Your worst vehicle?

boatme99 · Mar 7, 2015

After Labworms thread on our first vehicles (and we always wax nostalgic about those early symbols of teenage freedom), I thought we could kvetch about the absolute worst vehicles we've spent good cash on.
Any reason. Engines, rust, electrical, horsepower, bad frame, you name it, go ahead and let it out.
You'll be glad you did.

I've had almost 50 vehicles since 1970, and the stand out, biggest piece of junk I've had was a 1983 Pontiac Parisienne station wagon.
It came with a company my ex and I bought. It was the presidents car.

At 2 years old, it already had through the body rust. The authentic, imitation wood paneling was fading out. It had an anemic, tiny 8 cylinder. A/c and heater controls were failing.
The entire car rattled constantly.

Just like this pic. Ugly pale yellow.
We passed it on to the folks that bought the company from us.

Cdog · Mar 7, 2015

Mine was my Last GM product period. It was a 2001 K1500.

The service guy at the dealership had the gall to tell me that they had to build them from cheap light materials for fuel economy. I looked at him and said, "it wasn't cheap when I bought the piece of #*@^.

The regional service manager admitted much in private, but did nothing when it came to getting my truck fixed.

Never again, GM is dead to me.

CajunBass · Mar 7, 2015

I bought a brand new Ford Bronco in 1978. The first year of the "big" Bronco. 351 engine, four speed, granny low transmission, rubber floor mats, no carpet. A real hunters truck.

Picked it up on a Friday afternoon, took it home and parked it. Got up Saturday morning to run to the grocery store. About a mile or so down the road I noticed a cloud of white smoke behind me. "Wonder where that's coming from?"

I made a right hand turn and it followed me.

That ain't right.

Turned around and drove home and called the dealership. "You wanna send a tow truck?" "Naw...drive it on over here. If it blows up, we gotta fix it anyway." So I did. Got about a block from the dealership and she cut off, overheating.

Cracked block, No 1 cylinder. 151 total miles on it. Took about a week to get it fixed, which is another story in itself.

Now to be fair, it was a casting flaw. After they fixed it we never really had any problems, but there for a while it didn't look good.

GRIZZLYBEAR · Mar 7, 2015

Olds Tornado--The one Gov't Motors put the converted 350 gas engine under the hood to be their diesel motor. What a ***

MSgt G · Mar 7, 2015

Bought a Chevrolet once. Nuff said.

arjay · Mar 7, 2015

'68 vw bus.One cylinder ran hot which resulted in an annual engine rebuild.It motivated me to buy my first new truck.

Jim1392 · Mar 7, 2015

It the late 70's, I can't remember the exact year I bought a burgandy Saab. Man what a piece of junk it was. I had more problems with it that I can remember.

Cpo1944 · Mar 7, 2015

Mine has to be a 2003 VW Touareg it had a 10 cylinder Diesel engine which made about 550 lbs ft of torque- that is when it ran.
The first one blew up by running at full throttle and eventually hydro locked and self destructed@ about 3000 miles. VW replaced it with another brand new car and believe it or not the same thing happened to that poor beast. The service manager told me" the computer murdered your engine"!
They offered me a third one , but I declined and accepted a cash buyback, which I guess was fair they deducted a small fee for the miles I drove .I had to make countless visits to the shop thru the episode,so, I was just happy to see the last of the VW store,and have not been back since.

Arik · Mar 7, 2015

Never really had a bad car. I'd say the worst was the 92 Eagle Talon but even that wasn't really a bad car. In the 10 - 12 cars I've owned I've never had serious issues with any and only one was new

rog8732 · Mar 7, 2015

I realized a long time dream for a Lincoln MK coupe once; which was a BIG step up from the Fords and Chevys I had most of the time. Great look and VERY fast; but, when the computer controlled air ride system went kaflooyey I realized while I could afford to buy a Lincoln; I sure could NOT afford to own one.

BigBill · Mar 7, 2015

After owning two used Chevy suburbans 4x4 I wanted to get a new for my wife and children. I purchased a new '88 fully loaded suburban. Nice comfy truck on vacation it was awesome. But at 52,000 miles the block cracked.
It was a cost cutting thing that GM did when they made the cast iron blocks thinner. I junked better running suburbans than the $28k one I purchased. I took the truck in when I heard strange noises in the engine. The dealer did nothing and charged me $75 to look at it. A week later the engine cracked. I never got my $75 back. Never never again buy a GM car. I love my subarus. My whole family buys cars from Japan.

I lost my job three times due to imported goods. Why buy American made junk I'm tired of fighting the tide. I buy the best quality that my American money can buy. Even Harley is using parts from Japan. They should fly the rising sun flag on the bike not the American flag.

kozmic · Mar 7, 2015

I bought a used 1979 Monte Carlo. It was the junky car that junky cars aspire to become. I don't know where to begin to describe how bad this thing truly was.

I've had plenty of GM cars since and all have been pretty darn nice vehicles. Including the 4 that are currently in my driveway.

mstem · Mar 7, 2015

1981 Monte Carlo with a Chevrolet 3.8 V6 not the Buick 3.8 V6. They were not the same engine. Was something wrong with it from day one! I don't know what I was more happy with leaving my ex-wife or that car she took when she left!!!!

hoosierone · Mar 7, 2015

Bought a new 1992 Chrysler Concorde. The first day I had it, the windshield cracked right down the middle (installation problem), on a trip water leaked on my wife's feet from an AC leak. On a 100 degree day taking grandsons to the zoo the AC quit. When the car was 4 months old we took it to FL, the trans wouldn't operate properly except at high speed. Got home and had a new trans installed. Later the second trans acted up and dealer replaced it. Later that trans acted up and dealer replaced it. By now the car had 60,000 plus miles on it. The warranty was good for 70,000 miles so I traded it in before it got to that mark. Years earlier I bought a new Plymouth Voyager and the trans on that quit. I will never buy another Chrysler product.

Vulcan Bob · Mar 7, 2015

No insult meant to anyone's choice of vehicle's as this applies to mine as well. As a retired Mechanic I came to the conclusion that if it had an engine and at least one driven wheel it was junk!

skrazo · Mar 7, 2015

I know this dates me as "older than dirt", but

it was a 1957 Ford(in 1964). Bought used. An elderly couple had owned it, drove it just around town. A kid on roller skates could beat it in a drag race. Transmission started leaking soon after I bought it..........I carried fluid and filled it on the side of the road. The valve train did not oil, put external oilers on it, still went thru rocker arm assemblies fairly often. I finally ran it out of trans fluid out on the road, put the accelerator to the floor till the engine "quit". Sold it for "junk", which it was. Nuff said.............

rufgr · Mar 7, 2015

My worst was a 1974 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup. It was totally rusted out in 2 years. I kept it until 1989. I am not sure how many miles it had on it when I sold it but it must have been at least 200,000. When I sold it you could watch the road go by through the holes in the floor.

JamesSion · Mar 7, 2015

1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 coupe ordered new in green with a white interior. Beautiful car and I loved it but....it was a diesel and that was my downfall. Those particular GM diesels were mostly lemons.

Marshwheeling · Mar 7, 2015

Peugeot 504. I know a lot of you will just say "Well, duh", but the car had a lot to recommend it. It was very comfortable, in the Gallic way that relies on cushy seats and long-travel suspension rather than stark Teutonic orthopedic support. And it tracked flat-footed through turns at speeds that would have me pitching my Volvos into a four-wheel drift.

In a Peugeot, you never had to worry that you might see yourself coming down the street, like in a beetle or a Chevy. I only knew one other guy who liked Peugeots, strangely enough a fellow Alfa Romeo enthusiast. Go figure.

The downfall was rust. The floor turned to pie crust. One day my wife lost a Dr. Scholl's sandal through a hole in the floorboard. Another time I drove into a deep puddle in a rain storm and saw a cloud of smoke and steam rising up in the mirror. The trunk had rusted through and now the muffler had set the fiberboard trunk liner on fire.

JH1951 · Mar 7, 2015

1979 Ford Mustang. Hands down, no question. It had many problems, from peeling paint to burning oil, that Ford simply chose to ignore. I hit a skunk with it one night on the PA Turnpike, and that began the process that ended with buying a Chevy.....

Your worst vehicle?

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