What is the worst car you have ever owned? Has there ever been a car that made you regret the day you bought it? I thought this would be an interesting topic because I am doing some research on Mini Coopers and more than a few people seem to strongly regret buying them...

My worst car-one that elicits strong feelings of hatred would definitely be the BMW (Big Money Wasted) 540i and followed shortly by the SAAB (SOB) 9-5. The BMW was a chocolate coated lemon and the SAAB...just a bloody bloody lemon. Both these cars remind me how wasteful I am with money at times and how impulsive I can be when choosing cars.

What are your worst cars?

 

Chrysler Cordoba.....Just as I posted in the "First Car" thread. I was pouring money into it on a bi-weekly basis to keep it running. And being that I was a young HS student and then a Soldier, I didn't have much money as it was.

 

1983 Plymouth Reliant. Of course, I haven't had very many cars (3 in my life), so I would have to say that was the worst. First car I ever owned, and I did significant body work on the car myself. Came out pretty good. Every time I tried to go above 60, the car would back fire.

 

1986 Audi 5000. I payed $25 and put $300 in a new battery and alternator and to get it on the road, and then it the engine went 3 day later. So i just returned the battery and alternator and got my money back, and just sent the car to the junk yard, but I did get $150 for the car, so I can't complain about making money on that POS,lol.

But other then that car, my first 1989 240SX was a POS

 

MKI Golf in highshool.

A pot smoking friend "rebuilt" the engine. A corner of the head gasket was folded over (worst oil leak ever), nuts were left in a cylinder, deadly if windows were closed exhaust leak, crappy webber 32/36 conversion from injection, and a chain for a motor mount. But I made money after fixing some things and selling it.

 

1988 Suzuki Samurai.. Bought for a woods toy, had my fun in it, dumped TOO much money in it, and still sold it for about a $200 profit :wink:

 

1976 Audi 100LS, learned ALOT about rebuilding engines and fixing cars with that car.

 

2004 Mazda RX-8. Bought it pre-owned in 2006 as a weekend/fun car, kept it for like 6 months, then sold it for what I paid for it. Hated that car...

 

1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme International Edition. Car was totally gutless, didn't even have cup holders, and went through alternators every couple of oil changes. I used to keep a spare in the trunk and could swap them out in all of 5 min.

 

1984 buick century, it was just a pos period. my 1989 hyundai excel gave me the most problems but i really liked the car. I went though clutch cables every two weeks and was able to change a clutch in 2 hours.

 

1986 Plymouth Sundance. Took it over from my sister after she bought a new car. It broke down what seemed like every month. Everything about that car was terrible.

 

I've only had 3 cars, the SHO, the Mustang and a beater Mk2 Golf for a year.

If I had to choose the worst car it would be the Golf, but I still enjoyed kicking the shit out of it

I did like how the back seats folded forward

 

1999 acura tl. i still drive it and at times i love it. but ive put way too much money into it just so i can be sure itll last me another 4 years before i upgrade

 

2000 Acura TL. While i cant complain about the body and overall build, there have been plenty of issues. Trans being one of them (actually 5 of them) I have put enough money into it to warrant me driving it into the ground, which i am well on my way to doing at over 360k miles. When the clutch goes i think the car is going to go as well.

 

Now we wait for Moog to post his CL.

 

parents drive a 98 oldsmobile silhouette minivan. that thing feels so slow and heavy, steering is so unresponsive. well maybe im just not used to it.. lol. also used to drive a 95 chevy lumina. it was probably good when it was new, but when it was my turn to drive it (probably like the 4th driver) it was beat to the floor already. finally gave up one day with 147k miles..

 

I had my 1999 TL for over seven years and it was perfectly problem free. I think I recall you mentioning them, but what all problems have you had?

As for me, it depends how you define worst. The car I hated most was the 1988 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Royale Brougham I had in High School. Besides the gas gauge being off, the car operated as designed, but was just a really shitty design. It had a crappy stereo, shitty steering, floaty/bouncy ride, and was mind-numbingly slow.

