Simple Q: Most unreliable car you've ever had?

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I don't think I've truly had a bad car. I tend to rack up miles quickly, then move on.

My 2004 VW would be the worst, and I suspect most on this board would say "meh" to its failures. It did need wheel bearings at 105k, struts at 133k, and a few repairs before the 250k mark--but it was always something I schedule and plan for. However, at the 250k mark it had to be towed twice, once for a turbo failure and once for a fuel pump failure. I had both repaired, putting in a bigger turbo and had it chipped, and I then drove it for a couple more years and 60k, with no other issues. It did seem to go through windshields, but perhaps that was from cheapo aftermarket (soft) replacements.

After 9 or 10 years it did rust through. Dealer denied repairs despite the 12 year perforation warranty so there's that aspect.

Our 2001 Civic was awful, but that was the wife's.
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That darn car needed a/c work every other year, and it had to be towed once when a CV axle broke (recently saw on SMA a Honda where the axle rusted in half--now I wonder if that was the failure).
 
We (my sister and I) "got to" share a 70-something Pontiac Astre, a malignant monstrosity that ALWAYS HAD something wrong until the day it put itself out of our misery.

For those who don't recall (most everyone, I expect, except former owner- victims...) this car was a Chevy Vega clone. In other words, it was a wolf ... in another wolf's clothing. An actual starving wolf with rabies would make a better companion...

This car had the ill-fated aluminum block and iron head engine (you read that right; I didn't get it backwards), with naturally primitive gasket. Nevermind the leaks, the butter-soft unlined cylinder walls assured that "miles per gallon" applied to oil as well as gasoline -- and the numbers were similar...

Thankfully, I've forgotten many of the specific ills this car suffered. There were so many. It finally got its well deserved trip to the junk yard (Pontiac should have shipped it there from the plant...) after it nearly killed my sister. As she tried to turn left across a busy intersection, the shift cable snapped before she could finish getting in second.

Today, people would be indignant over a snapped shift cable. For us, it was just what the Astre did today...
 
It's a tie....2005 Grand caravan and our current 2014 town and country. I've really wanted to like these vans and I hate to read all the negative comments about chrysler vans. The reality is out of all the cars I've owned (foreign and domestic) these vans have had the most issues and have had the most down time by far. I own a 2012 corolla that is boring and unexciting but has had zero issues from day one. I'm getting older and I guess I just want something reliable.
 
Mk7 Golf - nice car, but water pump failed and stranded me after around 15000 miles, and had numerous electrical gremlins from intermittent power windows and electric parking brake to the ECU having a meltdown in the middle of a long journey and shutting the entire car down, necessitating a callout of an engineer with a diagnostics machine to reset the entire car to get me going again (nothing was actually mechanically wrong, the computer had just crashed). Had the car from new as a lease for two years and around 25000 miles, and being stranded twice and annoyed often during that time was not a pleasant ownership experience, compounded by the aggravating level of incompetence that seems endemic in VW UK's customer service.

I've had a few VWs and so have other family members, and it really seems a lottery as to whether they have problems or are bulletproof.
 
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1995 Toyota Camry. It overheated and warped something... just ended up scrapping it. Also drove home the whole "soulless boring car" thing I expected of Toyota. Replaced it with a 2012 Dodge Caliber.
 
Originally Posted by ekpolk


Today, people would be indignant over a snapped shift cable. For us, it was just what the Astre did today...


My mum went to college in the 1960's and had her dad's old Renault Dauphine. She drove through the mountains of Vermont and overheated on the same pass every time. She carried water, added it, then carried on like it was no big deal. We'd be pretty annoyed nowadays.

Her dad showed the world what he thought of that lousy radiator by buying her a brand new air-cooled Beetle as a graduation present.
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Originally Posted by eljefino
Originally Posted by ekpolk


Today, people would be indignant over a snapped shift cable. For us, it was just what the Astre did today...


My mum went to college in the 1960's and had her dad's old Renault Dauphine. She drove through the mountains of Vermont and overheated on the same pass every time. She carried water, added it, then carried on like it was no big deal. We'd be pretty annoyed nowadays.

Her dad showed the world what he thought of that lousy radiator by buying her a brand new air-cooled Beetle as a graduation present.
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She didn't make out so badly on that deal! I drove a rusty '69 Beetle for a year or so spanning 78 and 79 IIRC, maybe into 1980. Check out the recent "kludge" thread, in this forum, for how I once coaxed it back to life with nothing but an 18 inch length of fuzzy pink yarn I found in the grime of the back seat floor... For better or worse, you never had to worry about coolant leaks or contamination...
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As for the Dauphine, well, it still would have been a decent deal for your Mom if your Dad had just taken it away, and not given her any car to replace it! Those things were absolutely atrocious. Several friends or associates of my parents over the years owned examples of these --- things. I was going to say "cars," but that would be too generous.

We really are pretty spoiled today (myself very much included). Very often, the car throws a code, telling you what's wrong with it. Cars of that time made you work to figure out their many problems. Another family friend owned a string of Peugeots. At the same time he professed to love them, he insisted you could never take one on the road without bringing a tool kit! Never did understand his "love" for the brand. Maybe it's like "enjoying" a liquor that sane people realize goes down like a mouthful of flaming napalm.
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I haven't had an unreliable car yet. My bike I had when I was 15-19 would qualify as the most unreliable transportation. It was an 86 Honda Xl250R dual sport, I put about 10k miles on in a couple years. It had stalling and starting issues, leaking head gasket, broken kick starter etc. The 83 grand prix dad gave me when I was 17ish never left me anywhere.

I've had 2 1980s Cutlass, 3 Caprices, a delta 88 and a 2000 Cavalier (for a couple months). I sold the Cavalier because it was boring and uncomfortable for my long drive. The rest I got rid of due to excessive rust but they were all fairly reliable.

When I was a kid my parents had an 84 Plymouth reliant (k car) 2.2L and a 77 Toyota Corolla. Both were very unreliable and broke down a lot.
 
For the first year I owned my Jeep (bought it used with 80k miles) it wasn't the most reliable thing in the world. I soon found out the PO was not very good with maintenance (coolant was full of gunk), oil was hardly changed, etc.

They also really liked Autozone, which is the WORST place to buy parts. The alternator from Autozone with a lifetime warranty failed 3 times before I got a new one from somewhere else. Once I undid everything the previous owner "fixed" the Jeep has been rock solid reliable for 9 more years and 100k+ miles now.

My BMW has been the same way, I had to fix a few things the previous owner "fixed" before I got it, but it has been okay since then. I always know buying a used vehicle I will have to spend a bit on maintenance before it will be up to my standards, and budget that into my purchase price.
 
A Nissan Sentra Wagon . In humid , rainy weather the distributor cap would get condensation inside and the engine would not crank until you dried it out . Also , when you cranked it on a cold morning the engine would rev up to a bazillion rpm's . Hated that car .
 
Toss up between 1976 Vega (overall POS) and 1984 Corvette (massive electrical problems). Over the years, I have had more problems with GM vehicles than any other brand.
 
1988 Jetta GLI 16valve

Fuel pump relay
AC relay
Oil pressure sensor x 2
Turn signal relay
Blower fan and resistor pack
Bad ground (no starts)
Bad ground on ECU led to stalling in traffic

Flawless mechanically!

I actually ended up fixing majority of above DIY from junkyard electrical parts.
 
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