Tell us about your worst car

I bought my 62 Comet to replace my 74 Beetle. Sight unseen off of ebay in upstate South Carolina. It had a C Code 289, 3 speed toploader, brakes and rear axle from a 1967 Mustang. I thought it was soooo cooool as a highschool senior.

Hiding under the carpet was a rusty floor. All the trim holes were rusty. All the trim was bent. All the window seals leaked. The gas tank didn't like ethanol and clogged the entire fuel system slowly. The engine swap was a bolt in, but they left the small radiator(and no shroud) from the 144 six so it ran hot in the city. I could never get the brakes to bite evenly so it pulled one way or the other depending on how much I had messed with them. The exhaust was long tubes, not crossed over, with Flowmaster 40s which sounded AMAZING but hung low enough to scrape on EVERYTHING. Steering had about 30° of play on center. The Z-Bar gave up the ghost one day in my college dorm parking lot. A previous owner had installed the shift linkage backward so it shifted

1 3

R 2

It was fun to cruise around at 35mph. It fit my surfboard and my golfclubs. I would totally like a do-over but it was  a pile. Sold it for my initial investment of $2500 after spending $2500 on it.

I once owned an 1982 Citation same color two tone as in the OP.  The iron duke (tech IV my ass)  jumped time and backfired through the throttle body, blew the air cleaner lid off and set the underhood insulation on fire along with everything else under the hood.  Since the car was literally toast, the friendly local GM dealer offers to trade me for an 1981  Buick Regal, wait for it, diesel.  Being away from home and fairly young and stupid, I took the deal.  And so began and ended my experiences with the worst two cars i ever owned in my entire life.  Strangely enough i still like GM, so i'm either very forgiving or a compleat idiot.  Probably both...

LanEvo said:

My dad bought into the whole "Subarus are great, safe, reliable cars that can climb Everest" hype and basically forced everyone in the family to buy one. He's like "I know Subarus are reliable and very well built cars, so why do we have so many issues with them all the time?" I guess marketing really works on some folks.

We've had three. Outback one went to 254K before the tranny went, my current Outback has thus far had 134,000 trouble free miles and the Imrezza 2.5 RS was at 175K when a truck bent it beyond economical repair.

With that said I'm by no means a Subaru fan boy.......I'm well aware of the head gasket issues.

Hands down the D-sports racer. The car was phenomenal to drive and really fast BUT the ownership experience was horrendous. It needed constant care and feeding and we went through some teething problems which crushed my souls as well as my wallet.

89 S10 Blazer. Everything that could break did break. 

1996 Subaru Outback. Most of the issues I had were previous owner related, or partially my fault. This was back in 2011, when I was less mechanically inclined, which didn't help.

I drove all the way down to West Virginia (I think?) to buy it because I really wanted a blue one. I had sent a money order to hold it, and when I got there the guy could tell it wasn't in as good of condition as I thought it would be, and offered to give me back the hold money and let me walk away, but I ended up buying it.

None of the 12v outlets worked, so my GPS died on the way home and I ended up driving almost an hour in the wrong direction somehow. It was also burning/leaking some fluid, but I couldn't identify what it was on the way home since the oil and transmission fluid seemed to be fine (except somehow I mistook the diff fluid level for oil, so I was never checking the oil). When I was almost home, the oil pressure light started flickering at idle, so THEN I realized what fluid was causing the smoke every time I would shut the car off.

Before I fixed any of the issues it had, I swapped in heated front seats, deep cleaned the whole car, installed new head lights and an aftermarket stereo. This would of course become a waste of time and money.

It had torque bind, and after draining the trans fluid and finding WAY too much in there (filled an 8 quart drain pan completely and then some), and that the diff was ALSO full of trans fluid, I ended up replacing the transmission. Unfortunately I wasn't confident in my ability to do the swap myself, since it was AWD, so I took it to the cheapest shop I could find, that replaced the transmission but ignored any other issues they found along the way, and then had to shorten the exhaust to get it to fit, which made no sense at all. It also wouldn't idle once it was warmed up, since they forgot to plug in the IAC sensor.

Got it home and realized that while the torque bind is gone, the massive oil leak still exists, and diagnosed that it was the oil separator plate, which is of course on the back of the engine, and the transmission has to come out again. Couldn't afford to have a shop do it, so I did it with help from my dad. Replaced the separator plate gasket (or used RTV, whatever the correct thing was), and put it back together. Changed the oil and went for a test drive.

