What's the worst new car you have ever had experience with?
08-04-14, 08:50 PM
#1
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
What's the worst new car you have ever had experience with?
Here's a thread that I think will generate some interesting responses. I'm sure that all of us (or virtually all of us) in Car Chat have had to put up with a new car (or a used one, if we never bought new) that we would rather forget. So I'm not necessarily asking you to re-live bad memories...especially if you would rather not discuss them or bring them up. But, of course, bad experience with cars is sometimes inevitable....especially back in the time of my young adulthood, when new cars, even right out of the factor, simply didn't have the quality control, reliability, and engineering they do today. Indeed, there were cars in the 70s and 80s that were so poorly built (and I'm not exaggerating) that they would make the class-action suits for today's defects look trivial in comparison....but we, as a society simply weren't as litigious in those days,and the public didn't strike back as hard when they got burned (though Ford did get hit with a huge jury award on the Pinto's gas-tank location...and, IMO, deserved it, because of the arrogance shown in the Pinto's design).
But, even with bad memories, many of us, I'm sure, learned from the experience. Many of you are a lot younger than I am, and hopefully did not did not have to put up with some of the things I did with new cars 30 and 40 years ago....you came of driving age and young adulthood when cars were more reliable. But, still, I'm sure that many of you have stories of that 4-wheeled money-pit that nickeled and dimed you to death, something you couldn't stand to drive, or something that made you end up doing this..............
I'll start by saying, right off the bat, that the 1984 Pontiac Fiero, hands-down, was the worst new car I ever test-drove, though the 1987 Hyundai Excel (which was in fact a virtually 100% rebadged Mitsubishi Précis) wasn't far behind. As with some 1970-71 model Chrysler products I had remembered earlier, I honestly don't know how the Fiero I test-drove ever got off the assembly line and passed the inspectors. The loosely-fitted, all-plastic body panels squeaked and rattled like a can of marbles. The steering wheel, with the car going in a straight line on a level road, was canted about 30 degrees off-center. The oil-pressure gauge didn't work. The fuel gauge slowly swung back and forth like a pendulum. The speedometer needle ticked and vibrated (speedometers in those days were operated by a spinning cable coming off the transmission, not electronically like today). The clutch bucked and jerked like a bronco, even with careful use. One or more wheels/tires were out of balance or out of round. The paint job looked like something done on a toy car. It was ultra-cramped inside for a person my size (though not as cramped as the Lotus Elise). To put it bluntly, this car was an embarrassment to even the most staunch of GM's defenders at the time. Later on, of course, it was revealed that the 2.5L versions were having engine fires. In my area, Pontiac was so flooded with customer complaints on early Fieros that the factory set up a system (on a rotating schedule) where the customer was asked to bring his or her car into a specific Pontiac dealership on a Friday afternoon (or other convenient time) after work, where factory engineers (not just service-technicians) would be waiting. The customer would be given a free loaner-car for a few days (through the weekend.....maybe a little more). The team of engineers would go to work on a rotating schedule, disassemble the entire body/interior down to the space-frame, fix ANYTHING they found out of whack, no matter how many defects (they could get parts quickly), road-test for any power train/chassis defects, fix those, reassemble everything, and, if all went well, have the car ready for the customer to pick up Monday morning. Unusual attention from the factory? You bet. But Pontiac found that it was actually easier and cheaper to deal with lemons that way, once and for all, than to keep trying to fix the same cars over and over again endlessly at the service-level.
The Hyundai Excel I sampled in 1987 (not long after Hyundal first started selling cars in America) wasn't as poorly-assembled as the earlier Fiero. But its engineering was pitiful, and, especially with the A/C on (it was a hot humid summer day) took as long to get to cruising speed as the State of the Union Address.
No, I never test-drove a Yugo...but it probably would have ranked pretty high on the disagreeable list, too. I did, of course, test-drive a Smart-for-Two (I did a full MM review on a Smart). That car was clearly unsuited for North American driving conditions, but at least it was wasn't full of defects like the Fiero.
