MSNBC is running this story on the worst cars of all time:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4063790/

I thought it might make an interesting discussion for us. I'll start.

1) I'm not sure I agree with the early Accord being on that list. Yes, it had some problems, especially with rusting, but in a lot of ways that car was a huge milestone for Honda. It was their first real "mainstream" car in NA and really established Honda as a player here. Prior to that all we had were the really tiny early Civics and Honda was really only known as a maker of small econoboxes (Nobody'd thought of tarting them up yet... ) that people bought because the "fuel crisis" at the time.

2) What is the worst car you've ever owned? Have you had any cars that you really hated but drove anyway because you had to? I've had a number of beaters over the years, but the one I really hated was an '85 Chev Corsica. It was heavy, clunky and ugly (4-door hatchback). It shook, rattled, thumped, clanked as it wandered and meandered along. I swear the shifter mechanism was made of rubber bands and Jell-O. The only positives were that it was reliable and the V6 did have decent grunt so if you ever did find a gear it had good pickup. Oh, and it had a good heater, which is important for winter beater here. Other than that, it was utter crap. I can't believe I actually got a dealer to take it on trade (@365,000km) on my Suburban.

 

The worst vehicle I ever owned was a '95 Ford Ranger. Bought it new and had nothing but problems from day one. Problems included: a recurring vibration in the rear-end that was NEVER fixed; air bag warning indicator light; seats that had decorative "piping' that cut right into your shoulder blades (unbelievable design flaw); headlamps that refused to come on (they fixed themselves); fouled plug wire.

All this went wrong before I traded it in with only 11k miles. Ford will never see a penny from me ever again.

 

"The first Accord's fenders would rust from the inside out. Pieces of interior trim would change color or fall off. An Accord owner might change his transmission five or six times, as he watched his primitive aluminum engine blow its gaskets. "


Hondas come a long way. Those early hondas were junk.

 

My worst was a 94 3000GT. The body was crap and easy to receive dings on the rear quarters.....The car had to much crap aluminum on it. I went once to get tires replace and had to get new wheel studs. Guess they heated up so much, they melted to the wheel or something I do know it was expensive to fix and happened three separate times on three separate wheels.
The interior was shit, and rattled like no other car I have ever been in.

Only props I give the car is that it was fun to drive...lots of power

 

repost!

http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...&threadid=6168

 

my #1 worst car was also a 94 3000gt. it was a black a/t base model and sucked monkey ass. the tranny was shit, and the engine was always over-heating.

#2 93 3000gt twin turbo... beautiful, amazing machine. BUT the damn thing was ALWAYS in the shop. in the end, the beauty just wasn't enough. i needed something that would actually get me from point a to point b. still one of the highest-rated 3000gt's on sounddomain.com, tho.

 

Hmmm my grandad had of of those Accords Saloons and my uncle had the hatchback version and my mum had a 1st gen Prelude and none of them gave any of the problems stated.

In fact locally there are still some 2nd Gen Accords still running strong !

In fact just yesterday i saw one ...

Ernie

 

Haven't really owned enough cars to say for myself, but the worse car my family has ever owned would probably be the '87 Nissan Sentra. It was the stripper, with absolutely nothing in it. Every other car we've owned has been better than that one.

 

The worst car ive had is a 01' Volvo S40. In the shop 50 days within 2 years, same problems that were never fixed either! We sued under the lemon law and got our money back, and thats why I have a tsx now!!

 

'74 Fiat 128 - rusted to crap by 1980. Everyone used some real cheap and untreated steel in those days.

 

Mine was a '90 Acura Integra. It had more electrical problems than I could count. It was still on my mind as I tried to decide whether to give Acrua a second chance.

 

Ford Pinto..yup

 

mine was a '98 passat...little things malfunctioned all the time

 

89 Plymouth Sundance 2dr Hatch, Heat did'nt work (and I live in Canada), A/C did'nt work, motor barely worked, rusted and barely braked. Got $250.00 for it on a trade in for my Civic.

 

95 Chrysler/Dodge Neon

- began leaking oil at 70,000 km
- fuel pump fuse began blowing out sporadically and unpredictably, which would cause the car to stall. Each time this would happen (invariably on the highway in traffic!!) - you'd have to pull over, and replace the fuse on the spot before it would start again. Sometimes it would blow immediately, other times it would be fine for a week. Needless to say the electrical 'experts' couldn't pinpoint the short, and we got rid of the car. Good riddence!!!

