Jerry
Reader
4/2/13 6:03 p.m.
There have probably been pretty of threads about your favorite car, and I remember the one about which you wish you hadn't sold. How about your WORST car? One you could not wait to kill with fire??
I'll start off with this piece of E36 M3 '95 S-10 Blazer that had issues starting with the test drive, and continued until the day I got t-boned in an accident and it finally got hauled away. Good riddance.
Paid $2500 for it in 2005 or so, supposedly just needed a tune-up, not the $800 worth of injector replacement it got. From then on, almost nothing worked on it. Except cruise somehow.
(Notice my editing work on the Beechmont Chevrolet license tag. The only time I've ever left that kind of advertising on a vehicle.)
You?
Nashco
UberDork
4/2/13 6:12 p.m.
Ford Supercoupe. Only car I ever bought that I gave up on and sold before I ever got it running. Working on it was a constant cuss fest.
Bryce
SVreX
MegaDork
4/2/13 6:13 p.m.
Fiat 128.
My best car ever was probably a Yugo (a re-worked Fiat 128).
1997 or 1998 Cadillac Sedan Deville, in maroon. I've never hated any other car, and I mean never. That car was the devil incarnate, and I still shudder every time I see one the same color.
85 Mercury Grand Marquis. I drove it maybe 5-6 times before giving up on it. I can't remember exactly what the issues were (I was 16), but they made it undriveable at best. Sat down the hill at my dad's for several years, until I sold it to friends as a cheap 302 donor. We flat towed it to their house, halfway there the brakes caught on fire and ignited a rat's nest in the wheel housing, almost killing me.
89 cavalier. Went from broken water pump belt to warped head in 0.0000002 seconds.
yamaha
UltraDork
4/2/13 6:15 p.m.
The turbo Daytona I sent to the scrapyard was by far the biggest POS I've ever owned.....it ranks below non running cars even
Tie S10 or a Ford Explorer. I hated them both
I had a 88 K-car without heat for two winters in the UP of Michigan. The car never stranded me and except for the lack of heat was a very functional car. When it was warm I didn't care about the lack of heat and by the time it was cold enough to care it was easier to suffer than actually work on it. One of the very few cars that I had no emotional attachment to and was glad to sell.
The car that nearly made me leave Saabs...
At no point during my ownership was it ever NOT broken. And every time I fixed something, at least two more would break. This car also holds the record of having the biggest oil leak of any car I've owned - 1 quart every 20 miles out the front crank seal.
Easy, '90-something Daewoo Cielo, worst POS ever. Some poor sap's still driving it
'81 Charger 2.2. I owned it exactly 30 days. In that period it managed to overheat and poof the head gasket. I also discovered it had been wrecked and fixed not-so-well. The cable shifter was like stirring a box of uncooked noodles. No aftermarket for it at the time. I bought it because it was the hot rod of it's day. Iaccoca still owes me money for that thing. Swore me off Mopars for nearly 30 years.
My '74 Pinto was a close second. It too poofed a head gasket (2.0, almost a tradition). It was a total POS I paid $300 for though, so I kind of expected it to suck.
I still own it. I wish it a quick and painful demise with hopefully no humans involved.
Jerry
Reader
4/2/13 6:36 p.m.
In reply to wearymicrobe:
I believe you win the newest worst car ever.
I have a tie. One was my 1990 GMC lowrider it had so many electrical gremlins and shoddy work I owned it 4 months drove it 3 times (day I bought it, to the shop and day I sold it I drove it from the shop) my GF drove it a good bit and it miraculously never killed her.
My 2001 Dodge dually ext cab diesel. 5spd. I bought it with 3rd gear out. Fixed it and began to modify it. It started out as a perfectly good truck and I changed turbos and sprayed methanol and and and... Until it was so unreliable I didn't like to drive it to work because it would probably break down and make me late. So I sold it for about what the tires and clutch cost me and that guy tried to sell it back for less a week later... Probably sitting on the roadside on his way to work.
