Worst car you've ever driven?

[1995hoo]

Inspired by a thread on another forum I visit:

What is the worst car you've ever driven? "Driven" can be as broad or as narrow as you like–if you want to include a single-day rental, or a friend's car you simply pulled around the block, or whatever, have at it, as long as you actually drove the car (e.g., "My father's old Fiat he sold to the junkman when I was two years old" probably doesn't qualify unless you were a very unusual two-year-old).



For me, probably the first car I owned, a 1977 Ford Granada. The car had various issues, but the one I still remember most vividly was noisy belts that we couldn't seem to fix. Replaced them and the problem continued. We went through Belt-Eze by the case. The whole neighborhood would know whenever I was driving because it was so loud. I bought that car for $325 from a guy in my dad's office and sometimes I still think I may have overpaid. Sold it to my younger brother two years later with a new paint job and radio. He paid me $400.

Other possibility for me would be various air-cooled VW Beetle rental cars in Cozumel. The speedometers bounced all over the place and the trunk locks were all broken and replaced with padlocks. I recall I barfed in one of those cars and didn't get all of it cleaned out before returning it, but the rental place didn't notice.

[SteveG1988]

Condition wise.... the 1987 Nova i learned stickshift in, junkyard runabout type car, two doughnut tires, non operational drivers side door.

Driving Joy wise.... MAG 4 door truck. a Low Speed Vehicle.

[roadman]

Worst car I ever drove was my brother's 1978 Chevy Monza when he was trying to teach me stick shift.  Very deep clutch and a very sloppy stick (at one point, the shift knob came off in my hand trying to get the car in gear).

Learned enough that I could probably move a stick shift car in a real emergency, but that experience totally put me off manual transmissions.

[adventurernumber1]

Sometime in this past winter of 2014, my dad got a huge dent in his Acura MDX when someone backed into him, so we had to rent a different car for a few days while it was getting fixed. Unfortunately, before we even cranked it up, we could tell my dad was not happy with the rental car he got. I forgot the exact model, but it was a small, old, purple Honda. It had a terrible smell as well as a terrible drive. My dad did not like driving it at all, and during those few days he let me take it for a drive in the neighborhood. I didn't like driving it either. That's all I can say about that experience. 

[robbones]

Mine was 1998 Buick LeSabre. Biggest pos ever

[hbelkins]

1984 Camaro Z-28. Total piece of garbage.

Also, the 1971 Dodge Dart that my mom had that I drove in high school and part of my first year of college wasn't a winner. It had an electrical system that would do screwy things.

I had a boss who had an old Oldsmobile 88 diesel, and that thing was junk. The thing would randomly die and could not be restarted.

[kkt]

Late 1990s rental Ford Festiva.  Totally gutless, uncomfortable seats, loud.  Amazingly bad for a newish car.  Was supposed to be a 4-day rental but I traded it in Day 2.

[signalman]

The worst car that I've ever driven was probably a Ford Escort that I got as a rental many years ago.  It was underpowered and uncomfortable.  I was happy to turn that shtibox back in.

[Doctor Whom]

It's a long story as to how I came to own it, but I had a 13-year-old Triumph Spitfire that failed inspection on everything.  The clutch hydraulic system failed in Center City Philadelphia during rush hour.

[DaBigE]

2014 Chevy Spark...it was my gf's loaner/rental that she had me run a quick errand with when we were helping a friend move. Butt-ugly, no power, and no interior space for someone 6-ft+. Insult to injury, it had FIB plates on it. I promptly made a small side trip on the way back and picked up my car.

[DandyDan]

I had a loaner Toyota RAV4 earlier this year for a day when I had to take my car back to the dealer for some work.  It was not only disappointing because the dealer called up a rental car shop (I later learned this is SOP there, which it's not at basically every other dealership in Omaha/CB), but it was noisy and uncomfortable.  It's also a Toyota, a brand I do not ever want to drive.

[roadman]

It's a long story as to how I came to own it, but I had a 13-year-old Triumph Spitfire that failed inspection on everything.  The clutch hydraulic system failed in Center City Philadelphia during rush hour.

There's an old saying that the average British sports car can't make it across a shopping mall parking lot without requiring a complete mechanical overhaul.

[bugo]

Toyota Corolla. I don't know what year it was but it was post 2010.

[Scott5114]

My current car is a 2007 PT Cruiser and it sucks.

[bugo]

My current car is a 2007 PT Cruiser and it sucks.

I've heard bad things about the PT Cruiser. They're based on a Neon platform. My sister had a '97 Plymouth Neon and it was a great car, other than having the timing belt snap and ruining the engine. It drove well, had good power, and was comfortable.

[Roadrunner75]

It's really everyone else's 'worst' car, but I enjoyed driving around my brown '79 Ford Pinto wagon for a few years in my early 20s.  Terrible acceleration, good stereo rig up job and a cookie sheet under the floor mat to cover the hole.  I came from a family of owners of terrible cars - we went through one clunker after another - Vegas, Aspens, Darts, Pintos, etc.  We usually didn't resell - they just got driven (or towed) directly to the junk yard.  I was one of the first in the family to actually buy a new car.

[corco]

At the end of my senior summer in high school, me and a few friends chipped in to pay $200 for a 1976 Subaru some crackhead was selling, with the intent of just rallying it and jumping it and having a blast with it before destroying it.

That was a BAD car- had to be started by push-starting, couldn't hold a gear, the shifter was so messed up there was basically no space where neutral was supposed to be, backfired and stalled in the middle of the street while we were driving a couple times. It was fun to jump though, and we got our money's worth out of it. Clutch was actually okay, but the fenders were rusted through, bald tires, dirty as hell inside- it was what one would expect a $200 car that runs to be like.

