The worst vehicle you ever owned was...

[cardaddy]

OK, so going through a photo book of my daughter today from a vacation, spring 94 (she was 6). Reflecting on stuff like that lately, especially as she got engaged for Christmas.

We used to go to a lot of Tow Shows especially the Ga, Al, Tn show that rotated every year year between the three of us. Then every spring in Orlando is a really great show and one of just many reasons to go see Mickey Mouse as a "busines expense".

Any-who.... found something that brought this subject up in those photos. We've all had one, or at least most of us I bet have had one. That would be what is that ONE vehicle you owned that just made your skin crawl? The one that you had so much hope for when you bought it? Perhaps it was a personal car, a hot rod, or a work truck, even a motorcycle. (Or in some instances I've seen some pretty bad 4-wheeler/ATV's.)

So for me, it was a 94 Ford Super Duty that I ordered, and built, as I had since 85 to TAKE TO the Florida Tow Show. OMG was that truck bad news! Broke down right away, broke down regular and often. Heck, they put TWO water pumps on it before it hit 19,000 miles. I mean this darned thing spit injectors, blew gaskets, rear seals, brakes locked up, rear main seal, electrical.... you freaking name it! At one time the local Ford dealer would have as many as 3 different RO's going at once. I'd leave it there, drive another truck, and when it got really busy I'd go try to limp it outta' there to do a 'quickie' and take it right back so they could still work on it.

It made for about 3 weeks, then once things started happening there were open RO days where it was at the dealership totalling 72 days in only 4 months. Now up until I was Ford blue through and through. Had made a LOT of money with them for 10 years and expected to make a lot more. NOPE, not gonna' happen! So, what did they do? Nothing; not from the light duty division, (because it was a commercial vehicle) not from the Heavy Duty Truck commercial division (because it wasn't considered a heavy duty truck).

Finally we had to change dealerships, TWICE. Everyone that touched it said it was jinxed. So a total of 3 dealerships over 18 months or so just gave up. No dealership HAS to work on your car. Doesn't matter what make it is, they can just say you need to take it somewhere else. Go figure......

Then I went to my sign guy (that did all the lettering you see in the photos) and had him make 3 dozen lemons and some creative wordsmithing. Remember, "Ford is job one", or "Have you driven a Ford lately?" What about putting in big yellow letters across the back glass "Ford is job NONE" and down the side of the bed, both sides, "Have you driven a lemon lately?". Top that off with 3 dozen lemons all over and you've now got lemonaid. Then take it to where else, Atlanta Motor Speedway and drive it all around the infield all weekend long. Yup, that gets peoples attention for sure! People would ask,, "What all is wrong with it?" and I'd reply "How much time do you have?" :laughing:

In the end, sold it for a $45,000 loss and just walked away. The history on it was well known and personally I felt sorry for the guy. From then on, GMC 6500 series CAT power was the way to go.

The one thing I did do was keep it clean. Every week like clockwork. While it may look brand new in the photo, it had been on the road since Jan, and this was the 2nd week in April. (pretty new, but it had been working, and I almost had to TOW it to the Tow Show.)
:nomore:

Oh well, so that's my story what is yours?

 

[Fishincricket]

Daggum, what a story.. I hope I don't jinx myself, but I have yet to own any vehicle that's completely let me down.. :fingers_crossed:

 

[Witchdoc]

ok, so going through a photo book of my daughter today from a vacation, spring 94 (she was 6). Reflecting on stuff like that lately, especially as she got engaged for christmas.

We used to go to a lot of tow shows especially the ga, al, tn show that rotated every year year between the three of us. Then every spring in orlando is a really great show and one of just many reasons to go see mickey mouse as a "busines expense".

any-who.... Found something that brought this subject up in those photos. We've all had one, or at least most of us i bet have had one. That would be what is that one vehicle you owned that just made your skin crawl? The one that you had so much hope for when you bought it? Perhaps it was a personal car, a hot rod, or a work truck, even a motorcycle. (or in some instances i've seen some pretty bad 4-wheeler/atv's.)