 

Its funny how the worst car you have owned can also be one that you really enjoyed. I had a love hate relationship with my Alfa Romeo Milano. Absolutely a joy to drive when it was working, but that wasn't that often.

Among other problems, the brakes failed twice while I was driving the car (poorly desinged master cylinder had to be replaced 3 times). Exhaust sytem fell off. The car had these blinking monitor lights for the different systems that basically blinked all the time. Interior completely fell apart, including the driver side interior door handle. (no way to close the door if the window was up).

Exiting car to drive, partially because you never new if the wheels were going to fly off.

 

'84 Mustang GT convertible. Man what a junker. My hinges in both doors went bad so I had to lift up on them and then slam the door.
That's definately not the worst of it though. One day I was at a light with my vert top down and some guy wanted to race. I thought to myself, okay my car sounds like shit because it whines when pushed over 3000rpm but its still pretty quick, let's do this!! Light turns green, I step on the gas and wham all I see is blue sky Both my bolts that hold the seat to the floor snapped and I ended up in the back of the car

 

Sounds like my 74 Ford Capri V6 4 spd. It left me stranded one time after a skiing trip to Hunter Mt, NY. The cause: cams/lifters so worn due to lack of oil (oil passages were blocked) the engine stopped running.
But burn outs and drifting were such fun in that car. That's what we need - cheap, fun RWD cars.

 

coachfrahley, I had a car like that too. A '74 MGB. I used to tell people it was a great car if you like spending every other weekend underneath it. Among many other problems, the fuel guage never worked, so I always kept a 2 gal gas can in the trunk. The lights (all of them) would just go out sometimes, usually on the highway at night.

But when the weather was sunny, the top was down and it was running - hooo boy! What a blast to drive and a total chick magnet. Girls I didn't know would come up to me and ask for rides. An awesome car to own when you're 19.

 

I also had a car that was great fun to drive but was a nightmare in every other way. 1976 Fiat Spider 2000. Bought it new when I finished college and got rid of it two years later. Changed the inline thermostat three times / had 3 different flat tires in the first year on the tube type radial tires / the vinyl seat covers cracked after only 1 year. Fortunately, I traded it before it start to show rust.

 

1989 Crown Victoria after a 1967 Mustang took the front end off at an intersection. On a long trip after being repaired, it left us stranded on the side of the interstate. After a couple of weeks of hit and miss, Ford found a bad wire going to the fuel injection. Of course by then they had changed so many things the car never ran right again.

 

Worst running: 84 Pontiac sunbird. Ran on 3 cylinders for awhile when alum. head got stripped, sunroof leaked water, etc, etc.(but not a bad looker!)

Worst looking: 84 Chevy Cavalier hatchback. Rusted to hell, had to hold hatch up w/ broom handle, box on wheels styling. Called it the Skee-lo car. ("I wish I had a brand new car, so far I got this hatchback and everywhere I go, yo, I gets laughed at...") But I gotta say- the thing started up in the dead of winter.

Runner-up: 92 Plymouth Sundance. Was stolen from previous owner. Sat in sun until red paint cracked and turned pink. No radio. Non funtional speed and distance sensor. Actual bullet hole in truck.

Now you all can see why I love my Accord so much (and will love my TSX even more!!!)

 

Gotta say I have liked all the cars I have owned. The '89 Accord had a few minor issues near the end (driver's side window stopped working), but was still a great little car.

Now the worst car I was associated with was my mom's old car that she let me use before I got my own 1st car...

1984 Ford Escort GL Wagon (white w/red cloth interior)

God what an outstanding piece of crap that thing was. Major achievement in the field of crap-atude. Rusted out in no time, blew tie-rods monthly, would lose control in a light mist, seats wore through, and ugly to boot. The thing finally was pronounced DOA when the rear axle snapped during normal driving.

Still there is something beautiful about driving a car you care absolutely nothing about. "Ooops, I just clipped that tree, oh well." or "Aw damn, I didn't notice that concrete wall, eh, it still drives."

 

Ditto! Last year that car cost me over 3k in little repairs/maintenance. Replaced it with an '04 CR-V, and loving it.

 

'93 SAAB 9000 Aero. Great looking, great handling, fast. Then it broke. Often. Later found out that SAAB stands for "Swedish Automobiles Always Break." If you think the TSX rattles, try driving an older SAAB. Never again.
If you consider a SAAB, you've already lost half the battle!

