Cars you bought thinking you would hate, yet ended up loving?

91 Suburban 4x4 (last of the square bodies). I didn't buy it thinking I would hate it, but I also sure didn't think I'd love it. I bought it because it was CHEAP and it really was kind of an impulse buy. I used to be one of those people that stereotyped large SUV owners to a certain extent. Now I realize I just wasn't open minded enough because these are awesome vehicles. At 303k miles it blew a headgasket, so I replaced it with an almost identical 89 model....both of them FI with an overdrive auto trans.

Tomorrow I'm going to look at a 69 3 door suburban because now I'm addicted to them.

2003 Toyota Corolla. Belongs to the Fiance, and she has had it for about 7 or 8 years now. Damn good car. Peppier than I expected, and it gets good MPG.

It has actually had me looking for Vibes/Matrices a few times.

Cotton wrote: Tomorrow I'm going to look at a 69 3 door suburban because now I'm addicted to them.

I owned a '68 3 door. Loved it!

Two come to mind. Civic DX hatch. Bought it for the high MPG (was commuting to school at the time), but thought anything not made in Murica and having less than 250hp couldn't possibly be fun or cool. Loved that car and would still own it had it not rusted out from under me.

Also, my current Saturn SL. Slow, plain, lame and ugly but, despite spending almost nothing on the car, its been indestructible. Absolutely a perfect "winterbeater".

I'd say my 2001 Insight was a surprise. I bought it without ever having ridden in or driven another one, and honestly my test drive didnt even really tell me how it actually drove because it took me a LONG time to get used to the gearing. Once i learned how to drive it differently, my major gripe about acceleration was alleviated, and it grew on me until i now think of it as probably the 2nd best car ive ever owned out of 50-something and cant see myself getting rid of it. I can totally see myself buying a nicer one, though!

The best car i've ever owned, that also totally exceeded expectations, was my 1990 Dodge Caravan 2.5/5spd. I bought it as a novelty and ended up looking at it as, in the context of its era, one of the best cars EVER MADE.

I dont think its about buying things you hate as much as it is about having things exceed expectations.

My '98 DOHC Neon. Bought it cause it was cheap and clean, and some of you dudes like them. I thought it would be a rattly pile of poo. But it's actually and really fun, economical ride. It's been very trouble free too.

My dad bought a '79 Toyota Corolla lift back that was a couple of years old. Metallic brown with a tan interior. I figured out it had AC when he got it home. Only indication inside was a ring around the outside of the fan switch. He hadn't even looked under the hood. Doubt he would have known what to look for anyway. Had a 5 speed, at least. That meant that Mom wouldn't drive it. I think that's secretly what he bought it, although he said it was for fuel economy.

I was strictly a muscle car guy, but I really liked that car. It rusted like crazy with the salty roads of Northern Indiana, but I bought a 1978 Corolla SR5 fastback anyway. Loved that car, too. I was always trying to get more power out of it, but there were not many performance options for Toyota in the Midwest in those days.

I've had two.

1978 Ford Fairmont. It was a POS, but it was a nice POS that always did what you wanted it to. At least until my wife blew it up. I should have rebuilt that one and kept it forever. I keep looking, but they are gone or over priced.

1981 Toyota Corolla Wagon. Great little car. Too bad the tin worm got it.

The Oldsmobile crapwagon I listed for sale on here and sold locally for $300. I think it was a '92 Ciera Cruiser or something. Got in a poor trade, needed a ride. Cut springs, rode horribly, no headliner, radio, nor exhaust from the front row back. Filthy. Third row seats. Had no idea the front strut towers were rusted through until I sold it. It killed a freeze plug, drove 10 miles without coolant, and was just fine(3300 V6). Toughest pile of dump, ever. I loved it and really, REALLY want it back. It would've been sweet with some lacy wheels, a haggard together stereo, and no roof, just so I could troll around with friends in the summer.

I bought a 98 Civic a few years ago and I didn't like it that much. It was mostly about the styling. Some of it was the ricer Civic stereotype. But, it didn't break down that often even though I drove a lot and it was cheap to maintain. It also got really good gas mileage. When I put Koni yellow shocks, lowering springs, and slotted rotors on it, the car transformed from a standard car anyone has to a corner carving, stopping machine (for a Civic, anyway). 2 burned up engines and a sloppy shifter had me sending it to the junkyard, though.

My in-laws have a new Impala. I borrowed it for a weeks while I flew to Michigan to winterize the cottage/chill and they flew to Texas to hang with the grandkids. I was unenthusiastic about the car, but it was damn nice. It's loaded up with leather and pretty much every option. It's the first GM crapbox I've driven where the chassis didn't give up long before the tires. Not that I'd want to autocross it, but at sane-ish road speeds it was fantastically competent and comfortable. I'm not sure I'd buy one, but I'll ask to borrow it again.

I didnt think I would hate it, but I ended up liking my A4 (01, 1.8T Auto) a lot more than I was expecting to. Despite that, I don't think I had it two months before trading it off.

doc_speeder wrote: My '98 DOHC Neon. Bought it cause it was cheap and clean, and some of you dudes like them. I thought it would be a rattly pile of poo. But it's actually and really fun, economical ride. It's been very trouble free too.