Now, as for the worst new car I ever actually owned, that one's a little tougher. Detroit put out a rash of very poorly-made cars in the late 70s through the 80s (the Fiero was just one of them), and, for several reasons, I ended up owing several of those unreliable cars...a couple of FWD Chrysler products, one with a pitiful VW-sourced engine and junk transmission (Plymouth Horizon) ands a couple of K-cars that were slightly better, but not much. I'd say the worst one, though, was my 1980 Chevy Citation...one of the most recalled cars in history (if you think today's GM ignition switch recalls are bad, you should have been around back then)
. I mistakenly....(and I learned from it)....ordered these cars directly from the factory the way I wanted them, instead of test-driving something on the lot first to make sure it didn't have defects in it before delivery (though they all pretty much did). That practice burned me with several of these cars, but especially with the Citation. I had fallen in love with the FWD GM X-Body compacts of the time(Citation/Phoenix/Skylark/Omega), and they seemed like a superb concept (which they were). But concept does not necessarily translate into sound engineering and quality control, and the X-Body compacts lacked both in spades. It wasn't quite as bad as the Fiero, but my Citation was plagued with defect after defect from Day One. The wheels/tires shimmied at higher speeds no matter how many times they were balanced/rotated. The vertically-oriented AM radio was awkward to tune, and the radio antenna's winshield-imbeeded wire gave poor reception, even for the normally crummy AM band. The thermostat often opened too early and prevented full warm-up, even with replacement ones (one of them, I even put in myself, to make sure it was done right). The hatchback body squeaked and rattled. The white paint was so thinly-applied (this was in the days before clear coat paint) that you could actually, if you looked closely, see the black primer swirl-marks underneath the white). The 4-speed overdrive manual transmission had enormously wide ratios between the four gears, making for big changes in engine RPM between shifts, the clutch was awkward and jerky, (the same clutch used in the Fiero) and, for some reason, the transmission lever had to first go into reverse on the way from neutral to first to set up the synchs so it wouldn't crunch. The carburetor, once it came off of full-choke on a cold start, had flat-spots in the acceleration so big it could be dangerous to try and pull into traffic....and the butterfly valve sometimes stuck closed and flooded it, requiring you to get out of the car, take off the air filter's top, and physically hold it open a little so the engine would get enough air to start. Finally, the clutch, even with careful use, self-destructed at 13,000 miles (the warranty in those days was only 12,000)....I heard a loud snap and that was it...it was stuck in first gear. (in hindsight, I clearly should have ordered the automatic transmission). I put up with this class-A piece of junk for two years (it embarrassed me more than once while on dates) and then sold it to a guy in suburban Maryland no far away who had seen the ad and was as eager to buy it as I was to sell it....even after I had truthfully told him about the car and its history (I'm a firm believer in being honest).
Yes, I learned from those cars. In 1984, I gave up on American products entirely and switched to Mazda. In fact, with the exception of the late-90s Saturn S-series cars which I liked, I didn't buy an American-badged vehicle again until the current Buick Verano I'm driving...much of which is Opel-derived.
But, even with bad memories, many of us, I'm sure, learned from the experience. Many of you are a lot younger than I am, and hopefully did not did not have to put up with some of the things I did with new cars 30 and 40 years ago....you came of driving age and young adulthood when cars were more reliable. But, still, I'm sure that many of you have stories of that 4-wheeled money-pit that nickeled and dimed you to death, something you couldn't stand to drive, or something that made you end up doing this..............
I'll start by saying, right off the bat, that the 1984 Pontiac Fiero, hands-down, was the worst new car I ever test-drove, though the 1987 Hyundai Excel (which was in fact a virtually 100% rebadged Mitsubishi Précis) wasn't far behind. As with some 1970-71 model Chrysler products I had remembered earlier, I honestly don't know how the Fiero I test-drove ever got off the assembly line and passed the inspectors. The loosely-fitted, all-plastic body panels squeaked and rattled like a can of marbles. The steering wheel, with the car going in a straight line on a level road, was canted about 30 degrees off-center. The oil-pressure gauge didn't work. The fuel gauge slowly swung back and forth like a pendulum. The speedometer needle ticked and vibrated (speedometers in those days were operated by a spinning cable coming off the transmission, not electronically like today). The clutch bucked and jerked like a bronco, even with careful use. One or more wheels/tires were out of balance or out of round. The paint job looked like something done on a toy car. It was ultra-cramped inside for a person my size (though not as cramped as the Lotus Elise). To put it bluntly, this car was an embarrassment to even the most staunch of GM's defenders at the time. Later on, of course, it was revealed that the 2.5L versions were having engine fires. In my area, Pontiac was so flooded with customer complaints on early Fieros that the factory set up a system (on a rotating schedule) where the customer was asked to bring his or her car into a specific Pontiac dealership on a Friday afternoon (or other convenient time) after work, where factory engineers (not just service-technicians) would be waiting. The customer would be given a free loaner-car for a few days (through the weekend.....maybe a little more). The team of engineers would go to work on a rotating schedule, disassemble the entire body/interior down to the space-frame, fix ANYTHING they found out of whack, no matter how many defects (they could get parts quickly), road-test for any power train/chassis defects, fix those, reassemble everything, and, if all went well, have the car ready for the customer to pick up Monday morning. Unusual attention from the factory? You bet. But Pontiac found that it was actually easier and cheaper to deal with lemons that way, once and for all, than to keep trying to fix the same cars over and over again endlessly at the service-level.
