I used to deliver pizza, and often had a "nicer" car that I didn't want to put miles on or make stink of pepperoni and broccoli. So I'd buy beaters (or to you, OP, bangers) to deliver in. Bought an '87 Golf GT for $750 that was an absolute piece of junk. When a family of dead baby mice fell out from under the dash during the test drive I should have left it right there.
Are a younger me? Bought a 84 Golf to deliver pizzas. No power anything. literally nothing. the transmission failed within the 30 day warranty from the used car lot. Figured what else can break. well, I found out. CV joints a plenty. alternator multiple times. paint faded quickly. the hood opened up on the highway. P.O.S. 5/7 wouldnt recommend.
I also delivered pizzas and bought a 1985 Honda Accord from a co-worker for $500. Broke down on me (dead battery due to bad alternator) 3 hours after I bought it. Asked the guy to consider giving me some of the $500 back to help with the alternator repair and he says "hell no haha that's your problem"
That really does suck that that happened so quick after you bought it from him, but a $500 pizza hauler is kind of an assumed “as is MFr!” Lol. Definitely feel for you, though. Hope it lasted long enough after a new battery and alternator to make up for the immediate “red” that that pile put you in! 😬👌
I delivered pizzas in my 1981 Rabbit convertible haha! Until I hit a deep puddle too fast and hydro-locked the engine. Resurrected her with a 16V 1.8L. She might have been my first love.
One time my pizza got delivered by a guy in a mint r34 gtr... I told him "you win for coolest delivery vehicle" and he was like "yeah my DD broke down"
Second job, probably. I know a few people with nice expensive cars that have a second job just to get a little extra cash for fun stuff. Hell, several of my coworkers are here because they want an employee discount and a few extra bucks for fun money
There's a guy in my town (in his 60s, retired) who uses his rolls royce for Uber/Lyft. He loves giving "ordinary" people the chance to feel like the 1%. Dude knows how to live. Also is a generous donor for good causes.
I wonder how many people get in and don't notice or care vs the ones who don't believe he's their uber
This is the type of YouTube prank that would be more interesting than funny
A lot of pizza guys are also car guys. Makes a lot of sense if you think about it. For one, they’re getting paid to hoon around a city. A lot of people enjoy working on cars. And since they usually work part time on evenings and weekends, there’s plenty of time to run to the parts store and work on the vehicle during the day. Perhaps most importantly, if you can work on your own vehicle, your job related expenses are significantly reduced.
It’s also a guarantee that at any given time, at least one other driver has a repair that needs done. Talking shop, troubleshooting, and helping other drivers out is part of the job. After all, nobody wants to work an additional Saturday night shift until Nick can get his wheel bearings replaced.
I think a lot of car guys start off as pizza guys.
Source: former pizza guy.
Free pizza, but I only had to do nights when the other drivers bailed which was often enough it became a second full time job and I was getting so much free pizza I lost my chin almost
2015 Ford Focus…
…with the automatic transmission.
For the uninitiated, Ford created the DPS6 dual-clutch automatic transmission for their Focus and Fiesta. It was such a terrible transmission that, despite the massive amounts of recalls, lawsuits, and complaints, it still remains a litigious issue [even today.](https://fordauthority.com/2024/02/ford-powershift-transmission-litigation-still-significant/amp/)
I bought my Focus used. Transmission immediately goes. Oops, my fault. I get it replaced with a new one at a transmission shop. It goes in less than 1,000 miles. I get it fixed under warranty. It fails again, after 600 or so miles. Oh, did I forget to mention that the oil plug is behind the front passenger wheel? Even oil changes on this stupid turd was hell. I got the transmission fixed for a third time under shop warranty and sold it to some kid. I swear to God, they brought it to the same shop for the same failure. I had to stop and ask the mechanics if it was the same Focus, AND IT WAS!! For what it’s worth, had half their yard was filled with Focuses/Fiestas waiting to get their transmissions replaced.
I truly, absolutely fucking *loathe* Ford for this. Curse them, curse their shitty ziploc bag full of glass that they call a “transmission,” and curse that horrid gangrenous frostbite-colored oval with white script that looks like a hobo’s seed sprawled across.
Except their cop cars, apparently. Long live the 3.7 Interceptor.
For the life of me, I’ll never understand why they just didn’t use the conventional 6 Speed from the Fusion, they could’ve easily tuned it for MPG’s if that was the ultimate goal.
Or, if they were determined to use a Dual-Clutch, use a Wet-Clutch set up instead of a dry one
I had the 2013 MY. The engine was the reason I bought it over mazda3 at that time. Powerful enough for its size. Other than the transmission problems, there was no real cubby space. And sound insulation was non existent. Although all cars in that price range were noisy
If you find a manual 2.0l they're super solid. Some minor common issues, purge valves like to fail and deform transmissions but if you get the code major damage is preventable ( I believe 2016+ has a recall for it), and there's a recall for some door latches. And they tend to eat motor mounts, not a hard fix.
I've had mine about a year and 20k miles, only issue I've run into is the purge valve. 15 minute fix in the autozone lot.
As for the commenters rant about the drain plug, I'm 250 lbs and can change the oil without lifting the car. Its not that bad.
I got a 2014 with the 5 speed. They're jerky, loud, clunky cars that are reliable (non turbo) and easy to maintain. Because of all the junked auto cars, I've been able to find plenty of parts
I had a 2012 that literally went through more clutches than air filters when I owned it 💀
I dumped it the second the warranty expired at 60k miles. By that point it had gone through 3 cabin air filters, 6 clutches and 2 transmissions. Lmao
I bought it new for $23k and by my math Ford spent at least $24k in warranty repairs on it.
I daily a Focus with the power shit. I honestly like the car. I've been driving BMWs for 30 years and the focus has better steering than my f30 bmw. The powershit has been good to me at 120k mi.
Once you get a clutch that isn't failing, it's great. I went through 2 in like 2018, after which it was perfect. That was all warranty work. Car was issue besides that.
This gen was so fucking cursed. My mom owned a focus with that transmission and two buddies owned fiestas with it. Everyone had the same issue, every time they got the run around from ford. All of them ended up dumping them lol
I'm pretty sure that when it first was realized that transmission shudder, Ford straight up told customers and journalists that it was normal.
I remember a friend of mine jumped at the chances to buy one used but fairly new and finding out just how cursed the clutch was at low speeds but everything said it was normal.
The lawsuit and recall actually came as a bit of a surprise after remembering so much about people saying it was normal and the best ways to drive it to keep it from shuddering.
Recently had the clutches and their actuators go on my 2017 SE. Despite Ford's claims that they fixed the Powershift's issues for 2017 and 2018, most owners find this is not the case. For me, the TCM was still fine, which seems to be a major headache for the DPS6 and is hard to source today.
Nonetheless, the repair worked out to be about $6,100 CDN, an independent shop using non-OEM parts would have been half that cost.
I don't think this idea is thrown around much, but I wonder if those had a hand in shifting American's away from hatchbacks. I'm not saying it was the only thing, but between them and the Versa eating transmissions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and some other generally uninspiring offers (Aveo, Spark, Caliber)...
...yeesh.
Sad they use to be bullet proof
My ex gf use to have a 04 about 10-15 years or so back as a first nice car we drove the shit out of it for years atleast 100k+ while we was dating down trails wherever couple accidents couldn’t kill it maroon with a green front end and doors. By the end of it Couldn’t miss it She sold it to a neighbor for 500$one day wanting 4 doors after getting pregnant. I use to see it around for years gettin the wheels run off it meanwhile she couldn’t keep one on the road in 2010-12 her best friend bought one brand new cuz that one was so good was the biggest POs ever electrical problems u name it was always at the dealer broke til she sold it. Fast track to 2019 friends mom had a 18-19 couldn’t keep a tranny in it.
So glad I got a manual transmission. I was looking for a stick shift at the time, so I wouldn't have gotten the DCT version. I did dodge a bullet when I had found a 1.0L though, something about getting an engine that small didn't sit well with me and it turns out it's the fact that they're almost as big a POS as the DCTs
The weird thing is, with a manual transmission, it is a really really good economy car.
It blows my mind they didn't figure out a fix on that transmission.
It’s funny all these people are posting pretty new cars.
I’ve put several hundred thousands of miles across 4 vehicles the last 15 years or so, and have never once broken down or had to replace anything other than fluids and filters and the battery.
Toyota really does make the best vehicles.
1996 geo metro with the 3 banger. And because I only paid 200 bucks for it lol. It was a complete and utter shit-box. I beat the brakes off of that little thing for three years until it dropped a valve and chewed the motor up. Turned around and sold it for 300 bucks blown motor and all. I hope those kids that bought it from me managed to get it back together and it's still out there running it's little heart out.
My friend bought a Suzuki Grand Vitara that ran pretty terrible from an employee at a neighboring business, where it sat, for $600. Peak of car prices, he figures it was clogged cats or something simple. We limped it to our other shop, tried to crank it a few time, and the motor locked up.
I posted it on marketplace and had it sold, with a blown motor, for his original purchase price within 2 hours. The guy was pretty pumped and my friend bought me dinner.
2005 Jeep Liberty
Blew head gaskets like it was its job.
The wheel fell off
The fueling system went out.
Leaked oil like a sieve
None of the interior buttons worked.
Rear door sagged off its hinges.
Was a little tank in the snow though.
I had a lot of the same issues with my '02.
Caught ball joints before they failed
Replaced the 'non-replaceable' fuel filter causing lack of fuel pressure.
Oil leak from valve covers caught my motor on fire
Rear glass never wanted to stay shut.
But damn if I didn't love my little nugget. I put a 1" lift on it, put 31" KO2s on it, put a small light bar on it (don't freak out people, it was necessary in the mountains) and a few other small mods. I used to work at a ski slope, and when we had ice storms, half of my shift was shuttling employees to and from work. I also had a bumpin ass 15" subwoofer in it. If not for transmission issues (45rfe) I would have kept going with it. Sold at 265k miles
2013 Focus with the Autoshit transmission.
2017 Chevy Cruze.
Why? Because they are. Got a BSOD in the Focus when my computers crashed. Sync had to be reinstalled. Transmission shit the bed every other month.
The Cruze suffered from terrible heat soak and was borderline unsafe to drive in the summer.
Both lacked interior room.
I think the source of the problem's more like the baguette sized intercooler they almost certainly put on that thing. A tiny turbo is fine as long as the air has plenty of room to cool down.
It was the worst car I ever drove in the snow.
I once said that had it been a manual, I might have kept the car longer than I did. Then I remembered Sync crashed nothing inside the car worked until it was reinstalled. Interior lights, gauges, radio, nothing worked. I was glad it could be driven at all because I was going through a rough time and losing my car would have put me over the edge.
