Worst or most problematic car you've owned?

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For me: 2003 Saturn ION.
Numerous small, but costly failures kept happening.
at ~90,000 miles, one cylinder was far below spec in compression.

My father said he never had any really bad cars except for a 1970s Plymouth Volare. He had to sell his 1971 Corolla because of his wife's demands for a bigger car, due to the arrival of the baby. When he divorced his first wife, he let her take it, and he proceeded to buy a 1979 Toyota Corolla. That '79 Toyota was one of my dad's most favorite cars.

When I grew up, my mom had a 1985 Nissan Maxima. That was the first year for front wheel drive Maximas, and it was a hasitily executed disaster. CV Joints didn't last, and they were extremely expensive back then. The P/S rack failed early and was insanely expensive at $1200. The scorching hot underhood temperatures constantly destroyed starters, alternators, and batteries. The A/C compressors were not durable enough, the first one blew a chunk of metal through the condenser. In 1994 at 90,000 miles, the timing belt went out due to lack of maintenance and destroyed the engine. I still loved the car because it was like Tron and Knight Rider combined. It certainly wasn't the worst car out there, it never had a single engine problem, Check Enginge Light, or automatic transaxle problem.
 
Im surprised you guys have so many Ford problems. Ours has 100K on her with not 1 problem other than the power window problem Ford has in 2004. Been the most reliable car we've had other than my parents 1999 Altima. Never had a really problematic car. Lucky me!
 
Originally Posted By: renegade_987
Im surprised you guys have so many Ford problems. Never had a really problematic car. Lucky me!


Same here..Since my first car which was a used high mileage 67 Impala I can not complain about any of them..All my cars were Full Size V8 sedans except for a couple of Caddy Coupe De Villes..Most were Impala&Caprice until 1980..After that I stayed with Ford which were all V8 Panthers.

All cars [including the 67 Impala] were fully loaded with power windows and factory a/c..I never had a issue with the power windows in any of them..Knock on wood..The a/c in all those cars would cool a 7 room house until the day I sold them..But then again [with the windows] I do not open and close the windows everytime I get into the car as I just leave the a/c on all the time and just adjust the temperature..You save on window motors that way.

On my General Motors cars I kept them till around 150K miles..On my Fords I kept them [and still do] till 200-300K miles..I just feel more comfortable in Fords so I keep them alot longer.

The only issue with the G.M. cars were squeaks and rattles..Besides that they were OK..I just put a better sound system in them..The G.M. dealer could never duplicate the rattles and squeaks so I just learned to live them.

BTW I do not buy any car until law enforcement,taxi and the livery guys test them out first and talk to alot of drivers to see how they hold up...If it good enough for them it is good enough for me.
 
2004 Chrysler PT. We bought it new at the end of '04, it currently has 66K on it. I've been driving over 40 years, this car is the costliest thing I've ever seen to maintain.

1. Power steering hose leak (covered by original warranty)

2. Water pump leak at 38K (covered by drivetrain only $100-deductable warranty). Replaced some other items at this time such as timing belt and tensioner. Of the total $800+ bill, we paid around $300.

3. Head gasket oil leak (warranty w/$100 deductable)

4. Transmission slipping. (Paid $75 to reset computer)

5. Engine fan malfunction. (Paid $534 to replace, plus $90 wrecker bill)

6. Front/rear wheels alignment (extra $100+ to align due to special parts needed)

7. Transmission slipping, no reverse, currently in shop being repaired(???)

It will be the last Chrysler product ever for us.
 
88 GMC s15.. the engine itself was solid but everything attached wasn't. Couldn't keep the engine light off for more than a month. The Aspire is right up there with it but it's had a much harder life.

My parents would be the 2 Voyager/Caravan's they had. Door handles, transmissions you name it. The 00 Chevy Impala a few cars ago was shot at 100k you'd think a teenager had drove it.. and my mom is far from it.

Best for us has been the Escape hands down the Festiva's have no issues either. My old boss has a 04 Paciifica and has had 3x the problems same year but he has 30k less on the odo.
 
1981 Dodge Omni 024 - hatch seals leaked, replaced rear defrost switch several times, ECM issues, engine couldn't idle with A/C on, 2.2L underpowered with the automatic transmission, rust. Wife bought it new, we traded it in right after the warranty expired.
 
Originally Posted By: lewdwig
1981 Dodge Omni 024 - hatch seals leaked, replaced rear defrost switch several times


Sorry to hijack, but what you posted reminded me of something that will give most a laugh here.

In the winter of 1989, I was living in a university dorm. It was a brutally cold day, like -40. A buddy was picking me up for coffee, driving basically what you described. He honked; I looked out the window into the lot to see if it was him. The hatch was wide open. I said to my room mate, hey, so and so is here, and look, he drove across town in this weather with his hatch open. Room mate says, no way, no one is that stupid. He looks outside and couldn't believe it.

I go outside, hop in, tell my friend he has his hatch open. He said that he thought it was cold and noisy in the car. Yeesh. I don't recall if the hatch seals were good or bad. If the hatch is left wide open, I suppose it really doesn't matter.
 
My dad had an omni when my brother and I were kids. A 4 person family used to go on vacation in this thing.

Here's the thing, none of the doors would open from the outside, so one person had to climb in the HATCH and let other people into the car.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
My dad had an omni when my brother and I were kids. A 4 person family used to go on vacation in this thing.

Here's the thing, none of the doors would open from the outside, so one person had to climb in the HATCH and let other people into the car.