The Hyundai Excel I sampled in 1987 (not long after Hyundal first started selling cars in America) wasn't as poorly-assembled as the earlier Fiero. But its engineering was pitiful, and, especially with the A/C on (it was a hot humid summer day) took as long to get to cruising speed as the State of the Union Address.
No, I never test-drove a Yugo...but it probably would have ranked pretty high on the disagreeable list, too. I did, of course, test-drive a Smart-for-Two (I did a full MM review on a Smart). That car was clearly unsuited for North American driving conditions, but at least it was wasn't full of defects like the Fiero.
Now, as for the worst new car I ever actually owned, that one's a little tougher. Detroit put out a rash of very poorly-made cars in the late 70s through the 80s (the Fiero was just one of them), and, for several reasons, I ended up owing several of those unreliable cars...a couple of FWD Chrysler products, one with a pitiful VW-sourced engine and junk transmission (Plymouth Horizon) ands a couple of K-cars that were slightly better, but not much. I'd say the worst one, though, was my 1980 Chevy Citation...one of the most recalled cars in history (if you think today's GM ignition switch recalls are bad, you should have been around back then)
. I mistakenly....(and I learned from it)....ordered these cars directly from the factory the way I wanted them, instead of test-driving something on the lot first to make sure it didn't have defects in it before delivery (though they all pretty much did). That practice burned me with several of these cars, but especially with the Citation. I had fallen in love with the FWD GM X-Body compacts of the time(Citation/Phoenix/Skylark/Omega), and they seemed like a superb concept (which they were). But concept does not necessarily translate into sound engineering and quality control, and the X-Body compacts lacked both in spades. It wasn't quite as bad as the Fiero, but my Citation was plagued with defect after defect from Day One. The wheels/tires shimmied at higher speeds no matter how many times they were balanced/rotated. The vertically-oriented AM radio was awkward to tune, and the radio antenna's winshield-imbeeded wire gave poor reception, even for the normally crummy AM band. The thermostat often opened too early and prevented full warm-up, even with replacement ones (one of them, I even put in myself, to make sure it was done right). The hatchback body squeaked and rattled. The white paint was so thinly-applied (this was in the days before clear coat paint) that you could actually, if you looked closely, see the black primer swirl-marks underneath the white). The 4-speed overdrive manual transmission had enormously wide ratios between the four gears, making for big changes in engine RPM between shifts, the clutch was awkward and jerky, (the same clutch used in the Fiero) and, for some reason, the transmission lever had to first go into reverse on the way from neutral to first to set up the synchs so it wouldn't crunch. The carburetor, once it came off of full-choke on a cold start, had flat-spots in the acceleration so big it could be dangerous to try and pull into traffic....and the butterfly valve sometimes stuck closed and flooded it, requiring you to get out of the car, take off the air filter's top, and physically hold it open a little so the engine would get enough air to start. Finally, the clutch, even with careful use, self-destructed at 13,000 miles (the warranty in those days was only 12,000)....I heard a loud snap and that was it...it was stuck in first gear. (in hindsight, I clearly should have ordered the automatic transmission). I put up with this class-A piece of junk for two years (it embarrassed me more than once while on dates) and then sold it to a guy in suburban Maryland no far away who had seen the ad and was as eager to buy it as I was to sell it....even after I had truthfully told him about the car and its history (I'm a firm believer in being honest).Yes, I learned from those cars. In 1984, I gave up on American products entirely and switched to Mazda. In fact, with the exception of the late-90s Saturn S-series cars which I liked, I didn't buy an American-badged vehicle again until the current Buick Verano I'm driving...much of which is Opel-derived.
Last edited by mmarshall; 08-04-14 at 08:59 PM.
08-04-14, 09:00 PM
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Recent memory, a 2014 Chevy Equinox. Such an uncomfortable rental I switched it for a Venza. One of the worst new cars I remember from the past is the 2005 or so infkniti qx56. So awful for 50 grand I didn't even bother with a review. Utterly perplexed people bought it, awful brakes, cheap interior, cheap paint, creaks, rattles, just awful. Engine was solid though.
