What worst car have you bought ever?

[Frank Lee]

The award for worst materials, build quality, engineering, handling, reliability, parts availability, etc., etc., goes to

the 1964 Triumph Spitfire.

That very same P.O.S. makes the Top 10 in nice styling of the cars I've owned. Go figure.

No more British vehicles for me. None. Nada. Zilch. Never.

[Clev]

Mine was a red '82 Camaro T-top with the Iron Duke 2.5L and a 3-speed auto. It had a rod knock that was so bad, it sounded like a diesel. It also got about 17 mpg and would do 0-60 in about 20 seconds. The previous owner (a college girl) had put the "IROC-Z" decals on the sides, so I got challenged at every stoplight.

I eventually sold it and got my parents' '85 Accord, which was actually one of the better vehicles I've owned. (Transmission died at about 160,000 miles, the last 20,000 of which were me doing brake-launches and dropping it into Drive while revving the engine.)

Some of my other prizes were a '77 Corolla "Crown edition", an '86 Ranger with mismatched hood and bed, full surface rust and a seat that I had to restuff and rewire because the previous owner weighed 350 pounds and crushed the seat and armrest, and an '85 F250 with the 460 and granny-low 4 speed that actually hit 9 mpg on a tank once.

[Frank Lee]

Difference must be the trans?

Had an '84 F250 with the 460 5speed- that thing absolutely didn't care about headwinds, tailwinds, empty, fully loaded, short trip, long trip, winter, summer... nothing mattered, it was 13 mpg every time.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Difference must be the trans?

Had an '84 F250 with the 460 5speed- that thing absolutely didn't care about headwinds, tailwinds, empty, fully loaded, short trip, long trip, winter, summer... nothing mattered, it was 13 mpg every time.

I used to drive 75 in that thing, and it sounded like a 2-stroke locomotive--if 2-stroke locomotives could reach 4,500 RPM, that is. It had no tach; otherwise I probably wouldn't have dared drive that fast.

My commute at the time was to a higher community on the same mountain (7,200 feet.) It was a two-lane road with occasional passing lanes and many slow Arrowhead Water trucks carrying water from the springs to the bottling plants. (Ridiculous.) So it was a lot of mashing the pedal to pass vehicles in the short passing lanes. Also didn't have much freeway driving, and what I did have was 75 mph with the engine roaring.

[Frank Lee]

Oh. Me=55-60.

How did it make your worst list? Man that F250 was awesome- strong and capable. Really, not a whole lot thirstier than all the other much wimpier trucks I've used.

[MadisonMPG]

2008 VW Bug

Just a terrible car.

[pstrbrc]

Wow. And my worst is merely a prosaic Chevy Citation w/the Iron Duke. The vibration would eat up motor mounts, I went through three cracked heads, two transmissions, two front wheel bearings, one rear wheel bearing, and all the plastic crap that kept falling off.
OTOH, I think I've owned every Ford that's supposed to have a badly designed transmission, and gotten 200k+ out of all of them. (sigh)
It was much easier when there was an AMC to choose from. My Pacer was the best. My '79 Saab 900 EMS comes in a close second. Only furrin car I ever owned.

[wagonman76]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet

Lemme tell you all a story..................

I was one of those mullet sportin' Mopar guys that would speak of nothing except Mopar Performance. My dream vehicle was the newly designed (back in the day) 1994-2004 Dodge Ram pickup. I never in my life financed a vehicle until I spotted my dream truck at a local dealer. It was a sweet 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4 extended cab equipped with a roll bar, brush gaurd, fog lamps, KC Hi lights, and Buckshot Mudder tires. It looked identical to the "Walker Texas Ranger" Dodge Ram. I financed this truck and paid $500.00 per month just to own it.

The trans went out and I replaced it with a used one.
The front wheel bearings went bad and I replaced them.
3 out of the four tie rod bars went bad and I replaced them.
The track bar went bad and I replaced it.
The trans went bad again after 13 months and was out of warranty. I replaced it again with another used trans.
The rear end burnt up and I replaced it with an Auburn Gear diff.
The intake manifold started leaking and I repaired that.
The A/C compressor went bad and I replaced that.
The PCM went bad making the alternator not charge and I had a dealer fix that after replacing the alternator for no reason.
The Hood flew open on me at 65 MPH breaking my windshield and flocking up the hood and mounts. I learned later there was a recall on this.
The trans went out again................

Screw this truck! It had less than 100,000 miles and all these problems. This truck ruined my credit because I was so pissed off I let the bank repo this pile of crap and I never looked back. I replaced it with a 1995 Chevy 4X4 that I beat the crap out of and never had an issue with it for 5 years.

I have since denounced Chrysler and all it's products. Even the sighting of a Hemi Cuda or a sweet Charger makes my stomach churn anymore. I have never spent so much money on a vehicle until I got my "Dream Truck" and if throwing money out the window is a dream, then wake me the hell up!

Between those, the Decrepit, all the regular FWD trannies that die... I feel the same about Chrysler. My friend used to work at several dealerships. One was a GM/Chrysler. They had to keep every Chrysler trans in stock because they had to replace them so often. Not with GM. They had TWO brand new Neons on the lot that wouldn't start. Nearly everyone I know with a Chrysler from that era has had a blown trans, even with low miles, sometimes under 10k.

Later on he worked across the road at the Ford dealer. They had this video comparing your era Ram with the F150 of the era. The Ford did great. The Ram did so poorly it was beyond words. Pieces of it were falling off as it went over bumps. Ford had to quit showing this video because the Chrysler did so bad, Chrysler sued or threatened to do so. So he kept it and made me a copy which I probably still have somewhere.

I like my old GMs. Some I work pretty hard, like my old 6000 wagon which I towed trailers with for over 100k miles and then after the floorpan rusted out at 255k, I welded it up then designed a plow for it and have been plowing my driveway with it for the last 4 winters. Still never a trans problem, and it still runs great. I haul wood and tow my travel trailer with my Trans Sport van and it still works great at 275k. None of mine have ever had an internal engine or trans problem and all have over 200k. (I did have a wiring harness problem in the van.) Sure I have to fix piddly things every now and then, and GMs do seem to rust more than Ford or Chrysler, but they get me where I need to go and are cheap to own.

[elhigh]

Hyundai Excel.

You need faith to believe in God.

To believe in Satan, Hyundai provided proof.

[robchalmers]

Citreon Xsara picaso1.8sx

got 21mpg(imp) out of it when being carefull
electrics died - headlights on the way home from buying it!
drivers seat broke two days later
dash illumination worked on half the dash.
brakes were woefull
very little storage space
awkward dash layout (compared to scenic)
developed a BAD misfire
when through a set of brake pads in 5000miles (good ones!)

I'm NEVER buying a buying a citreon again - as the name says its a lemon and leaves a sour taste!

next would be the 1.6 mondeo '95........ that was just appauling!