Less than 15 minutes later, the car died coming up to a light. It started back up, but didn't sound right. ROD KNOCK.

I gave up on that car at that moment, parked it and walked home. Went and got it later and sold it for nowhere near what I paid for it, and the parts and labor, but it was enough to buy a 1991 Escort, which went on to be one of the most reliable cars I've owned.

Oddly enough, all my other Subaru experiences have been good. 3 Saabarus, combined 80,000 miles with no huge repairs. Worse was an alternator. Granted, at 260,000 miles one developed an external head gasket leak, but the others succeeded at containing their coolant. 

1981 Dodge Charger 2.2.  I owned it just long enough to get the title so I could get rid of it. I had such high hopes going in...this would have been in the early 1990s. Never ran right. Overheated twice, which led to the head gasket failing. Windshield leaked. Power steering would fluid starve while autocrossing. 

Second worst was my 1967 Kaiser Jeep CJ-5.  Wouldn't start in damp weather. Radiator sprung a leak and it was some oddball year that nobody made a replacement so I rigged a Pinto radiator in that barely would keep it cool. Clutch failed. U-joint failed. Wheel bearing failed. Lots of other stuff I can't remember. It was literally broken down once every week the entire time I owned it. Has successfully kept me off Jeeps since, though I still linger over ads for Willys CJs.

Oddly, I've had numerous cars people regard as terrible that all treated me well. Numerous 1970s Fiats. Austin Mini. Jeep Patriot. 1980s VW/Audi products. And yes, two Subarus that went 186,000 and 223,000 miles respectively before we got tired of them and wanted a change.

1983 Nissan Stanza. By far the worst designed vehicle I have ever owned. It was bad enough that I didn't buy another Nissan for 30 years. 

In reply to Colin Wood :

1970 Buick Rivera, I've long had a liking of Buick's  my previous Buick was a 1962 Wildcat  convertible.  Red/Red I bought for a few hundred dollars  cleaned and detailed it beautifully until I was regularly getting compliments.   One brake job and regular maintenance it was reliable as a clock.   
  Pulled my race car to and from San Diego and Minnesota, to and from SCCA races. 60,000 + miles until one piston decided to quit.  
      I still got a wonderful trade in on the Rivera. That was the Classic boat tail one. 
 But talk about a lemon.   The carb failed and a rebuilt carb didn't run right either. Rebuilding it required changing the set up between the regular gasket and the thermal gasket and then adding another gasket underneath.  A week later the nylon timing chain sprocket  broke and  required pulling off the front of the engine to replace. 
 New timing chain, new sprocket gaskets. And the water pump was a little wonky so a fresh rebuilt one.  And all new fan belts.  A misfire developed after that claiming a fresh set of plugs - nope.  Wires? Nope -  broken spring in the distributor. 
    The next weekend oil pressure suddenly dropped to almost nothing.   A piece of the nylon sprocket had been wandering around the  engine and wedged into the pressure relief valve. 
    Mains and rods got new bearings.  A careful detail job and off to the Chevy dealer to buy a new Vega GT 4Speed.  
 Fantastic car.  Drove it regularly back and forth  San Diego to Wisconsin typically foot flat to the floor 105+  mph typically getting 25 mpg. Only used a quart of oil between oil changes.  Stone reliable and sold it for almost what I paid for the Vega  originally. 

73 AMC Hornet Sportabout wagon.  Some guy bought it new in 74 and took it to his vacation home in SC to leave there.  He promptly had a stroke and never went back.  After he died the kids sold it with 7400 miles on it.  Right place, right time, so I got it.  Worst decision ever.  It was the stripped-down version, so it had the little six... which wasn't actually that bad, but it also had 4-wheel manual drum brakes and no power steering.

I replaced every single component of those brakes from the booster to the shoes and they never worked.  How that car made it past DOT testing I will never know.  If I parked it in snow, I could stand on the pedal with both feet and one of the tires would just spin in the snow.  I don't think I kept it a year.  It was awful.

75 TR7 I bought in 1980 while in high school. Turned out it hadn't been as well maintained as the seller claimed. To its credit, it taught me how to work on cars and probably kept me out of a lot of trouble, since my weekends were usually spent under the bonnet. I kept it for about six months, then traded it for an MGB before it completely drained my savings account.

