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  • mad_machine

    March 11, 2010 3:39 p.m. mad_machine PowerDork

    Long story short.. almost two years ago I bought a 94 Saab NG900.. at the time i bought it, it needed a new transmission, but ran great otherwise.

    I took my time in buying said transmission, putting it in, and knocking out the dents and painting it. During this time, the driver's side rear caliper seized and needed to be replaced to get through inspection.

    The next year, I took it off the road again for the summer to fix the terrible paint job I did the first time. I get it all primered up and ready for paint, I just need to back it out of the garage to wash her down to get all the gunk off from wetsanding.. the starter died while the car was sitting.

    I replaced the starter with a supposed good unit (tested) from a junk yard, and all I get is a click AND I have a massive power draw when I hook up the battery to judge by the snap when I put the connection in place.

    I have NEVER had a car fight me as much as this saab. This coming from a guy who drive Fiats for 10 years. I also had to replace the radio as that died as well soon after I bought the car. I am having the starter rebuilt, and if this does not do it, I am seriously beginning to entertain the throughts of parting this car out.

    Anybody else have similar experiences?

  • ReverendDexter

    March 11, 2010 3:45 p.m. ReverendDexter Dork

    Yep. For as much as I love Broncos, my second one, an '85 351 "HO" fought me tooth and nail every step of the way, 'til I finally had her ass towed to the junkyard.

    I had a bad feeling when I bought that truck, but I drove 5 hours to look at it, and I wasn't about to waste 10 hours of my life and not get a truck, damnit.

    Now I know better, hahaha.

  • Giant Purple Snorklewacker

    March 11, 2010 3:54 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

    I have regretted many, even some I loved. I have even regretted selling a car I regretted buying.

  • Eb4Prez

    March 11, 2010 4:03 p.m. Eb4Prez New Reader

    Nearly every time!

  • DrBoost

    March 11, 2010 4:04 p.m. DrBoost Dork

    I've only regretted one car, ever (I think I've owned about 30, and I'm only 37). Ironically it was the newest, lowest mileage car I ever bought. It was a 2000 Fucus. That thing left me stranded twice on the highway in 5 months. That brought my left-on-the-side-of-the-road lifetime grand total of 2! I've owned 4 cars with 1/4 millions miles, one of them had 364,000 and have never been left on the road.

  • neon4891

    March 11, 2010 4:05 p.m. neon4891 UberDork

    I regret my current car. Took $1k to pass inspection when I bought it. Another $1k for the transmision. About another $400 for other repairs, not counting 2 sets of tires, in the first year. I bought it for $2400 in the first place.

    It also sucks when I think about the other cars I turned down, including a spotless MK VIII

  • mad_machine

    March 11, 2010 4:08 p.m. mad_machine PowerDork

    I am thinking I may want to buy a Vdub next... can't be any more trouble than this saab has been...

    Seriously, I might pick up a classic 900 instead..

  • oldtin

    March 11, 2010 4:11 p.m. oldtin Reader

    VW golf sport - seemed engineered nicely, but components failed regularly, clearcoat fell off, trim fell off... it was still a fun car

  • amg_rx7

    March 11, 2010 4:13 p.m. amg_rx7 Reader

    Some regrets on my part:

    1. My very first car was a 1977 VW Scirocco bought in 1988. Rusty as hell and needed more mechanical work than it was worth.

    2. My second car was a 1984 VW Scirocco (used from a dealer) bought in 1989. After buying it, I discovered that the dealer had turned back the mileage on it. Sued them and recovered half my money. The car broke down regularly leaving me stranded many a night in college and afterwards...

    3. Bought a '95 e36 CPO with 18k miles in 1998. That car ran up over $7k of repair bills in 2-3 years.

    I never regretted buying any of the 7 or 8 RX7s I've owned and they never gave me any of the grief those cars did.

  • Cotton

    March 11, 2010 4:15 p.m. Cotton HalfDork

    My first Porsche. It was a rough and highly modified 944 Turbo that I didn't get a PPI on. It was great as a second car, then I totalled my 90 Laser Turbo and it became my DD..,.......a highly modified black 951 is not a good DD anytime, much less in the Summer. Eventually I blew the motor. I actually regret selling it though because later on I bought another, much nicer, 951 and could have used parts off the old one.

