Suzuki uses a proprietary oil filter that is in between two normal sizes and is a pain in the ass to get off. Once I get it off I can put a normal one on but damn it's a pain.
Also, the SX4 looks surprisingly large but it's actually very small and gets bad MPG.
Seats in the Miata. Really? You couldn't give it just a little bolstering?
curtis73 wrote: The Sonoma I just bought has a door misalignment that lets a little air in around the weatherstripping... and the door hinges aren't adjustable. They're welded on the door pillar and the door shell. WTF?
If it is at the junction with the third door, they ALL do that. The third door is held in place with dried out bubble gum and engineered dreams of staying closed. Only fix for it is to just weld it shut.
Vette: it's age. Seriously, the car is amazing but age is a killer. Seals, weatherstrips, rubber...all leak.
Elantra: Seats. I've fixed everythign else. Handles great, stops great. Gets 35mpg and looks pretty decent. Seats are not conducive to more than 12 hours of drivetime at any one time.
Accent: Umm... "Yes". 11 year old eonobox with 90hp. What is there to like?
Truck: Nothing. OK... I wish I could afford a 23mpg daily driver because I love to drive it.
I hate that it hasn't changed into an M Coupe, yet.
I drive a P71 daily. I hate that it's automatic at times, I hate that EVERYONE thinks I'm a cop (at times), and I hate that it's getting slower and slower every year because of all the newer badass cars coming out. I'd love to throw a new 5.0 in it with a turbo and convert it to a 6-speed. Then it would be Win. Well, that and some box flares and 13" wide rubber all around. LOL
The absolute lack of height/tilt adjustment on the seat base for the passenger seat in the Mustang. The seat base is -at best- dead flat and the leather makes you slowly slide out into the floorboard. Drivers seat? 6 way power, no prob. Passenger? tough. I thought my wife was overreacting until I sat in the seat while she drove. god it's awful. At least in '07 they started putting power controls in for the passenger too.
the colored vinyl insert panels on the doors PEELED OFF. at 75k miles. Really? Foam core that doesn't dissolve in 5 years is really that hard to do?
The MINI - it was designed to break down. whoever is responsible for durability should be drug out into the street and shot - the engineering seems like it's designed to fail, the material choice for vital components is shockingly bad....it's a good dam thing they had such a good team designing the driving dynamics.
Seats in the Accent are pretty damn stiff and uncomfortable. I can no longer drive with my wallet in my back pocket or my butt goes numb. I thought they would break in a little bit and soften up after 40k miles. They havent. Also it could use a 6th gear really really bad.
The 89 Country Squire- the wimpy rear axle that can't deal with 1G lateral grip and 4500lbs of badass panther chassis.
BMW 318ti- Seats could be a bit better. Wider shoulder area and more lumbar support.
03 Protege 5.- the wife is driving it.
All the cupholder comments are amusing. The panther chassis (Crown victoria, grand marquis, towncar) never came with cupholders until it was over 20 years old. These are AMERICAN LUXURY CARS and didn't have cupholders. 3 cig lighters and ashtrays, but not one cupholder.
Mazdaspeed3: Aside from the aforementioned cupholders and skid plate, I would like to add the battleship-like turning radius and the thinnest, weakest paint I have ever encountered on a car. Sometimes I wonder if I should just get the whole damn car repainted because of all the scratches, pits, and wear spots in the paint.
RX-7s: No cupholders. The interior gets freaking HOT thanks to the rotary's heat and the acres of glass. The turbo has some ugly silverish tint on the hatch and side windows, but considering it keeps the car much cooler than the non-turbo, I might keep it!
keethrax wrote: The hole in the undertray being in no way lined up with the oil filter under my MS3. Not having a hole would be fine. Having one that doesn't help is just insulting.
thats a money saving thing, the hole lines up with the drain plug and/or filter on the regular 2.3 iirc. similarly why they left the "MPS" logo in the foam around the spare tire. i also hated the cupholder with straws, i poked a hole in a few foam cups that way...
on the xterra, the auto always upshifts to second right after you make a right turn and want to get up to speed quickly, then you have to really let it know you want to move, and it does the whole "downshift to first at 4500 rpm and make me look stupid" thing. really wich i could have found a 6-speed version...
e_pie wrote: IS300, absolutely atrocious gas mileage for a 220hp 3 liter that only weighs 3200lbs, it needs an F20/F22 swap, more power, lighter engine, better gas mileage, win/win.
+1 But I'd like an LS1 in mine, please. Also radio sucks, cd changer has a flawed design and the reception stinks. Even with the stock whipping stick.
Strizzo wrote:keethrax wrote: The hole in the undertray being in no way lined up with the oil filter under my MS3. Not having a hole would be fine. Having one that doesn't help is just insulting.thats a money saving thing, the hole lines up with the drain plug and/or filter on the regular 2.3 iirc. similarly why they left the "MPS" logo in the foam around the spare tire.
Corksport makes a metal skid plate for the Mazda3/Mazdaspeed3 that has an access panel for the oil filter. It's expensive and sort of heavy, but having known some MZ3/MS3 owners that have gone through multiple plastic skid plates, I can see the appeal:
http://www.corksport.com/corksport-04-09-mazda-3-mazdaspeed-3-skidplate.html
Oh, something else that grinds my gears about the MS3: The stupid cartridge oil filter! It came on the 04-09 2.3L and the 07-09 MS3. It's such a mess to work with! Mazda makes a spin-on conversion kit, which begs the question as to WHY they used the cartridges in the first place!