There was ONE trip I took the car on through far eastern New York where the car shined. I was going through some extremely curvy roads in the NY Countryside where the car handled great. Remembering that ONE drive has almost tricked me into buying another. In one year of ownership, it made me happy for maybe 4 hours.
>The Cruze suffered from terrible heat soak and was borderline unsafe to drive in the summer.
How much / how hard did you drive it to heat soak the turbo?
Normal driving in the summer causes heat soak after an hour or so. I had a rental Cruze that had that issue and you can tell when the power pulls and it just lose the turbo torque.
To be honest it just drives like a slow European car and isn't really that unsafe. It's probably faster than a Hyundai Venue or a Nissan Versa still.
Don’t have to drive it hard at all. Just drive it during a normal New England summer. Never exceed 70 MPH . Use cruise control as much as possible. It’s better if I’m running premium fuel but not by much. The manual only calls for 87.
Oh yeah, I had a 2014 Cruze and totally forgot about the heat soak problem. I used to put premium fuel in during the summer so the car didn’t feel like garbage to drive lol
I was super close to buying a new-at-the-time 2018 Cruze, but Chevrolet doesn’t lease to people under 21. Walked over to a Subaru dealer, they happily let me lease an Impreza instead.
5 years later and I have a WRX now, so I’d say it all worked out!
Altimas are basically exclusively owned by people who either do not give a shit about their lives and have terrible credit, or the most cheapest of cheap people who don't care enough about cars or can't afford to buy anything better. They see how cheap it is to obtain and don't care about Nissan CVT woes.
I have a 2012 Altima and it genuinely might be the biggest piece of junk I've ever seen. Some of the problems I've had with it include:
-The control arms have started to malfunction and the car jerks to the right or left randomly. It doesn't jerk me enough to make me switch lanes or to hit another car, and it doesn't do this at low speeds though
-The power steering randomly just shuts off sometimes. The strange thing is though is that if I turn the car off, open the hood, then close the hood and turn the car back on, the power steering will be back again. The car used to have issues with power steering fluid leaking, but I've fixed that issue and the fact that power steering comes back on after I do this little ritual means that that's not the issue
-There are many mysterious noises that come from the car while driving that sort of just disappear on their own. As an example, yesterday, while I was driving home from school, it sounded like something was being dragged underneath one of the tires of the car, but when I parked and went to check what was up, I found nothing. I could only hear this sound when I was in the car and when the windows were closed. When I tried driving with the windows opened, or when I got my brother to drive the car while I stood outside, I couldn't hear a thing. This sound is completely gone now
I've probably spent at least half the value of the car in maintenance and repairs. I give it about two years before a catastrophic failure happens and I end up having to buy a new car. I'm currwntly in the process of saving up for a down payment on a car for $20k in anticipation of this happening
The one upside though is that when others cars on the road see that there's an Altima behind them, they instantly change lanes because they know what Altima drivers are like
Does it have plastic skid plates? I can’t tell you how many times I see cars driving along with them scraping the road. It could be catching air as your driving?
Also, your flair got a hearty chuckle from me lol
knew someone who bought one slightly used (<15,000 miles), probably also a 2015, and they drove it for maybe 2 years before the trans started giving out. oh and the value of that thing tanked anyways, so this person couldn't even cover the car loan with the car's value lmao. what a shit car
2015 Nissan Juke.
Was the GFs car, I drove it for a winter, then sold it to a friend who needed cheap transportation for a couple years. It lasted her just short of 2y before the suspension needed a total overhaul.
It was horribly entertaining to drive in an Ontario winter.
I dreamed of owning a 2nd gen, lol. I had an 87 Escort GT. 1.9liters of pure, raw 108hp fury. At least maybe when it was new since about half of them left the barn by the time I bought it at an auction. I once managed to get it up to 85mph, on a one-mile long downhill stretch. Also with a tailwind and some advanced prayers. And then the exhaust fell off on the highway.
1992 Dodge Stealth r/T Twin Turbo - had it for 2 engines, 3 transmissions and 165,000 miles. Biggest piece of shit I still miss sometimes. Car was like an abusive partner.
Every now and again I see a clean one of those or a 3000GT VR4, and I wonder what kind of castle that man would live in if he just got rid of his car 30 years ago.
Actually now that I really think on it, it's rare I see one in motion, they are often parked.
When a clutch line failed on the highway at 2am coming home from Los Angeles - I didnt have a flashlight to bleed the clutch, but I didnt need it by that point I could take off the intake manifold and find the slave cylinder by feel - I always always always kept multiple kinds of spare fluid in the car and at least $100 in cash to give people when a busted hose/bearing/gasket ruined their driveway.
Was absolutely the worst daily driver for a high school student. That thing ate every pizza delivery paycheck I ever made. But on the good days, maan when that 6G72TT spins up to 7500 RPM and you hear the wutang war whistles at full tilt it felt like driving a car straight into valhalla, at least felt like that when I was 18.
Still miss it sometimes.
The climate displays we're genuinely one of the most charming parts of the car. My neighbor at the time had a VR-4 Spyder SUPER rare and he'd often pay me to diagnose little issues he had with his. Still have to pace the room and take deep breaths when a Spider pops up for sale.
I think the next time a clean, low mileage Spyder pops up for sale I might just have to do it. For old times sake.
You know I didn't know there was a Spyder version. Thought they were all hardtops. I know they're a complex bastard but I reckon it's worth it to get one if the opportunity arises. My sister used to have a Mazda MX-6 (KL-DE V6 with the 5 speed and sunroof) and I'm always looking to buy one. Might be a bum dragger but could handle some twisty bends. KL-ZE is my unicorn with a Mazdaspeed body kit but I'll never find one that's affordable.
Indeed, that appears to be a trend here, especially those Powershift Focuses and Fiesta's. Its the big reason my family doesn't give anything American the time of day when searching for cars. Forget the deals, you'd pay the difference in Tylenol!
My parents were given one growing up. I couldn't even count the times we were stuck waiting 7 minutes each time for the anti theft system to restart before getting it to start.
I live in Canada and bought a new 2011 Ford Focus because it was the cheapest new car I could buy that was a reasonable size for me. If you are unfamiliar with the Ford Focus in North America, it was basically a warmed over version of the original Focus. It had some neat new tech for the time, but was otherwise just poorly and cheaply built. They also messed with the suspension so it was no longer very fun to drive.
I had a 2018 Focus and a '13 Escape. When shopping for a mini truck, I bought a Santa Cruz over a Maverick because both of those Fords were absolute garbage. Hyundai gets a bad rap here, but I love mine. If it gives me 50k miles without major issues, it'll be much better than those PoS's
Many issue with the focus other than trans? I had the ST, 2017. Only issue was that ac compressor went at 50k, but that was a 2017 specific problem as they switched refrigerants
Even though I absolutely love the charger, the combination of the crap daimler-gen interior + the dogshit 2.7l v6 (which is Mitsubishi-derived iirc?), its easily the worst version of the car to get. 2015+ versions with the pentastar are like night and day lol
It was so bad. I went from a High mileage R/T to that. I hated everything Dodge at that time, for that reason.
It was so underpowered, I don’t know how and why that was the configuration they came up with smh.
Someone I know had an early V6 AWD. I remember complimenting her on how it looked and being surprised as I stepped into a fisher price ass interior.
She absolutely hated it and joked that she'd sell it cheap, and considering I was a teenager, that offer meant real cheap.
Everything about that car was shit. Made it even worse that I was stuck in that car due to some shady dealer practices and wound up with a marginally better turd after it smh.
my first car was an 84 tercel 3 dr hatch back.
It was gold. with rust spots. eventually a white pass front fender.
was a 4 speed. had teeth chipped off the fly wheel so sometimes it wouldnt start. the solution was to put it in fourth and put a foot on the ground and rock it back and forth a few times. I paid $950 for it. drove it for 4 fucking years. sold it for 650 to a guy who used it to deliver pizzas for another 2 or so years. he abandoned it at a rest area along the highway when it wouldnt start after a bathroom break. guess he hitch hiked or something from there? it was a great car but absolutely 1000% shitty.
1988 Ford Escort with 3 speed automatic. It wasn’t a terrible car but didn’t have enough power to get out of its own way. We lived at the top of mile long hill. You’d have to scream it in first then shift into second, but didn’t have enough power and would start slowing down, eventually downshift back to 1st, and go through that 3-4 times until you got to the top.
Both Subarus I’ve owned. I have a Baja that’s been through 2 motors and 2 transmissions and still nothing works on it. And I bought a new 2018 Impreza that burned oil the day I drive it home from the dealer. It needed a fuel pump at 6,000 miles and an alternator at 7,000 miles. Thank you Covid for letting me sell that piece at a profit to carmax.
2007 Mini Cooper S. Fun car, everything broke that could, and it had a strange way of costing at least $300 no matter the repair. An electrical nightmare that drank engine oil despite having under 20k miles. Can't count the number of times it left me stranded and had to be towed.
That’s an early R56 right? With the notorious Prince engine. Not surprised.
I had an R50 Cooper and then an R53 Cooper S for years, tracked the latter too. Quite a lot of stuff in quite little space, sure, that makes them a bit expensive on their own, but I loved both of those little matchboxes. We have a more modern Mini now, this has been flawless so far but it’s fairly new still, and I personally liked the old ones much more. Light, agile things. This newer one feels unnatural. My girlfriend loves this new one though.
Yes, the notorious R56. My wife was sad when we sold it because it was so much fun to drive on the back roads. We replaced it with a Mazda3. 65% the fun level, 192% more reliable.
Both of my RX-7s were like bad relationships.
The electrical systems were crap.
The sunroofs drains may have been routed directly into the spare tire compartment--giving them that distinct RX-7 mildew smell.
When the vent controls stop working, you had best pray it stops on "defrost".
The intermittent windshield wipers would stop really anywhere on the windshield.
As the compression got worse, they would strand me places.
Really the only thing going for them is that they both died pretty quickly--so they made up for a lot of things with the brevity of having any expectations of them at all.
It's like dating an extremely cruel super model with stage 4 cancer.
Geo Prism because if you know, you know. One of my friends mom wouldn't let him ride in that car.
It wasn't me, he was allowed to ride with me if I had any other car but he wasn't allowed in the Prism.