so for me, it was a 94 ford super duty that i ordered, and built, as i had since 85 to take to the florida tow show. Omg was that truck bad news! Broke down right away, broke down regular and often. Heck, they put two water pumps on it before it hit 19,000 miles. I mean this darned thing spit injectors, blew gaskets, rear seals, brakes locked up, rear main seal, electrical.... you freaking name it! at one time the local ford dealer would have as many as 3 different ro's going at once. I'd leave it there, drive another truck, and when it got really busy i'd go try to limp it outta' there to do a 'quickie' and take it right back so they could still work on it.

it made for about 3 weeks, then once things started happening there were open ro days where it was at the dealership totalling 72 days in only 4 months. Now up until i was ford blue through and through. Had made a lot of money with them for 10 years and expected to make a lot more. Nope, not gonna' happen! So, what did they do? Nothing; not from the light duty division, (because it was a commercial vehicle) not from the heavy duty truck commercial division (because it wasn't considered a heavy duty truck).

Finally we had to change dealerships, twice. Everyone that touched it said it was jinxed. So a total of 3 dealerships over 18 months or so just gave up. No dealership has to work on your car. Doesn't matter what make it is, they can just say you need to take it somewhere else. Go figure......

Then i went to my sign guy (that did all the lettering you see in the photos) and had him make 3 dozen lemons and some creative wordsmithing. Remember, "ford is job one", or "have you driven a ford lately?" what about putting in big yellow letters across the back glass "ford is job none" and down the side of the bed, both sides, "have you driven a lemon lately?". Top that off with 3 dozen lemons all over and you've now got lemonaid. Then take it to where else, atlanta motor speedway and drive it all around the infield all weekend long. Yup, that gets peoples attention for sure! People would ask,, "what all is wrong with it?" and i'd reply "how much time do you have?" :laughing:

In the end, sold it for a $45,000 loss and just walked away. The history on it was well known and personally i felt sorry for the guy. From then on, gmc 6500 series cat power was the way to go.

the one thing i did do was keep it clean. Every week like clockwork. While it may look brand new in the photo, it had been on the road since jan, and this was the 2nd week in april. (pretty new, but it had been working, and i almost had to tow it to the tow show.)
:nomore:

Oh well, so that's my story what is yours?

fixed or repaired daily, found on roadside dead, fuc/'d on race day

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

My very first car was a 1980 Chevy Luv. It was yellow and rust. The moon roof had clear caulking around the edge to "seal" it from leaks. There were holes in the floor so I could literally see out to the road under the truck while I was driving. I bought it for $100 (not running) and had to replace the head gasket before I could drive it.

Even though it was a total piece of crap I had a lot of pride in it. It took me a few weeks to figure everything out with the engine (all I had was a Chilton and my dad's tool set).

I plan on doing the same thing for my kids regardless of how well off I am when they get to driving age. "Here is a car... fix it so it drives and you can have all the freedom you want." I guarantee after putting in all that work they will be doing basic maintenance like changing the oil & checking fluids. On top of that they will be able to tell if a mechanic is pulling their chain on any major repairs that may be needed.

 

[4ord]

fixed or repaired daily, found on roadside dead, fuc/'d on race day

First On Race Day
Found On Road Dominating
Found Off Road Dominating
For Off Road Domination

lol. Had to do it. I'm a ford guy as you can see .

OP, sorry to hear about the truck. Those things are usually pretty reliable, but I guess there's always a few lemons. I do agree with the ford service departments sucking(the ones around here do), but I like to try and do major work myself. Saves money and I know it's done right.

The worst vehicle I've ever had is (technically my sisters) a 2004 Buick Rendezvous. Still have it now, but my god is that thing aggravating. Absolutely impossible to do any work on it, and it seems to be needing stuff every day. Has the problematic 3400 I6 engine,and combine that with fact that its built on a van platform (half of engine tucked away in the firewall)....it's a teetotal nightmare. Any standard maintenance job that would take about an hour or less on a normal car will take double the time on the rendezvous. And don't even get me started on the problematic interior electronics or the infamous dexcool (deathcool). And countless other problems rendezvous' tend to have that have yet to present themselves yet in my sisters car *shudder*

Did I mention that the car only has around 50,000 miles?

 

[cardaddy]

Funny this was until that darned thing I figured they'd have to bury me in a Ford, (at least for a work truck). Back then, (in the 80's) there was no such thing as a decent Chevy chassis cab that you could mount a rollback too. Especially if you wanted a diesel!

My other truck was a Choo Choo Custom S10 extended cab 4x4.

