Banjo's Celebrity doesn't qualify. One incident that could have happened to any car if neglected. You gotta have at least 2 things going wrong, something that a normal car would not do. Now Sparky's Traverse! That's more like it. A real POS. That's what we're looking for. Unless you can top that, he gets the award.
Fair enough...
I'm not looking to "win" here. Is that really winning? hahaha!
I own a pair of doozies right now that may qualify better.
First up is our '08 VW Passat Lux wagon. Great driving car. wonderful interior, good power in the 2.0 turbo. purchased 7 years ago with 70k on the odo. But.....
The night we brought it home the check engine light came on. It wound up being the cam follower for the high pressure fuel pump had completely worn through. destroyed the cam and the follower. VW said that wasn't a problem on that year car. If it had been a year older, they would have fixed it. so the dealer fixed it..... kind of. Within a couple months it was screaming about oil pressure. another trip to the dealer saw the oil pump replaced at 72K ,miles.
visiting forums I find the cam follower is a major known issue and many replace it at every other oil change!!! really?! also the oil pump is part of a counterbalance shaft assembly. Dealer only.$1400!!!! and they are known to seize. and the replacement did. I was able to source a 3rd pump and keep it on the road. it now has 116K miles.
I had a front coil spring break, transmission cooler lines rot out, rear wheel bearings both died, exhaust flex pipe broke, the power rear gate will not work when it is too hot or cold, the right rear tire eats the inside edge and the adjuster is too rotted to move... and I have to pull apart the cowl every couple years to clear the debris out of the drain to stop the passenger footwell from filling with water.
Now my 2006 Jeep Commander Limited 5.7 again, drives beautiful, comfortable and is a good hauler.
I start this one by saying I bought it 4 years ago with 125K and it is now at 202K so I drive the wheels off it. But in those 4 years I have had strange issues.
the transmission would completely loose reverse and park! it would roll like it was in neutral!! wound up being the transfer case control module. the front end was binding up bad around corners. it was a bad lockup solenoid in the front diff. all 4 wheel bearings. the front ones twice! .rear pinion seal, front propeller shaft CV joint (made a terrible noise going down the road!), front axle mount bushings (Big clunk!), complete exhaust, heater core (that was fun!!), automatic wiper relay, thermostat, plugs and coil packs, complete brakes including parking brakes, and other maintenance things like tires and bad light bulbs.
Current issues are broken studs on the exhaust manifolds. and all 4 tires are leaking air at the beads. the tire pressure monitors aluminum stems corroded under the stainless caps and now all need to be replaced as well. also I have an intermittent code for transmission solenoid A. and the gear on the fresh air/ recirc flap is broken so I get outside air no matter how cold it is.
I'm not saying either of these are prize-winning lemons, but they both seem to have had more and bigger issues than other cars I've owned.