I remember hearing a story in the '70s about the car companies reaction to a new law passed by Congress pertaining to automobiles (I think it had to do with allowable emissions). Toyota and Honda hired a 100 new Engineers. Ford, GM and Chrysler hired a 100 new attorneys. I also heard the American car companies used a term called 'built-in obsolescence.' My last four vehicles have all been Toyotas.
I haven't purchased any bad cars, so the worst wasn't bad, but I'd say my 2010 Prius that I bought with 150,000 miles on it was the worst of the ones I've had.
I calculated the total cost of ownership for that Prius (including everything - maintenance, repairs DIY as well as shop, gas, insurance, depreciation, etc.) for that Prius over the 3 years that I had it was only 17 cents per mile, which is pretty great. I did dodge a bullet with it though, because high mileage third generation Priuses can have head gasket issues, and a $2500 hybrid battery pack was an expense that I knew was coming within about 5 years when it was totaled in a caribou collision. Insurance payout was about what I paid for the car.
The better cars that I own or have owned are Subarus: '94 Loyale wagon, '96 Legacy wagon (current beater that I've owned since 2000), and '03 Legacy L Special Edition wagon (my "new" car, kept in almost time capsule-like condition with some patina, perfectly maintained, rust-free, and plan to keep it forever).
I just remembered something else. I drove a cab for a few years in Daly City, California, just south of San Francisco. Our main cab stand was at the BART station (Bay Area Rapid Transit) A commuter train. Seven miles south was an auto plaza (Chevy, Ford, Oldsmobile, etc.). Every day around 5 I would pick up fares going to a car dealership to pick up their car from the repair shop. I heard dozens of fares swearing they'd never buy another American car. Toyota's are great.
2012 Maserati. Still have it and worth not much now.
i hate my testarossa
air-cooled lemon wrote:
Pdx 1967 wrote:
The worst car that I had was a 1972 Chevrolet Vega!! It looked good on the showroom floor,Light Blue with a Back racing stripe.......After the first year I had four heads and two engines .(aluminum Engine)...POS........My GF at the time wanted to learn how to drive a stick.....She ran over a divider in a empty parking lot.....I was able to drive it home and It was kind of fixed. Traded it in two weeks later......I had a Toyota FourRunner five years and it was great, Had to trade it in because the gas mileage was 18 MPG. Got a Honda CR-V and It to is a good car.
My gf had a Vega. What a piece of crap. U.S. auto companies really started making crappy cars in the 1970s. The Vega, the Pinto, the Gremlin... No wonder Toyota and Honda gained a strong foothold in the market in that period.
My parents bought a Vega in the mid-70s that was a trouble-prone piece of crap that started having problems literally as soon as my father drove it off the dealer lot. After several trips to the service department not only failed to correct the original problems but generated new ones as well, my Dad demanded the dealer buy the car back under the then-new Lemon Law.
A 2014 Subaru Forester.
A had a fully-functional, powerful Jeep Wrangler, but when we were expecting our first, my wife's friend got into her ear that we'd surely die if a child rode in it. So off to the Subaru dealership we went and home we came with a '14 Bronze Forester. And a 60-month, $22k note.
I added a quart of oil after driving to her parents. Then another after we got back. Then another after she commuted two weeks. Then more when I started using it to commute. I thought this was odd, but could get a discount on a case from work. It was zippy when no one was in the car, but once we had four adults, it was like riding a beach cruiser up a hill. You'd have to shut off the AC on the on ramp. Cam shaft blew on the expressway one night. Plastic started snapping off in the cold. Frame began to rust. My wife hated it because everyone thought she was a lesbian in it. Sold it before we paid it off.
El cheapo wrote:
El cheapo wrote:
2011 Chrysler Town and Country. It started falling apart after around 70, 000 miles in spite of the meticulous care I took to keep it in good shape.
Correction: it was a 2007 T&C.
Our '12 has been remarkably reliable. I'm as surprised as anyone. 155k and counting.
Worst...03Explorer. Loved it but it was trouble prone. A few big things under warranty. AC broke after warranty, repeatedly. Engine destroyed itself at 130k.
