What was the worst car you ever owned?

[davidpizzica]

I know I drag this thread out every once in a while, but there's new people here. Mine was a '73 ford maverick. It looked great when I bought it, but my dad had it looke over by a mechanic who had it on the rack and found a big weld under the bottom of it. It was the halves of TWO cars welded together! Needless to say we got rid of that thing.

[binka_nugget]

Yikes!! :eek:

I'm 20 so I've only owned three so far: a 93 Dodge Shadow, 98 Honda Accord and 2001 Toyota Corolla. I trashed the Accord but it never once failed me. The Dodge Shadow was horrible! It was one thing after another with that car. I remember one week, we had gone to the mechanics every single day for a new problem.. I'm not even exaggerating the least bit. It broke down this one time we went across the border to pick up a pair of BcKrazy's baby bettas. It cost us well over $500 to tow it back to the border and then from the border to our mechanics. I remember it shook violently on my way home from my first road trip.. it's scary driving 100+km/hour on an already dangerous route and having your car shake all of the sudden!

Eventually some idiot broke into my car and took it for a joy ride. They did more damage to it than it was worth so the insurance company gave me $2000+ for it.. there was no way that car would have sold for $1000! So lucky me :p

[Scooter's Mom]

Bought a 2000 Dodge Intrepid, brand new. It was the worst car I've ever owned. I loved how it looked. But there was some serious problem with it that it made the car keep shifting into 2nd gear then you had to take it to the dealer to have it worked on to get it out!

Nothing worse than driving 70+ down the freeway (limit in some places is 75+ between here and Yuma) and the car shifting down to 2nd gear on it's own. Hated it hated it hated it. And it kept having blowouts! The only car I personally have experienced one in - and we had about 5 in the 4 years we owned it. When we traded it in, it had 32,000 miles on it.

We put that many on our Impala last YEAR... and to think we only put that many on the Intrepid in 4 years time...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/Crystal_1972/Old%20photos%20from%20Yahoo/My%20Photo%20Album/788b.jpg
sure was pretty though.

[Cinder & Smoke]

I know I drag this thread out every once in a while,
but there's new people here.

WHY
Don't you post on the OLD thread, to {BUMP} it up ?

That way the "old" posters don't have to RE-post their "old" story,
and everyone can read ALL the stories.

;)

[Emeraldgreen]

1964 International Scout. It was cool looking, kind of like a boxy version of a landrover or something. It had been 're-done' by the previous owner and I'm not sure that guy knew what the heck he was doing. Of course, neither did I so that's why I bought it. It had 3 gas tanks!?! And a v-8 chevy engine inside. It broke down alot. The worst thing that ever happened while driving it was when I was driving along a narrow 2 lane highway in Arizona, heading towards the mexican border at night. There weren't any street lights and hardly a car in sight. I had the highbeams on and an oncoming car was headed my way so I hit the button on the floor with my foot to turn the highs off and ALL the lights went out. No matter how many times I stepped on the button or played with the light switch, they were not coming back on. I couldn't see the road and just prayed like crazy and gradually slowed down and somehow didn't run off the road. More pushing of the button finally got the lights to come back on. Needless to say, I drove around with highbeams every single night until I got rid of it. LOL :)

[Twisterdog]

A 1985 1/2 Ford Escort. I think the 1985's simply didn't have quite enough issues to suit Ford, so they added a few dozen more, and released it mid-year.

It had a ridiculous amount of mechanical problems. I sold in 1990, and only kept it that long because I was a poor college student.

It was tomato red ... everywhere. Dash, steering wheel, carpet, paint. But the tops of the tomato red seats faded in the sun to something like burnt orange. Horrid, horrid.

[shais_mom]

1985-86 (unsure) Ford Tempo.

[K9karen]

1985-86 (unsure) Ford Tempo.

I think you may have had MY car! :D :p

[shais_mom]

I think you may have had MY car! :D :p
lol - gray 5 speed?
it should have been yellow tho - b/c it was a LEMON!

[Suki Wingy]

I've only had my one and only, Sectumsempra. She's a '94 jeep cherokee

[DJFyrewolf36]

Worst car I think I ever had to drive was an 88 subaru something or other. It is a station wagon, and dont get me wrong she has pulled some miricles in her time but someone sadly turned this car into a puzzle before my MIL got it. The carburator was the wrong size for the car and someone upgraded the ECU to a fuel injected model...on a carburated motor :confused:. Whoever had it last managed to make spaghetti out of the wiring harness too trying to put an aftermarket radio in it. You have to start it with a screwdriver and half the time you have to jiggle the battery cable to make sure theres enough of a connection to start the car.
That thing gave me nothing but issues in the month I borrowed it when the Pill was being worked on. I was so happy to have my Pill back!