    My 93 MKIV Supra- Beautiful car, but I got a lemon....very unreliable. I was glad to see it go and even from the day I bought it regretted not getting a TT. If I ever buy another MKIV Supra it will be a TT.

    My first 87 MR2. It had been a theft recovery and just wasn't a good example. I was glad to see it go. I bought another 87 MR2 and loved it......better car, better color, more reliable, and I liked the t tops.

  • maroon92

    March 11, 2010 4:16 p.m. maroon92 PowerDork

    I wish I had never bought my first TR-7. That was a fun car, but I got raked over the coals on the price. (I was dumb, 16, and wanted a sports car).

    There was more filler on that car than there was metal, the engine "had a rebuild", and when I took it apart 6 months after buying it, there was 300000 miles worth of carbon buildup.

  • GregTivo

    March 11, 2010 4:17 p.m. GregTivo HalfDork

    No, but ask me about my boat

  • scardeal

    March 11, 2010 4:21 p.m. scardeal Reader

    I can't say I've been sorry, but I've looked back at two of them and thought I could have made better choices than I did.

  • March 11, 2010 4:31 p.m. paul New Reader

    2004 Subaru impreza 2.5RS

    Paint started chipping immediately, needed a few new gears/syncros etc every 27k miles (thankfully under warranty), handling was soft yet tough to control anywhere near the limit, slow yet never got over 26 MPG, and insurance cost $300 more a year than my cobra.

    Regret started two months after buying it new...

    The thing that really irks me is all the really nice sport compacts that were available at that time I could of bought instead.

  • Jensenman

    March 11, 2010 4:35 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork

    Only new car I ever bought: a Vega. I will leave the rest of that story to your fevered imaginations.

    '83 Rabbit GTi. Fun car but it actively tried to kill me on several occasions. I swear I heard it cackle when I walked by.

    1974 Mustang II 2.3 4 cylinder with bad rings, bought it cheap. Put rings rods mains etc in it, turned out to have a cracked head.

    Otherwise, either it was an overall good experience or it needed work and I knew what I was getting into.

  • integraguy

    March 11, 2010 4:42 p.m. integraguy HalfDork

    Having owned over 2 dozen cars and a truck or 2, I've never DEEPLY regretted buying any of them....except, maybe for the PV544 I bought in the mid '70s from a private owner. Among other things, the winshield seals leaked like sieves so every now and then, in heavy rain, the windshield wipers would short out. And because I did a minimal pre-purchase inspection, I didn't catch the disasterous rust-through under the driver's seat that the neglected windshield had caused/contributed to?

    Oh, and the engine "lost" a freeze plug within 24 of purchase.....an omen?

  • VanillaSky

    March 11, 2010 4:55 p.m. VanillaSky Reader

    I always regret buying a car at first. Every one of my Hondas, our Saturn, the Nissan truck that was GIVEN to me... Everything just feels like a money pit up front.

    Now, I usually come around. I've only continued to regret 2 of my Hondas, one because I'd bought a carbed car because it was cheap, the other because I really didn't need it, but I wanted to help a friend. Funny thing, he regrets the crap out of that car, too. I've offered to sell it back to him for what I payed for it ( I bought it with a bad transmission that I replaced), and he refuses.

  • Brotus7

    March 11, 2010 5:12 p.m. Brotus7 New Reader

    I regret selling my first GTI just because it was so damned reliable. I replaced it with GLI that was anything but reliable.

    In some ways, I regret buying my favorite car, an '87 MR2, just because for the money I have in it now, I could have had something else that was easier to work on and less expensive to fix when/if something goes bad. That being said, I've beaten the snot out of it in 2 years, and she's been nothing but good to me. I wonder if I would have been happier in a MK2...

    That being said, we've all regretted NOT buying a certain car for whatever reason. For me, when I was 16, there was a guy selling a '65 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible with a 289 and a 4 speed. Red with a white top, it needed some work but that could have been alot of fun (or a nightmare...)