My worst is probably a toss up between a worn out 68 corvair that my wife mercifully killed off by driving it about 15 miles with no fan belt nearly seizing the engine and a 1984 dodge Daytona turbo that was undoubtedly the worst built piece of crap i have ever owned from a build quality standpoint. Factory battery died in less that a year, fuel ejaculation never worked right Chrysler wouldn't or couldn't fix it. Finally all the control electronics for the turbo went stupid at about 40k miles and broke the transmission - Chrysler wouldn't honor the warranty calling it intentional abuse. Never ever buy another Chrysler product again under any circumstances. The corvair needed someone with more mechanical ability than me at the time to keep it running but it was a rust bucket with a patched up floorboard and handicapped by a 3 speed tranny...shoulda looked for a well cared for replacement and learned how to care for it and i might still have it today

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Traded 3/4 of a pack of Marlboros for a "running and driving " 82 Cadillac Eldorado.  Most expensive and painful pack of cigarettes i ever opened. 

Drove it the 30 miles home. That was the last successful drive it made. Rear calipers siezed when i used the parking brake, finially got the brakes sorted many hundreds later and it kicked a rod on the victory lap. 

I later saw the car on an episode of cops where the guy i got it from had it in Vegas when he got drunk and shot his son in the leg.explained tbe body damage and questionable repairs. 

And, you know, trading it for a pack of opened smokes. 

Seriously great story.  

thedoc said:

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Traded 3/4 of a pack of Marlboros for a "running and driving " 82 Cadillac Eldorado.  Most expensive and painful pack of cigarettes i ever opened. 

Drove it the 30 miles home. That was the last successful drive it made. Rear calipers siezed when i used the parking brake, finially got the brakes sorted many hundreds later and it kicked a rod on the victory lap. 

I later saw the car on an episode of cops where the guy i got it from had it in Vegas when he got drunk and shot his son in the leg.explained tbe body damage and questionable repairs. 

And, you know, trading it for a pack of opened smokes. 

Seriously great story.  

People in NE Ohio laugh at the idea of using the parking brake on anything.  You just don't, unless you know for certain that it works beforehand.

Didn't own one, but sold them as a dealer.  One of the worst was the 82 Volvo 760.  You knew the car was cursed when someone died during the dealer intro.  Seat upholstery was made of tissue paper, radio had a useful live of a month.  The PRV 6 was the cornerstone of the service department, since every one needed cams at least once.  The factory mis plumbed the engine assembly line, so the engines were broken in with regular oil, and then shipped to the customer with break in oil in the crankcase.  The window tracks were too short, so when you rolled the windows down, they would fall off the track and not go back up.  Sunroof leaks, power seat failures, seat mount failures, short brake life, it went on and on.  It was the car you would give to your ex-spouse at the divorce.

VolvoHeretic said:

Used 78 Ford Fairmont Wagon looking just like this photo.

Thank you. Some people here seem to love these things but the '81 Futura that DW had was the biggest POS I was ever related to.

It was a 6 and would barely get out of its own way. The 4 would have been actively dangerous in traffic. It had no feel for anything - brakes, steering, suspension, nothing. But somehow it was harsh to ride in.

DW is 5'-4" and I am 5'-10". With the bench seat in her driving position I literally couldn't get into the car.

It didn't have a clock or AC. And you blew the horn by pushing in on the end of the turn signal stalk - easily the least intuitive way I've ever seen for the thing you need in an emergency... and I've owned a batch of GM cars.

Plus it developed a weird thing where it wouldn't take any throttle at all.

I hated that thing and was ecstatic to trade it in on a new base '92 SWB Dodge Caravan.

'84 Rabbit, diesel, 4spd with almost 300k miles.  Fired right up when I test drove it.  At a sketchy mechanic shop, in the dark.  Red flag.  After that, it never started on it's own without a hit of starter fluid again.  Went back and asked them the next day about it  -- they told me to hit it with some ether!  I asked if that's what they did right before I test drove it?  Record scratch, dude rolls out from under his next victim's future car and proceeds to chase me out of the shop with a breaker bar.  Luckily I left the POS running.

It had so much blowby that it would choke out the air cleaner, so I drilled some holes in the airbox so that it could leak out.  Ran a vaccum hose from the airbox to the cabin so I could hit it with some ether from the comfort of the cabin.  