Worst car EVER was a TOYOTA. I got around 18 miles/ quart of oil. At least I kept the insect population down around town.
Worst new car purchase was a Neon. I made up for it by getting a mustang convertible.
Late 80s Chevy Astro van. Just died/fell apart little by little.
Ford Windstar minivan
air-cooled lemon wrote:
Pdx 1967 wrote:
The worst car that I had was a 1972 Chevrolet Vega!! It looked good on the showroom floor,Light Blue with a Back racing stripe.......After the first year I had four heads and two engines .(aluminum Engine)...POS........My GF at the time wanted to learn how to drive a stick.....She ran over a divider in a empty parking lot.....I was able to drive it home and It was kind of fixed. Traded it in two weeks later......I had a Toyota FourRunner five years and it was great, Had to trade it in because the gas mileage was 18 MPG. Got a Honda CR-V and It to is a good car.
My gf had a Vega. What a piece of crap. U.S. auto companies really started making crappy cars in the 1970s. The Vega, the Pinto, the Gremlin... No wonder Toyota and Honda gained a strong foothold in the market in that period.
We had two 74 Vegas in my family when I was a teenager. Don't know why my Dad bought two of those things. We had to put steel sleeves in the cylinders on both engines (aluminum block wore out FAST). My dad still lives in the house I grew up in ... there are still Vega parts in the shed in the back yard though both cars are long gone.
98 jetta. Total pos.
Ron Tabb wrote:
A 2014 Subaru Forester.
.
I purchased a Subaru Outback when I found out I was having a kid. Absolute pile of trash. Oil leaking like crazy and every part that fails costs at least twice as much because it's a Subaru. One of the little things that drives me nuts is the balance of the wheels. If one tire is 5 psi less than the other, the car rocks hard, making you think the wheel is falling off. I have to get the tires balanced several times a year.
Get a Honda
I have been lucky that my family took one for the team in buying crappy US made vehicles. I have owned Hondas and Toyotas since 1995 and just got a Subaru Outback a year ago. The Hondas I kept well into 200k+ miles. There were a fair number of wear and tear maintenance items (hate having to pay for water pump and timing belt every 100k mi). But the overall cost was way cheaper than buying a replacement and being on the hook for monthly payments.
Easy -
Jeep Wrangler - THE WORST
Not me but my parents when I was a kid. Think it was a 1982(?) Mazda 626. First Japanese car they bought, and it had issues that they didn't expect when buying a reliable Japanese made car.
El cheapo wrote:
El cheapo wrote:
2011 Chrysler Town and Country. It started falling apart after around 70, 000 miles in spite of the meticulous care I took to keep it in good shape.
Correction: it was a 2007 T&C.
To be fair, you did that to yourself if you bought a 2007 town and country. That was 17 years into that line being complete junk. Not a single year was a good car. You had plenty of history to look back on and see they were money pits if you had done your research. We aren't talking "the stereo went out" level of issues, we are talking new transmission at 75k miles, new head gasket at 80k, cracked block at 90k type of issues.
holterskolter2 wrote:
El cheapo wrote:
Correction: it was a 2007 T&C.
To be fair, you did that to yourself if you bought a 2007 town and country. That was 17 years into that line being complete junk. Not a single year was a good car. You had plenty of history to look back on and see they were money pits if you had done your research. We aren't talking "the stereo went out" level of issues, we are talking new transmission at 75k miles, new head gasket at 80k, cracked block at 90k type of issues.
True enough. I didn’t do my homework on that one and paid the price. Once burned, lesson learned.
You need to play this Adam Sandler classic while driving that Yugo!!! Haha!
Is there a rule against attaching a helium balloon to yourself while running a road race?
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
How rare is it to run a sub 5 minute mile AND bench press 225?
Move over Mark Coogan, Rojo and John Kellogg share their 3 favorite mile workouts
Mark Coogan says that if you could only do 3 workouts as a 1500m runner you should do these
Red Bull (who sponsors Mondo) calls Mondo the pole vaulting Usain Bolt. Is that a fair comparison?