The car that was the most problematic was my 1993 Mazda MX-6. It blew a gasket, cracked a cylinder head, had the AC go out, and blew a transmission all within a year and with around 70k miles on it. I liked the car, but it was in the shop for the better part of a year before I finally got rid of it.

 

Haha, I had an '83 Aries. It was such a pile of crap. And I could have had an '81 Scirocco instead

I bought it in Colorado and drove it back to Maryland where it sat for months while I was in Basic. When I got back and started driving it again, it never worked right. It would continue to chug and thrash after turning it off and removing the key. It was so bad that I could park it, go into the store, come out and all I had to do was put the key in and turn it to start (not crank it) and it would fire right up and run like it had never been turned off.

I hated that car. But it was only a slight leader over my 1989 Buick Skylark that blew a head gasket at 48k miles and then caught fire shortly after I replaced the head gasket (MFer).

 

My parents had an '86 Cadillac Cimarron back in the late 80s early 90s. Not my car, but I hope that counts!

 

Had to be my '87 Chevy Cavalier 2-door. My first car.

 

1989 Suzuki Swift Gt. Had a lot of fun in it tho... That little thing was fast.

 

my 00 honda accord V6..i bought it clean title for real cheap but never thought of why it was so cheap and months later it was pulled for a salvage inspection..i lasted 3 months without my car and alot running around and paperwork..Over at the salvage place i seened a picture of how it looked when it got wrecked idk but whoever rebuilt that car did terrific job..i couldnt believe it was the same car..i certainly regret it cause the 3 months that i didnt have it was Jun-Aug

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1991 Ford Taurus Wagon, my dad picked this bad boy up for me when he acquired a business. Must have been flood damaged at some point, electrical issues almost everyday. I think I had to jump start it 3 or 4 times a week. At one point it shut off on me going around a turn, lost power steering and almost took out a mailbox on the wrong side of the road. Drove it for 8 months before my dad moved me into another car.

 

I've only had 3 cars and they were all great. My grandmother's
Chevy Shitvette was crappy.

 

My first car was my worst. It was a 1990 Mercury Topaz. Just about everything that could go wrong went wrong. Going from that to a 1999 TL was like going from the stone age to year 2000.

 

'93 Dodge Shadow Convertible

I bought it because I was SO far over on my '91 GTI, had about 85k and needed about $3-$4k of work done. I had to have a reliable vehicle because of work, so I bought the Dodge for 12k and lumped on the balance of the GTI.

I bought the Dodge on Memorial Day weekend and it was gone before Labor Day, got a '93 2dr Civic EX. Was able to dig myself out of the loan.

 

I have enjoyed all of my cars, but my mom used to have an 1986 Mitsubishi Cordial Turbo that she loved but at the same time hated. It would always give her problems.

I was pretty young when she still had it, I thought it was cool but I do remember it stranding us a few times.

 

1985 Pontiac Sunbird with the 1.8L SOHC engine. Totally and utterly gutless. A/C went out at 60k. First head gasket went at 65k. Oil pump at 69K, which stranded me 100 miles from home. Second head gasket at 71K, which was 80 miles from home. I said to hell with it and just drove it with no coolant. Fortunately it was February, and the cold air was enough to keep the engine from overheating while moving.

When the first head gasket blew, the shop told me that they had to hone the head so much that if it blew again I would need to buy a new one. So when the 2nd blew, I drove it to a dealership and traded on a 1985 Toyota Corolla GT-S with the 1.6L DOHC 4A-GE, rear wheel drive, and a 5spd. Which turned out to be one of the best cars I ever owned. I autocrossed it for 3 straight years, and I never had a non-maintenance repair on it in the years that I owned it.