 

[psynx]

I wanna say my 1995 3000gt vr4, even though I blew 2 engines. The car was far from stock. It was pushing 400+ awhp I was 10K in debt for that car alone. But I would own one again to spank those snobby Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, vette, cobra owners here in Socal lol. The look on their face when I would launch was priceless

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AG Online

 

[EddieF]

1999 chevy blazer, got it brand new when I graduated high school. Right after the warranty ran out the problems began. Alternator, egr valve, 2 catalitic converters, muffler, water pump, wheel hubs twice, left me stranded twice, paint defects, there was some problem with it starting that no one could figure out and the tranny was starting to go. I sold it with 76,000 mles on it. I loved that truck when I first got it.

 

[Iron400]

2005 Chevy Trailblazer with the inline 6. We had alot of issues with motor sensors going bad on a weekly basis. Finally got rid of it after a year, and have never looked back. Driving Fords now, no issues. :dblthumb2:

 

[EddieF]

2005 Chevy Trailblazer with the inline 6. We had alot of issues with motor sensors going bad on a weekly basis. Finally got rid of it after a year, and have never looked back. Driving Fords now, no issues. :dblthumb2:

After I got rid of my blazer, I bought an escape. I loved that thng, I beat the hell out of it, barely did any mantenance on it and it ran great.

 

[Detail-Impressions]

2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI loaded Car, 13 times to the dealer in 11 months. No fixes less than 12k miles and traded for a Camry oh happy days now

 

[Meticulous-Detail]

Dodge Aries K, hands down worst car I ever owned. Had it 3 weeks, think I broke every major mechanical part. The junkyard didn't even want it lol.

Car had bench seat in front and I was able to drive from passenger seat. People would freak out when they didn't see a driver in the driver seat.

 

[cardaddy]

My very first car was a 1980 Chevy Luv. It was yellow and rust. The moon roof had clear caulking around the edge to "seal" it from leaks. There were holes in the floor so I could literally see out to the road under the truck while I was driving. I bought it for $100 (not running) and had to replace the head gasket before I could drive it.

Even though it was a total piece of crap I had a lot of pride in it. It took me a few weeks to figure everything out with the engine (all I had was a Chilton and my dad's tool set).

I plan on doing the same thing for my kids regardless of how well off I am when they get to driving age. "Here is a car... fix it so it drives and you can have all the freedom you want." I guarantee after putting in all that work they will be doing basic maintenance like changing the oil & checking fluids. On top of that they will be able to tell if a mechanic is pulling their chain on any major repairs that may be needed.

Those little LUV trucks were TOUGH AS NAILS! Iron block 4 that just kept on going. Although I think the toughest gasoline engine I've ever seen was the old Plymouth/Chrysler slant 6. MAN those things would run forever. My dad's Prudential agent (which sold me my first life insurance policy) had a Valiant that he drove 195,000 miles and gave it to his daughter when she went away to college in the mid 70's. She put another 100,000 miles on it and when she graduated around 80/81 I think, and wanted to trade it in and buy her first new car her dad bought it back from her. He drove it another 135,000 miles on the road selling insurance before he ever had any problems with it. Now that was one ugly, but TOUGH old car.

Maybe I should have done something like that with my kids. My daughter started with a 90 Accord in 2004 that we bought new and only had 38,000 miles on it. She put 17,000 on it the next 2 years and when she was a senior in HS my dad was living with us and wanted to get her a new car to drive to college. (She lived at home and had to commute into Atlanta.) So while she wanted something pretty small, we insisted on a little more 'sheet metal' around her and settled on a Pontiac G6 GTP. Nice car, rides good and is pretty darned quick overall. She's just got about 95,000 on it I'm sure and other than her wrecking it 3 times it's been flawless.

She will work on it no questions asked. When it needed brakes (the first time) she asked me to show her and she jumped right on it. Pulled the rotors and had them turned and everything. Fast forward another 20,000 miles and she's warped a rotor or two so instead of trying to turn them again we headed over to Summitt Racing and picked up a set of 'drilled & slotted' units with EBC pads and she jumped right on it again. Painted the calipers and everything.