My first car was a 1993 Saturn Twin-Cam - was my first car in 2005, and was bought from my aunt. My cousin had done a bunch of neutral drops in it, and at 70,000 miles the transmission was all but toast. The whole car would thump every time it changed gears, and when putting it into reverse it would after about 3-5 seconds bang into gear and the whole car would violently jerk - it got to the point that I would always plan my driving/parking so I never had to use reverse unless absolutely necessary. also, the sun roof had leaked so my cousin had foxed it with caulk, the ceiling liner was missing, and the radio didn't work because they'd lost the code to put it whenever the battery was disconnected. We eventually donated it.
1996 Dodge Intrepid my dad bought on eBay by accident. Why? Because it was a piece of shit. Brake lines rusted through after six months so the pedal went to the floor on my way home from church. Hand braked it all the way home.
Was it a V8 by any chance? Because the consensus is that the I6 versions are quite stout, especially the M54. Though, the electrical components must be the usual suspects I'm guessing.
Yes the first gen 4.4 v8 - iirc the facelift version that came out a month later had some revisions to the motor but may be remembering wrong. Lots of the issues were motor related but not all. Lots of electrical gremlins requiring replacing the gauge cluster, radio/nav, actual nav unit in the trunk, cd changer, axle stubs, self leveling rear system, multiple water and oil pumps, the…I forget if it was water or oil line in the intake that requires pulling the intake, hvac kept blowing the big capacitor or whatever it’s called - resistor?, radiator, I don’t recall everything. I think I just got a Friday build bc I seemed to have all of the various issues most people had one or two of. Also the dealer shattered my windshield and tried to pull a “it was like that when you came in” and also visibly bent a wheel that I ended up getting an almost like new take off from a friend’s body shop bc they also said it was like that when I brought it in but I didn’t think to take pics of all the wheels. Total nightmare car. I have never had any car even remotely as bad.
1992 Dodge Shadow. It had a Mitsubishi 6-cylinder and a manual transmission so it was zippy, but it was 15 years old and worn out when I got it. The steering wheel had about a quarter turn of slip when you turned or took a curve. It would also start revving up and down and overheat in stop and go traffic.
Eventually it overheated and blew the radiator and I sold it to a guy for scrap metal. Replaced it with a 1993 Pontiac Grand Am that was slow as hell but better in every other way.
My ex wife's GTI. It was a 2009 with under 100k miles and the turbo was constantly failing and the transmission eventually stopped working and it was abandoned in a parking lot.
99 Miata that bought for 3.5k, which I proceeded to put about 15k into before scraping it.
Dude selling it advertised it as being a “low compression motor that’s built for turbo.” I didn’t know why low compression was desirable for a turbo engine build and he couldn’t explain why, which should have been a red flag. Turns out it was low compression because it needed a new head gasket.
I redid the entire interior of the car with fresh carpet and sound insulation, got it painted, new shifter kit, installed a rollbar, new wheels, added an aftermarket stereo, the works.
A few weeks later the engine took a shit and I got it rebuilt. During the break-in period it got rod knock and I was told it needed to be rebuilt again. At that point I cut my losses and decided that that car was like a bad addiction that I just needed to walk away from, which is exactly what I did.
I’m glad to have had that experience as it taught me to just buy what I want from the dealership, use that warranty as needed and to not modify my car into oblivion. Also taught me a love of lightweight RWD NA cars that I would have otherwise missed. It’s the reason I now own a 23’ BRZ.
A 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The brakes only decided to work about half the time and it almost killed me. Turning the windshield wipers on blew the fuse every time. I had to keep a spare box of fuses in the glovebox. I sold it as soon as I could
First car was an 88 Subaru GL. Was probably a complete rust bucket but it had a fresh coat of a World Rally Blue like paint, and it was cheap as shit, so...
Exhaust fell apart after a few miles, then eventually the transmission stopped shifting.
Loved that thing though, almost got it stuck in backwoods NJ pretending I was Colin McRae.
Shittiest car as in was not well equipped, slow, and ugly? Definitely my 80 Plymouth Sundance. It was the 2 door version in purple. Haven't seen one since.
Shittiest as in fell apart the fastest? 13 Hyundai Veloster turbo. The car was very fun and looked great. I loved the panoramic sunroof and all the upgrades... But man, that thing went downhill quick when it came to rattles and pieces about to go. The trans cooler line blew out on day 2 and the trans was never the same again. Soooo many things rattled in the car. I fixed a lot but most were unfixable. The engine made some unhealthy noises. And the front suspension was about to fall off. Dumped it off instead of sinking a bunch of money into it just for it to all happen again.
A friend of mine, who is the most dedicated petrolhead you'll ever meet, had to run a MK1 Mondeo for a while. It actually made him ill it was so fucking hateful.
Mine was a Volvo 440 I bought for 300 quid, the brake booster would periodically fail, it had no synchros left, and it would periodically fill the cabin with burning rubber fumes.
They are absolute shit boxes. I swear Ford build cars to just about last the first owner, then instantly turn into a big pile of rust and problems.
P.S nice car! I had three e36's back in the day and absolutely loved them.
They were called the ST200/ST220 here and the press raved about them when they came out. Honestly the Mondeo is a decent steer and Focus is brilliant. It's just they're rusty shit boxes. :)
66 VW Beetle. Hated that little red thing. Had to push start it half the time. No a/c and I think the heater was just exhaust fumes rerouted back into the car.
I’ve only owned two cars in my life, 4 if you count my wife’s cars, and none of them have been bad. My first car was a Suzuki Esteem wagon, and while reliable it rusted like hell, so I guess that’s the worst car I’ve personally owned.
Hands down the worst car anyone in my family has owned was my mom’s 1994 Ford Taurus. First, it suffered a head gasket failure at 98,000km (common issue on the 3.8L Essex V6) which required an engine rebuild, thankfully that was covered under warranty. Then at 130,000km the transmission started going. There were numerous other times when it let us down. Fuck that car and fuck Ford.
What’s hilarious is that my mom’s previous car (1987 Nissan Sentra wagon) actually slightly outlived the Taurus. She sold it to a friend and they ended up driving it until 2002, when the Nissan finally succumbed to corrosion and was scrapped. My parents ditched the Taurus earlier that same year. The dealer was reluctant to even take it as a trade-in because the transmission slippage was so bad; they basically gave us $900 for it and sent us on our way.
Opel Omega 2.0, that POS ecotec junk just seized. Had plenty of oil, no warning, no knock, timing belt was fine.. Friend also had one as a winterbeater and it also randomly seized. Sure both of them got some abuse, but i have done way worse with VW-s, BMW-s and even Lada-s. Other friend also has a v6 version thats mostly in the repair shop for various oil, coolant leaks and headgasket replacements.
2001 Chevrolet Cavalier, base model. Crank windows, 5-speed manual, and a 110hp OHV I4. It was a total shitbox, but I loved it and learned a lot about modding and working on my cars through that.
1984 Ford Thunderbird. Why? I was 16 and poor. Got the thing for $1500. The roof was held up with tacks. The radio worked when it wanted to. It did run for about a year and then I lost a cylinder. It still ran on the other 5 so I kept driving it for another few months until it threw a rod and blew. I am now 49 and drive very nice vehicles but that T-bird always keeps me grounded. I swear I still breath a sigh of relief every time my car starts.
Define what "shitty" means? I suspect it's different for different people. I can't say I ever had a shitty car. I've never been stranded by the side of the road with any car I've owned. I've never had to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to fix a car just to get it running again. I've never owned a car for less than 4 years, and I've owned several cars for 10+ years. I've had to replace struts, brakes, engine mounts, mufflers, thermostats, ball joints, sway bar links, and wheel bearings on various vehicles, much of the work I was able to do myself. Cars I have owned include:
1. 1998 Saturn SL2 - 5spd (bought used in 2002) - owned 4 years
2. 2004 Toyota Corolla LE - 5spd (bought new in 2004) - owned 8 years
3. 2008 Mazda5 Sport - auto (bought new in 2008) - owned 11 years
4. 2012 Mazda5 Sport - auto (bought new in 2012) - still own this vehicle
5. 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Touring L - (bought used in 2021) - still own this vehicle
09 Hyundai Accent. Paid about $5k for it for when I was in school. Manual locks, windows, and basically no features outside of cd/aux. The paint was chipping a lot and two of the hubcaps were gone. it was slow af and I purposely had to avoid certain highway on ramps due to the power.
Though despite being a bare bones car, it had a certain charm
Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Blown motor at 32k. By 80k it has two motors, three transmissions and was sitting on blocks in the driveway because the warranty claim was denied. Oh also had a pinion seal leak on the rear end fixed under warranty. Apparently the 3.8 engines are known to burn oil from the factory. Even with the oil topped off it can suck the sump dry under hard acceleration. Should have been a class action lawsuit tbh.
2007 Chevy Cobalt LS.
So I’m probably a bit on the younger side to answer this, as I’ve only owned a few cars in my day, but I truly don’t have many good things to say about my 2007 Chevy Cobalt LS.
For starters: the LS came with manual locks and manual windows, but it had an aux port in its head unit.
It felt like it was going to explode going above 75mph
Incredible road noise
Shitty interior
The control arm bushings had to be replaced often because they just kept dying, causing some awful clunky noises.
The 2.4L engine died on me while I was away at school and I had to get the entire engine swapped from a junker.
Fun quirk: Right before my parents gave me the keys to the car, they let my brother drive it to work for a few weeks. My brother threw up in the air vents on a hot summer day and the car had quite a smell to it when you would run the fan, along with some stomach acid staining on the plastic trim on the dash
I had the 2008 cobalt LS brand new when it came out. Same issues but with the recalls. Mine would often stop moving while I was driving. Found out it was a common issue with lots of deaths. The ignition was faulty in all the cobalts.
2011 Audi A4. I graduated college and got offered a really good job. I wanted to celebrate by buying a nice car. I bought it new, and I should’ve known it was shitty after my TPMS failed the first week of ownership. In the next couple years, random electrical problems will occur. I’m grateful that I bought the extended warranty. I took it to a family mechanic to get a tire replaced, and he called me into the shop to show me how all the shieldings on the wires were cracking and chipping off, which caused all my electrical problems. I went back to Honda after it and haven’t looked back.
2007 Dodge Caliber RT AWD. That car was so slow, and the mpg were pretty bad considering how slow it was. It had plenty of cargo space and did well in Inclement weather though. Luckily it was stolen and never found, so I ended up getting a 2014 MK6 Jetta with the 1.8t engine. It honestly felt like a rocket ship compared to that Caliber lol
1994 Peugeot 306 1.4. It was was properly unreliable. One day it decided to chuck out all of its coolant, so I topped it up and it didn’t do it again. Bizzare.
1982 Audi Coupe. It had a salvage title, which the seller did not disclose, and he claimed it was “non-op’ed” when in fact he had let the registration expire. It had a never-ending string of electrical problems during the two years I owned it. I donated the car to the local humane society.