[vinjashira]

it has to be Peugeot 106, the only car I've ever owned.

I spent so much on it for maintenance. A month before I sold it I paid £250 for a new clutch fitted and I later sold it on ebay for £225 (starting price £100). Not a lot but at least I didn't have to keep spending on it :)

I am in no hurry to get another car. Owning one is just too expensive.

[Sirrahsim]

I have only ever had one car that is my very own and that was over in Japan. It was a 1990something Nissan Bluebird. The windows didn't work.. the A/C didn't work (killer during a Japanese summer), the radio didn't even have an antenna, the door locks only worked half of the time.... but she was MINE. We bought her for $1000 from another GI when I moved to Japan and paid $50 for the shop to junk it when we left :D

[Jessika]

A 1985 1/2 Ford Escort. I think the 1985's simply didn't have quite enough issues to suit Ford, so they added a few dozen more, and released it mid-year.

It had a ridiculous amount of mechanical problems. I sold in 1990, and only kept it that long because I was a poor college student.

It was tomato red ... everywhere. Dash, steering wheel, carpet, paint. But the tops of the tomato red seats faded in the sun to something like burnt orange. Horrid, horrid.
LOL I know what you mean... my friend has an 80-something Escort as his first car... the entire car, every inch of it, red!!!

I haven't had the pleasure of owning a lemon yet. My '92 Lumina I had up until 3 years ago was still going strong when I sold it to my in-laws except for minor "wear and tear" stuff [we did have to replace the alternator on that thing a bazillion times though!!!), and I can't speak highly enough about my '00 Grand Am and '04 Colorado :)

[Barbara]

My worst was a Renault 14. Motor was ok but everything else was rusting while you watched.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I also would have to say a Renault...it was called an Alliant or Alliance...something like that. "Reverse" went out. I had to push it to go backwards so I could only park it where I could get out going forward.

Those were the "dark days" for me and cars. I also had a Honda Civic that was like a tin can with doors during that time. It is not good when the guys at the dealership know you by name. I also remember having to push that one in the pakring garage at O'Hare and then jump into while it was moving and pop the clutch to get it started.

[lizbud]

All of the worst cars I have ever owned, were Fords. Last one was a
Ford Escort. It was black & looked good, but was a total mechanical
nightmare. Broke down every month.

By far the best cars I believe are Hondas & Toyotas.

[moosmom]

Mine was a 74 Volkswagen Bug that I bought used after my divorce. The woman who sold it to me failed to tell me it was in a car accident. Wasn't aware that the frame was bent. It had no heater coil so when winter came, I not only had to scrape the OUTSIDE of the windshield, but the INSIDE as well!!!!

[Pam]

I also would have to say a Renault...it was called an Alliant or Alliance...something like that. "Reverse" went out. I had to push it to go backwards so I could only park it where I could get out going forward.


Sara, I am sorry to admit this but I am laughing at the mental picture I am getting right now. :D

Hubby and I had a Chevrolet Corvair when we were first married. Probably half of you don't even know what a Corvair is. :o Ralph Nader wrote a book about the Corvair - I believe it was called Unsafe at any Speed. Anyway, smoke occasionally would come out from under the dashboard as we were driving. It didn't happen every time and we never did find out where it was coming from.

[Kirsten]

My silver-colored '93 Ford Fiesta, always had problems with it, and I hated it. I drove it from 2003 - 2006. It eventually died when it was running out of oil on the autobahn - killed the engine for good.

Kirsten

[DJFyrewolf36]

Hey now with all this Ford bashing I have to point out that Ford made one good car...

MINE lol :D My car has been through the ringer several times and she keeps on going.
Pam, the Corvairs had really really BAD exhaust routing. What made them unsafe really was that the fuel line was routed way too close to the exhaust manifold. What you probibly experenced was ether fuel dripping on the exhaust or oil and the smoke getting through the heating system. Or something was cooking electrically. Either way...NOT GOOD! Hubby had a corvair burn to the ground on him on the highway, Im glad that didn't happen to you!

[kitten645]

Thankfully I didn't own it but it was a rental. It was a 2006 KIA. I feared for my life getting on a freeway. Went from 20 to 50 in about twenty minutes! People on skateboards were passing me by!! :rolleyes:
Claudia

[Rachel]

It was a 68 Olds Cutlas and had been a demo. The claimed the warranty was in the glove compartment. It wasn't. The engine would stall as I was driving it. I'd have to coast to the side of the road and wait until I could restart it. I get it *fixed* and the same thing would keep happening. They would put in a part and the next guy would take out that part. Both were supposed to be solutions to the problem. I finally traded it in on a stick shift Plymouth Duster, probably before it was even paid off.

