Four Wheel Moneypits

[Thaiboxer]

Hi Folks...thought I'd run this and see what others' experiences are with bad cars. Here's mine:

Bought a thirdhand 1987 Honda Prelude 2.0 in 1998 for $2,350. The paint job was terrible and the thing looked like an overcooked tomato, but seemed alright otherwise. About a month after I bought it, the freon leaked out of the air compressor. No big deal, my previous two cars didn't have AC at all. Then it leaked oil. Got that fixed and before long the tape player broke. The radio played alright and within a few months, that went too. The right rear brake caliper siezed and had to be replaced with a rebuilt unit. Now for the biggie...driving down the highway one day at 70mph or so, had to brake and the car pulled a bit to the right, then spun out It was a slow spin and there was nobody behind me, so no accident there. Later that evening, the key causing the harmonic balancer to come off the crankshaft. This broke part of the crankshaft and without the balancer the water pump quit turning along with the power steering pump. The engine temp guage shot up into the red zone and the car steered like a semi truck. Got the thing to a gas station close by and parked it. Had it towed to a garage where it spent a month having the engine rebuilt. Not long after getting the car back, the engine began burning oil...it consumed about a quart every two weeks. I actually kept that thing for over three years till my father gave us his old Dodge Caravan. I sold the Prelude for $500 to a neighbor who had a used car lot. One year later before moving to Thailand, he still hadn't resold it (wonder why) In the end, I must have put about $5,000 into that rolling junkyard.

The car I have now is even older/uglier but it actually has AC and the engine consumes no oil despite having more than 200,000km's on the clock. It's a Toyota and seems to run fine.

Let's hear about your vehicular nightmares!

[Flatouthruthefog]

Hi Folks...thought I'd run this and see what others' experiences are with bad cars. Here's mine:

Bought a thirdhand 1987 Honda Prelude 2.0 in 1998 for $2,350. The paint job was terrible and the thing looked like an overcooked tomato, but seemed alright otherwise. About a month after I bought it, the freon leaked out of the air compressor. No big deal, my previous two cars didn't have AC at all. Then it leaked oil. Got that fixed and before long the tape player broke. The radio played alright and within a few months, that went too. The right rear brake caliper siezed and had to be replaced with a rebuilt unit. Now for the biggie...driving down the highway one day at 70mph or so, had to brake and the car pulled a bit to the right, then spun out It was a slow spin and there was nobody behind me, so no accident there. Later that evening, the key causing the harmonic balancer to come off the crankshaft. This broke part of the crankshaft and without the balancer the water pump quit turning along with the power steering pump. The engine temp guage shot up into the red zone and the car steered like a semi truck. Got the thing to a gas station close by and parked it. Had it towed to a garage where it spent a month having the engine rebuilt. Not long after getting the car back, the engine began burning oil...it consumed about a quart every two weeks. I actually kept that thing for over three years till my father gave us his old Dodge Caravan. I sold the Prelude for $500 to a neighbor who had a used car lot. One year later before moving to Thailand, he still hadn't resold it (wonder why) In the end, I must have put about $5,000 into that rolling junkyard.

The car I have now is even older/uglier but it actually has AC and the engine consumes no oil despite having more than 200,000km's on the clock. It's a Toyota and seems to run fine.

Let's hear about your vehicular nightmares!

Weeeeelllll - you DID ask!!

I normally keep this quiet, but without a doubt the very WORST car I ever owned in 48 years of car ownership (sofa) was that "paragon of reliability", the Volkswagen Beetle!

Imagine an optimistic young idiot, cast into London with zero savings, in the early 70's, in winter and with a desperate need for a reliable commutor machine. His only advantage - even in the maelstrom of London traffic - he LOVED left hand drive and many LHD cars were for sale cheaply in UK back then.

Everything that could let me down on this LHD Beetle did so. But miraculously I wasn't too late TOO often in my important new job.

Most weekends were spent fixing the dam_n thing. Mostly I needed a garage. A fellow VW sufferer there was a very nice Swede who chanted "Volvo" like a mantra (shame neither of us had bought one!). He said that the Swedish 'Bilprovning' system (like the British Govt mandatory annual MoT safety checks - except the Swedes published their figures!) had just reported the VW Beetle as the most unreliable car on Swedish roads!! I had swallowed the MYTHS and was so shocked i verified this via Swedish Govt press releases, and it was true!

One engine blew up at slow speed because a mechanic had fitted the wrong dipstick, showing a correct engine oil level when in fact the dam_n thing was starving.

The last straw (there's always one, yes?) was the next winter, which began especially savagely. I defrosted the lock, opened the drivers door, and as I got in I slipped on the ice that had formed on the floor because of the crack that was not scheduled to be welded up until the next weekend. Hurt myself. Traded it in for a well used but terrific Mk 1 Ford Cortina GT the next weekend. GREAT! Even the heater worked!

I think that REAL VW reliability began only with the Golf. Anything from Wolfsberg prior to that is a MYTH!

[Thaiboxer]

The Beetle seems to be a much sought after collector's car over here, judging by the used car prices. Some of them are going for well over 100,000 Baht, despite being over 40 years old!

As for the Volvos, there are a ton of them on the used car lots/websites. I've always felt that Volvos have a strong body and I haven't heard of any reliability issues with them. Many of the older models on sale have a manual transmission which is what I'd opt for.....I've always preferred manuals since learning to drive one. A family member here said a taxi rear ended him when he was sitting in a Volvo 940 sometime back. The taxi's front end was smashed and the Volvo's rear bumper was just dented/scratched a bit. Perhaps an 80's or 90's era Volvo fitted with a Toyota diesel pickup truck engine with a manual transmission would be the best of both worlds: A strong body and good engine which uses easy to find parts.

[MrSnrang]

If you look hard enough you can find a cheap-enough beetle. My friend got one for 77k in perfect body condition but the first day he drove it to school something in the throttle mechanism fell out and the only to keep the engine running was to have the pedal to the floor constantly.

My teacher has a Volvo coupled with a 2JZ turbo LPG. It runs strong and cheap.

[Thaiboxer]

Those old Volvos are built like WWII tanks. No wonder people just change them to LPG and keep them going. I'd rather keep it with a gasoline or diesel engine though...don't like the idea of a "bomb" in the trunk.