Needed plugs a couple of months ago and she climbed up on top of the engine and got it done. Air filters, oil changes, she just likes to know what makes things work. :dblthumb2:

The boy OTOH didn't benefit from my dad as he's no longer with us. (Where the girl is a brain wiz, he's far from it. :dunno: ) So he ended up with a 98 4Runner about a year ago. Really good running truck though, 1 owner, well maintained. Ended up going overboard with $2K worth of stereo because it wasn't a new truck though. The only thing he's done so far is help (watch) me put a couple of new Alpine amps under the seats!

That boy.... about all he's good for is putting gas in, although I made him help me deal with a rear axle seal that I had put in at a local shop and he botched the job. (the shop, not the kid) Figured if I wanted it done right I better do it myself.

That's about all he's done. I have to threaten to unplug our router to get him to wash the darn thing. THAT however is about to change as he's gonna' learn to work the GG and use all these darned pads I bought come spring! :bat:

 

[cardaddy]

2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI loaded Car, 13 times to the dealer in 11 months. No fixes less than 12k miles and traded for a Camry oh happy days now

For REAL Bill? That sux to hear! I woulda' thought VW has their act together these days. OTOH, I thought Ford did back then as well and BOY was I wrong!

My daughter has been looking at a VW Tiguan on her 'short list' along with a Honda CRV to have something a little larger than a coupe. Like she thinks I'm gonna let her take our Doberman (that she has 40% ownership in) with her should she decide to get married in the near future. :laughing:

 

[VWGLI]

in chronological order-
'99 Ford explorer limited edition (rolled)
'92 Chevrolet Caprice Classic
'04 Toyota Camry 2.4/auto (traded for)
'09 Chevrolet Colorado (traded for)
'12 Volkswagen Jetta GLI

The Colorado is easily the worst. Bad seats, crappy interior, absence of a cabin air filter, pathetic turning radius, awful stereo, bed was almost useless, sub par gas mileage, boring to drive, etc. I will give it this, the brakes werent bad.
What really did it for me was the weird electrical problems and how it left me stranded on the side of the road. Service department had a tough time pin pointing what the problem was, they eventually concluded the body control module was bad. The BCM was replaced under warranty, I traded it in a week later.
I dumped that thing in such haste, I left my house key, some Canadian coins, and a $110 Snap On ratchet.

The Explorer was pretty bad, but no major problems.
The Camry had an awful interior. Motor and suspension were great.
The Caprice is still good. Its not scrap metal yet.
The VW is the best. I've had it since May. Not a single problem. *fingers crossed*

 

[cardaddy]

First On Race Day
Found On Road Dominating
Found Off Road Dominating
For Off Road Domination

lol. Had to do it. I'm a ford guy as you can see .

OP, sorry to hear about the truck. Those things are usually pretty reliable, but I guess there's always a few lemons. I do agree with the ford service departments sucking(the ones around here do), but I like to try and do major work myself. Saves money and I know it's done right.

The worst vehicle I've ever had is (technically my sisters) a 2004 Buick Rendezvous. Still have it now, but my god is that thing aggravating. Absolutely impossible to do any work on it, and it seems to be needing stuff every day. Has the problematic 3400 I6 engine,and combine that with fact that its built on a van platform (half of engine tucked away in the firewall)....it's a teetotal nightmare. Any standard maintenance job that would take about an hour or less on a normal car will take double the time on the rendezvous. And don't even get me started on the problematic interior electronics or the infamous dexcool (deathcool). And countless other problems rendezvous' tend to have that have yet to present themselves yet in my sisters car *shudder*

Did I mention that the car only has around 50,000 miles?

Yeah well, I thought they were reliable too. (Back then) I always did all my own service work once it was out of warranty as well, but that darned thing NEVER STOPPED BREAKING DOWN. They freaking GAVE ME a $2000 100,000 mile extended warranty! I told them, "What good does that do when the thing stays in the shop more than it stays in service?" After 18 months went by I added it all up and it was in the shop almost 8 of those 18 months. They literally spent more on warranty work than a new chassis cab would have cost, yet they refused to replace it. Heck I even offered to PAY to swap out the rollback body at a cost of $10,000 out of pocket.

I had heard some stories of the Rendezvous problems. We had 3 Tahoe's before buying the Envoy XL Denali. The wife was thinking "Well I'll get this, it's smaller and has the Displacement-On-Demand engine so I'll get better mileage". One word... WRONG!!!! This truck is a lot of things, but mileage isn't one of them. I'm just glad we got one with the 5.3 rather than the I5.

