What's The Worst Car You've Ever Had To Drive?

[Thaiboxer]

Hi Folks...I'd like to know what's the worse car you've ever had to drive?

My worst car: 1987 Honda Prelude 2.0ltr. Bought this junker in January of 1998. It seemed to be a good deal and my dad, who's pretty good with car stuff, checked it out for me and test drove it. After one month, the freon leaked out of the AC. No biggie I thought, had two cars before with no AC. Then it began leaking oil. Took it to the shop, came back leaking more oil...this time it left a puddle in my dad's garage! Took it back and the guys corrected the problem which was a busted gasket. The tape player was the next thing to go, leaving only the radio to listen to. The speedometer/odometer never worked and had stopped at 97,000+ miles. Fast forward to December 1998. Driving home on the highway at night and the harmonic balancer came off; the "key" had snapped. It broke off while doing about 65+mph breaking totaling the bottom half of the engine and cutting off the water pump. I drove the over heating junker the last mile to the nearest gas station and called my dad. A month later, it was out of the shop with a rebuilt lower engine and functioning water pump. Then the thing started burning oil...most likely a worn/cracked piston ring. This was after the shop re-ringed the pistons. The car burned so much oil I had to add some extra oil from time to time. The right rear brake caliper went which we could replace at the house saving money on labor. In 2001, I sold this lemon for $500 to my neighbor who had a used car lot. A year later he still hadn't been able to resell it. Total price including purchase and all those repairs was probably around $4,500 to $5,000. I should have hung on to my former Honda!

I'd love to hear about your junkers!

[highchol]

Hi Folks...I'd like to know what's the worse car you've ever had to drive?

My worst car: 1987 Honda Prelude 2.0ltr. Bought this junker in January of 1998. It seemed to be a good deal and my dad, who's pretty good with car stuff, checked it out for me and test drove it. After one month, the freon leaked out of the AC. No biggie I thought, had two cars before with no AC. Then it began leaking oil. Took it to the shop, came back leaking more oil...this time it left a puddle in my dad's garage! Took it back and the guys corrected the problem which was a busted gasket. The tape player was the next thing to go, leaving only the radio to listen to. The speedometer/odometer never worked and had stopped at 97,000+ miles. Fast forward to December 1998. Driving home on the highway at night and the harmonic balancer came off; the "key" had snapped. It broke off while doing about 65+mph breaking totaling the bottom half of the engine and cutting off the water pump. I drove the over heating junker the last mile to the nearest gas station and called my dad. A month later, it was out of the shop with a rebuilt lower engine and functioning water pump. Then the thing started burning oil...most likely a worn/cracked piston ring. This was after the shop re-ringed the pistons. The car burned so much oil I had to add some extra oil from time to time. The right rear brake caliper went which we could replace at the house saving money on labor. In 2001, I sold this lemon for $500 to my neighbor who had a used car lot. A year later he still hadn't been able to resell it. Total price including purchase and all those repairs was probably around $4,500 to $5,000. I should have hung on to my former Honda!

I'd love to hear about your junkers!

Austin Allegro

Surely as bad as anything ever built

http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?ado67indexf.htm

[chanchao]

Didn't we just do this one recently?

For me I think the worst ever was driving a Nissan pickup WITH NO BRAKES from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai. Gasoline engine too so less braking to be had from the engine too.. By the time I got to Chiang Mai I had absolutely no brakes left.

[Thaiboxer]

My apologies if this thread has already been done....didn't see it or any related threads.

highchol...that Allegro looks like a real lemon! Land Rovers are supposed to be pretty bad as well.

I remember the Yugos we had back in the 80's. You could buy a brand new one for about $3,000. The old saying, "You get what you pay for" definitely applied to those things!

[Pattayaman]

In England Morris Marina,in Thailand Mira and Suzuki carribian

[Nignoy]

In England Morris Marina,in Thailand Mira and Suzuki carribian

You guys (andLadies) havent tried driving till you drive a Trabant or Trabbie as it lovingly called by the east germans, I was given one as a company car in the early 80,s while working at the zoo in Dresden, a 2 stroke plastic nightmare,the seats were made ofwoven ,waxed strings , like the old kitchen chairs,the windscreen wipers were hand operated ,there were large drain holes in the floor so the rainwater could drainaway ,the heating in the deluxe version was a flexible pipe from the exhaust which heat the seat frames, often resulting in a rather hot bum , the toolkit was a roll of plaster and a screw driver and a small metal hammer ,to hit the frequent sticking starter motor with !! there was even a sign stamped on the starter motor telling you where to hit it.I understand that in Berlin today they are a tourist attraction people actually pay to hire them!! Nignoy

[think_too_mut]

Hi Folks...I'd like to know what's the worse car you've ever had to drive?

My worst car: 1987 Honda Prelude 2.0ltr. Bought this junker in January of 1998.

.....

The speedometer/odometer never worked and had stopped at 97,000+ miles.

You bought scrap metal that had traveled who knows how many miles with unknown service history.

What would have happened if you bought it brand new?

Brand new cars:

Cherokee (the squary one). That was probably the worst car money can buy. Lucky I did not, just had it for a few months.

Toyota or Nissan would have been laughed out of town if they released a vehicle like that.

Chevy Blazer (had it on rental and requested replacement - Suzuki Vitara). That one was shocking, especially when stepped into it from LandCruiser.

[redrus]

Nissan bloody Micra, of any age or description....!

Used to run a hire car company, the Micra was without doubt the worst, seconded only by the first editions of the new shape Renault Megane, all electric that on some used to cut out at any given moment. Cut out on one of my customers (thankfully only doing 50) on a Motorway....!

Now, being electric, that meant his steering cut out too. He pulled to the left, the wheel locked....!

It ended safely, though Renault were brought seriously to task over it.

redrus

[cdnvic]

Had to drive one of these 73 Newports 400mi when helping a friend move. The only thing that distinguished it from a battleship was the battleship's nimble handling and low fuel usage.

[Thaiboxer]

Nignoy...that German thing you drove sounds like it was homemade!

cdnvic...Those old steel boats burn a lot of fuel but they can sure take a beating.

[Nignoy]

Nignoy...that German thing you drove sounds like it was homemade!

cdnvic...Those old steel boats burn a lot of fuel but they can sure take a beating.

The Trabant was mass produced, there were 10,s of 1000,s of them on the road , , they lost popularity, when Lada and Skoda were introduced Nignoy

[Nignoy]

Nignoy...that German thing you drove sounds like it was homemade!

cdnvic...Those old steel boats burn a lot of fuel but they can sure take a beating.

The Trabant was mass produced, there were 10,s of 1000,s of them on the road , , they lost popularity, when Lada and Skoda were introduced Nignoy

This was my company car, the 601 deluxe station wagon with a 600 cc engine, Nignoy

[nikster]

Depends on how you define "worst". Do you mean breaking down every month, swallowing insane amounts of fuel, steel showing on tires before one actually blew up, and then finally dying on the highway while accelerating with a broken timing belt?

I still loved the car though.

A 1972 cadillac deville, 7m of steel, automatic transmission and electric windows! Bought it in 1997, when it was 25 years old, it had a completely unknown history. It was cheap, $750, and looked kinda cool. Who could resist?

This being my first car, I did not do any mechanical checkups on this car, or negotiate for the price. It was fun! Yes - it's 7 meters long.

Edited April 1, 2007 by nikster

[Priceless]

The Trabi didn't do too well in icy conditions, either...