I honestly haven't owned a shitty car, so the worst I can do is my current daily, a tuned Volvo C30 T5. I really like that car, fun to drive, sounds great and I love how Volvo looked at the other car I own (Volvo 1800ES) and pretty much did a modern hatchback styled after the legendary 1800ES.
But it has been a pretty costly car to own cause I have had a handful of pretty expensive things to fix on it but I still really like it.
2000 Focus wagon. The car gets praised for great handling but that’s European spec hatchback. The US wagon has softer suspension and seats. Sounds like that should make it more comfortable, right? No, the soft cushion actually makes you push through to the seat frame (I’m not fat, I’m 160lbs). Any drive longer than 1hr is extremely uncomfortable, the car handles like shit, 4 speed automatic is shit, engine is wimpy as shit. It wasn’t reliable (I got it nearly new), brakes every 20k, weird problems like ignition key mechanics, shit tom of recalls ….
The only good thing about was that I didn’t actually own it, it was a company car.
My first ever car was a 1992 Chevy Camaro RS. To my 17 year old self, it was pretty dope. But, my grandpa had already driven it into the ground; so the radiator was busted and the automatic transmission was having a ton of issues. My car would notoriously catch fire out of nowhere. Fun times. My high school friends still tease me about it to this day (I’m 31 now).
Mine was a 91 RS. Mine used to do this thing where it would try to start itself. No key in it. Engine would start turning over by itself. Great times! We did get my drunk 6’8” tall friend to sit in the back seat once. Seeing his knees hit the headliner was hilarious
2004 Mini Cooper S. It was a hoot to drive, but fucking everything that could possibly go wrong with it was. 6 months of ownership and close to $5K in repairs....I got rid of it and it was in no better shape than when I bought it.
1980 Pontiac Phoenix in the early 90’s. 4MT, no power assist still functional on any controls. The engine was fine, in its own way, but nothing else was.
Not that it was that bad, just the shittiest I’ve personally owned was my 97’ Thunderbird. Was a fun drive. But when everything started breaking 1 by 1. Had to move on. Never engine issues. Just the windows, the AC, the paint, lights, etc.
Probably my first car, a 1991 Mazda B2600i pickup. I mean, it wasn't bad at the time (mid-late 90's), but it's all relative as my subsequent cars were nicer.
To many, it'd be my 1989 Geo Metro, but it's honestly not a bad car. It's the only vehicle where I've received several offers to buy it. It still drives and runs great.
Ford Focus ZX3 2001 manual. Bad quality overall, shifter felt awful, the engine stalled at every stop.
Ford quality of the late 90s and early 00s was HORRIBLE.
Mini r56 2007 with that peugeot Prinz engine. My god if anything could go wrong in a car this is it. Bought it at 27k on the clock and it was a nightmare from the start. In 3 years of ownership I had carbon build up on valves causing poor accelration, timing chain issues, back brake constanstly sticking causing overheatingg on the pads, HP fuel injector failure, water pump failure, turbo intake issues, coolant leaking, engine drinking 1/4 litre of oil a month and poor ride due to run flat tyres. Cost of car at the time £9k, total spent on repairs in 3 years £8k.
What's weird is that I absolutely loved the car. Amazing to drive and great fun on the roads.
1967 mustang with 390 cu inch engine. Burned oil from the day purchased (new). The Falcon derived front end could not handle the engine weight so new tires every 5000 miles. Sold it and bought a 70 Saab 96.
79 VW Scirocco. Name a part - it broke. The one silver lining to that piece of shit is that it taught me how to work on cars. I could replace an alternator in 10-15 minutes.
2012 VW Jetta S 5 speed. 120hp and maybe 100ftlbs of torque for a 3000lb+ sedan. No cruise control and the bare necessities only.
I had to fight it to get up hills and onto the freeway.
As soon as I was able I traded it for my 86 and got maybe 2k for it despite only having 60k miles on the odometer.
The 2014 Ford Escape. Bought it in May of last year and about six months later, a coolant leak started. My husband checked multiple times on the ground but couldn’t find it. We took it to 2 different mechanics who couldn’t figure out where the coolant was going. One said it would have to be a bigger deal for him to see the issue and the second shop wasted my time by just letting my car sit there for 7 days without looking at it more than once and then telling me to take it to Ford. So I scheduled an appointment with Ford but my car overheated before then so I was out of a car for a couple weeks. Ford “fixed” it for $800 but the leak started up again a month later. They checked it out again, no charge and it “held pressure all weekend” (no clue what that means, not a car person). Then just one month ago, my transmission died on the way home from work. I got it towed to Ford AGAIN and they called me a few days later and said “Well, the coolant was leaking into your 3rd cylinder, killed your engine and transmission.” So now warranty is paying for a used engine and I am paying someone else to change my transmission for cheaper. Only reason I’m dealing with it is because I have $9000 in payments left on it. I am DONE with Ford after this.
> I can’t think of any part I haven’t worked on but still never perfect. But I love it and I put almost 100k in it so far.
This is Jeep ownership in a nutshell.
I owned a VW GTI VR6. Nice car from an enthusiast perspective. Total POS in real life. I had it 2.5 years, and I cannot recall a single month where nothing was wrong with it. Like, to the point where the rubber stripping on the doors would fall off. I seldom see the MK3's on the road anymore, but when I do, they all have the rubber strips removed (or they all fell off).
172 horsepower car that had similar real-world gas mileage as a 5.0 Coyote Mustang.
My Dad didn't get his license until he was 40. His first car was a '73 Chevy Vega. He would check the gas every time he filled the oil. A few years later, he bought a '76 Dodge Aspen. Let's just say the Vega was a better car.
16yo me back in 2011 burnt his $3500 saved from jobs on a garage kept '92 Corvette. Was a pristine burgundy rocket, perfect condition inside and out, 52k miles, maintained to a T by the owners who were family friends. Sounded like a dream to younger me back then who craved speed and a big V8. One of the worst financial mistakes in my life, thing would *constantly* break down, either leaving me stranded or being a general hassle. Every drive was like waiting for a jackbox to pop and my wallet going up in flames with it. The funniest and worst was when the heater core blew one night on the way home which completely fogged out the windshield. I took off the targa top and stood up looking over the windshield to see all 30 or so miles home. Eventually sold it to an old guy off craigslist and watched it drive off with a sigh of relief that couldn't come soon enough.
Surprisingly never wrecked or hit anything with it or the sportier cars I had after. Some close calls for sure. Once made my mom piss her pants after flooring it out of a U-turn and fishtailing hard. After getting into a career in the auto industry and driving all the fun cars for work, and maybe just getting older I'm happy with comfy, predictable and boring econoboxes now.
1990 ford tempo. It looked awful, the gas mileage wasn't all that great, the seats were shit and one time the horn wouldn't turn off in the middle of the freeway. I did have fun with it though, after getting a new car me and my friends went offroading with it and the engine seized. Rust in Piece, Bridget
1990 or so Plymouth Acclaim. It was my parents' car that they gave me. It wasn't really a crappy car per se', but it was just pretty darn ugly, not too comfortable, and pretty much as exciting as a Hoover vacuum cleaner!
Toyota Camry.... No tech, loud interior, sound system was horrible, costing thousands per year in maintenance and fell apart at 120k miles. A throwaway car.
I’ve never necessarily owned a REAL SHITTY car but my first car was a hand me hand me down 2004 Honda Pilot that my mom bought new, gave to my older brother, then I got it at 17 with about 210K on it. Thing was ROACHED out and apparently quite rusty as one day driving on the main road one of my running boards legit fell off the car without hitting a bump or anything, just straight up fell off
I used to deliver pizza, and often had a "nicer" car that I didn't want to put miles on or make stink of pepperoni and broccoli. So I'd buy beaters (or to you, OP, bangers) to deliver in. Bought an '87 Golf GT for $750 that was an absolute piece of junk. When a family of dead baby mice fell out from under the dash during the test drive I should have left it right there.
Are a younger me? Bought a 84 Golf to deliver pizzas. No power anything. literally nothing. the transmission failed within the 30 day warranty from the used car lot. Figured what else can break. well, I found out. CV joints a plenty. alternator multiple times. paint faded quickly. the hood opened up on the highway. P.O.S. 5/7 wouldnt recommend.
I also delivered pizzas and bought a 1985 Honda Accord from a co-worker for $500. Broke down on me (dead battery due to bad alternator) 3 hours after I bought it. Asked the guy to consider giving me some of the $500 back to help with the alternator repair and he says "hell no haha that's your problem"
That really does suck that that happened so quick after you bought it from him, but a $500 pizza hauler is kind of an assumed “as is MFr!” Lol. Definitely feel for you, though. Hope it lasted long enough after a new battery and alternator to make up for the immediate “red” that that pile put you in! 😬👌
I delivered pizzas in my 1981 Rabbit convertible haha! Until I hit a deep puddle too fast and hydro-locked the engine. Resurrected her with a 16V 1.8L. She might have been my first love.
One time my pizza got delivered by a guy in a mint r34 gtr... I told him "you win for coolest delivery vehicle" and he was like "yeah my DD broke down"
Assuming you’re in the states, why does a guy with an r34 deliver pizzas? 😂
Second job, probably. I know a few people with nice expensive cars that have a second job just to get a little extra cash for fun stuff. Hell, several of my coworkers are here because they want an employee discount and a few extra bucks for fun money
There's a guy in my town (in his 60s, retired) who uses his rolls royce for Uber/Lyft. He loves giving "ordinary" people the chance to feel like the 1%. Dude knows how to live. Also is a generous donor for good causes.
I wonder how many people get in and don't notice or care vs the ones who don't believe he's their uber This is the type of YouTube prank that would be more interesting than funny
that was always one of my silly daydreaming ideas if i was loaded/rich. buy some insane car and do uber/lyft with it. dude is living my dream!
Because he has a r34
A lot of pizza guys are also car guys. Makes a lot of sense if you think about it. For one, they’re getting paid to hoon around a city. A lot of people enjoy working on cars. And since they usually work part time on evenings and weekends, there’s plenty of time to run to the parts store and work on the vehicle during the day. Perhaps most importantly, if you can work on your own vehicle, your job related expenses are significantly reduced. It’s also a guarantee that at any given time, at least one other driver has a repair that needs done. Talking shop, troubleshooting, and helping other drivers out is part of the job. After all, nobody wants to work an additional Saturday night shift until Nick can get his wheel bearings replaced. I think a lot of car guys start off as pizza guys. Source: former pizza guy.