Strizzo wrote:keethrax wrote: The hole in the undertray being in no way lined up with the oil filter under my MS3. Not having a hole would be fine. Having one that doesn't help is just insulting.thats a money saving thing, the hole lines up with the drain plug and/or filter on the regular 2.3 iirc. similarly why they left the "MPS" logo in the foam around the spare tire. i also hated the cupholder with straws, i poked a hole in a few foam cups that way...
I figured, but it still pisses me off every time. I don't believe I've ever had a drink with a straw in mine, but I can easily imagine it.
My RX-8's "Big League Chew" inspired fenders:
AngryCorvair wrote:curtis73 wrote: The Sonoma I just bought has a door misalignment that lets a little air in around the weatherstripping... and the door hinges aren't adjustable. They're welded on the door pillar and the door shell. WTF?check the hinges on the other side. perhaps that's just a crappy crash repair. i can't believe that any auto manufacturer would weld doors in place. nevermind how much of a PITA that is for outside service, imagine what a bottleneck that would create in the vehicle assembly plant. slower to go through paint, slower to the overall line because the door would have to be assembled (window, moldings, mirrors, interior bits) after the body came through paint. also, how the heck would they get the seats into the vehicle in a production line environment?
Its pretty rare to have door hinges not welded now. Check to be sure the pins and bushings are not worn out, then grab a 2x4 and start bending stuff.
I not only dislike, but am frightened fairly regularly by the ABS in my 2k Chev truck.
My Miata: I like it so much that I can't bring myself to sell the old beast and buy a new one.
All kidding aside, it's not a Viper RT/10. I guess that's the only thing I wish was different about it. 130ish HP is a lot of fun for the track and every day driving--it really is. But 450 is even better.
RexSeven wrote: Mazdaspeed3: Aside from the aforementioned cupholders and skid plate, I would like to add the battleship-like turning radius and the thinnest, weakest paint I have ever encountered on a car. Sometimes I wonder if I should just get the whole damn car repainted because of all the scratches, pits, and wear spots in the paint.
Cupholders: Hmm. I guess my stubby arms don't interfere so much. Never really noticed this.
Skid plate hole non lining up: +1. Yeah. WTF? First time I changed the oil I totally thought I was doing something wrong.
Turning radius: Indeed. She feels nimble until you try to pull a quick U-ey when the light turn yellow.
Paint: Mine's (red '08) holding up great, and it's not often garaged (like, hardly ever). What year? What color?
jg
(VW Corrados) ABS seems to be based upon pedal pressure, rather than wheel lockup. Everywhere but the autoX, I brake like a grandma, just because I don't know what the thing will actually do. And the electric "upmarket" BMW E36 M3. At least the windows still work (good thing, since the A/C doesn't).
There really isn't anything I actually hate about my Civic Si. Perhaps it's because I bought it knowing it's weaknesses, thanks to the GRM car. I guess the important part is that it doesn't matter to me that it won't fit into any class well once it's completely fine tuned. Nothing has ever gone wrong with it and it's starting to become the car (Type R) they should have sent to the US. Except lighter, better mpg, and better handling.
Oh yeah, the cupholder in my RX8 roasts anything that's placed in it since it's directly over the transmission.
ok....i have to revise my earlier assessment of the vette. The cupholders f-in suck. Barbie (it's name) took a big drink of coffee 3 times this morning trying to not smash the morons in front of us on the way in.
For the 328ic:
The interior bits that are falling apart. E36s are proof that an expensive interior does not mean a durable one. One of these days I'll have to give Alsher a call on those door panels.
They've got a complex speed sensitive wiper control - and only one interval delay setting? Seriously?
The front edge of the top leaks in heavy rains.
The cup holders are a bad joke.
For the Suburban:
The headliner is falling down.
It overheats if you let it idle too long with the A/C on.
The mileage is about what you'd expect from something that weighs three tons and has a 454 big block.
My WRX:
The Shifter.
The stock one was terrible, which is typical for any Subaru. It felt like a bendy straw in a bowl of oatmeal straight from the factory. I swapped in a Kartboy short shifter and bushings like I did on my old 2002 WRX. It made it worse. 
It rattles in every gear now. It's more precise, but it made it notchier. I know Tom at Kartboy makes good stuff. I've had it in the old one, as well as many friends of mine having his stuff in other Subarus. I'm blaming this one on the car.
The Interior.
I like the seats, steering wheel, the pedals, and the gauges, but the rest is just terrible. Everything is made of hard plastic and rattles as bad as my 30-year older 1979 Trans Am. Inexcusable for a 2009 model year car.
The Brakes:
They have sucked from day one as well. I swapped in StopTech STREET Performance pads (note that I said Street), and not only did it not really help anything, but they are extremely grabby at low speeds and as an added bonus, they pulsate. Yes, I bedded them in correctly and got new rotors when I did the pads.
I'll post some thoughts on my other cars later. I could write a book on this stuff. 
2006 4x4 Dodge Cummins Laramie Mega Cab- Everything but the back seat and the engine
2003 Saturn Ion- The car has never left AZ and is rusting!!!!
2001 Eclipse- No head room. Im 6'2" and have a race tech seat mounted to the floor and have maybe 1" between my head and the roof.
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