2000 VW Passat V6.
Everything was stamped "audi".

Nuff said.

 

AMC Matador, late 70's, don't exactly remember. An experience to be forgotten in all possible haste which surprises me now that I remembered it for this thread. Within the first 4000 miles, the cords on all four tires broke one at a time on a long road trip. The next road trip a few months later, we got about 20 miles out of town and it quit going. Limped back home and ended that relationship the very next day. Wasn't long after that AMC ceased to exist.

 

2002 Chevy Astro Van. It was not only a pig, but it was ridicously hard for the passengers to get in and out of the back. Plus it was Ugly! I bought it in the end 2002 and traded it in May of 2003. Not a good Family Van at all. The first time I washed it, I noticed orange peel in the paint. I thought for sure it was involved in a crash. I went to the delaer and inspected some other new van and they had the same thing. Chevy SUXs, (Except for the Corvette).

 

1999 Cadillac STS worst engine ever to put in a car. Modded from the factory to have thread lift. which means the head bolts pull the threads out of the block. Expensive POS

 

My worst car ever was a recent purchase. It's a 2000 Volvo V70 XC. A great car to drive for about 2 weeks. Then I had to replace the radiator ($850). Then the front diff blew up on the highway at 80mph and was on fire ($1650). Now the driveshaft is bad and I need to find one ($600 for a reman. if I can ever find one or $1900 new from Volvo). I paid $3500 for this thing. Once I do the drive shaft it will be a solid car but right now it's just sitting in my driveway. Who wants it?!?

 

My worst car?...82 vette. As in Chevette. Need I say more?

 

"best", "worst" is relative... the vehicle I learned to drive in was an '87 Isuzu P'up... carbureted 1.9L 4 cylinder piece of... let's just say we nicknamed it the Blue Wonder.
The radio was the old "push the preset button to move the analog dial" type and the needle was off about 5MHz, the speakers were shot, the seat was ripped so badly my dad covered it with some heavy felt padding, the seat didn't actually move... and it that's before you even get to drive the thing.
it wouldn't always start, sometimes it was the carburetor, other times it was <insert random electrical issue here>. Suffice to say, I was taught how to put it in 2nd, start rolling on a hill, and pop the clutch. Once you got moving, you were quick to realize it had nothing for acceleration and would backfire every time you shifted gears or let off.Not the nice burble when I let off in my MCS, a rather loud unburnt fuel POW. The speedometer was also about 8mph off at 55... said you were going 62-63. So the story goes one day, my dad pulled into someplace (think it was the town clerk of all places), shut it off, and the thing backfired so loud that it blew out the muffler and resonator. Instead of going in to reregister the plates he just drove off... He never changed the exhaust system after that.
The truck had other "issues" as well... including superglue in the carb when we bought it. My dad basically rebuilt the carb about once a year. He owned a bunch of mustangs in the 70s so he was used to it. We drove down to a Sears one night 'cuz our washer just blew up and along the way one of the rear shocks decided to see if it could go through the truck's bed. It made it about 2" and stopped. That he actually got fixed. The frame was bent to the point that you drove down the street about 10deg sideways and held the steering wheel 90 degrees off center.
After it was sitting for a while I was home alone one day and decided to drive into town for something. My dad didn't exactly mention it was erm... getting much, much worse. It was backfiring all the way down the hill and I just figured it was doing it's normal thing until I slowed down for the stop sign and it stalled out. I sat on the side of the road for a good minute or two with clutch in, accelerator wide open, running the thing on the starter the whole time to deflood it. Oh, and I rolled a bit since the ebrake didn't work either. When it finally fired back up, I think I removed 0.05% of the ozone layer.
We sold it a few months later for $75.

 

86 dodge daytona. Bought in 2004 for $300. Oh boy! lucklyDad is a mechanic so it was cheap to fix

bought it with 53k on the 5-digit odometer. Owner said that was correct, but we were pretty sure it went around at least once.
in the 10 months i owned it before head gasket blew...
CV axels
timing belt
radiator
radio/speakers
shifter cable
passenger window arm
tires
speedocable
wiper motor
radiator fan

was fine after all that, even made a 400round trip from ft. lauderdale to orlando but boy did it suck to lose it 3 months after...
best that was my first car i bought at 17...- 84 toyota cressida. RUST BUKET but everything(except ac) worked! even the power moon roof/windows . sadly had to give it to my mom when her car died since she worked and i didn't at the time, which made me get the dodge.

 

1974 Ford Mustang. Leaked oil, transmission slipped and rust everywhere! Of course, it was 10 years old!

 

Honda Odyssey minivan.
1.Dealer can't fix a chronic issue.
2.Parts are horribly expensive. (wiring harness for trailer lights was $180)
3.Ball joints failed at 38,000 miles and they would not cover it 2,000 miles out of warranty (they did pay the labor since I bought the over-priced parts, so they broke even and I lost)
4.The dealers are arrogant ("we don't do rebates because we have the best car")
5. You can't buy a rear wiper anywhere except the dealer - for $$$$

 

My 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser. That POS left me beside the road more times than I can count. Three transmission rebuilds/replacements, lost the entire cooling system causing a quick and massive overheating, replaced brakes once a year (and I'm gentle), etc. It was a hunk of crap.