08-04-14, 09:08 PM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Recent memory, a 2014 Chevy Equinox. Such an uncomfortable rental I switched it for a Venza. One of the worst new cars I remember from the past is the 2005 or so infkniti qx56. So awful for 50 grand I didn't even bother with a review. Utterly perplexed people bought it, awful brakes, cheap interior, cheap paint, creaks, rattles, just awful. Engine was solid though.
Such an uncomfortable rental I switched it for a Venza
You're also a couple of inches taller than me, so headroom and rear-legroom may also be more of a factor.
Last edited by mmarshall; 08-04-14 at 09:18 PM.
08-04-14, 09:29 PM
#4
My wife's 1988 Saab 900S. I bought it brand new for her as I surprise because I knew she really liked it. I took her to the dealer under the pretense of just taking a look at the car, and then handed her the keys. She was thrilled and just loved me for it. Well just about everything you can think of broke on that car, including the transmission three times. The car was so unreliable that twice it broke down on the way home after being repaired. 
At one point AAA kicked her out because she had 6 claims in one year. I raised holy hell with them because no where in their literature was there any mention of a limit. They reinstated her membership. (Meanwhile after we got rid of that car, in almost 20 years of Infiniti and Jaguar ownership she had 2 claims. So they've made their profit.)
I always tell people the two happiest days of my life were the day I bought it and the day I sold it!
At one point AAA kicked her out because she had 6 claims in one year. I raised holy hell with them because no where in their literature was there any mention of a limit. They reinstated her membership. (Meanwhile after we got rid of that car, in almost 20 years of Infiniti and Jaguar ownership she had 2 claims. So they've made their profit.)
I always tell people the two happiest days of my life were the day I bought it and the day I sold it!
08-04-14, 09:42 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
My wife's 1988 Saab 900S. I bought it brand new for her as I surprise because I knew she really liked it. I took her to the dealer under the pretense of just taking a look at the car, and then handed her the keys. She was thrilled and just loved me for it. Well just about everything you can think of broke on that car, including the transmission three times. The car was so unreliable that twice it broke down on the way home after being repaired.
At one point AAA kicked her out because she had 6 claims in one year. I raised holy hell with them because no where in their literature was there any mention of a limit. They reinstated her membership. (Meanwhile after we got rid of that car, in almost 20 years of Infiniti and Jaguar ownership she had 2 claims. So they've made their profit.)
I always tell people the two happiest days of my life were the day I bought it and the day I sold it!
At one point AAA kicked her out because she had 6 claims in one year. I raised holy hell with them because no where in their literature was there any mention of a limit. They reinstated her membership. (Meanwhile after we got rid of that car, in almost 20 years of Infiniti and Jaguar ownership she had 2 claims. So they've made their profit.)
I always tell people the two happiest days of my life were the day I bought it and the day I sold it!
Interesting that your wife had a Jaguar for years and made only a few claims. (I agree that what AAA did to her was highly questionable). Jaguar actually did improve in reliability somewhat in the 1990s under Ford ownership, but then Ford let it slide again before selling the division (and Land Rover) off to Tata Motors.
08-04-14, 09:59 PM
#6
In 2000 Jag came out with the S Type, and she just loved it. We planned to buy one in the spring of 2001. I joined a Jag forum and started getting worried because new owners were reporting problems. I tried to talk my wife out of it, but she would have none of it. However many of the problems were with the V8 version, and after this first year model they made many improvements.
Well we bought a 2001 V6 model and really the car has been fabulous. It's over 13 years old now with almost 150,000 miles. It drives great and looks great. I can tell you this, it is no Saab 900S!
Well we bought a 2001 V6 model and really the car has been fabulous. It's over 13 years old now with almost 150,000 miles. It drives great and looks great. I can tell you this, it is no Saab 900S!
Last edited by Nospinzone; 08-05-14 at 08:39 AM. Reason: Not 140,000 but 150,000!
08-05-14, 04:52 AM
#7
Super Moderator
You're probably already aware of this, but the QX-56 is one of several vehicles built in that Canton, MS plant that had the quality-control problems for several years. By modern standards (not the far worse 70s/80s cars I mentioned above) the QX56, Titan, and Armada, all of which come from that plant, were well below average in reliability.