  • NYG95GA

    March 11, 2010 6:52 p.m. NYG95GA UltraDork

    Not so much sorry about the car I bought, but rather the way I bought it. When an NYG Neon Sedan went on eBay from Marietta, several people who saw it (knowing I had an NYG Coupe) contacted me. I'd had a few beers that evening, and put in what I felt sure was a low-ball, no-win bid, just so I could say I'd bid on the damn thing. With 7 cars in the yard already, I needed another one like a hole in the head.

    You know the rest of the story. 8 cars in the yard now, which is bad enough.. but 2 of that color? God help me.

  • March 11, 2010 7:09 p.m. petegossett SuperDork

    I had an 88 740 wagon(5-spd) that I bought off a friend for $500. It was in great shape & ran/drove great.

    We didn't have much money, but we took it on a trip down to FL for a week to visit my mother. While tooling around Ft. Meyers one day it blew the head gasket. Without tools, and knowing I needed a car for work as soon as I got back, I found a European used car lot/shop and gave them the title to the Volvo + $1500 for(what I thought was a good) Audi 4000 Quattro.

    We made the deal & I drove it back to mom's. The next day it wouldn't start & I had to buy a battery. The following day we left for IL. We made it about 120 miles and the car started running very badly. I figured out the tank pickup was sucking up crud from the tank, so I'd shut it off for a bit, then we'd continue on.

    It kept getting worse, so I finally stopped & got a U-Haul and trailer. That added an extra day to the trip + $750 more that I didn't have.

    The sad thing is a few months later I could have got a good 740 Turbo engine & enerything else for almost free.

  • tuna55

    March 11, 2010 7:11 p.m. tuna55 HalfDork

    My ZX2. On paper it seemed perfect - I was driving a 84 Chevy truck that was rusting away, had an oil leak, had no powersteering but other than that was fine. It only got 18-19 mpg and I was driving 60-80 miles per day. My (now) wife bought a Civic, and I drove it to work a few times. I got to work, didn't feel tired, my back didn't hurt, my arms didn't hurt, my ears didn't ring (truck had no exhaust) and I loved it. So I wanted one, but a lot cheaper.

    So I bought a 98 ZX2. Sounds great on paper - 33 mpg, plenty of hp for a econobox, handled nicely, nice on the inside. It was fine when I bought it, except the shifter bracket was lying on the heat shield, which was an easy fix. It was that way because someone just replaced the transmission with a junkyard piece.

    The rear swaybar fell off. Then the #4 spark plug blew out of the hole, then it got stuck in first gear. I figured it was the syncros, so I hammered the shifter thingie back in (out of first gear) and drove it. Pretty soon I had no 1,3 or 5. Then reverse started to get flaky. I pretty much ended up with just third after a while. It was getting crazy. I spent $900 and sold it for $200. Worst loss ever, too.

  • March 11, 2010 8:07 p.m. Knurled New Reader

    mad_machine wrote:

    Anybody else have similar experiences?

    Isuzu no longer sells cars, for a DAMNED good reason.

    That's all I will say on that painful subject.

  • Tyler H

    March 11, 2010 8:08 p.m. Tyler H Dork

    I've really regretted everything I've bought that was made in Europe. '84 Rabbit Diesel. 92 Corrado SLC. 86 Peugeot 505.

  • ditchdigger

    March 11, 2010 10:11 p.m. ditchdigger Reader

    An 84 Rabbit would have been made in Pennsylvania....Not Europe

  • 02Pilot

    March 11, 2010 10:42 p.m. 02Pilot Reader

    Kinda regretted the 1999 Saab 9-5 I had for 2.5 years. In that time it ate an accessory belt due to a bad idler pulley (that failure happened within 12 hours of picking it up), blew its turbo in a truly spectacular fashion on I95 near the SC-GA state line (some 850 miles from home) in the middle of the night, and then finally ate its transmission. It also didn't quite live up to my expectations in the way it drove; seemed a bit more appliance-like than I prefer. A basically competent but uninspiring performer, when it was functional at least.

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