 

"Worst" car is relative-- my '76 Capri II was probably the "worst" in that the radiator blew on I-5 and had to be replaced. I replaced the head gaskets 3 years later, and a water pump at some point.
The car was a little maintenance intensive: it ran best with its valves adjusted (hot!) every 6-8 months or so, and a couple of coolant hoses had to be replaced.
OTOH, the ergonomics in that Capri were perfect, the dash and interior were set up well, the car was solidly built, and it took me through a couple of seasons of autocrossing with just one brake job and no suspension/wheel issues.

The Capri wasn't bad at all, particularly after buying it as a used 6-year old car and then owning it for 7 years, but it suffers compared to the other cars I've owned since then, which have each had one non-maintenance repair or less per 5 years of ownership; nothing but regular maintenance on the '05 TL thus far.

 

before i dropped about 4k into a swap and performance upgrades it was constantly eating rotors and tires
both 02 sensors are currently bad
it was eating oiling mysteriously and im not sure if ive completely solved that issue
i went through 3 trannys in one year
the guage lights and climate control lights have been out since the 3rd month ive owned it and not even the dealer can figure it out
2 HID ballasts
constant exhaust leaks
broken rear motor mount bracket
cooling fan replaced twice
thermostat replaced
AC recharge
constant dings and dents because of the soft paint
my arm rest is rock solid because the padding is flat
the new steering wheel i put in a few months ago is already peeling
clunking in the rear that i think is a bearing
3 broken axles
one broken tranny case

i understand that most of these were either my fault or wear and tear but i still think ive dumped too much money considering im in college and this is my first car.

i just cant go a month without something new popping up.

 

Out of the two cars I've owned, a 2000 Acura TL and a 2001 BMW 330xi, I have to say the Acura was a complete piece of crap. My mom bought the car new and sold it to me, I drove it for two months before the tranny shit the bed, then another two months later shit the bed again. When I sold it the car had a leaking rear main seal and the transmission was starting to go again, I only got $3000 for it despite spending over $1000 for the suspension alone 8 months prior.

My BMW has had its issues, but they're all small and easy to fix. I've spent a grand total of $150 on everything but gas over the six months I've owned it.

 

'79 Olds Cutlass Supreme. Nothing but issues. It was far worse than the Pinto, even worse than the Chevette (although I didn't expect the Chevette to do anything other than suck. I had better hopes for the Cutlass).

 

1994 Lincoln Continental.
Only had it 2 months. AC went, radio went. Had 75K miles. Trans failed on me on an Orlando trip. I was stuck in downtown Orlando at 3am 200 miles from home.
Had to leave it, stay at a friends & rent a u haul van with a car trailer & tow it back home.
$1500 rebuild, & after that the engine seized up doing 70 on the HW. Almost crashed. Biggest POS I ever had.

 

99 chevy s-10

 

2000 Nissan Altima. Biggest problem with the car was that it was for my sister, but in my name. She missed a car payment and killed my credit.

Car that I owned that gave me the most headaches - 2001 Acura CLs. Loved aspects of the car, but it was a PITA.

 

1998 Yukon XL. Gas guzzler, and had constant problems.
I loved driving it when I had it, but it was usually in the shop.

 

I borrowed an '81 Ford Mustang for a year, if you didn't rev up the motor and throw it in Drive the damn thing would always stall. What a piece of shit that car was. The weird thing about that car was that my Grandma owned one then she sold it to a co-worker/family friend of mine, which I didnt know about. So when he offered to let me use the car, I stated my Grandma had one like this and he told me that this was my Grandma's car. I was pretty shocked.

 

Chevy S-10 pickup. Wasnt even 6 months old and the door panels kept coming off.

 

Interesting to read the stories. My worst car was a 99 ford escort lx. Bought the car for 2800 bucks with 65k on it. I changed the oil every 3000 miles. Did the timing belt and water pump at 80k. The engine locked up at 96000 miles. What a piece of crap that car was. I was guessing maybe it was the previous owners who didn't keep up on the maintainence because I know I babied that thing.

 

It's a tie between a 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass (gutless) Ciera and a 1998 Buick Regal GS.

The GS was fun to drive (supercharged) but both were POS's - they were also the only American cars I owned from a rather extensive list.