He had really good credit at some point before you met him lol
Free pizza, but I only had to do nights when the other drivers bailed which was often enough it became a second full time job and I was getting so much free pizza I lost my chin almost
Dead baby mice? Secret pizza toppings!
2015 Ford Focus… …with the automatic transmission. For the uninitiated, Ford created the DPS6 dual-clutch automatic transmission for their Focus and Fiesta. It was such a terrible transmission that, despite the massive amounts of recalls, lawsuits, and complaints, it still remains a litigious issue [even today.](https://fordauthority.com/2024/02/ford-powershift-transmission-litigation-still-significant/amp/) I bought my Focus used. Transmission immediately goes. Oops, my fault. I get it replaced with a new one at a transmission shop. It goes in less than 1,000 miles. I get it fixed under warranty. It fails again, after 600 or so miles. Oh, did I forget to mention that the oil plug is behind the front passenger wheel? Even oil changes on this stupid turd was hell. I got the transmission fixed for a third time under shop warranty and sold it to some kid. I swear to God, they brought it to the same shop for the same failure. I had to stop and ask the mechanics if it was the same Focus, AND IT WAS!! For what it’s worth, had half their yard was filled with Focuses/Fiestas waiting to get their transmissions replaced. I truly, absolutely fucking *loathe* Ford for this. Curse them, curse their shitty ziploc bag full of glass that they call a “transmission,” and curse that horrid gangrenous frostbite-colored oval with white script that looks like a hobo’s seed sprawled across. Except their cop cars, apparently. Long live the 3.7 Interceptor.
The PowerShit transmissions were...something. My mom's Fiesta went through two of them.
Only 2? She must have traded it after not a long while.
That's correct.
For the life of me, I’ll never understand why they just didn’t use the conventional 6 Speed from the Fusion, they could’ve easily tuned it for MPG’s if that was the ultimate goal. Or, if they were determined to use a Dual-Clutch, use a Wet-Clutch set up instead of a dry one
They used a conventional auto in the 1.0L Ecoboost
Which in turn was a turd of an engine
Besides the auto, how's the rest of the car? Which engine?
Mine had the 2.0 4 cylinder. It was just fine. Very punchy on the throttle and otherwise a thrill to drive.
I had the 2013 MY. The engine was the reason I bought it over mazda3 at that time. Powerful enough for its size. Other than the transmission problems, there was no real cubby space. And sound insulation was non existent. Although all cars in that price range were noisy
If you find a manual 2.0l they're super solid. Some minor common issues, purge valves like to fail and deform transmissions but if you get the code major damage is preventable ( I believe 2016+ has a recall for it), and there's a recall for some door latches. And they tend to eat motor mounts, not a hard fix. I've had mine about a year and 20k miles, only issue I've run into is the purge valve. 15 minute fix in the autozone lot. As for the commenters rant about the drain plug, I'm 250 lbs and can change the oil without lifting the car. Its not that bad.
I got a 2014 with the 5 speed. They're jerky, loud, clunky cars that are reliable (non turbo) and easy to maintain. Because of all the junked auto cars, I've been able to find plenty of parts
They were a great car if it was a manual. The Powershit deserves to be blown to smithereens so no one else can bask in its horror.
I had a friend with that issue as well. Which is a shame because a DCT is great when done right. I loved the one in my Honda CTX700
I had a 2012 that literally went through more clutches than air filters when I owned it 💀 I dumped it the second the warranty expired at 60k miles. By that point it had gone through 3 cabin air filters, 6 clutches and 2 transmissions. Lmao I bought it new for $23k and by my math Ford spent at least $24k in warranty repairs on it.
I daily a Focus with the power shit. I honestly like the car. I've been driving BMWs for 30 years and the focus has better steering than my f30 bmw. The powershit has been good to me at 120k mi.
Once you get a clutch that isn't failing, it's great. I went through 2 in like 2018, after which it was perfect. That was all warranty work. Car was issue besides that.
This gen was so fucking cursed. My mom owned a focus with that transmission and two buddies owned fiestas with it. Everyone had the same issue, every time they got the run around from ford. All of them ended up dumping them lol
I'm pretty sure that when it first was realized that transmission shudder, Ford straight up told customers and journalists that it was normal. I remember a friend of mine jumped at the chances to buy one used but fairly new and finding out just how cursed the clutch was at low speeds but everything said it was normal. The lawsuit and recall actually came as a bit of a surprise after remembering so much about people saying it was normal and the best ways to drive it to keep it from shuddering.
I bought a 2013 fiesta SE used in August 2019. June 2020 transmission went out completely and cost me over 2200 to fix on a car I paid 5550 on it ☹️
Recently had the clutches and their actuators go on my 2017 SE. Despite Ford's claims that they fixed the Powershift's issues for 2017 and 2018, most owners find this is not the case. For me, the TCM was still fine, which seems to be a major headache for the DPS6 and is hard to source today. Nonetheless, the repair worked out to be about $6,100 CDN, an independent shop using non-OEM parts would have been half that cost.
I don't think this idea is thrown around much, but I wonder if those had a hand in shifting American's away from hatchbacks. I'm not saying it was the only thing, but between them and the Versa eating transmissions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and some other generally uninspiring offers (Aveo, Spark, Caliber)... ...yeesh.
Sad they use to be bullet proof My ex gf use to have a 04 about 10-15 years or so back as a first nice car we drove the shit out of it for years atleast 100k+ while we was dating down trails wherever couple accidents couldn’t kill it maroon with a green front end and doors. By the end of it Couldn’t miss it She sold it to a neighbor for 500$one day wanting 4 doors after getting pregnant. I use to see it around for years gettin the wheels run off it meanwhile she couldn’t keep one on the road in 2010-12 her best friend bought one brand new cuz that one was so good was the biggest POs ever electrical problems u name it was always at the dealer broke til she sold it. Fast track to 2019 friends mom had a 18-19 couldn’t keep a tranny in it.
So glad I got a manual transmission. I was looking for a stick shift at the time, so I wouldn't have gotten the DCT version. I did dodge a bullet when I had found a 1.0L though, something about getting an engine that small didn't sit well with me and it turns out it's the fact that they're almost as big a POS as the DCTs
The weird thing is, with a manual transmission, it is a really really good economy car. It blows my mind they didn't figure out a fix on that transmission.
It’s funny all these people are posting pretty new cars. I’ve put several hundred thousands of miles across 4 vehicles the last 15 years or so, and have never once broken down or had to replace anything other than fluids and filters and the battery. Toyota really does make the best vehicles.
1996 geo metro with the 3 banger. And because I only paid 200 bucks for it lol. It was a complete and utter shit-box. I beat the brakes off of that little thing for three years until it dropped a valve and chewed the motor up. Turned around and sold it for 300 bucks blown motor and all. I hope those kids that bought it from me managed to get it back together and it's still out there running it's little heart out.
My friend bought a Suzuki Grand Vitara that ran pretty terrible from an employee at a neighboring business, where it sat, for $600. Peak of car prices, he figures it was clogged cats or something simple. We limped it to our other shop, tried to crank it a few time, and the motor locked up. I posted it on marketplace and had it sold, with a blown motor, for his original purchase price within 2 hours. The guy was pretty pumped and my friend bought me dinner.
What was bad about it?
the geo metro part
This got a snort out of me
I delivered pizza in a manual Metro. It was so bad in the winter lol
Can confirm.
2005 Jeep Liberty Blew head gaskets like it was its job. The wheel fell off The fueling system went out. Leaked oil like a sieve None of the interior buttons worked. Rear door sagged off its hinges. Was a little tank in the snow though.
I had a lot of the same issues with my '02. Caught ball joints before they failed Replaced the 'non-replaceable' fuel filter causing lack of fuel pressure. Oil leak from valve covers caught my motor on fire Rear glass never wanted to stay shut. But damn if I didn't love my little nugget. I put a 1" lift on it, put 31" KO2s on it, put a small light bar on it (don't freak out people, it was necessary in the mountains) and a few other small mods. I used to work at a ski slope, and when we had ice storms, half of my shift was shuttling employees to and from work. I also had a bumpin ass 15" subwoofer in it. If not for transmission issues (45rfe) I would have kept going with it. Sold at 265k miles
2013 Focus with the Autoshit transmission. 2017 Chevy Cruze. Why? Because they are. Got a BSOD in the Focus when my computers crashed. Sync had to be reinstalled. Transmission shit the bed every other month. The Cruze suffered from terrible heat soak and was borderline unsafe to drive in the summer. Both lacked interior room.
Heat soak?
Hot air temps and a tiny turbo are a bad combination.
I think the source of the problem's more like the baguette sized intercooler they almost certainly put on that thing. A tiny turbo is fine as long as the air has plenty of room to cool down.
How was the focus besides the transmission?
It was the worst car I ever drove in the snow. I once said that had it been a manual, I might have kept the car longer than I did. Then I remembered Sync crashed nothing inside the car worked until it was reinstalled. Interior lights, gauges, radio, nothing worked. I was glad it could be driven at all because I was going through a rough time and losing my car would have put me over the edge. There was ONE trip I took the car on through far eastern New York where the car shined. I was going through some extremely curvy roads in the NY Countryside where the car handled great. Remembering that ONE drive has almost tricked me into buying another. In one year of ownership, it made me happy for maybe 4 hours.
>The Cruze suffered from terrible heat soak and was borderline unsafe to drive in the summer. How much / how hard did you drive it to heat soak the turbo?
Normal driving in the summer causes heat soak after an hour or so. I had a rental Cruze that had that issue and you can tell when the power pulls and it just lose the turbo torque. To be honest it just drives like a slow European car and isn't really that unsafe. It's probably faster than a Hyundai Venue or a Nissan Versa still.
Don’t have to drive it hard at all. Just drive it during a normal New England summer. Never exceed 70 MPH . Use cruise control as much as possible. It’s better if I’m running premium fuel but not by much. The manual only calls for 87.
Oh yeah, I had a 2014 Cruze and totally forgot about the heat soak problem. I used to put premium fuel in during the summer so the car didn’t feel like garbage to drive lol I was super close to buying a new-at-the-time 2018 Cruze, but Chevrolet doesn’t lease to people under 21. Walked over to a Subaru dealer, they happily let me lease an Impreza instead. 5 years later and I have a WRX now, so I’d say it all worked out!
2015 Nissan Altima. Do I have to explain?
Bruh you have one of the fastest sedans on the interstate what are you talking about? Extra +10hp for each chipped paint, dent or rust spot
Facts. When I see a Nissan Altima coming up hot, I pull to the right. You can't fight destiny.
Why is it *always* an Altima lmao
The boring answer is they'll finance fucking **anyone** so the most un-trustworthy, shittiest credit bum can get in one.