My 11 year younger brother (passed away 1-2010) was a HUGE Ford fan. Started with a Pinto he totaled out that was my Dad's, then a hail damaged new Escort (again provided by Dad) and finally Stangs out the wazoo, several 90's including a 96 Cobra, 03 Cobra SC, HD Edition 150, etc. Yet he never stopped working on them. Likely due to always trying to put bolt-on's on them looking for more power.

I told him he couldn't park the darn things in my driveway. Im the MAN

Funny thing though is with the new Aston type styling I like a lot of them.

 

[rotzilla]

88 Toyota celica, purchased brand new, cruise control never worked after numerous attempts to repair, paint on wheels was flaking off, engine burned 1qt of oil every 300 miles. Ended up going to arbitration when I was 20 yrs old and won! hands down. I was reimbursed for the price of the cruise, wheels were repainted, and a new long block was installed. Traded it in within 1000 miles. Got out while the getting was good.

Oh yeah! then there is the truck in my pick, 11 ram, now that a entirely different nightmare. LOL

 

[Finemess]

I have a tie. 1982 Ford Escort GL-leaked everytime it rained. 13 times to dealer. 1987 Subaru GL-10 wagon-vacuum leaks, left at dealer weeks at a time. Both brand new cars.

 

[PA DETAILER]

07 wrangler. worse soft top ever on a jeep. interior water leaks that were unfixable.

12 wrangler. unfixable interior water leaks.

09 toyota fj cruiser. unfixable steering shimmy at 60-65 mph. (they still do this till today).

10 gmc canyon. (5cyl. what was i thinking?) not a bad mid size truck, but as stated above, CHEAPLY MADE. headlamps would always fog up (inside) replaced many times. (warranty). PW switch went out very early.

 

[cardaddy]

88 Toyota celica, purchased brand new, cruise control never worked after numerous attempts to repair, paint on wheels was flaking off, engine burned 1qt of oil every 300 miles. Ended up going to arbitration when I was 20 yrs old and won! hands down. I was reimbursed for the price of the cruise, wheels were repainted, and a new long block was installed. Traded it in within 1000 miles. Got out while the getting was good.

Oh yeah! then there is the truck in my pick, 11 ram, now that a entirely different nightmare. LOL

Ahhhh the Celica... the first 'brand new' car I bought was a 77 Celica, the fastback style that was modeled after the Mustang. Really tough car! I drove that thing till 1990 without having to do a thing to it.

Then I sold it to my much younger brother and about a month later my Dad called telling me I needed to come help him, he was trying to put a clutch in it and in the background Mom was yelling and fussin' and really making a stink over it. I mean she was saying I sold him a lemon, that it was wore out and all I did was take advantage of him, blah blah blah. (Needless to say he was her baby and she paid his way buying cars, paying bills, bought his home for him, and tried to raise his kids till the day she died, even after if you count all the stuff he stole but that's another story)

So, I went over there and he had it all up in the air, (with MY floor jack, my ramps, my jack stands, tools, creeper etc). I grabbed a light, popped on some gloves and went in for the kill.

And WHAT DID I FIND????????

That fool had taken some fish tank tubing and ran it from the windshield washer tank to the rear tire(s) and held in place with coathanger wire. He would move it from one side to the other as it suited him. Both tires were bald as could be! :bolt:

What would you guess he PUT in the windsheld washer tank? Hmmmm???:idea:

BRAKE FLUID!
Not exactly what you need to clean the ol' windshield if ya' know what I mean.

Yessirreeee Bob.....
That lil' jacka$$ figured out a way to do burnouts, and burnouts he was a doin'. :hotrod2:

I snatched that air tubing off the car, along with the mess of coathanger wire from front to back and went inside, threw it on the kitchen table and told my Mom I didn't want to hear not ONE MORE WORD.:bash:
He had been abusing the darned thing since the first weekend he got it. Tires were fairly new and (did) have at least 25,000 miles left on them but in a month he was down to the cords, go figure.

And what did she say you might ask?.?.?.... "Well the least you can do is help him fix it!" OMFG Are you kidding me! Dad told me he would handle it and it might be best if I went back to work. :laughing: