Whats the worst car you've owned?

A 1998 Pontiac Bonneville. Tired of looking for a new ride, I said berk it and bought this one for $1110 IIRC, replaced the bad LIM gaskets and UIM, serviced the trans, got some used tires on it. Forgot to open the trunk when I bought it, found enough rust and water it took 5 cans of great stuff to seal up. OP gauge was jumping like they all do, put a new sender in it and shrugged at low readings and 20lbs highway cruising, figured cluster was junk. Plated it, went to autozone for misc E36 M3, blew the power steering pump hooning in the snowy parking lot. Changed PS pump. Drove it two weeks, then engine locked up at a rest stop driving home. Glitter in oil. Ran once cooled off, nursed it to the nearest parts store, then home with 2 cans of STP in the crankcase and a fresh oil filter, even then, it would rattle at idle and above 3k rpm.

Luckily, I kept my old POS sunfire in case the bonnevile didn't work out.

Sold it as parts to some dude for $800, he actually managed to drive it all the way home before it blew up in his driveway.

Only non project car I ever lost money on. Swore me off FWD GM stuff forever.

Even my Yugo, which doesn't count, because its a project, is more reliable.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: A Ford Bronco II. I'm not even sure why I bought it. It had the most anemic v6 ever made. The clutch and shifter were like wet noodles. It never ran right. It almost tipped over emergency braking on the highway and rode like an F-350 for no good reason. 100% POS.

I worked for Ford when those were new. Holy $#&! they were JUNK. I used to get nervous maneuvering them at parking lot speeds.

GameboyRMH wrote: '95 Daewoo Cielo. Was a hand-me-down from my mom who bought it by walking into a dealership and asking for the cheapest car. Broke down on most drives, was slower than hell, couldn't turn or stop worth a damn either (brakes were just scary-bad) and I think it did permanent damage to my sex life.

Those were sold up here by Pontiac as a LeMans. OMFG were they garbage.

Mine was way uglier than that:

(Had slightly less ugly rims, but I think they only highlighted how ugly the rest of the car was)

See the Daewoo "jock strap" emblem on the front? One time when I closed the hood after a roadside repair, it popped off and hit me in the nuts. Stuck it back on with Shoe Goo before selling it. I was hoping it would be scrapped but I saw some poor bastard driving it just a couple years ago.

Hi.. .. . . I own a 26 year old Porsche.. . . . .. Need I say more?

I don't think there is any part on that car that I have not repaired / replaced. Once I figured out how to think like a German engineer things got easier.

Wait the gas peddle. .. . .Never messed with that.

dean1484 wrote: Once I figured out how to think like a German engineer things got easier.

I'm convinced all the sicko guards that worked at auschwitz became German auto engineers after the war

I think these two were tied: both with four cylinders of smog-era brute force connected to the ground through the magic of automatic transmissions

1986 Pontiac Grand Am SE wife ordered and bought new. Six months to get as she picked blue and GM was struggling with the blue paint sticking to the wheels - then she ordered monochromatic white.

Arrived with a dent, leaking Trans fluid like crazy the first day, relay after relay blowing, started rusting after 4 Chicago winters, and a new Trans at 50,000 miles along with 2 water pumps. Creaked, groaned, and leaked all fluids the last 4 years of my "second car" ownership and it was also heavily rusted and was a bear to work on under the hood.

It makes it worst that she "considered" a Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS and then thought that FWD would be better in the snow.

81 Mustang. Paid $1700. Spent $3000 over four years just keeping it running. (I had to pay folks to work on my POS in those days. If your father taught you to wrench, be thankful.) After the cam shaft twisted on engine #3 (apparently the 4cly Ford had no rev limiter...) dad sold it for $250 just to get it out of his woods. I was away at school and he didn't even tell me he'd sold it until I got home and mom handed me the cash. "Uh.. what's this for?" "Oh...Ask your dad." That car was cool but it sure sucked as a machine.

oldtin wrote: I think these two were tied: both with four cylinders of smog-era brute force connected to the ground through the magic of automatic transmissions

My sister and brother in-law had an identical '75 Pinto wagon, minus the Cragars. I've never seen another metallic blue and woodgrain one. I kind of loved that car. Of course, it was new and I was only seven.

How could I forget. "73 Ford Torino wagon. engine ran good.

My XC90, which is a combination of spectacular highway traveller/electronic collection of unneeded geegaws and gadgets that won't stay all working long enough for me to sell it...and lets not forget the GM hydramatic that ate the final drive planetary to the tune of $3500.