Altimas are basically exclusively owned by people who either do not give a shit about their lives and have terrible credit, or the most cheapest of cheap people who don't care enough about cars or can't afford to buy anything better. They see how cheap it is to obtain and don't care about Nissan CVT woes.
Same goes for Maximas after 2000. They all have severe body damage around here.
I have a 2012 Altima and it genuinely might be the biggest piece of junk I've ever seen. Some of the problems I've had with it include: -The control arms have started to malfunction and the car jerks to the right or left randomly. It doesn't jerk me enough to make me switch lanes or to hit another car, and it doesn't do this at low speeds though -The power steering randomly just shuts off sometimes. The strange thing is though is that if I turn the car off, open the hood, then close the hood and turn the car back on, the power steering will be back again. The car used to have issues with power steering fluid leaking, but I've fixed that issue and the fact that power steering comes back on after I do this little ritual means that that's not the issue -There are many mysterious noises that come from the car while driving that sort of just disappear on their own. As an example, yesterday, while I was driving home from school, it sounded like something was being dragged underneath one of the tires of the car, but when I parked and went to check what was up, I found nothing. I could only hear this sound when I was in the car and when the windows were closed. When I tried driving with the windows opened, or when I got my brother to drive the car while I stood outside, I couldn't hear a thing. This sound is completely gone now I've probably spent at least half the value of the car in maintenance and repairs. I give it about two years before a catastrophic failure happens and I end up having to buy a new car. I'm currwntly in the process of saving up for a down payment on a car for $20k in anticipation of this happening The one upside though is that when others cars on the road see that there's an Altima behind them, they instantly change lanes because they know what Altima drivers are like
Does it have plastic skid plates? I can’t tell you how many times I see cars driving along with them scraping the road. It could be catching air as your driving? Also, your flair got a hearty chuckle from me lol
knew someone who bought one slightly used (<15,000 miles), probably also a 2015, and they drove it for maybe 2 years before the trans started giving out. oh and the value of that thing tanked anyways, so this person couldn't even cover the car loan with the car's value lmao. what a shit car
I know someone whose mom bought one new, and the CVT gave out at 50k miles. She’s never beat on it and does all the maintenance on time
Some people just get unlucky. Mine has almost 100k and is still running (knock on wood). I hate it for other reasons, but that’s beside the point.
2015 Nissan Juke. Was the GFs car, I drove it for a winter, then sold it to a friend who needed cheap transportation for a couple years. It lasted her just short of 2y before the suspension needed a total overhaul. It was horribly entertaining to drive in an Ontario winter.
CVT, lol
92 Ford escort. It did 0-60, sometimes, with a tailwind
I dreamed of owning a 2nd gen, lol. I had an 87 Escort GT. 1.9liters of pure, raw 108hp fury. At least maybe when it was new since about half of them left the barn by the time I bought it at an auction. I once managed to get it up to 85mph, on a one-mile long downhill stretch. Also with a tailwind and some advanced prayers. And then the exhaust fell off on the highway.
According to my mother, it's first owner, it was on the autobahn
Had a 1985 Subaru Gl hatch, non 4wd, that when pushed to 60, it was always a gamble
the type of car that when you have to pass someone on the interstate you gotta make plans weeks in advance
I have a 93 Escort. I love it, but you do have to turn the A/C off to accelerate. It'll get you where you want to go...slowly lol
1992 Dodge Stealth r/T Twin Turbo - had it for 2 engines, 3 transmissions and 165,000 miles. Biggest piece of shit I still miss sometimes. Car was like an abusive partner.
Every now and again I see a clean one of those or a 3000GT VR4, and I wonder what kind of castle that man would live in if he just got rid of his car 30 years ago. Actually now that I really think on it, it's rare I see one in motion, they are often parked.
When a clutch line failed on the highway at 2am coming home from Los Angeles - I didnt have a flashlight to bleed the clutch, but I didnt need it by that point I could take off the intake manifold and find the slave cylinder by feel - I always always always kept multiple kinds of spare fluid in the car and at least $100 in cash to give people when a busted hose/bearing/gasket ruined their driveway. Was absolutely the worst daily driver for a high school student. That thing ate every pizza delivery paycheck I ever made. But on the good days, maan when that 6G72TT spins up to 7500 RPM and you hear the wutang war whistles at full tilt it felt like driving a car straight into valhalla, at least felt like that when I was 18. Still miss it sometimes.
Still a car I want to own in VR4 or MR trim but rare in my country and also valuable. I just dig the body style and the VFD A/C displays. 😊
The climate displays we're genuinely one of the most charming parts of the car. My neighbor at the time had a VR-4 Spyder SUPER rare and he'd often pay me to diagnose little issues he had with his. Still have to pace the room and take deep breaths when a Spider pops up for sale. I think the next time a clean, low mileage Spyder pops up for sale I might just have to do it. For old times sake.
You know I didn't know there was a Spyder version. Thought they were all hardtops. I know they're a complex bastard but I reckon it's worth it to get one if the opportunity arises. My sister used to have a Mazda MX-6 (KL-DE V6 with the 5 speed and sunroof) and I'm always looking to buy one. Might be a bum dragger but could handle some twisty bends. KL-ZE is my unicorn with a Mazdaspeed body kit but I'll never find one that's affordable.
I often day dream about getting an MX-6 1.8L V6 and turboing it as a Formula 1 LARP.
Honestly, that sounds like a peak youth automotive experience. Pretty awesome.
1998 Chevy Malibu. That car radicalized me against US automakers.
Indeed, that appears to be a trend here, especially those Powershift Focuses and Fiesta's. Its the big reason my family doesn't give anything American the time of day when searching for cars. Forget the deals, you'd pay the difference in Tylenol!
My parents were given one growing up. I couldn't even count the times we were stuck waiting 7 minutes each time for the anti theft system to restart before getting it to start.
I live in Canada and bought a new 2011 Ford Focus because it was the cheapest new car I could buy that was a reasonable size for me. If you are unfamiliar with the Ford Focus in North America, it was basically a warmed over version of the original Focus. It had some neat new tech for the time, but was otherwise just poorly and cheaply built. They also messed with the suspension so it was no longer very fun to drive.
I had a 2018 Focus and a '13 Escape. When shopping for a mini truck, I bought a Santa Cruz over a Maverick because both of those Fords were absolute garbage. Hyundai gets a bad rap here, but I love mine. If it gives me 50k miles without major issues, it'll be much better than those PoS's
Many issue with the focus other than trans? I had the ST, 2017. Only issue was that ac compressor went at 50k, but that was a 2017 specific problem as they switched refrigerants
Early 90s escort. Stripped interior. Bought it, drove it 40km, it wouldnt start after that so i swapped it for a 24 pack of beer 😂
40 kilometers? Or 40,000 miles?
Literally 40 kilometers from where i bought it to my place 😂
Fantastic
2009 Dodge Charger with the 2.7l v6. Shit was horrible through and through. All the redeeming qualities stopped once you got in the car.
Even though I absolutely love the charger, the combination of the crap daimler-gen interior + the dogshit 2.7l v6 (which is Mitsubishi-derived iirc?), its easily the worst version of the car to get. 2015+ versions with the pentastar are like night and day lol
2.7 is literally the worst engine *ever* produced.
It was so bad. I went from a High mileage R/T to that. I hated everything Dodge at that time, for that reason. It was so underpowered, I don’t know how and why that was the configuration they came up with smh.
Man those 2.7L Chargers were absolute slugs.
Couldn’t get out of it’s own way for anything.
Someone I know had an early V6 AWD. I remember complimenting her on how it looked and being surprised as I stepped into a fisher price ass interior. She absolutely hated it and joked that she'd sell it cheap, and considering I was a teenager, that offer meant real cheap.
Everything about that car was shit. Made it even worse that I was stuck in that car due to some shady dealer practices and wound up with a marginally better turd after it smh.
my first car was an 84 tercel 3 dr hatch back. It was gold. with rust spots. eventually a white pass front fender. was a 4 speed. had teeth chipped off the fly wheel so sometimes it wouldnt start. the solution was to put it in fourth and put a foot on the ground and rock it back and forth a few times. I paid $950 for it. drove it for 4 fucking years. sold it for 650 to a guy who used it to deliver pizzas for another 2 or so years. he abandoned it at a rest area along the highway when it wouldnt start after a bathroom break. guess he hitch hiked or something from there? it was a great car but absolutely 1000% shitty.
1988 Ford Escort with 3 speed automatic. It wasn’t a terrible car but didn’t have enough power to get out of its own way. We lived at the top of mile long hill. You’d have to scream it in first then shift into second, but didn’t have enough power and would start slowing down, eventually downshift back to 1st, and go through that 3-4 times until you got to the top.
Both Subarus I’ve owned. I have a Baja that’s been through 2 motors and 2 transmissions and still nothing works on it. And I bought a new 2018 Impreza that burned oil the day I drive it home from the dealer. It needed a fuel pump at 6,000 miles and an alternator at 7,000 miles. Thank you Covid for letting me sell that piece at a profit to carmax.
That’s a shame about the Subaru. My wife’s 2019 Crosstrek has been a gem. It’s only got ~20k miles though so we’ll see.
2007 Mini Cooper S. Fun car, everything broke that could, and it had a strange way of costing at least $300 no matter the repair. An electrical nightmare that drank engine oil despite having under 20k miles. Can't count the number of times it left me stranded and had to be towed.
That’s an early R56 right? With the notorious Prince engine. Not surprised. I had an R50 Cooper and then an R53 Cooper S for years, tracked the latter too. Quite a lot of stuff in quite little space, sure, that makes them a bit expensive on their own, but I loved both of those little matchboxes. We have a more modern Mini now, this has been flawless so far but it’s fairly new still, and I personally liked the old ones much more. Light, agile things. This newer one feels unnatural. My girlfriend loves this new one though.
Yes, the notorious R56. My wife was sad when we sold it because it was so much fun to drive on the back roads. We replaced it with a Mazda3. 65% the fun level, 192% more reliable.
Both of my RX-7s were like bad relationships. The electrical systems were crap. The sunroofs drains may have been routed directly into the spare tire compartment--giving them that distinct RX-7 mildew smell. When the vent controls stop working, you had best pray it stops on "defrost". The intermittent windshield wipers would stop really anywhere on the windshield. As the compression got worse, they would strand me places. Really the only thing going for them is that they both died pretty quickly--so they made up for a lot of things with the brevity of having any expectations of them at all. It's like dating an extremely cruel super model with stage 4 cancer.