It was a steaming turdbucket and when I listed it for sale the next spring, the guy that showed up was overjoyed with it!  I told him everything, and he gave me $100 over asking price, or about $500.

Tom1200 said:

Hands down the D-sports racer. The car was phenomenal to drive and really fast BUT the ownership experience was horrendous. It needed constant care and feeding and we went through some teething problems which crushed my souls as well as my wallet.

Just how many souls do you have?

In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :

My mother bought a Citation in its first year of production.  This two door coupe served her well for 25 years and could have been longer but her insurance company refused to renew the policy.  In the middle '90s, I bought a Citation II four door and proceeded to enjoy the car for another seven years until I slid off the road during an ice storm causing enough damage that it didn't make financial sense to repair it.

In reply to A 401 CJ :

I was a cat in a former life.........I had several souls till that car. I'm down to one......hence ridding myself of that car.

1989 Toyota truck. Put a new engine in it because there were piston parts in the oil pan. Thought it looked cool and it was a nice size, but that engine was just such a turd even when fresh. Decided to sell it when I went to pass someone on a two lane road and failed to actually attain any acceleration. I should have known better when I dropped some parts off at our machinist and he laughed and said "that engine has paid so many of my bills".

Replaced it with a 2000 Tundra. Better in every possible way. 

I've had cars that other people would think are worse, but it's telling that I don't think I have a single picture of that truck.

In reply to curtisr :

Funny you mentioned that, i bought the car from my Mother, because I went into the Army at 17 and was "techincally" too young to sign a note on a car loan.  So i just took over her note at the credit union with her as a guarantor.  Pretty sure it was the nylon timing gears in the Tech IV that did me in.  Don't get me wrong, i pounded on that car like a rented mule because I really didn't want a Citation, but I couldn't get any paper done on a Rabbit GTI or anything else remotely sporty 17 year old me wanted, it probably was a good thing. 

I have a strange one. My 2003 Toyota Matrix XRS was the worst car I've ever owned. It was cursed from the start. The dealer that I bought it from would buy Vibes and Matrixes off auction with bad clutches and replace them. Not problem, I though, it means they probably have some experience. Well, after a ton of issues with the paperwork, they agreed to drop it off at my house for me. How nice! Well, they kinda forgot to bolt the motor mounts down. I kid you not, I drive it to and from work, and on the way home, I downshifted and I heard a crazy loud bang. I get it home and throw it on the ramps. The engine had lifted up and it slammed the transmission down on the k-member and cracked it open. It was spewing the remainder of the transmission fluid onto my driveway. They took the car back and repaired the cracked transmission. And this is the kicker. After returning it, they STILL DIDN'T BOLT THE DAMN MOTOR MOUNTS DOWN. I can't even make this up. I was on the phone with the guy and he told me there was no way his tech left out any bolts. I replaced all the missing bolts (some while I was on the phone with the guy) and had nothing but problems during my ownership. I was so happy when they hauled that POS away for scrap!!

The kicker is I'd buy another Matrix in a heartbeat. I fully understand mine was abused by the previous owner, and the dealer I got it from made it much worse.

I dont know.  Honestly I have had pretty decent luck as I haven't had any major reliability issues (knocks on all the wood).  That said, both of the Subarus I have owned have required some major fixes, but prior to my ownership.

The worst car I have come close to owning was my GF/Fiances/Wifes (I can't remember) B14 Nissan Sentra.  Holy E36 M3 that had such a terrible automatic transmission.  It didn't get good gas mileage.  It wasn't quiet.  It didn't have any power.  It handled poorly.  It was just all around not-good.  Then the water pump went and its the only car I think I have given up on a job on and had it towed to the shop.  I couldn't figure out how to get the gasket surface clean and install a new one without removing the engine from the car completely.

I forgot about my 1981 Mustang. 2.3 4 speed car. With a/c. Talk about a dog. But, it wasn't unreliable.

The 76 Ford Courier (Mazda) was equally as gutless, even after doing a Weber carb conversion kit. Four wheel drum brakes. Manually adjusted; no self adjusters. Two wheel cylinders per wheel. Freaking PITA. After a 70mph flat-to-the-floor run it cracked a cylinder head. I was going to swap in a Capri V6 but someone offered me money for it as-is and away it went.

My 74 Pinto was truly terrible but it had sat abandoned for over a year and had a litany of problems. It was a $300 car, so I can't really complain much. 

Gee, I owned more crappy cars than I remembered.