 

Swedish Automobiles Always Break. lol

A korean friend told me that KIA stands for "Killed In Action"

 

never had a bad car, 97 del sol vtec and 99 Integra gs-r .... very good reliable cars, and fun to drive too

 

lets seee. CW Toda racing built ITR #26? something only reason it was my worst b/c it got STOLEN..then i got my SI=boost to V8 and now My sexy T

 

#1, tony, awesome avatar... "I dont know whats worse, not being able to speak english or speaking howard cosell"

#2 worst car i ever owned... 2003 Cadillac CTS, Had the car for 24mos, In that time i had the transmission replaced, the air conditioning replaced, both rear sail air bag covers replaced (defective clip and they just fall off randomly), had the tires replaced because of a goodyear recall, sunroof switch replaced, stereo replaced for a faulty changer.. theres more but im getting pissed typing this.. And i know several people who have bought later production #s of the CTS and have had no problems with it, but I got one of the early "we're still figggerin out how to build dese darn cars"

Wheras my tsx has had 0 problems in 4000 miles so far..

 

This one's easy: my '73 Pantera. Had it only one year. Had 4 wheel independent suspension, i.e. all 4 wheels went in independent directions wearing out the very expensive tires every 5000 miles. Turn the air conditioning on in Palm Springs and the engine temperature light would be pinned in the red within two blocks. Engine torque was real high so you had to stand on the clutch pedal to get it to depress. Really hard to shift too. Had it in the garage about twice a month. Most embarissing experience was when the starter failed while I was the front car on the Balboa Island Ferry.
Sure got the girls though! Made it almost worth the trouble, but not quite. Only managed one more date with the girl that was with me on the ferry. I really really liked her too. Oh well, she probably never would have gone out with me at all if it wasn't for the Pantera.

 

2003 and 2004 Land Rover Freelander. I had to Lemon Law both of them.

 

lol I think your name says it all....Werid thing is we almost bought one for my sister last summer thank god we didnt and they also share the platform of a Ford Escape

 

One of my all time favorite movies..plus you gotta admit, that was a sweet Camero...

 

actually i've loved all the cars i've owned/driven everyday

1988 Accord Lx-I (One of the best styled Accords)
1999 Accord Ex 4cyl (Why do I still see the ghost of the style of this 6th gen Accord in the TSX)?

the worst car I ever drove was a tie between a 02 Toyota corolla loaner, that thing was cheap not just in retail price, but in interior and was so slow. Also, I drove a Hyundai Elantra as a loaner once and let's just say i heard the engine gasping for more power really bad.

 

I just love one of my fav. classics

 

Yours musta been built on a Monday! My '83 Saab 900 made it to nearly 300,000 miles on the original motor before we lost sight of it, after 2 more owners. But then there was my identical '89 Saab 900 that, well, musta been built on a Monday after a looooong weekend and got me to buy my '98 Volvo, which in turn got me to buy the Hondas....

But my worst car, ever, was a 1978 Plynmouth Horizon (first year of production), which was OK when it was running but stuff broke on that car that I didn't think could possibly break on a car. Worst car ever manufactured in a non-Communist country.

The gov't shoulda let Chrysler go bankrupt rather than bail them out.

My first Saab was an amazing improvement in reliability after that Horizon, I thought!

 

1984 Ford Thunderchicken, err Thunderbird.

That was my college vehicle (92-95) and the last one before I bought my own brand new car, a 1995 Civic EX Coupe.

Problems with the 'bird “shit” over 3 years:

- replaced tranny 3x including torque converter
- automatic gear indicator dial broken
i.e. park = reverse, reverse = neutral, neutral = drive, etc, etc
- water pump replaced 4x
- stripped strut mounts required a torch to remove
- leaking heater core ($750 to replace)
- intermittent starting problems due to coolant leakage onto the computer
Ford "hotline" had tech manually rewire about 10 individual wires from the computer. What a nightmare.
- constant charging problem (battery, alt, voltage regulator)
- no working AC (discontinued and over $1k for a change over kit)
- passenger door would not open from inside or outside
- plastic interior cracked and broken
- leather interior cracked and peeling

When I traded that car at 89k miles, it had no heat or AC. I was so glad that everything worked on the Civic.

 

1986 Jeep Cherokee - a real POS.

 

You guys are spolied. I had 2 of the worst cars which are the Fiat 127 and Fiat 128. But nothing can top The Seat 133 that I had for 6 months 20 years ago. See it below

 

'68 Fiat. When it rained it wouldn't go. Traded it for a '70 Dodge Charger.