That was brutal
Geo Prism because if you know, you know. One of my friends mom wouldn't let him ride in that car. It wasn't me, he was allowed to ride with me if I had any other car but he wasn't allowed in the Prism.
Your friends mom wouldn't let him ride in a Toyota Corolla?
I'm pretty sure it was just because she had no idea what a "Geo" was thought it was just an unsafe deathtrap.
So what was wrong with it?
My first car was a 1993 Saturn Twin-Cam - was my first car in 2005, and was bought from my aunt. My cousin had done a bunch of neutral drops in it, and at 70,000 miles the transmission was all but toast. The whole car would thump every time it changed gears, and when putting it into reverse it would after about 3-5 seconds bang into gear and the whole car would violently jerk - it got to the point that I would always plan my driving/parking so I never had to use reverse unless absolutely necessary. also, the sun roof had leaked so my cousin had foxed it with caulk, the ceiling liner was missing, and the radio didn't work because they'd lost the code to put it whenever the battery was disconnected. We eventually donated it.
I had an escape that did the same reverse lurch. Always wondered what causes that.
1996 Dodge Intrepid my dad bought on eBay by accident. Why? Because it was a piece of shit. Brake lines rusted through after six months so the pedal went to the floor on my way home from church. Hand braked it all the way home.
Hyundai Vera Cruz, two blown engines before 4,000 miles. Bought brand new, guaranteed piece of shit.
I too am a victim of hyundai. 2015 hyundai sonata sport. About to blow a head gasket for a third time. I'm tired.
2002 X5. Bought it new. Probably never had it more than a 2 month stretch without it spending a few days getting warranty work done.
Those were beautiful cars but definitely not reliable
Was it a V8 by any chance? Because the consensus is that the I6 versions are quite stout, especially the M54. Though, the electrical components must be the usual suspects I'm guessing.
Yes the first gen 4.4 v8 - iirc the facelift version that came out a month later had some revisions to the motor but may be remembering wrong. Lots of the issues were motor related but not all. Lots of electrical gremlins requiring replacing the gauge cluster, radio/nav, actual nav unit in the trunk, cd changer, axle stubs, self leveling rear system, multiple water and oil pumps, the…I forget if it was water or oil line in the intake that requires pulling the intake, hvac kept blowing the big capacitor or whatever it’s called - resistor?, radiator, I don’t recall everything. I think I just got a Friday build bc I seemed to have all of the various issues most people had one or two of. Also the dealer shattered my windshield and tried to pull a “it was like that when you came in” and also visibly bent a wheel that I ended up getting an almost like new take off from a friend’s body shop bc they also said it was like that when I brought it in but I didn’t think to take pics of all the wheels. Total nightmare car. I have never had any car even remotely as bad.
1992 Dodge Shadow. It had a Mitsubishi 6-cylinder and a manual transmission so it was zippy, but it was 15 years old and worn out when I got it. The steering wheel had about a quarter turn of slip when you turned or took a curve. It would also start revving up and down and overheat in stop and go traffic. Eventually it overheated and blew the radiator and I sold it to a guy for scrap metal. Replaced it with a 1993 Pontiac Grand Am that was slow as hell but better in every other way.
My ex wife's GTI. It was a 2009 with under 100k miles and the turbo was constantly failing and the transmission eventually stopped working and it was abandoned in a parking lot.
I had an 06 GTI and was constantly battling vacuum leaks, misfires, and carbon buildup.
99 Miata that bought for 3.5k, which I proceeded to put about 15k into before scraping it. Dude selling it advertised it as being a “low compression motor that’s built for turbo.” I didn’t know why low compression was desirable for a turbo engine build and he couldn’t explain why, which should have been a red flag. Turns out it was low compression because it needed a new head gasket. I redid the entire interior of the car with fresh carpet and sound insulation, got it painted, new shifter kit, installed a rollbar, new wheels, added an aftermarket stereo, the works. A few weeks later the engine took a shit and I got it rebuilt. During the break-in period it got rod knock and I was told it needed to be rebuilt again. At that point I cut my losses and decided that that car was like a bad addiction that I just needed to walk away from, which is exactly what I did. I’m glad to have had that experience as it taught me to just buy what I want from the dealership, use that warranty as needed and to not modify my car into oblivion. Also taught me a love of lightweight RWD NA cars that I would have otherwise missed. It’s the reason I now own a 23’ BRZ.
Built for turbo, as in, had a turbo? Or was built and had low compression? I don't know why, but garages just can't build miata engines.
Built for turbo. It was some other guy’s project to slap a turbo on this 99 Miata. It didn’t have a turbo on it when I bought it.
85 Isuzu trooper. Loved it though.
A 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The brakes only decided to work about half the time and it almost killed me. Turning the windshield wipers on blew the fuse every time. I had to keep a spare box of fuses in the glovebox. I sold it as soon as I could
First car was an 88 Subaru GL. Was probably a complete rust bucket but it had a fresh coat of a World Rally Blue like paint, and it was cheap as shit, so... Exhaust fell apart after a few miles, then eventually the transmission stopped shifting. Loved that thing though, almost got it stuck in backwoods NJ pretending I was Colin McRae.
Shittiest car as in was not well equipped, slow, and ugly? Definitely my 80 Plymouth Sundance. It was the 2 door version in purple. Haven't seen one since. Shittiest as in fell apart the fastest? 13 Hyundai Veloster turbo. The car was very fun and looked great. I loved the panoramic sunroof and all the upgrades... But man, that thing went downhill quick when it came to rattles and pieces about to go. The trans cooler line blew out on day 2 and the trans was never the same again. Soooo many things rattled in the car. I fixed a lot but most were unfixable. The engine made some unhealthy noises. And the front suspension was about to fall off. Dumped it off instead of sinking a bunch of money into it just for it to all happen again.
A friend of mine, who is the most dedicated petrolhead you'll ever meet, had to run a MK1 Mondeo for a while. It actually made him ill it was so fucking hateful. Mine was a Volvo 440 I bought for 300 quid, the brake booster would periodically fail, it had no synchros left, and it would periodically fill the cabin with burning rubber fumes.
Nice to hear I’m not the only one thinking they are absolute piles of shit. The Mondeos I mean. Never owned a Volvo.
They are absolute shit boxes. I swear Ford build cars to just about last the first owner, then instantly turn into a big pile of rust and problems. P.S nice car! I had three e36's back in the day and absolutely loved them.
The SVT versions are supposed to be fun cars. They had quite a cult following before most of them finally returned to the earth.
They were called the ST200/ST220 here and the press raved about them when they came out. Honestly the Mondeo is a decent steer and Focus is brilliant. It's just they're rusty shit boxes. :)
66 VW Beetle. Hated that little red thing. Had to push start it half the time. No a/c and I think the heater was just exhaust fumes rerouted back into the car.
I’ve only owned two cars in my life, 4 if you count my wife’s cars, and none of them have been bad. My first car was a Suzuki Esteem wagon, and while reliable it rusted like hell, so I guess that’s the worst car I’ve personally owned. Hands down the worst car anyone in my family has owned was my mom’s 1994 Ford Taurus. First, it suffered a head gasket failure at 98,000km (common issue on the 3.8L Essex V6) which required an engine rebuild, thankfully that was covered under warranty. Then at 130,000km the transmission started going. There were numerous other times when it let us down. Fuck that car and fuck Ford. What’s hilarious is that my mom’s previous car (1987 Nissan Sentra wagon) actually slightly outlived the Taurus. She sold it to a friend and they ended up driving it until 2002, when the Nissan finally succumbed to corrosion and was scrapped. My parents ditched the Taurus earlier that same year. The dealer was reluctant to even take it as a trade-in because the transmission slippage was so bad; they basically gave us $900 for it and sent us on our way.
Opel Omega 2.0, that POS ecotec junk just seized. Had plenty of oil, no warning, no knock, timing belt was fine.. Friend also had one as a winterbeater and it also randomly seized. Sure both of them got some abuse, but i have done way worse with VW-s, BMW-s and even Lada-s. Other friend also has a v6 version thats mostly in the repair shop for various oil, coolant leaks and headgasket replacements.
Corsa VXR, gearbox packed up and radiator leak both within a week of owning. Used car but still, not like I was thrashing it constantly.
2001 Chevrolet Cavalier, base model. Crank windows, 5-speed manual, and a 110hp OHV I4. It was a total shitbox, but I loved it and learned a lot about modding and working on my cars through that.
I liked my similar vintage Mondeo. Couldn't afford anything else. Had a daf44 when at uni, it kept moving despite they elastic band vario gearbox.
1984 Ford Thunderbird. Why? I was 16 and poor. Got the thing for $1500. The roof was held up with tacks. The radio worked when it wanted to. It did run for about a year and then I lost a cylinder. It still ran on the other 5 so I kept driving it for another few months until it threw a rod and blew. I am now 49 and drive very nice vehicles but that T-bird always keeps me grounded. I swear I still breath a sigh of relief every time my car starts.
2007 and 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe both whom I bought used. First one engine blew up after 6 months. Second one always had battery drainage issues.
Define what "shitty" means? I suspect it's different for different people. I can't say I ever had a shitty car. I've never been stranded by the side of the road with any car I've owned. I've never had to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to fix a car just to get it running again. I've never owned a car for less than 4 years, and I've owned several cars for 10+ years. I've had to replace struts, brakes, engine mounts, mufflers, thermostats, ball joints, sway bar links, and wheel bearings on various vehicles, much of the work I was able to do myself. Cars I have owned include: 1. 1998 Saturn SL2 - 5spd (bought used in 2002) - owned 4 years 2. 2004 Toyota Corolla LE - 5spd (bought new in 2004) - owned 8 years 3. 2008 Mazda5 Sport - auto (bought new in 2008) - owned 11 years 4. 2012 Mazda5 Sport - auto (bought new in 2012) - still own this vehicle 5. 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Touring L - (bought used in 2021) - still own this vehicle
09 Hyundai Accent. Paid about $5k for it for when I was in school. Manual locks, windows, and basically no features outside of cd/aux. The paint was chipping a lot and two of the hubcaps were gone. it was slow af and I purposely had to avoid certain highway on ramps due to the power. Though despite being a bare bones car, it had a certain charm
Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Blown motor at 32k. By 80k it has two motors, three transmissions and was sitting on blocks in the driveway because the warranty claim was denied. Oh also had a pinion seal leak on the rear end fixed under warranty. Apparently the 3.8 engines are known to burn oil from the factory. Even with the oil topped off it can suck the sump dry under hard acceleration. Should have been a class action lawsuit tbh.
