Worst car you've ever driven

[mikephillips]

I’d forgotten about a couple of cars my dad had years ago. 78 Buick Regal with turbo. Engine was worn out at 50k miles and when the turbo kicked in it smoked like it was on fire. Dealer said that the cam was worn nearly flat and the cylinder bores were badly grooved, and none would be warranty covered since it was a known materials defect. So it left for someone else to mess with. Then in the later 80s a Lancia Zagato. Wasn’t a bad driver but you couldn’t get individual parts. When the horn push quit working dad went to have it fixed. Lancia would not sell the part required, you had to buy a complete steering setup including the column, connecting shafts and steering rack, couple grand then to replace a $10 contact kit.

 

[Basil]

There is a new little feature (I just installed) that allow you to use "BB" code to create a link that will take the reader to a specific post number in a thread when they click it. So, for example, this code:

#

Check out Post #[post]5[/post] will do this (click on it):

will do this (click on it):

Check out post #5 for my worst car.

See the little post numbers in the upper-right of each post? Well, if you make a post and put that number between the "[post]" and "[/post]" tags, it will create a link to that post number - it's magic I tell ya!

 

[waltesefalcon]

88 Buick Century, there was nothing redeeming about the car and when it dropped a valve on the highway between OKC and Lawton I didn't care.

 

[Banjo]

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.

 

[mikephillips]

Check engine reminds me, in 99 when I bought the Corolla new with about 20 miles on it the check engine light came on before I made the about 4 miles home. Turned around and went back. They took a look and found that the guy who had thrown a couple gallons of gas in before pickup had forgotten to put the gas cap back on, so it never created the lower pressure in the tank as it drew gas. Put the cap back on, worked great for 4-5 years. Then the cap switch failed. So check engine was on for the remaining 15 or so years I owned it, till it burned out. I had looked into fixing it, but it seems the way it was built you had to remove the rear seat, remove the rear suspension and gas tank and some other stuff to replace a $2 switch. Was quoted over $2 in labor and the dealer recommended I just ignore it...

 

[John Turney]

Wife had an Opal Kadet. Went through water pumps every 5,000 miles.

 

[mikephillips]

That should have been over $2k in labor, 2 bucks I would have paid...

 

[John Turney]

That should have been over $2k in labor, 2 bucks I would have paid...

40 years ago, $2,000 in labor could have rebuilt the whole car.

 

[mikephillips]

I was amazed that replacing a $5 switch required dismantling nearly the entire rear half of the car. I guess it made sense to some mechanical designer...

 

[DrEntropy]

I was amazed that replacing a $5 switch required dismantling nearly the entire rear half of the car. I guess it made sense to some mechanical designer...

Herself's Camry is throwing the tank code... been like that for a year now. I'm not inclined to disassemble half the rear of the car just to turn out the "money light" on th' thing. And certainly not about to hand it over to a shop.

 

[78Z]

1983 Dodge Aries. To be fair I knew it was lousy when I bought it but not what degree. I bought it for a Beater Challenge it just barely made it. Transmission leaks, overheating (in the rain on a small mountain road), could not hold high speeds especially on hills, etc. Added a paint tray hoop modification for better cooling (spoiler didn't work). At the end of the weekend sold it for $70 I think.

The whole write is here if anyone is interested.

 

[GregW]

That paint tray is awesome.

 

[78Z]

It made a return a couple years later on a different car for the same event. I still have it (the paint tray not the cars) in my garage.

It did not make the cut for the 2019 edition Hamborghini.