Your worst car decision ever.

[Benzadmiral]

I've mentioned this story before: the fiery self-immolation of my early-Seventies Volvo 164.

I bought it from a guy I didn't know, had a shop other than my usual trusted mechanic inspect it (I think the seller paid the mechanic off), found it had rust in the gas tank and that the transmission cable bound up from time to time, that it had been repainted (a huge red flag I didn't know about back then), etc. Still it was fun to drive.

Then, one night, as my then-wife and I were driving home from dinner, something milky jetted onto the windshield, and I smelled gas. The fuel line had broken. My wife told me later there were flames licking out under the dash. I wrestled the car to the side of the road, and we jumped out and trotted to a safe distance to watch it burn from end to end.

We were outside a dance club, and people came out to watch. One asked me, "That your car?" and I said, grimly, "It was. . . ."

It put me off foreign and used cars for a long time. It also taught me not to rush into any big purchase, and to have any potential buy inspected by someone I trusted, even if I had to wait and take a chance on someone else buying it.

 

[BBDartCA]

Originally Posted By: ChiTDI
Vega


Same here!

 

[Benzadmiral]

The second worst car decision was the purchase of a '77 Mercedes 450SL, the two-seater roadster, when I lived in Denver in late '97. It was black with a red interior, not my favorite combination, but I thought it would be a fun car. I found out rapidly it was noisy on the open road and got truly horrible gas mileage. And the hardtop didn't have a dome light. ("Remember, Sherman, always test drive a car at night as well as in the daytime!" "Yes, Mr. Peabody!")

Two weeks later something in the fuel system, I've forgotten what, went out. The used-car dealer, who had a great rep, was top-notch; their 6-month "internal engine parts" warranty covered the problem, and they lent me another MB, a big W126 sedan, while they worked on the SL. Still it was annoying.

Then, the day after Christmas, I went out to it, and the door lock had frozen shut, or the vacuum that operated the doors had a leak. That did it. A car that won't even let you get into it was not a car I wanted to keep.

At the dealer, I found they hadn't sold my gold Oldsmobile Cutlass, which I'd crazily traded. Suffice it to say, one financial bath later, I was free of the SL and back in my Olds . . . the only car I ever liked so much I bought it twice. But that wouldn't have been necessary if I hadn't let my head be turned by the glamor-puss SL.

 

[addyguy]

I'll toss this in here for fun.....

I've mentioned it before, but the worst car purchase my father ever made was his new-for-1978 Chevrolet Malibu Wagon.

I was too young to know the details, but I'm pretty sure it got re-painted in it's first year due to paint problems, and I think it had a tranny replaced early on, too.

In later years, I remember it overheating, the gas tank leaking, and the motor 'carboned up' so bad it would hardly start or run...when we did talk about vehicles, all my dad talked about was what a mistake that Malibu was.

Apparently, when shopping for it, he was offered either the Malibu wagon with the 305 V-8; OR a 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme wagon with the 3.8 V-6. My dad took the V-8 Malibu, b/c he didn't trust the V-6 to be able to haul much, and he was doing lots of house reno's at the time.

Later on, he said he should have gotten the Cutlass......

 

[Buick92]

2000 Ford Focus, the car was at the dealer at least 5 times in the first few months, plus numerous recalls, I loved the way the car drove and the gas mileage was great.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: adamjeeps
1986 S-10 Blazer 4x4 2.8 5 speed

This has to be one of the worst motors ever put in a SUV. No power, horrible mpg, and loud.
....

I don't know... The Cologne 2.9 in the BroncoII had a little more horsepower, but cracked heads early and often, and the curvy valve cover gasket spewed oil. Oh! and those wonderful CV driveshafts

All the sudden, that Renix fuel injected 4.0 XJ Cherokee doesn't sound too terrible

 

[spackard]

By the way, a friend-of-a-friend owned a '79 Chevy Chevette and a friend owned a 1978 VW Rabbit diesel. I'm pretty sure the Rabbit diesel was faster.
One time the two of us who rode in the back seat of the Chevette got sick, almost blacked out, and lost our dinner. It had a bad exhaust leak. Couldn't convince the foaf we weren't joking about this, because, honestly, we teased him a lot about the car. I think he finally got it fixed when his mom almost passed out and lost her lunch riding in the back seat.