As for my entries, I have two:
1) My 1996 Ford Ranger Splash. I bought this new-old-stock truck from the dealer in late 1996 for roughly 25% off sticker. Relatively loaded, great drivetrain (the bulletproof and powerful for the class 4.0L V6), a really fun first vehicle. Relatively early, I noticed that it appeared the front rotors were dragging--fuel economy was lower than it should have been, and the front wheels became too hot to touch after 5-10 minutes of highway driving. I brought it in to the dealer, which incidentally was right off the expressway, and used ONLY the parking brake when pulling off an into the dealer, to demonstrate that the heat was generated whether the brakes were used or not. They couldn't find anything.
Several months later, right before a long road trip, it suddenly developed an off-center steering wheel. The truck would drive perfectly straight if the wheel was turned 90 degrees to the left. Luckily, a (different) dealer was able to take it in at 7am, and had it fixed by 9:30 or so. It tracked so straight that I could actually make it several miles at a time without touching the steering wheel while driving through central Illinois--pretty amazing for a recirculating-ball rack.
But the one that tombstoned it was unintended acceleration. I discounted this at first, because it happened the first time when I floored the accelerator to beat a yellow. It kept accelerating after I got through the intersection and let off. Kept on even when I put my toe UNDER the accelerator and yanked it up. But the first time, I lubed the hell out of the throttle cable with some nice graphite, and called it a fluke. Then I saw a story (I think on 20/20) about Crown Victorias from 1990-1995 or so, where the cruise control would suddenly activate--even if not turned on--and lock the throttle wide open, so I started to wonder. I took it in, and basically got the response "It's a 1996, not affected, go away little boy". The second time it happened, I was braking to turn into a restaurant parking lot to meet my parents for dinner. I got down to maybe 10mph when it peeled out and tried to take off. Flooring the brake stopped it, but when I let up on the brake even a little, it immediately surged forward. So I killed the engine and pushed it into a parking spot. I borrowed $4k from my parents for a down payment and went and ordered a new Dakota the next day.
But it wasn't QUITE done. In the 3-4 weeks it took the new truck to arrive, the front brakes decided they'd had enough and started grinding. At 17k miles. Of course, I had predicted this at the 300 mile mark. No matter, I simply used the parking brake with my left foot (remember I've got experience with this already), while gently touching the main brake to indicate to the people behind me every time I needed to slow/stop. Luckily Carmax didn't take even one cent off their original estimate, despite the shot front brakes and the fact that I'd removed the high-end stereo between the estimate and the time I turned it in.
2) The other one, which my wife bought new about a year before I met her, was a 2000 Chrysler Sebring Convertible. Though she may have had a reprieve for that first year (I didn't go back and check), for all 6 years we had it after we met, it never ever cost less than $1600 every six months in maintenance and repairs. This despite being under both the factory warranty and the highest level of extended warranty (think it was called the Platinum plan) for nearly the entire time. Just an absolute POS (blown head gaskets, three PCM failures and over a dozen battery failures, and needed a trans fluid flush every 15-20k miles) that was so hard to work on I eventually gave up. Replacing the battery required removing the driver's side wheel and inner fender. Replacing the sparkplugs required removing the intake manifold--and therefore, replacing all the gaskets. Replacing the fuel filter required stripping out the entire rear seat AND dropping the tank.
But the most infuriating one--the last straw for me--was the alternator. This is conveniently located at the top front of the engine compartment, roughly 1" below the upper surface of the valve covers. However, thanks to the location and shape of its bracket, it had to be removed from the BOTTOM. This entailed completely removing the air conditioner, radiator fan (I think), and loosening or removing at least 3 bolts that are absolutely impossible to see from ANY angle. Then of course, after I spent 7 hours on this debacle and got everything back together, the bearing on the tensioner pulley suddenly failed. Not anxious to repeat the torture I'd just gone through, I wound up paying the dealer several hundred dollars to replace it. So much for saving money by doing my own maintenance.
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08-05-14, 06:40 AM
#8
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Thanks, geko. That was a great response. 
I've known some Ranger owners that really loved their trucks, but you obviously got stuck with a lemon. The Ranger, of course, also was rebadged for the American-market Mazda B-series trucks, staring in the early 90s.
Just one comment....if the front brake pads were actually dragging like that and heating things up, It's surprising they even lasted 17K mies. There must have been some very durable material in the pads.
I've known some Ranger owners that really loved their trucks, but you obviously got stuck with a lemon. The Ranger, of course, also was rebadged for the American-market Mazda B-series trucks, staring in the early 90s. Just one comment....if the front brake pads were actually dragging like that and heating things up, It's surprising they even lasted 17K mies. There must have been some very durable material in the pads.