See my post from 10/4 on page 5.
wink.gif
 
My sister had a '74 Corolla 2 dr sedan that was an awesome, economical, dependable little car. then she decided to buy American and got a Dodge Omni hatchback, and she had ALL KINDS of trouble with it.

I haven't had much trouble with my cars, but 90% of them have been Subaru, Nissan, Honda, VW, etc.
 
For me it's a tie between the 87 VW Fox and the 85 Camry. Despite it's many faults I really liked the VW. I can't say anything nice about the Toyota at all. I feel like I got ripped off and it was free from my grandmother-in-law.
 
Originally Posted By: calvin1
For me it's a tie between the 87 VW Fox and the 85 Camry.


I've heard a lot of bad things about the Fox but I honestly liked it. I dated a girl with a Wolfsburg Fox (I didn't realize there was a Wolfsburg in Brazil
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)It was like an Audi 4000 with a little softer ride/less freeway composure.
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But they do have a bad reputation.

The first generation of Camry was just plain ugly. I can't say how reliable they are or aren't because they are just too ugly to consider.
 
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
I've heard a lot of bad things about the Fox but I honestly liked it. I dated a girl with a Wolfsburg Fox (I didn't realize there was a Wolfsburg in Brazil
crackmeup2.gif
)It was like an Audi 4000 with a little softer ride/less freeway composure.
21.gif
But they do have a bad reputation.


It was a fun car to drive and easy to work on so it should have been a winner. However it became impossible to keep it on the road because of how hard it was to find parts. VW used a lot of rubber and plastic and it was all beginning to dry-rot. Just as an example, the shift bushings crumbled and it took 3 weeks to find them on the shelf in Germany and get them shipped, dusty and stamped "Made in West Germany". Another time one of the oil pressure sensors sprung a leak - not that unusual by itself - and it took the shop two hours to figure out why the buzzer and lights kept coming on: what should have been a normally-open part was actually a normally-closed one. This part only took a week to source.

By comparison I haven't had any trouble getting parts for my 94 BMW. I can get almost anything next day, sometimes two days in a pinch. That seems backwards to me: the much bigger VW has a lot worse availability than BMW.
 
I believe the worst car I've owned had to be my 1991 Caddy Eldorado Touring Coupe. This was the last year of the smaller boxey type shape. Car was pretty and fun to drive but it was a nightmare to maintain it. I bought it used with about 60k on the odometer back in 1999.

Unfortunately it was a first year model for various components. First year of the 4.9L V-8, first year of the electronic controlled transaxle and first year for the Computer Command Ride system.

First problem, when the oil was changed after I bought the car, the engine suddently developed a bottom end knock. Turns out the main bearings were toast. I should've dumped it at that point but it was covered under warranty. So lower end was rebuilt.

If I drove the car in any sort of wet weather, moisture would get into the wiring harnesses of the electronic struts and cause a fault to show up on the info display.

Name a fluid and it leaked. Valve cover gaskets, timing chain cover, rear main seal, front seal, and even head gaskets were changed over the course of the 3 years. Transaxle pan, even power steering lines started leaking.

Electronically controlled torque converter would suddenly pop out of lockup in overdrive. CCU would sense engine reving too much and trigger a service engine soon light. If I stopped car, shut it off and restart, problem would go away at least for a little while.

Simple maintenance items were a nightmare to change. Could always see the bolts/nuts you wanted to turn but you could never get a standard box/open end wrench, socket, etc. on it. I had to buy swivel joint sockets to get the two bolts off to change the thermostat.

Original Delco/Bose stereo system was barely functional.

EGR valve went bad. Engine would ping like I was trying to run it on 47 octane fuel. Two bolts held the valve on the engine. Once again, I needed some form of special tool to get the valve out however.

Finally ended up selling the car to a used car dealer for cash.

At least the car looked nice.

Ed B.
 
My worst car is a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder. Check engine light has been on almost constantly since I have owned. I have replaced various sensors and the light is out for a few weeks and then back on again. Always something. The driver's front seat refused to move. Had it repaired Had it repaired to the tune of $1200.00. Had an oxygen sensor replaced at that time along with a plug coil. Check engine light is still on and the garage can't find anything else wrong with it! This car has certainly turned me against Nissan.

There were other things that went wrong but who can keep track of them all!

By the way I bought this car due to supposed Japanese quality. No more Japanese cars for me!
 
Only car ive owned is my current 2001 integra
nothing failed except the driver side window switch and window motor. 50 dollar fix for both.

I replaced the radiator because it showed mini hair line cracks and didnt want it to burst or start to leak while driving. Mine lasted pretty long 10 years and it would probably still be working to this day.
 
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Originally Posted By: 45ACP
2002 Ford Focus.

This car is pretty bad, reliability and functioning-wise.

Sharp, otherwise.

(its for sale)


Isn't this your aunt's car from the other thread, the one with the spotty maintenance history? Any car can be a POS if it isn't looked after.

Not quite the theme of this thread.
 
Worst car I have ever owned was a 1979 Ford LTD. Never buy a first year vehicle (learned that the hard way.) Nightmares included fouling plugs every 12K, had Ford reps in twice and they couldn't figure it out. Finally an independent mechanic diagnosed it as a bad EGR valve. Other joys included the Variable Venturi carburator, a tranny that lasted 58k, was overhauled before the reverse gears went at 65K., an alumimum waterpump that warped and had to be replaced. By 80K, it was using 3 quarts of oil per tankful of gas, and the aluminum airfilter canister was disassembling itself. Not one of Ford's better ideas (and I am a Ford guy.) Traded it off on a new Honda Accord and a second Accord. Did not own another American vehicle before 1993. Fortunately, they were better by then.
 
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