 

[mva]

Originally Posted By: ChiTDI
Vega


+1

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: spackard
By the way, a friend-of-a-friend owned a '79 Chevy Chevette and a friend owned a 1978 VW Rabbit diesel. I'm pretty sure the Rabbit diesel was faster.
One time the two of us who rode in the back seat of the Chevette got sick, almost blacked out, and lost our dinner. It had a bad exhaust leak. Couldn't convince the foaf we weren't joking about this, because, honestly, we teased him a lot about the car. I think he finally got it fixed when his mom almost passed out and lost her lunch riding in the back seat.



That is bad!

 

[ponderosaTX]

Originally Posted By: ChiTDI
Vega

+1

 

[mva]

Originally Posted By: mva
Originally Posted By: ChiTDI
Vega


+1

I forgot to mention that my Vega had a Chevette motor and transmission. All the Chevette stories reminded me. It still had the Vega rear end so it was severely underpowered. Maximum speed was 70 miles per hour with a tail wind. I once drove about 50 miles down the highway to visit my girlfriend with the gas pedal floored from the on ramp to the off ramp, 45 minutes later.

I did learn a lot about working on cars - my first time to change timing belt and remove the head for a valve job. But, I forgot to put the rad cap back on and overheated the engine with the brand new valve job. I also redid the front brakes, several times, but I could never get the Vega brakes to stop rattling over bumpy pavement.

I had to change the clutch 3 times due to the combination of a mismatched drivetrain and learning to drive a 4 speed. I eventually sold the car for $50.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: spackard
By the way, a friend-of-a-friend owned a '79 Chevy Chevette and a friend owned a 1978 VW Rabbit diesel. I'm pretty sure the Rabbit diesel was faster.
One time the two of us who rode in the back seat of the Chevette got sick, almost blacked out, and lost our dinner. It had a bad exhaust leak. Couldn't convince the foaf we weren't joking about this, because, honestly, we teased him a lot about the car. I think he finally got it fixed when his mom almost passed out and lost her lunch riding in the back seat.


IIRC, you couldn't turn off the blower motor on the Chevette. It had a "Constant ventilation system"

You also couldn't select "bi-level" on the HVAC control. Your feet or your windshield froze. Couldn't keep both thawed at the same time.

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: spackard
By the way, a friend-of-a-friend owned a '79 Chevy Chevette and a friend owned a 1978 VW Rabbit diesel. I'm pretty sure the Rabbit diesel was faster.
One time the two of us who rode in the back seat of the Chevette got sick, almost blacked out, and lost our dinner. It had a bad exhaust leak. Couldn't convince the foaf we weren't joking about this, because, honestly, we teased him a lot about the car. I think he finally got it fixed when his mom almost passed out and lost her lunch riding in the back seat.


Mine was gasoline with a 4 speed manual tranny. It would bury Chevette clone. Although that's not really saying much in itself, as I'm at a loss to come up with anything that wouldn't. 0-60 was measured in minutes, instead of seconds. If you tried that up a hill, you'd need to change the unit to something else entirely, like.........................



















Never.

Edit: and the added bonus? Its one road trip I took it on to NB and Quebec. NB was particularly fun, with its heavily congested winding roads that worked their way up mountains and dominated by tractor trailers. In the rain I prayed they simply passed me instead of running over me (they unanimously opted for the former, fortunately). Have never been flipped the finger so many times in my life as I was on that one leg of the trip.

-Spyder

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Originally Posted By: spackard
By the way, a friend-of-a-friend owned a '79 Chevy Chevette and a friend owned a 1978 VW Rabbit diesel. I'm pretty sure the Rabbit diesel was faster.
One time the two of us who rode in the back seat of the Chevette got sick, almost blacked out, and lost our dinner. It had a bad exhaust leak. Couldn't convince the foaf we weren't joking about this, because, honestly, we teased him a lot about the car. I think he finally got it fixed when his mom almost passed out and lost her lunch riding in the back seat.


IIRC, you couldn't turn off the blower motor on the Chevette. It had a "Constant ventilation system"

You also couldn't select "bi-level" on the HVAC control. Your feet or your windshield froze. Couldn't keep both thawed at the same time.


I recall that little "feature" well. Defrost or heat - take your pick. You could either opt to drive blind or hope you didn't die of hypothermia before reaching your destination.

-Spyder

 

[expat]

Originally Posted By: Spyder7
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Originally Posted By: spackard
By the way, a friend-of-a-friend owned a '79 Chevy Chevette and a friend owned a 1978 VW Rabbit diesel. I'm pretty sure the Rabbit diesel was faster.
One time the two of us who rode in the back seat of the Chevette got sick, almost blacked out, and lost our dinner. It had a bad exhaust leak. Couldn't convince the foaf we weren't joking about this, because, honestly, we teased him a lot about the car. I think he finally got it fixed when his mom almost passed out and lost her lunch riding in the back seat.


IIRC, you couldn't turn off the blower motor on the Chevette. It had a "Constant ventilation system"

You also couldn't select "bi-level" on the HVAC control. Your feet or your windshield froze. Couldn't keep both thawed at the same time.


I recall that little "feature" well. Defrost or heat - take your pick. You could either opt to drive blind or hope you didn't die of hypothermia before reaching your destination.

-Spyder


Ah yes, I remember that as just one of my gripes with the Chevy truck, the fan developed a whine (weee weee weee) but I could not turn the darn thing off.
The door handles had peeling chrome over plastic that cut like a razor blade. Weather strip for the doors was attached to the door frame, so it wore and came loose to let cold air blow around your ankles. Foam float in the Quadrajet sank, it flooded the engine with gas (Pity, it did not ignite!).
Rear brakes would lock the wheels before the front brakes did much at all.
350ci Sucked gas like a pig, but only put out about 130 hp and had a huge flat spot before the secondaries [on the Carb] cut in.
Total heap of Junk!!!

 

[brick]

Replaced my chevy lumina with a NEW 2000 dakota 4x4 sport.(back in 2000 of course).Truck had maybe 200 miles on it at most.
That dodge dakota was nothing but [censored] from the git go.
The p/s pump constantly whined,dealer said that's normal..whatever.
Had a bad pull to the left,dealer said they can't find anything wrong.3x.
Brakes in the rear whined like a semi with hot brakes,terrible sound.
Okay..took it to another dealer and left it.
They call me and said the will need the truck for at least a week or a bit more,okay..what's wrong??
(1)Pump was indeed bad.
(2)Fixed the front end pull,was NOT aligned properly and the tires are NOT the right size for the truck (they we're bigger sized) but they will be okay with the alignment.I was fine with that and it handled good after they fixed it.
(3)The brake problem well...it had the braking system for a REGULAR dakota,NOT the 4x4 truck. WOW!!
They kept the truck for a week and replace the entire braking system with the proper 4x4 braking system that belonged on it.
They also called the area rep who came out and looked at it and they said he shook his head in disbelief and told them to make the truck the right way no matter what.It shouldn't have left the factory in that condition!
NEW rotors,pads,abs,drums and everything in between.
I hated that truck and would NOT buy a dodge product ever!
I got rid of it with a job layoff a short time later.
Went to the original dealer and showed the manager all the paperwork from the dealer i had repaired and all he said was my shop guys are not the best at times and looked like he could care less.
I did wait until a few customers were in the dealer to tell him in front of them and then i left!Customers did too a very short time after i did!! HA!!
I found out later on (of course,later on) that this dealer get's vehicles that are new but that have issues and does not tell anyone and can't seem to find any problems...hmmm.
To this day i tell people not to go there.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog

IIRC, you couldn't turn off the blower motor on the Chevette. It had a "Constant ventilation system"

You also couldn't select "bi-level" on the HVAC control. Your feet or your windshield froze. Couldn't keep both thawed at the same time.


They put that flow through junk on the cutlass ciera as well. You could turn it "off" but it blew lots of air on the feet/flooboards when moving. If the heat wasn't hot yet it was miserable. If one chose an AC/recirc position to block outside air the fan engaged, again, keeping one chilled.

This idiotic car, and many others, also engaged AC when one chose Defrost, in a heavy-handed, "we know what's best for you" move. On a 43 degree damp day, this caused fog on the outside of the windscreen that needed wipers to clear. AC works instantly while proper defrosting of course needs warm coolant. I put a kill switch in to disable the compressor.

 

[rjundi]

I find myself lucky only spending $400 on a Fiero in college. It was a pile of...

I left it at airport parking while on vacation at Boston Logan Airport. A vacation extended for another week and a half. I decided the $15 bus was cheaper than retrieving it.

Leaving it was the best decision purchasing the worst.

 

[CharBaby]

In 1983 wife and I were in the market for another car. Kept looking at VW's, Toyota's , Honda's and Subaru's. Liked the Subaru GL-10 but almost bought an Accord Hatchback or a Celica HB or a VW Rabbit as we liked HBs better. Man, these things(forign cars) are expensive and all were over $10 grand! Never owned forign, only domestic.

But we were in search of something smaller, fuel efficient and zippy...Then we saw a Plymouth Turismo 2.2 in Garnet Red w/ radiant silver along the bottom w/stripes...Cool! $7500.00. This car and it's twin, the Charger 2.2 were almost identical to the early/mid 80's SHELBY CHARGER & Turbo SHELBY

It was American, hatchback, fuel efficient and zippy!
It was more comfortable for both mine and my wifes body structure as we both agreed that this is a comfortable car. Great seats!

It was fine for the first 2 years then everything went to HE-double-tooth picks(as my wife always said). One thing after another, time after time, year after year. We bought the car for less money and probably poured more money into it to keep it on the road.

When it was running, it was running fine although not quiet! And you'd never know anything was ever wrong. Zippy, handled great in the corners and braked strongly. But, everything wore out quickely and I replaced many things 2-3 X...Head gaskets, smog pumps, brakes/rotors, wheel bearings, gas tanks/radiators struts and exhaust stytems.

Engine/tranny/carb lasted the whole time though!

If it wasn't for the fact that I would buy replacement parts w/lifetime warranty, I would have gotten rid of the car sooner.

Still, I had to have things replaced that were out of my league/skill/tools factor or, there was 6" of snow on the ground and I wasn't climbing under the car in the snow. Things rotted soon in the winter salt area of Western NY but, this thing fell apart worst than any other car I have owned to date and I have kept cars longer and put on more miles. And it was undercoated from the dealer w/lifetime warranty with repeated checkups from the dealer and an occassional update of undercoating from the tech. The undercoating warranty wasn't worth the paper it was written on and the company went belly up anyway. Then the dealership closed.

Didn't matter, this thing was rusting apart. Gas tank, fuel lines, brake line, P/S lines, floor boards, you name it!

Well, I had the car for 16 and 1/2 years and 175K miles. GEE, why did I keep it so long?...IDK! I actually loved driving this car. Great in the snow...ATMOF, it was the best FWD car in the snow I have ever owned to date and it had 195-60-14 performance radials. Unreal heat on
I moved more people using this car and I often loaned out the car to others in need. To drive the car was really a pleasure around town and others said so too! The hatchback held a 4x8 sheet of anything, just not too many as the rear would bottom out. I actually put in the HB, a double bed/box spring and moved it to a friends home. Parked it in spots that were undesirable and too tight; didn't care! People laughed at me owning it but, when it came time to borrow someones car, guess what? It was the Turismo 2.2 that got them through.

Many things wrong with this car in design and quality but there were lot's of thing right too! This could have been a product to beat the band if Chrysler and the engineers would have put in more engineering and money into the car. Sure it would have cost more but, could have been worth it!

 

[eljefino]

^ My parents bought a 1981 dodge Omni 024 Miser on the same platform. What a punishing box! Us kids had to sit in the back of the coupe under this huge nearly horizontal hatchback glass and bake in the sun. The rear windows didn't even pop open an inch. No AC, manual steering.

Had the ~50 HP VW 1.7 engine, IIRC and a 4 speed stick. Despite a complete lack of power it needed two clutch jobs in 81k miles and was coming up on its third job/fourth clutch. (And it's not the drivers-- they get good life from other stick shifts.) The outside door handles were always breaking somehow. We saw another pressed into pizza delivery torture with the same door handle issue!

It had "Rusty Jones" treatment but a huge hole formed in the bottom of the door, in only eight years. My Dad sent a picture in to some class action or bankruptcy proceeding and got a check for ~$30 back!

In 1989 my Dad was fearing it would not pass state inspection due to a perceived failing catalytic convertor, so we traded it off with 81k miles.