08-05-14, 08:54 AM
#9
08-05-14, 11:18 AM
#10
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Mitsubushi actually built engines for American-market Hyundais for the first few years. If my memory is correct, it wasn't until the 1990s that Hyundai started selling their own products here with their own engines.
08-05-14, 01:53 PM
#11
Lead Lap
2006 Jaguar XK. Absolute lemon- had to get bought back. That same year, I had the pleasure of dealing with a particularly uncooperative 2005 Cadillac Escalade.
Ha, my mom had a 2001 S-type V6 up until 2008 and the only problem we had with it in 132,000mi was the AC condenser ($$), leaky valve cover gaskets, and the coil packs. I loved that car for some reason- it looked really good in black/black with the light colored olive wood trim. I do think the transmission was shifting oddly towards the end though.
In 2000 Jag came out with the S Type, and she just loved it. We planned to buy one in the spring of 2001. I joined a Jag forum and started getting worried because new owners were reporting problems. I tried to talk my wife out of it, but she would have none of it. However many of the problems were with the V8 version, and after this first year model they made many improvements.
Well we bought a 2001 V6 model and really the car has been fabulous. It's over 13 years old now with almost 150,000 miles. It drives great and looks great. I can tell you this, it is no Saab 900S!
Well we bought a 2001 V6 model and really the car has been fabulous. It's over 13 years old now with almost 150,000 miles. It drives great and looks great. I can tell you this, it is no Saab 900S!
08-05-14, 01:54 PM
#12
Absolute worst was a 88 Pontiac Grand Am. Parents bought it... Transmission self destructed in year 1 along with a host of issues like . At year 2, my mom was driving on a local street when the steering linkage broke. Front wheel completely sheared off. That along with water leaks by the windows, they got rid of it after 3 years.
Second worst was a 99 Plymouth voyager. 4 transmissions in 5 years. Both complete POS.
Second worst was a 99 Plymouth voyager. 4 transmissions in 5 years. Both complete POS.
08-05-14, 02:24 PM
#13
Lexus Champion
I've been pretty fortunate, with my oldest car being a model year '77 and my most current a '14. However, sadly, the car I had that visited the dealership the most was my '06 Scion tC. Shame, because it was a fun car.
I owned it for 2 years and 30k miles. In that time, I had it in for warranty work 16 times. I had a headlight replaced for condensation, stereo head unit replaced, thermostat replaced, TRD supercharger bearings went out, and repeated visits for multiple rattles and squeaks.
Not that you asked, but my best vehicle so far was my '07 Toyota 4Runner V8. 60k miles and not so much as a light bulb went out.
I owned it for 2 years and 30k miles. In that time, I had it in for warranty work 16 times. I had a headlight replaced for condensation, stereo head unit replaced, thermostat replaced, TRD supercharger bearings went out, and repeated visits for multiple rattles and squeaks.
Not that you asked, but my best vehicle so far was my '07 Toyota 4Runner V8. 60k miles and not so much as a light bulb went out.
08-05-14, 04:21 PM
#14
I don't think there are any really bad modern cars that you can buy anymore. Even the latests Ladas are very much up to par.
I owned a 2005 BMW 745 for a relatively short time (got it used from my parents I think in 09) and that car was nothing but a disaster. With its confusing first generation system i-drive it could drive you nuts even when it was fully operational - but it rarely was. Everything in that car broke, and extended warranty didn't seem to cover anything (and whatever it did cover, repairs were never done properly and I had to keep coming back). I finally got rid of it when it was rear ended - a body shop owner got it off my hands.
I owned a 2005 BMW 745 for a relatively short time (got it used from my parents I think in 09) and that car was nothing but a disaster. With its confusing first generation system i-drive it could drive you nuts even when it was fully operational - but it rarely was. Everything in that car broke, and extended warranty didn't seem to cover anything (and whatever it did cover, repairs were never done properly and I had to keep coming back). I finally got rid of it when it was rear ended - a body shop owner got it off my hands.
08-05-14, 04:33 PM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Absolute worst was a 88 Pontiac Grand Am. Parents bought it... Transmission self destructed in year 1 along with a host of issues like . At year 2, my mom was driving on a local street when the steering linkage broke. Front wheel completely sheared off. That along with water leaks by the windows, they got rid of it after 3 years.
Second worst was a 99 Plymouth voyager. 4 transmissions in 5 years. Both complete POS.