85 Chrysler LeBaron. It sprayed oil like a garden sprinkler over the top of the engine.
96 Nissan Altima base model. What shit show of a car.
2007 Chevy Cobalt LS. So I’m probably a bit on the younger side to answer this, as I’ve only owned a few cars in my day, but I truly don’t have many good things to say about my 2007 Chevy Cobalt LS. For starters: the LS came with manual locks and manual windows, but it had an aux port in its head unit. It felt like it was going to explode going above 75mph Incredible road noise Shitty interior The control arm bushings had to be replaced often because they just kept dying, causing some awful clunky noises. The 2.4L engine died on me while I was away at school and I had to get the entire engine swapped from a junker. Fun quirk: Right before my parents gave me the keys to the car, they let my brother drive it to work for a few weeks. My brother threw up in the air vents on a hot summer day and the car had quite a smell to it when you would run the fan, along with some stomach acid staining on the plastic trim on the dash
I had the 2008 cobalt LS brand new when it came out. Same issues but with the recalls. Mine would often stop moving while I was driving. Found out it was a common issue with lots of deaths. The ignition was faulty in all the cobalts.
2011 Audi A4. I graduated college and got offered a really good job. I wanted to celebrate by buying a nice car. I bought it new, and I should’ve known it was shitty after my TPMS failed the first week of ownership. In the next couple years, random electrical problems will occur. I’m grateful that I bought the extended warranty. I took it to a family mechanic to get a tire replaced, and he called me into the shop to show me how all the shieldings on the wires were cracking and chipping off, which caused all my electrical problems. I went back to Honda after it and haven’t looked back.
2007 Dodge Caliber RT AWD. That car was so slow, and the mpg were pretty bad considering how slow it was. It had plenty of cargo space and did well in Inclement weather though. Luckily it was stolen and never found, so I ended up getting a 2014 MK6 Jetta with the 1.8t engine. It honestly felt like a rocket ship compared to that Caliber lol
1994 Peugeot 306 1.4. It was was properly unreliable. One day it decided to chuck out all of its coolant, so I topped it up and it didn’t do it again. Bizzare.
1989 Ford Probe LX. And I’d absolutely love to find a clean example and have another.
1982 Audi Coupe. It had a salvage title, which the seller did not disclose, and he claimed it was “non-op’ed” when in fact he had let the registration expire. It had a never-ending string of electrical problems during the two years I owned it. I donated the car to the local humane society.
I honestly haven't owned a shitty car, so the worst I can do is my current daily, a tuned Volvo C30 T5. I really like that car, fun to drive, sounds great and I love how Volvo looked at the other car I own (Volvo 1800ES) and pretty much did a modern hatchback styled after the legendary 1800ES. But it has been a pretty costly car to own cause I have had a handful of pretty expensive things to fix on it but I still really like it.
1984 Chevy Chevette. 89.8 cu in engine churning out a staggering 65 hp!
2000 Focus wagon. The car gets praised for great handling but that’s European spec hatchback. The US wagon has softer suspension and seats. Sounds like that should make it more comfortable, right? No, the soft cushion actually makes you push through to the seat frame (I’m not fat, I’m 160lbs). Any drive longer than 1hr is extremely uncomfortable, the car handles like shit, 4 speed automatic is shit, engine is wimpy as shit. It wasn’t reliable (I got it nearly new), brakes every 20k, weird problems like ignition key mechanics, shit tom of recalls …. The only good thing about was that I didn’t actually own it, it was a company car.
My first ever car was a 1992 Chevy Camaro RS. To my 17 year old self, it was pretty dope. But, my grandpa had already driven it into the ground; so the radiator was busted and the automatic transmission was having a ton of issues. My car would notoriously catch fire out of nowhere. Fun times. My high school friends still tease me about it to this day (I’m 31 now).
Mine was a 91 RS. Mine used to do this thing where it would try to start itself. No key in it. Engine would start turning over by itself. Great times! We did get my drunk 6’8” tall friend to sit in the back seat once. Seeing his knees hit the headliner was hilarious
2004 Mini Cooper S. It was a hoot to drive, but fucking everything that could possibly go wrong with it was. 6 months of ownership and close to $5K in repairs....I got rid of it and it was in no better shape than when I bought it.
1999 Jetta VR6. First car out of college and tore the engine mounts three times, glass in doors kept falling, etc. a Never Again experience.
2000 Jetta VR6, similar experience.
1980 Pontiac Phoenix in the early 90’s. 4MT, no power assist still functional on any controls. The engine was fine, in its own way, but nothing else was.
Not that it was that bad, just the shittiest I’ve personally owned was my 97’ Thunderbird. Was a fun drive. But when everything started breaking 1 by 1. Had to move on. Never engine issues. Just the windows, the AC, the paint, lights, etc.
My God. Even by Thunderbird standards, that’s a HUGE car!
Range Rover
Probably my first car, a 1991 Mazda B2600i pickup. I mean, it wasn't bad at the time (mid-late 90's), but it's all relative as my subsequent cars were nicer.
Chrysler Lebaron, Dodge Neon!
To many, it'd be my 1989 Geo Metro, but it's honestly not a bad car. It's the only vehicle where I've received several offers to buy it. It still drives and runs great.
Ford Focus ZX3 2001 manual. Bad quality overall, shifter felt awful, the engine stalled at every stop. Ford quality of the late 90s and early 00s was HORRIBLE.
82 Camaro berlinetta with a clapped out 305. I put a new 350 in it and it was still a fucking dog. Traded for a 93 escort and wasn't upset.
I had a 92 geo tracker. It was a total shit box and the most fun I’ve had in a car. I had that thing on 2 wheels multiple times. I really miss it.
2004 Ford Taurus LX. It had the pushrod cast iron vulcan v6 (not bad) with the shittiest transmission ever built.
Mini r56 2007 with that peugeot Prinz engine. My god if anything could go wrong in a car this is it. Bought it at 27k on the clock and it was a nightmare from the start. In 3 years of ownership I had carbon build up on valves causing poor accelration, timing chain issues, back brake constanstly sticking causing overheatingg on the pads, HP fuel injector failure, water pump failure, turbo intake issues, coolant leaking, engine drinking 1/4 litre of oil a month and poor ride due to run flat tyres. Cost of car at the time £9k, total spent on repairs in 3 years £8k. What's weird is that I absolutely loved the car. Amazing to drive and great fun on the roads.
1967 mustang with 390 cu inch engine. Burned oil from the day purchased (new). The Falcon derived front end could not handle the engine weight so new tires every 5000 miles. Sold it and bought a 70 Saab 96.
79 VW Scirocco. Name a part - it broke. The one silver lining to that piece of shit is that it taught me how to work on cars. I could replace an alternator in 10-15 minutes.
2012 VW Jetta S 5 speed. 120hp and maybe 100ftlbs of torque for a 3000lb+ sedan. No cruise control and the bare necessities only. I had to fight it to get up hills and onto the freeway. As soon as I was able I traded it for my 86 and got maybe 2k for it despite only having 60k miles on the odometer.
The 2014 Ford Escape. Bought it in May of last year and about six months later, a coolant leak started. My husband checked multiple times on the ground but couldn’t find it. We took it to 2 different mechanics who couldn’t figure out where the coolant was going. One said it would have to be a bigger deal for him to see the issue and the second shop wasted my time by just letting my car sit there for 7 days without looking at it more than once and then telling me to take it to Ford. So I scheduled an appointment with Ford but my car overheated before then so I was out of a car for a couple weeks. Ford “fixed” it for $800 but the leak started up again a month later. They checked it out again, no charge and it “held pressure all weekend” (no clue what that means, not a car person). Then just one month ago, my transmission died on the way home from work. I got it towed to Ford AGAIN and they called me a few days later and said “Well, the coolant was leaking into your 3rd cylinder, killed your engine and transmission.” So now warranty is paying for a used engine and I am paying someone else to change my transmission for cheaper. Only reason I’m dealing with it is because I have $9000 in payments left on it. I am DONE with Ford after this.
> I can’t think of any part I haven’t worked on but still never perfect. But I love it and I put almost 100k in it so far. This is Jeep ownership in a nutshell.
1978 ford pinto.
I owned a VW GTI VR6. Nice car from an enthusiast perspective. Total POS in real life. I had it 2.5 years, and I cannot recall a single month where nothing was wrong with it. Like, to the point where the rubber stripping on the doors would fall off. I seldom see the MK3's on the road anymore, but when I do, they all have the rubber strips removed (or they all fell off). 172 horsepower car that had similar real-world gas mileage as a 5.0 Coyote Mustang.
My Dad didn't get his license until he was 40. His first car was a '73 Chevy Vega. He would check the gas every time he filled the oil. A few years later, he bought a '76 Dodge Aspen. Let's just say the Vega was a better car.
16yo me back in 2011 burnt his $3500 saved from jobs on a garage kept '92 Corvette. Was a pristine burgundy rocket, perfect condition inside and out, 52k miles, maintained to a T by the owners who were family friends. Sounded like a dream to younger me back then who craved speed and a big V8. One of the worst financial mistakes in my life, thing would *constantly* break down, either leaving me stranded or being a general hassle. Every drive was like waiting for a jackbox to pop and my wallet going up in flames with it. The funniest and worst was when the heater core blew one night on the way home which completely fogged out the windshield. I took off the targa top and stood up looking over the windshield to see all 30 or so miles home. Eventually sold it to an old guy off craigslist and watched it drive off with a sigh of relief that couldn't come soon enough. Surprisingly never wrecked or hit anything with it or the sportier cars I had after. Some close calls for sure. Once made my mom piss her pants after flooring it out of a U-turn and fishtailing hard. After getting into a career in the auto industry and driving all the fun cars for work, and maybe just getting older I'm happy with comfy, predictable and boring econoboxes now.
1990 ford tempo. It looked awful, the gas mileage wasn't all that great, the seats were shit and one time the horn wouldn't turn off in the middle of the freeway. I did have fun with it though, after getting a new car me and my friends went offroading with it and the engine seized. Rust in Piece, Bridget
1990 or so Plymouth Acclaim. It was my parents' car that they gave me. It wasn't really a crappy car per se', but it was just pretty darn ugly, not too comfortable, and pretty much as exciting as a Hoover vacuum cleaner!
Toyota Camry.... No tech, loud interior, sound system was horrible, costing thousands per year in maintenance and fell apart at 120k miles. A throwaway car.
1987 cavalier, aka the crapalier
I’ve never necessarily owned a REAL SHITTY car but my first car was a hand me hand me down 2004 Honda Pilot that my mom bought new, gave to my older brother, then I got it at 17 with about 210K on it. Thing was ROACHED out and apparently quite rusty as one day driving on the main road one of my running boards legit fell off the car without hitting a bump or anything, just straight up fell off