Ended up having to tow it to the junkyard after our couple weeks with it, thanking the good lord we never got pulled over with it or towed (we left it at the high school parking lot so our parents wouldn't know- the day before it went to the junkyard it got the "we are going to tow you tomorrow" sticker.)

Also had a work truck at a hotel I was working at one year- a 1978 Chevy pickup with a straight six and an automatic, rusted through floorboards, automatic transmission barely worked- the next year when I came back they had swapped it for another 78 Chevy with a straight six and a 3 on the tree that was much nicer.

[nexus73]

1966 Ford Mustang.  It was a real beater with a hopped up 289 V-8 engine, 4-speed and a bad front end.  Goose it and this car just wanted to get you killed!  It was totally unsafe on wet pavement and it rains plenty on the Oregon coast.  It was one of the many Mustangs we had on the used car lot back in the later Seventies but it was the only one that was so dreadful and dangerous.

I should have found someone I wanted to get rid of and given it to them...LOL!

Rick

[cpzilliacus]

1984 Camaro Z-28. Total piece of garbage.

A college friend had a 1984 Camaro (not a Z-28) which was also junk.  Among other problems, the heating/AC would discharge enormous amounts of water into the passenger compartment at random intervals, and the Chevy dealer(s) were unable to correct the problem.

Also, the 1971 Dodge Dart that my mom had that I drove in high school and part of my first year of college wasn't a winner. It had an electrical system that would do screwy things.

If the Dart had the 225 cid Slant Six, then I am confident you did not have engine problems (those  motors were almost indestructible).

I had a boss who had an old Oldsmobile 88 diesel, and that thing was junk. The thing would randomly die and could not be restarted.

Those GM Diesels set the cause of Diesels in passenger cars and light-duty trucks back by at least 30 years.

[cpzilliacus]

As far as worst cars, probably the VW Microbus with the air-cooled engine in the rear  (we had rented one while in Sweden).

Severely underpowered, almost impossible to accelerate it up to 90 km/h (about 55 MPH), not especially stable on high motorway bridges and not all that easy to shift.

[leroys73]

Well some of the above worst cars would have been good if taken care of. 

I have driven some beaters.  One was a car my daughter's mother gave her, the only thing good she gave her.  It was an 81 Dodge Diplomat with slant 6 and 727 Torque Flight trans.  It had to have been a tough car at one time since neither my X nor my daughter ever figured out that the brakes are used for stopping, not other cars and poles.  Gasoline was their only item on the maintenance list.  My driving experience was after these two had abused it for several years. 

My daughter lived on the opposite side of Dallas from me.  She called me one night to come and get her.  The car would start and the engine ran great even with 2+ quarts low of oil but it just would not move very well.  It had two very worn out tie rods, bald with wire showing through on the tires.  Well, I put two or three quarts of ATF in the trans and headed to my home via I-635.  Oh, and the shocks were completely worn out but it ran great.  635 is life threatening on a good day with a good car.  I made it home.  I am not sure how.  I did not realize how bad the tires were until the next morning. 

This is the worst car I ever drove.  However, it was a tough one.  I later gave it to a guy wanting a bare bones dirt track car.  He got it.

The worst car that was almost new I drove was a small auto trans Chevy in the 70s.  It was a rental.  It rode rough, no power, and felt smaller than either of my two VW old style Beetles. Running up I-44 I believe it never shifted to top gear for lack of power.  It was a rental so I drove it with the petal to the metal from Lawton, OK to Cincinnati, Ohio and back.

I have to say my X wife's Monza she bought used before we were married was a piece of crap.  Although she did not take care of cars it was a piece of crap before she bought it.

The worst new vehicle I owned was a 1975 Chevrolet (Isuzu) LUV pick up.  It was great to about 18000 miles.  Then for no good reason it would stop running like it ran out of fuel.  I thought vapor lock but no.  I thought fuel pump but no.  I did add a secondary electric fuel pump which helped.  I twice burned two valves in the same cylinder.  I called a friend who had the same problems to find out how he cured it.  He said he sold it so I did the same after about 28000 miles.       

[Scott5114]

My current car is a 2007 PT Cruiser and it sucks.

I've heard bad things about the PT Cruiser. They're based on a Neon platform. My sister had a '97 Plymouth Neon and it was a great car, other than having the timing belt snap and ruining the engine. It drove well, had good power, and was comfortable.

Can't speak to the Neon, but the Cruiser has practically no power, hesitates when you floor it, downshifts to go up the meager hills here in Oklahoma (I'd hate to see how it does in actual mountains), and gets terrible gas mileage (I can get 30 mpg out of it on a highway if I do 50 with a tailwind downhill). The cabin is nice though.

[leroys73]

And to think when the PT was about to hit the showrooms in the Dallas area dealers were charging about $2000, some more, above MSRP to pre order.   

[Roadrunner75]

Well some of the above worst cars would have been good if taken care of. 

Very true.  We had a lot of terrible cars while I was growing up, but we bought them for a couple hundred bucks after they had been abused for 10+ years.  Some of them would've been fine if they had been maintained properly.  When my Pinto finally died in the late 90s, I bought a mid/late 80s Corolla from a private owner based on Toyota's reputation and my brother's success with them.  The car turned out to be in terrible condition and wasn't maintained by the previous owner(s), and didn't last a year.  I finally had enough, and bought a brand new Corolla and it's been new Toyotas ever since.  'American' cars have made a lot of progress over the years, but I haven't gotten over the trauma of spending my formative years in Pep Boys waiting rooms or standing on the side of road.

[leroys73]

Roadrunner 75, I completely understand.  Pep Boys a good place to visit but not a good place to "live".