This! My wife and I picked up a '97 DOHC Sport to use as a commuter. It was pretty beat and maybe 175k miles on it. I remember thinking before driving it home that I was going to need to put a bit of work into it before I would even let my wife drive it. Turns out that the car felt remarkably solid at speed and handled really nicely. It served our needs quite capably until she sold it to a friend that needed a car. Last I heard, the Neon was still kicking, living a hard life at the hands of her two teenage sons.

The big one for me was any 90's honda civic with a 5spd. I initially bought one as a a beater because it was cheap, reliable, gets great gas mileage, and I could easily turn around and sell it. I ended up really enjoying everything about the car. Perhaps no thrills, but the double wishbone suspension handles great for an econobox, the engine is smooth, the transmissions always shift like butter, and they're dependable as heck... I really understand where the honda magic term comes from and it leads to me always looking at 5th and 6th gen civics as beaters.

1978 Ford Fairmont Wagon. 4 door, 4 cylinder, 4 speed manual. Bought it as a sign business work vehicle for $500

I owned it back in the mini-truck heydays of the mid 80s. First thing I did was replace the 78 series whitewalls with 60 series Gatorbacks, replace the fullwheel covers with dog dish hubcaps and paint the wheels a matching dark blue as the body. Then I did a 1" drop on the front, and 1/2" drop in the rear, via Mustang GT suspension bits. Limo tinted all side and rear glass, replaced factory striping with hand done teal and magenta, and swapped out the bench seat with Mustang buckets. Finally, I had the 2300 rebuilt, with 12:1 SBC PAW forgings, milled head, Weber carbs and an exhaust system from Esslinger.

The box handled great, got good MPGs, could fit lots of stock car fiberglass, and hauled butt. Plus, it was a hit with the mini-truck crowd as it was a mini version of a modern SUV.

can't say I ever have. Even my first car was a turbo plymouth voyager (given to me by parents, well-used), but I didn't expect to hate it....it was an LX model with the gray mesh wheels and gray rocker cladding, dark red seats, 10-sepaker stereo (that was a lot for early 1990s!)....so it was actually pretty cool (for a minivan).

That was the only car I've owned that I didn't buy. For ones I buy, I won't buy it for any price (even free) if I think I'm gonna hate it.

closest I ever came was one summer in college when I was rebuilding the GT6 engine and was "given" on a temporary loan, Grandmother's Subaru DL wagon. It was yellow, ugly, and I knew I'd hate it. And I did hate it. Even less fun to drive and slower than I could ever imagine....literally the definition of an automotive appliance.

Not exactly what was being asked, but I drove a 4X4 Tracker on a lark, and fell in love.Bought one shortly thereafter. Once I ditched the back seat, and put some aggressive 235/75/15's on it, it was a suprisingly competent off roader, and pretty darn good on the highway, too.

'91 tercel 4 speed for a winter beater,ran like a clock and liked it so much the summer car usually only moved occasionally on weekends and we drove the turtle.Paid $600 for it,certified it for next to nothing and drove it for nearly 2 yrs 100% problem free and sold it it for $1500 the same day I listed it.

I bought a Tercel for my son to use as a trouble free DD, and it turned out to be the worst car we've not only owned, but the worst car I've ever driven. That thing handled so poorly, IMO, it was dangerous. I worried the whole time he drove it, and was relieved when it developed a bad rod knock. Worst. Car. Ever.

When my wife and I were dating, I told her I would pay half if she wanted to buy a car. She agreed and I found her a 78 Fairmont from my mom's friend. It was filthy dirty, dented in every corner, and had the wrong size tires on it. OTOH, it was 7 years old, had low mileage, and only $800. She hated it the minute she saw it, but after a bit of body work, two tone paint job, proper rubber, and wire wheel caps, she loved it. I was never a Ford fan, but it was an excellent car. Funny thing was, it turned out to be a target. Everybody ran into this thing, and between the insurance and cash payouts, we made good money on it.

As a driving god I probably just made up for the turtles shortcomings.

My Saturn was a surprise. I thought it would be a reliable DD with good gas mileage. Now 100k later its really a good little car. No issues ever outside of maintenance, awesome fuel economy, and it handles pretty well for a front driver.

'87 Pontiac Grand Am, 2 door, 2.5 iron duke/5 speed. Bought it with 170k, put a bit of work i to it and it gave me comfy, reliable, 30+ mpg, 80 mph runs between DC and Long Island for about two years before my brother drove it through a telephone pole with 235k miles.

Not purchased but long term rented when in korea: Kia Soul. I expected to hate it, it was pretty guttless, auto, no real optional extras. Driving in the twisties it was actually surprizingly not horrible. Gutless up a mountain, but not the understeering pig I expected. Plenty of space for suitcases/stuff we bought, too. The context (again, South Korea) made it feel like a mini-van sized vehicle instead of a compact box. I wouldn't say I ended up loving it, but I grew to understand how perfect it was for the context. In America, I probably would've hated it, but in South Korea, I would've hated my beloved old Econoline. It really made me start to understand how a global vehicle is so difficult to get right.

1987 4 cylinder 5 speed Mustang LX. A whopping 86 HP when it was new I believe. Lots of one wheel peels in that thing. Could drive it hard and barely reach 40.

I've never bought a car expecting to hate it. The Honda Fit pleasantly surprised me though