[lizbud]

It was a 2006 KIA. I feared for my life getting on a freeway. Went from 20 to 50 in about twenty minutes!
Claudia



LOL :D I can just see it. happened to me before too. :)

[Jessika]

It was a 2006 KIA. I feared for my life getting on a freeway.
Hehehehe this reminds me of the KIA acronym... killed in action. ;)

[Taz_Zoee]

My worst car was probably my first car. It was a 74 Mercury Capri. It was originally my sisters first car and then handed down to me. (Hmm...my brothers first car was my dad's Corvette and then a brand new truck)
Anyway, the Capri did not have radio or heat/ac. However, when you stepped on the gas pedal that thing would sh!# and get!!!
One windy February morning when I was still in high school I had gone out to warm up my car. While I'm sitting in it I began to smell smoke. I looked around and saw flames coming up near the passenger side front tire. I quickly tried to unbuckle my seat belt, which occasionally got stuck. Oh, I panicked but finally got out of the seat belt and ran inside to wake up my parents. My dad had it out before the volunteer firefighters arrived. We lived out in the country, only volunteer manned stations. What happened was the plastic gas line broke and leaked gas on the flattened cardboard boxes someone had placed in my parking spot. :eek:
So then I drove it around for about another year with a huge burn mark on the side.

[cassiesmom]

Knock wood, I've never had a problem car. I had a Toyota Tercel, replaced it with a Saturn, and replaced that with a second Saturn, which is what I have now ('02 SL1). My brother had a Ford Escort that he drove until it wouldn't go another inch -- I guess his was the second good Ford after DJFyrewolf's. He and my sister-in-law have a Volkswagen now and it has had one problem on top of another, but they had a Volkswagen Rabbit when their kids were little that never gave them trouble. They drove the Rabbit until it would absolutely go no further. I have a friend who had a Nissan Sentra that was in the shop very often -- he got rid of it, and now has a Nissan Altima that is very dependable.

[Scooter's Mom]

I also had a GOOD ford. It was my first ever car. A 1990 Ford Escort. I loved that little car. It went and went and went. Even after I bought my Cougar (Mercury, but sort of a Ford product) I kept the Escort. Loved my Cougar more than ANY other car I've ever had. Only reason I sold it was because it was in mine and my ex-husbands name and when I was marrying my current husband he didn't really like that idea... and that's when we got our Lemon/Intrepid.

November 29, 1990 - Bought my Ford Escort
Sept 19, 1995 - Bought my Cougar
February 12, 2000 - Bought the Intrepid
May 15, 2004 - Bought the Ford Mustang we have now (love it)
February 14, 2007 - Bought my Chevy Impala *used*

The Fords and the Cougar were all really nice cars - and I love my Impala.

[DJFyrewolf36]

I notice with Fords that if they've been driven a cirtian way they last forever but if you sell them off (or buy them from someone) they tend to explode! Not that there is any evedence to support my theory but I think they get "used" to being driven one way and get pi$$y if they experence change. The Pill gets really weird and drives like crud if I let someone else borrow it for even an hour. :p

[RICHARD]

The Corvair also had a really funny fan belt.

It ran from the side of the engine up and across the top, back down again, Did anyone mention the engine in the rear? :eek:

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My worst "car" was a motorcycle. It was a piece of shiat, but I had tons' o fun on it and was able to work in it ever single time it needed service.

It was my second Honda, A twin 350 that I bought new because they had done a complete mod job on it, turned it into a road racer. It was coal black, giant 6 gallon tank, fairing and low handlebars.

It was a love/hate relationship. The radio, heater, a/c and windshield wipers didn't work, either.

[Catty1]

Anyone remember the Geo Metro? Little 3-cylinder commuter car?

I heard a comedian talk about it once: "To get it over 40 mph you have to put a motivational cassette in the tape player."

He also talked about bugs hitting the windshield and giving the Metro the finger as they bounced off! :D

[DJFyrewolf36]

The Corvair also had a really funny fan belt.

It ran from the side of the engine up and across the top, back down again, Did anyone mention the engine in the rear? :eek:

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My worst "car" was a motorcycle. It was a piece of shiat, but I had tons' o fun on it and was able to work in it ever single time it needed service.

It was my second Honda, A twin 350 that I bought new because they had done a complete mod job on it, turned it into a road racer. It was coal black, giant 6 gallon tank, fairing and low handlebars.

It was a love/hate relationship. The radio, heater, a/c and windshield wipers didn't work, either.

Ahh rear-engine cars. Prone to catching on fire Ive noticed. I forgot the funny fan belt too.
Sometimes the best/worst cars are the ones you have to fix yourself *glares outside at the pill* lol