What's the worst car you've ever owned or driven?
- Thread starter JuleZ '02 HEEL
- Start date
This is really tough.
I've probably owned cars that others would put on the list, but because they were mine, I grew attached to them.
Adjusting for advances in technology, etc... I would say a Nissan Sentra I had as a rental last year. It just felt cheap and had (I believe) a CVT which I hate.
Owned - 1990 Buick LeSabre, about 10 years old at the time I owned it. Identical to this one except it had the gray vinyl top. Stand-up hood ornament, wire wheel covers and all.
As a junior in college it killed my soul a little bit more every time I got behind the wheel. Oh, you woke up feeling a little bit good about yourself this morning? Here, go drive Meema's Buick to campus.
My previous car blew its head gasket and I had essentially zero money for a car at that point. The local dealership had taken the Buick in trade and was going to send it to auction, but sold it to me for the dead car (which may have had some small positive value) and $500. It was the only way I saw at the time of getting any kind of transportation, but damn. This wasn't grandma's car, it was her mom's. Handled like a boat. I like boats, but that ain't a compliment. Despite fairly low mileage for a 10-year-old car, it wasn't reliable either, requiring several fairly expensive engine repairs and leaving me stranded between Eastern NC and Chapel Hill at least once in the year and a half or so that I had it.
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Driven - Close second was a late '90s Chevy Malibu my mom had at about the same time. My parents purchased that car new or almost new and it was a POS from day one. Random bits and pieces that came loose or fell off, clunks and rattles, and then various suspension and drivetrain problems when it was just a few years old. Prior to that my parents had both had cars that they drove for years and years and years, so I was shocked that something so new could be so crappy.
As a junior in college it killed my soul a little bit more every time I got behind the wheel. Oh, you woke up feeling a little bit good about yourself this morning? Here, go drive Meema's Buick to campus.
My previous car blew its head gasket and I had essentially zero money for a car at that point. The local dealership had taken the Buick in trade and was going to send it to auction, but sold it to me for the dead car (which may have had some small positive value) and $500. It was the only way I saw at the time of getting any kind of transportation, but damn. This wasn't grandma's car, it was her mom's. Handled like a boat. I like boats, but that ain't a compliment. Despite fairly low mileage for a 10-year-old car, it wasn't reliable either, requiring several fairly expensive engine repairs and leaving me stranded between Eastern NC and Chapel Hill at least once in the year and a half or so that I had it.
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Driven - Close second was a late '90s Chevy Malibu my mom had at about the same time. My parents purchased that car new or almost new and it was a POS from day one. Random bits and pieces that came loose or fell off, clunks and rattles, and then various suspension and drivetrain problems when it was just a few years old. Prior to that my parents had both had cars that they drove for years and years and years, so I was shocked that something so new could be so crappy.
We have a mini cooper 2008 I believe it has a cvt in it and I have not had any issue with it.
It's not a reliability thing, I just don't like the feel. I had an ATV with one once. I am used to the feel and sound of the transmission changing gears and you don't have that omin a CVT.
Driven? That's impossible to remember.
My Dad bought my Mom a new 1977 Buick Regal with a V6 engine that was a lemon, POS, pimp-mobile-looking car. It was the first car that we had with a 8-track player. It was slow AF. And, years later, I was 16 and driving it in downtown Nashville, NC (where I grew up) and the head gasket blew and a huge plume of smoke was coming out of the exhaust and I was freaking out. I was afraid to go home and my scoutmaster (from back when I was in Boy Scouts) saw me and got behind me, honking his horn saying "You're gonna blow that damn thing up if you don't stop driving it!" I parked it, he drove me home. It went to the junkyard. 1977-1985 RIP.
Looked just like this:
My Dad bought my Mom a new 1977 Buick Regal with a V6 engine that was a lemon, POS, pimp-mobile-looking car. It was the first car that we had with a 8-track player. It was slow AF. And, years later, I was 16 and driving it in downtown Nashville, NC (where I grew up) and the head gasket blew and a huge plume of smoke was coming out of the exhaust and I was freaking out. I was afraid to go home and my scoutmaster (from back when I was in Boy Scouts) saw me and got behind me, honking his horn saying "You're gonna blow that damn thing up if you don't stop driving it!" I parked it, he drove me home. It went to the junkyard. 1977-1985 RIP.
Looked just like this:
When my wife’s bmw was in the shop my rental was a chevy malibu. Pure fukin misery driving that non responsive sluggish pos around for two weeks. And it was brown. Why even make a brown car. Who picks out brown on the lot?
The dealer didn't give you a loaner? Or were you being cheap and took it to Uncle Sammy's Tire and Repair?
I rented a car last week to travel for work. It was a Nissan Rogue. It was small and cramped (despite being labeled an SUV), was only a 4 cylinder and had zero power and it smelled like homeless people.
This bad boy right here when I was in high school (1999-ish). Had a decent beater before this but decided it was a good idea to pull out in front of a Ford F250. This was the replacement for the next couple of years after that. It was a land yacht. A veritable road tank.
A few years back, we rented a Nissan Versa for 4 work travelers on a week-long trip (read: luggage) because it was the only car left on the lot. It was miserable.
I usually like renting cars. I work mostly with Enterprise and I've generally been happy with their level of service. The cars are usually clean and while the process of renting is usually busy and irritating, it always seems like the staff is doing the best they can. I appreciate that.
Before I had kids, I rented cars all the time for trips. I used to love getting a big Crown Vic for highway travel.
Enterprise can go to hell. I've literally been banned from renting a car from them and their other companies. They tried to charge me for something I didn't owe and I refused to pay. That landed me on their do not rent list.
This bad boy right here when I was in high school (1999-ish). Had a decent beater before this but decided it was a good idea to pull out in front of a Ford F250. This was the replacement for the next couple of years after that. It was a land yacht. A veritable road tank.
That would be pretty far down my list of "cars high school kids were probably driving in 1999" unless you were an offensive lineman in a high school in Texas.
I know right! It was a "hand me down" from my grandparents so I couldn't shirk a "free" car.
Looks like a good mafia car...ie you could fit quite a few bodies in that trunk.
This bad boy right here when I was in high school (1999-ish). Had a decent beater before this but decided it was a good idea to pull out in front of a Ford F250. This was the replacement for the next couple of years after that. It was a land yacht. A veritable road tank.
Speaking of brown - I had an ugly brown Ford Fairmont in high school. My siblings and I lived in a rural area - it was a 22 mile drive one way to high school. Got stranded in that car many times. This was before cell phones, too. Fun.
The car was a lemon / POS in every sense. Thin like a sardine can, no shocks / suspension so you'd nearly suffer a concussion when you hit a pothole, the car was so light that it was all over the place on the road (terrible handling).... had random electrical and carburetor issues that would pop up about every other week. What an ugly, terrible product, POS that car was.
