Bad cars that were good for you.

94 Geo Prism, SWMBO made me buy it from her so I would have "something reliable" to drive when she got a Mk4 Jetta (she got a new car!) and I could retire one of my many POS Volkswagens from daily duty. Drove it for for 2yrs and 34k miles without popping the hood a single time. It was awful in the best ways, like I didn't want to work on it, so I didn't. At all. Got hit in the parking lot at work and got totaled by a car going maybe 5mph and it was moving 0mph. I think I made money on it.

In reply to Tom1200 :

I heard stories from people in the ford dealerships back in that era hat it wasn't uncommon for a tempo/topaz to come in and doors couldn't open because the door openings were so tight, windows that couldn' ove because the doors were tweaked etc. 

I've had a few cars that were good, that people tend to shy away from. I loved my '02 PT Cruiser Touring 5 speed manual trans car, as it was one of the most practical and reliable cars I had over the 7 years I had it from new.

But the best bad car was my '81 Chevy Citation V6 4 door hatch. two tone brown with dents and crappy interior, that went to 323k miles before I got rid of it. Perfect parts hauler and dog hauler. Identical to this one (but with a few more dents):

bobzilla said:

My folks bought an 84 Ford Tempo 5-spd in 1988 and then a 1989 auto Topaz in 1991. The Tempo was.... odd. Engine threw a rod bolt at 120k miles idling through town. Ate ball joins every 30k miles and passenger CV shafts yearly (in a time when AZ wasn't around every corner. Those were $300 a pop in 1994).

The Topaz was sold with 280k miles. Had never had anyhing but plugs/wires/cap/rotor/tires/oil. It was slow as balls. Not ergonomic (late 80's Ford). Not really fuel efficient (~27mpg on the highway). But it was a cockroach. Hell, it didn't even have rust when we sold it in 1999.

The Topaz was the odd one.  I made a lot of money doing front end work on Tempazes.  They all ate ball joints and tie rod ends on a regular basis, everything was speced a little too small.  Okay a lot too small.

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

I find myself wondering how awesome an 04-07 STI would be at rallycross.  I'd love to find out.

Very good.  The only thing better is an Evo IX.