chevy Vega used more oil than gas


LOL. Yes, that perfectly described my 73 Vega station wagon.

Mine had factory A/C - but the engine was so gutless when the compressor would cycle on, especially when you were driving on the freeway, it felt like someone applied the brakes or you hit a brick wall. When I bought it, the car had fairly low miles on it - like under 30K, but it leaked and burned oil, and needed a new carburetor and the the brakes needed replaced about every 20K miles or so.

I drove it for a couple of years until someone rear ended me in it, then I gave it to an ex girlfriend, who somehow managed to drive it for a couple of more years - leaving a trail of smoke behind it!

The family joke was - on that car you filled up the oil and checked the gas!

It ranks about as low as the 1990 Plymouth Voyager van my father-in-law gave me. After he replaced the engine 2X (with a factory unit) and had the transmission go out 3 times in 3 years, he said "Enough." He gave it to me, I drove it for about a year, had trouble with the transmission AGAIN, and I gave it to my Dad who gave it to a friend.

I would fill up a lot of space with all the stuff I fixed on that van, as well as my close friend's van who had the same year/model.

 

[Aichiguy]

AMC Gremlin. First winter it needed a starter, alternator, carb rebuild, distributor. The back window flopped open every time I took off from stop as latch broke. Glove box door was always open as latch didn't work and door handles we're tempermental. Lots of Gremlins.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: Aichiguy
AMC Gremlin. First winter it needed a starter, alternator, carb rebuild, distributor. The back window flopped open every time I took off from stop as latch broke. Glove box door was always open as latch didn't work and door handles we're tempermental. Lots of Gremlins.


My best friend had one of those. Yup, he all those problems and a few more. I think his was a 73 with the 258 straight six.

He sold it and bought a 78 Nova with the straight six (250 I think?). The Nova was many times over a better car than the Gremlin. It had much more power but got better gas mileage. He had it for about 10 years or so, and put a lot of trouble free miles on it.

 

[Silk]

Worst car I ever had was a Peugeot 404 Coupe - plenty of 404 sedans around at the time, but the Coupe was very rare. Some guys were having trouble with it, I took one look and figured I could sort that in 80 seconds. It was left hand drive, had a nice new paint job (ding ding), new underseal and the interior was perfect. It had Kugelfischer fuel injection. I couldn't sort it. Then I started work someplace where some guy had worked in the parts department of the Peugeot dealer. He knew the car, it came from New Caledonia and the interior was rotten, so it had a new interior fitted. We had all the specs on how to set the fuel injection up...and it didn't make much difference, one day it would run great, the next terrible. I had it sitting on the back lawn over winter...and the floor fell out, or at least the underseal painted cardboard did. What a piece of junk...I was lucky someone paid me a small amount of money for it.

Worst motorcycle was a Matchless G9, the 500cc twin. I rode it home, stopped and was still sitting on it when the wiring burnt out. It was down hill from there - what a piece of junk, some how I managed to sell it.

 

[Cujet]

Jetta TDI. By the third time it left us stranded, I should have sold it. That car had more expensive repairs than any vehicle I’ve ever seen. The Final straw was when the dual mass flywheel exploded and took out the DSG transmission. In 70k miles, $12,000 worth of repairs. Disgusting.

 

[exranger06]

I'd have to say my worst vehicle was a 1999 Ford Explorer. Now, I'm a big Ford fan and also a big Explorer fan and I think they're very good, reliable trucks (Mom's still driving a '94 that was my first car and has been excellent), but this one had lived a long hard life and was ready for the junkyard by the time I got it. It belonged to a family member and he was going to junk it because it wouldn't start. I figured I could fix it up cheap and use it as a winter beater. So he gave it to me for free and I towed it home. In the back of my mind I knew it was probably a bad idea, but since it was FREE, I figured I couldn't lose. Even if I had to dump a few grand into it to rebuild the transmission (the transmission did not shift right, one of its many issues), I'd still come out ahead...right? So, I got it running (needed a new ECM), fixed many minor issues (replaced ball joint, radiator, parking brake shoes and cables, EGR tube, brake line, hood struts, ABS sensor, seatbelt buckle, fixed exhaust leak to name a few things I did). I didn't fix the transmission-- I figured I'd limp it along for a year or two and if the truck proved otherwise reliable, I'd get it rebuilt. Well, after getting it all fixed up, I drove it a whole 30 miles before the lower intake manifold gasket blew and puked coolant everywhere. I had an appointment to get 2 new tires and an alignment the following day, so I guess it's good it blew before I sank any more money into it. I considered fixing the intake gasket since I had already invested so much time and money in it, but decided not to. I think I made the right call. I went through my receipts and figured out that I spent a grand total of $1,135 on it. A junkyard would've given me maybe $200 if I was lucky. I'm stubborn and refuse to lose $900 over this, so I'm currently parting it out. I made over $900 selling parts so far, and I'm determined to at least break even! The Explorer continues to sit in my driveway, a literal shell of its former self, waiting for the day I finally haul it off to the scrapyard.

 

[Win]

1979 CVCC Honda. edit: bought brand new at a rip off price.

If it could bust, bend, break, come loose, fail, leak, rust, rip, rattle, strip, short, squeal, whistle, or just plain fall off going down the road when it ran, it did.

 

[Dave Sherman]

I'd have to say the 2010 Traverse I have now. True, I bought it used with 99,000 miles, but it was well maintained and had all the records. Only unscheduled repair until then was a bad O2 sensor. Seemed like a good vehicle.

In the 60,000 miles since:

Odometer/DIC display died. Can only read it at night or if I cover the daylight sensor.
Power mirror switch fell apart inside, short circuited the power supply, and blew the fuse.
Driver's door speaker harness corroded and failed. Could not hear the warning chime which only plays through the left front speaker when I left the lights on one day.
One week after fixing the speaker harness, the speaker itself failed.
Left front ball joint failed.
Left rear shock decided to part ways with the rubber bushing at the top mount, leading to loud clunking over bumps. Couldn't it just wear normally?
Left rear window switch failed.
Illumination for the rear A/C controls failed.
Below 20 degrees it randomly throws "service all wheel drive" and "service traction control" messages. Based on the experiences of others, the odds of fixing it are slim to none. It's a "feature".
Recharged A/C twice.
Keyless entry fob died. New battery didn't fix it and it couldn't be re-learned.

At least I haven't experienced the dreaded 3.6 timing chain problems and no check engine lights (knock on wood).