Worst Vehicle Ever

[Built6spdMCSS]

2006 Scion XB...bought with 247K for $500. Fleet car. Currently 291K with 1 alternator, 1 water pump, and 1 front hub/bearing. Everything works and gets 32-35 MPG.

Absolutely soul-less, but cheap

Currently it has decided that the Cat is inefficient, started about a week ago. Pondering course of action. It for sure won't be getting the $1200 OE replacement

Gut it and put in the O2 Simulator for the post-Cat sensor. It's just a resistor so could even just pop one of them in.

I'll stand behind the Civic I have, bought it used at 98k miles from the previous owner in Jan 2019. Gets a solid 37+mpg. I have over 150k on it at the moment, change oil and rotate tires every 6k. That 2006-2012 generation has the R18A1 Engine in it which has a Timing Chain, not the Timing Belt most other Honda stuff is known for. Good for 350k miles, literally drive and maintain properly. The only thing I've done is an AC Compressor because the bearing on the pulley went out and it can't be replaced so you have to do the whole thing.. 🙄

 

[melloelky]

make and model aside,worst vehicle ever?the one that doesn't start and stops me from getting to work..

 

[CopperNick]

Couldn't find any junk yard dogs for either of these. A couple of years in the yard and they mostly dissolve back to their component rusticles.

'77 Ford Rancheros were SO Bad for doors rotting off that Ford almost tried to deny recalls. Some dealers wouldn't show them because, right from the factory, they were already so bad that the paint had fallen off.

The mid 70's were notorious for bad body panels because the factories were trying to cut costs by using recycled/manufactured metal and the foundries cheaped out by going cold on the re-smelt. Without the high heat needed, the rust would not burn off and the metal came out contaminated from the get-go.




Nick

 

[jbrentrin]

my son in law bought a land rover. thought it would make him cool.
turns out, it make him into a mechanic

 

[78Delta88]

Worst car I ever worked on was Renault Reliant. And those were new at the dealership.

 

[78Delta88]

I'm a firm believer that 5 gallons of diesel and a road flare..., or 4 pounds of C4, solves many ills

 

[Hurricane77]

Guess it depends on your idea of 'worst'

Land Rover/Range Rover is definitely up there. Wife was wanting a Evoque a few years back. Honestly, I think they look fantastic. But I think I finally talked her out of it given their history of unreliability.

I had one of those aforementioned Grand Ams, It was actually a fun car to drive, fairly quick down low (for the time) but really fell off on the top end. But it was a maintenance nightmare. Leaking intake manifold gaskets were an issue. For some reason it was impossible to keep a decent set of brakes on them, they always seemed to warp regardless of the brand. Probably undersized for the weight of the car. Wheel bearings. Corrosion issues. And not body corrosion, never noticed any of that in the 10 years I had it. But had a fuel line , power steering hoses, and the trans cooler line all rust out. The trans was fun. My ex didn't even notice anything was wrong with the car until it just wouldn't move anymore. Ended up needing a full rebuilt. Even the plastic knobs on the HVAC would break. That thing left with my ex 😀

I'll echo the Mopar stuff, probably dating back to the 80s. And that will include some of the Daimler Benz stuff too. I have a buddy with a 2013? Mercedes diesel R class (station wagon), that thing has been nothing but a headache for him. Air bags fail pretty frequently, transfer case leaks, oil leaks, seems to have developed a diesel leak and the turbo won't built boost. And who know how many other things. He really seemed to like it, at least at one point. I borrowed it for a week while he borrowed my truck. I can't say I really saw the appeal. It's not fast, Interior was kind of meh. I guess it probably handles better than most 7 seaters, but not much else.

One of the things that really turns me off of the Chrysler products is the attitude of the owners. Mainly the Ram and Jeep guys (do they really sell anything else?).

 

[olds307 and 403]

K cars were pretty bad. Yugo's, anything Renault, Caddy's with the 4100 engine were so bad owners couldn't even buy an extended warranty 🤣 Ford Windstars and Taurus' with the 3.8L engine. Headgaskets and transmissions as far as the eye could see. The old Quad 4 engine timing chains and head gaskets...

Yeah, we had 7 out 8 cars that were K cars in a shop I worked in. About 1/2 were major engine work. Terrible cars. Yeah saw plenty of 3.8 with blown head gaskets. That 2.7 through 4L V6 Chrysler were terrible. My 2010 Challenger the 3.5 POs was ticking, clattering and eating a liter of oil every 3000 Km, that plus electrical gremlins like the fuel gauge working, then not working and no replacement seat cover for drivers seat, meant trade in time. The 2017 Challenger GT other than the U Connect freezing/software issues a while back, the horn not working from new and a hair line crack in the plastic trans pan has been great, now 120,000 km. Any Ford or Dodge from the 70's, all terrible cars and trucks.

I'm pretty well acquainted with the Bricklin. https://gbodyforum.com/threads/projects-from-the-compound.35069/page-19 . Canada, you owe the world an apology.

The combined education on the assembly line was probably Grade 12. East coast people were notoriously under educated back then, barely elementary school then onto the fishing boats, even more so than farm kids here on the praries. That was a huge scandal and embarrassment for Canada. It still a sore spot in New Brunswick to this day. Sorry I missed this thread.

 

[PBGBodyFan]

K cars were pretty bad. Yugo's, anything Renault, Caddy's with the 4100 engine were so bad owners couldn't even buy an extended warranty 🤣 Ford Windstars and Taurus' with the 3.8L engine. Headgaskets and transmissions as far as the eye could see. The old Quad 4 engine timing chains and head gaskets...

My parents had a 88'(or was it 89'?) Reliant. I didn't like it, slow, boring, dorky so it checks those boxes but I think it was pretty reliable. They let me have it when they were done, worth maybe $200 at the time, I only had it for a couple months then sold it and bought a beater 86' Monte LS instead. Way cooler and more fun to drive but I now have a slight soft spot for the K cars, especially a 2 door Reliant like ours, most were 4 doors.

 

[81cutlass]

I think it's easy to trash stuff from the 70's to 90's with poor reliability, because the average reliability back then was low on everything. It's tough, but you have to consider each 'bad' car relative to what the fleet average was.

Also mileage, saying a 180k mile 3400 Grand Am required a lot of maintenance doesn't mean it's junk because it's near end of life. Also, cost or downtime of a repair is a big one. A 3400 needing intake manifold gaskets at 70k, yeah, it sucks, but the parts are $75+labor and can be done in an afternoon.

In my view, what makes a car really TERRIBLE is
1. A car is mechanically totaled within a short time at low mileage in that 7-15yr old range
2. The cost to repair simple things is really high, $2000 for wear items like struts, $3500 injectors
3. Long lead times or total lack of support for service parts, touch screens going dead and having 6 month wait times, steering racks leaking and not having parts available from the OEM or reman
4. Lack of serviceability, shops that won't work on the car, unable to provide solutions to problems, inability for independent shops to have knowledge or computers to solve problems, remove entire cabs to change simple parts

Saying a Reliant K is a turd because it's always broken down doesn't to me make it the most unreliable ever. If you blow up an alternator on the side of a road you can easily tow it to the nearest town and they can toss a part in a parking lot.

What I think are actually unreliable are
Basically any BMW, Land rover, Audi, Bentley, Rolls Royce built after 2005
Anything EV (give this one another 5-7 years)
Anything post DEF/emissisions Diesel
Anything out of warranty sports car made by an Italian company