No Dodges since. Ironically enough all the cheap junk I've had was the most reliable.
mtn
PowerDork
4/2/13 6:51 p.m.
I've never had a bad car per se--
If I had to pick one, the SAAB 9-5 crapped out on my brother. But when I had it before him, and after him (with a brand new engine) it was awesome. Definitely the most unreliable though.
The wife ordered a GM employee program 1986 Pontiac Grand Am SE. Second year car, 1st year for the SE version.
GM said the new car was at the dealer - dealer couldn't find it. I found it in the back with a dent. Fixed the brand new rear quarter panel. She then stops over the first night with the Trans leaking on my dads driveway.
Many relays warranty work later the Trans dies at 50,000 miles and GM won't help. After the fourth Chicago winter a ton of rust started. Changing the rear plugs scarred me.
I hated that car but loved the car. Go figure.
Hate to say it because I wanted so much to love it....but that would have to be my 1990 Cherokee (2-door, 5-speed, I6)
It was a fun PROJECT....I much enjoyed taking a beat old, poorly-built XJ, and re-doing all of it, making it more functional, better looking, and more capable.
But once I was done with the build, I realized that I really hated driving the thing. Handling sucked, brakes sucked, wasn't terribly quick, seats and interior were lousy. I drove it here and there almost because I was obligated to, because I drooled over XJ's when I was younger and always wanted one.
Also two things didn't help:
1. RENIX. The bane of my existence. Had I bought a later HO non-Renix XJ, that would have eliminated half of my frustration with it.
2. 4RUNNER. We bought a new 4Runner in 2009. After driving the T4R one time the XJ just seemed like a giant piece of junk every time I got into it. It came to a point where I had no excuse to keep the XJ, and I ended up selling it off, admittedly for about what I paid for it and to fix it up, so it was a push in the end.
^^ other than that, I can honestly say I've "liked" or "loved" every car I've owned since I bought my first car in 1993 (an '87 Integra with broken AC and 180k miles)....
I never really owned a bad car but my sister's car was so bad it genetically attached itself to me. What was it? Chevrolet Vega. Chevy's answer to the imports. Aluminum block, cast iron sleeves, which liked to crack ( the block that is), burn oil, overheat, rust, had a 2 speed auto tranny. Took forever to accelerate and stop. Everything either fell off or quit working or both. In fact it was so bad it's far easier to list what was good about it because there wasn't anything good about it. Chevrolet covered some items under warranty but then refused after the second block cracked. My sister ended up leaving it sitting outside the Chevy dealership with a big sign that said "Lemon" on it. She had it towed there because it didn't run. Oddly the car was yellow in color. There's a reason you don't see many (any) Vegas driving around any more. It was so bad and she was treated so poorly by Chevrolet I still will never drive/buy a Chevy even 40 years later.
1983 Nissan Stanza. Bought it not running, sold it the same way. It worked out to one hour of driving to one hour of working on it. I HATED that car with a burning passion. What a piece of E36 M3.
I haven't owned a Nissan since.
Jerry wrote:
In reply to wearymicrobe:
I believe you win the newest worst car ever.
That being the worst car I have ever owned is a major accomplishment. I have had near 60 cars in the last 17 years.
Even in a world of 4.50$ gas its a hateful little thing. The worst part is if they had just spent maybe another three months getting the details right, and fixed the stupid CVT transmission it would actually be a decent car.
+20-25hp, with the 5 speed out of the xB, interior lights that actually work, slightly stiffer sway-bars so you don't get motion sickness and just a little bit better tires and the thing would hit a sweet spot and still get 40mpg.
Tie: 1982(?) Cutlass Supreme. It became known as "The Le-MON Supreme." What a berkeleying piece of E36 M3. If I could buy that car back for $500 tomorrow I'd do it in a heartbeat, just so I could take a E36 M3 in it, light it on fire, and push it off a berkeleying cliff.
1985 Chrysler New Yorker Turbo. That car was fun as E36 M3 when I wasn't putting out electrical fires.
1999 P71.
bought with 64k. frame rotted out from under the car at 78k. in between it was a general POS