 

Worst and best: 1980s Alfa-Romeo Alfasud. For six months of the year starting it was a long process of coaxing it into reluctant action, without touching the 'flood engine' **** that the handbook comically said was a choke. And then every bit of the car rusted at a speed that defied the imagination, particularly the screen pillars.

Still in the showroom:


One week old:


But..... The handling was utterly sublime and the steering wheel was at least as good to hold as an expensive musical instrument. I would love all Mini engineers to drive one of these, so that they know how far they are from a sweet-handling front-wheel-drive car.

 

Worst Car: Current MINI
Most Fun Car: Current MINI
Best Car: Current Suzuki Sidekick (Just like a Timex watch, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking)

 

I'm not sure if I'd go as far as counting it as my worst car, since I'm only on my second which is my current MINI, but my first car, a twice totaled (with airbag deployment each time) 2001 Honda Civic EX coupe in satin silver. My dad purchased it wrecked after the second time from an insurance auction. Since he's in the business, he and his "connections" made all the repairs (or so they thought). Gave the car to me, and it was a bumpy ride. The car looked great, given its age, and it only had 59k miles on it when I got it in 2007. After a few months of driving it, found out that the frame was damaged after the second accident, and it had to be pulled. I found this out because every time I made a right turn, it sounded like I had a bad muffler, but it was actually coming from the front of the car because there was pressure being put on the wheel bearings or something along those lines because everything in the engine compartment had shifted after the accident. Still can't figure out how my dad and the other mechanics didn't catch this before I received the car. But, given its issues prior to my ownership, the car never let me down, never stalled out, never broke down, got me to and from school safely for 3 years. The thing was like a cockroach, nothing could kill it. I still wonder what ever happened to it after I traded it in for my MINI a few months ago. Gotta give it to honda for their cheap maintenance, repair costs, and overall reliability

 

2001 Honda Insight. Purchased CPO at the end of 2001. The warranty really didn't matter when the car just plain wouldn't run, and was in the shop more than out. I thought I got a great deal at $15k for a $21k car. Well 8 months later I barely got rid of it for $11k. I guess the word was out, and dummy me never heard.

 

My worst car was really a 1965 MG 1100, but it was really fun so I cannot hate it. So my second worst car was a 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. Not only was it unreliable to a fault. It was worth nothing the moment it left the show room. Buying a first year GM car in the 80s was not a good idea.

 

This, unfortunately, is becoming a tie between my current MINI and my 1998 Plymouth Expresso Neon.

Neon:
Head gasket blew within 3 years I think it was
Faulty emissions sensor- had to be replaced every 3 months
Moonroof stuck every time I opened it
A few other things I think I've blocked out of my mind

MINI:
HPFP went on 3rd day of ownership
Stalled on warm starts
Idle dips down but doesn't stall anymore on warm starts after re-program
Car shakes when not warmed up and put in gear
Car shook when started- not moving
Car tries to accelerate when I try to come to a stop- sporadically
Window motor fried the other day and fumes filled up the car

Oh lucky me.

 

my parents had a neon that went through wheel bearings. I had a neon that didn't survive an SUV to the passenger's side door.

 

Hey,
this was my car for about two months, before coming to Toronto. This one "takes the cake"!




Communist Skoda. Nuff said...

 

79 Mercury Capri Turbo. Filled the oil and checked the gas every couple days. The electrical system was better and illusions than David Copperfield.

 

Suzuki Sidekick?! Are you serious? I've had idle chatter with former Sidekick owners (note that I said former!) about it and they sat down and enlightened me with tales of how unbelievably bad it was. Funniest thing I heard was one owner said "it's very reliable for the first 50,000 miles. Then it just falls apart!" I suggested that he might have had bad luck and HE gives me a look that would vaporize solid steel! The other owners also said that the Sidekick had a repair history that would give mechanics a heart attack. You probably got lucky there.

 

Hmmm...

I guess the MGB takes the cake (Note: do not EVER buy a car at night).

Purchased for $300 back in the day, and the next morning I went out to the barn to remove the wheels and get a better look at my prize.

The first wheel I removed came off easily - the rim that is - leaving the hub and spokes right where they were.

Mercifully a couple of years later my dear sister tucked the add-on choke cable up under the left side of the dash so it didn't irritate her knee while driving. The resulting short circuit against the hot side of the light switch lit the car on fire, ending the pain permenantly.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Renault Feugo,, the list is way to long to detail what was wrong with it, the seats were its only good feature

 

1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z. Holy crap was that car a GIANT POS! I put a new transmission(5sp) in it and the linkage would always pop off when I down shifted which made taking corners hard almost impossible. It almost left me stranded one day, imagine driving 12 miles in 3rd gear, on back roads.

I can't even come up with a good aspect of that car, except for the fact that the turbo actually still worked with over 90k on it. I don't know how many exactly since at some point the speedo quit working and that took the odo out as well. It has been 8 years since I had that car and still rue the day I bought it.

 

I can testify about these cars I had both the shelby charger and shelby daytona and they cost more to fix than buy.