2004 VW Passat. 1.8T Automatic. It constantly needed electrical work and oil changes every 2,000 miles. The oil would sludge up and starve the engine because of the well known pick up tube screen issue. The dealer finally offered to fix it but I said berkeley it, you can have it back. I borrowed my moms Pontiac Aztec for a while and even it was a better automobile. That is sad. The second worse was a 1994 E36 318 with 250k miles. It had its good days when it would bring a smile to my face briefly, before threatening to self destruct. I still have a 2000 BMW 540iT and it is a damn good car even when it breaks. I changed the valve cover gaskets last night and it didn't make me curse or set something on fire. The best car I have ever owned hands down is my 94 Miata. I flog the E36 M3 out of it and it just won't die or break in any way. 206k miles and is begging for the next 200k.

1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX. I bought it for a winter beater last October. It certainly lived up to the latter part of that name. For starters: Rust, rust, and more rust! The fuel and brake lines were dangerously rusty, while some huge rust spots on the rear fenders were poorly patched up with duct tape and dark paint to try to blend it into the worn dark green paint.

A 2.5" exhaust system was added by the PO. It was too loud to pass inspection, so I had to plunk down $300 to have a catalytic converter installed. It was STILL too loud, so I had to drop another $150 to have a resonator installed and some holes near the flex pipe welded up. The pig iron exhaust manifold was also cracked in four or five different places. Had to replace that. One of the exhaust manifold bolts snapped off within the block while removing the old one. I never replaced it, instead I had an Evo 4-ply exhaust gasket installed to compensate. Only then did it pass inspection.

I had the oil pan and every hard oil and fuel line under hood replaced because of how rusty they were. The Eclipse was constantly drizzling fluids onto the driveway and losing about 1qt-1½qt. of oil every 500-750mi. It also needed regular topping up of the coolant. The sunroof latch was broken and held down by zip ties, and there was always a great deal of wind noise and draft from the air trying to lift it open at highway speed. The tires were badly worn Chinese-made Goodyear knock-offs. The AWD system saved my bacon a few times in the snow, got to give it that. Idle was always erratic, even after replacing the IACV and some of the vacuum lines. The transmission would randomly pop out of third gear. The turbo had a chunk missing from one of its fins. It would not retain boost. A power steering line failed while parked at work and puked up all of its fluid in the parking lot. Finally, the clutch died on me and left me stranded 35 miles away from home. Winter was not over yet and I had to brave a couple of nasty snowstorms in the Mustang, which it is absolutely not set up to do. I considered changing the clutch myself but the undercarriage was so rotten and I hated the car so much that it simply was not worth it to me.

Oh, what a happy day this was! I sold the Eclipse to a couple of Honda guys who wanted to drop the motor into a Hyundai Excel to make a sleeper. I wished them the best of luck and sent them on their way after selling the heap. While looking for a new winter car, I found a CL ad for the shell, sans engine and transmission, which warmed the cockles of my black little heart even more. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

In reply to RexSeven: cough...pre purchase inspection..cough

VW Dasher. even with new tires it hydro-plained easly. The happyest day was the day i kicked out the windsheild and took it down the power lines....funny it never ran as well as it did that day. It even made it 45 minutes with no oil pump...smashed it in to the crank going off a MX jump and hitting small trees. second was an AUDI Fox i bought to try and fix the dasher after the 1st hydro crash in to a granite curb in the mall stuffed the right front under the driver seat.... Pure crap both of those POS.

I have owned many cars over my life but the hands down grand champ was my yellow/ black 2004 Mini S that I bought used in 2008 with only 38K miles. I only had the car three months and the car spent NINE (09) weeks in the shop! WTF?

The quick list: Cooling fan, head light bulbs (three) no water in housings, CEL on for nine different codes (only one returned a second time), two different no start that required the car to be towed to MINI, random stall at speeds over 40MPH this was never fixed, ECM/ PCM replaced for a miss-fire, window switches had to be replaced, and i am sure I have forgotten something. All of this happened in less than three months as I only made two car payments.

The car was a blast to drive but I did not have time to deal with the car, the selling dealer was done with me and the car. The day I traded the Mini in the CEL came on about three miles away from the dealer I was trading the car in. I pulled in to ADV and had them turn the light out.

Second worst car: 2004 VW GTI This car was bought new and sold about a year later with over 22 visits to the dealer, two new transmissions, new turbo, and about 12 noise repairs. The only up side was the CEL NEVER came on and I was always able to get the car home.

The sad part is I would buy both the car again.

Paul B