My first vehicle was a 1971 Ford 3/4 ton. It was extremely reliable and tough. Having sat for most of the previous 30 years in a barn, it even looked good.
But it had all of the safety features of 1971. Power brakes the would lock up and throw you off the road if you more than thought about braking. Lap belts and a solid steel steering wheel to smash your teeth on. If you somehow hit the steering wheel hard enough to break it, you’d be impaled on the steel pipe steering column. Speaking of the steering, it didn’t have power steering, so if you hit a rut on a rough road, the steering wheel would spin out of control. You had to just let go of it until it stopped spinning lest it break your thumbs. Also, the gas tank was inside the cab behind the seat for extra car crash fun.
It was a beautiful death trap. I kinda wish I could have put it back into a barn for another 30 years instead of selling it.
Not me, but someone I was dating. Her family owned a Chevrolet dealership and she was always driving some kind of lightly used mid-range sedan. Two of them catastrophically failed and one of them would randomly shut off when going over slight bumps. Like going over an expansion joint on a bridge could do a full shut off, no power steering, etc. These were all sub 20k mile cars. She would just get it towed back to the lot and get another one, like a disposable product. The family laughed about ripping off customers. The whole operation was banking off soccer moms buying enormous Suburbans and boomer nostalgia for Corvette. Basically just rent seeking an ancient contract to be the dealer for a large territory. Needless to say I will never buy a Chevy.
Volkswagen Jetta. I think it was a 2012. Aside from having an oil leak that was common in that model, the gear shift computer broke, and most annoying of all, on the inside would just sort of fall off for no reason. I mean, the vent direction control tabs. And the only way to replace them was to remove the entire dash. Stupid and cheap design. I’ll probably never buy another Volkswagen.
Not a direct answer, but if you ever get a chance - go walk around a self-serve junkyard. This is where cars go when they finally just aren’t worth fixing anymore. It is eye opening. There are cars that you will still consider ‘new’ that have already given up the ghost (mainly Dodge/Chrysler, Hyundai/Kia, & Nissan). And you can’t help but think - WTF are these cars doing here, aren’t these still for sale at the dealership?
Conversely, there are also cars there so old you hardly recognize them (usually Honda, Toyota, and full size pickups from Ford/GM).
My first car was an ancient Renault that was plagued with electrical issues, to the point that it was actually pretty funny. I was also a penniless student at the time and I don’t know how to fix cars, so I just sort of put up with it.
It used to drain the battery when it was parked, so I kept a spare battery in the boot and some jumper cables and used to have to jump-start it every time I switched the engine off.
One time I was driving at night and the headlights started dimming until they were nearly off, I turned the radio off and they came back on again.
Eventually I finally took it to the scrap yard, they said it was worthless but they gave me £10 for the tape deck lol.
Technically the worst car I ever had, but also one of my favourites.
I’ll never forget my dad bought a used Renault Alliance because he saw an old Consumer Reports magazine that had it as “car of the year”. What he didn’t see was the article where they retracted the title. It was a money pit
Sounds like the generator had issues
Mercury Sable
In 2003 I learned to drive in a 1986 Hyundai Pony. The breaking point was when I got a stop sign on a slight incline and my dad had to get out while I floored it so the car could get moving again.
A 1991 Ford Sierra that I bought for 100,- from a friend because I needed a car quickly. This car was already promised to be shipped to Nigeria, where Europe dumps all the old cars. It still had 3 months until the next savety inspection, which the car certainly would have failed.
The engine was still OK, but the car had some electrical issues. When using the turn signal first, and then using the brake pedal, all lights and electrical load were going bonkers, resulting in flickering and failure. The car had to be stopped and the key had to be removed in order to switch it off. Then the car could be started again and one could resume driving.
In order to avoid this issues, it was crucial to use the break pedal first, and then the turning signal, right before turning. This way the electrical issues ware not that severe - the issues stopped, wenn dis-enganging the turn signal.
Also, the doors central locking system was not working properly. Only the passenger door was operational. When I wanted to get the trunk hatch to open, I had to unlock the passenger’s door, reach inside to open the driver’s door from the inside. Then I had to walk around to fully open the driver’s door in order to pull the lever for the trunk hatch that is located next to the driver’s seat.
I only had this car for two months. One day I put the car into neutral at a traffic light. After that, there was a strange noise. I put it into first gear and the clutch refused to connect to the power train. The clutch failed, the car couldn’t be moved by its own. It went to the scrap yard.
Every American made car I’ve owned has been a piece of shit constantly falling apart and needing repair and maintenance. I thought that’s just how cars were for a while. Then I started buying Asian and German cars and realized Americans just can’t make a good car.
My dodge durango was the absolute worst. My bmws are amazing.
It’s all in whether management lets the engineers make a good product or pushes for cost reduction above all else. American made Toyotas are just fine.
A similar thing is true with Chinese made goods. Companies that care enough to implement proper process and quality controls can have perfectly adequate quality come out of Chinese factories. It’s just that the companies that were quickest to export production cared more about minimizing every last cost than about quality.
I had an American-made 2001 Honda Civic that didn’t start having significant problems until it was well over 100k miles. Had an American-made 2007 Accord that never had a major issue with 116,000 miles. Now have an American-made 2023 Integra, and I hope it fares the same.
Edit: but our American-made '96 Astro was a total piece of shit.
I had two ford Tauruses and both were gems. However the Chevy Malibu Hatchback I had was garbage.
Probably my 2008 Suzuki Reno. It’s coolant system was made of such brittle crumbly plastic that it would crack and leak out all the coolant, and I didn’t realize this at first I didn’t know to look for it, so I get off the highway after driving 20 miles just in time for huge plumes of white smoke to be coming out of the front of my car.
I got it fixed only for it to crack again and leak again. And it became this nightmare of whack a mole where I’m constantly adding coolant, constantly checking my temperature gauge, constantly bringing it in to be fixed.
And then the whole engine died on the highway and I had to pull over while driving to my new job.
35 y/o orange Opel Kadett. Would stall when cornering. Funily enough at the same time also the best car I owned. Fixed it once using the belt from my pants. Belt was on there for years.
Oh man, recently spotted a good looking Kadett on someones driveway. It brought back memories!
I had a Pontiac Fiero. It really was terrible in every way but I love that piece of shit. It has been the only car I have owned that appreciated in value. I sold it for almost double what I paid less than a year after I bought it.
Jeep. Not owned but have rented two. First one was a 2022 Compass. The electric system died mid highway. Never recovered fully. Second was a 2024 Ranger. A true shit box. After a week having it I despised that piece of shit.
my 2011 toyota camry.
it’s also the best car I’ve ever owned, probably because it’s the only car I’ve ever owned.
A Mitsubishi Colt I bought from a guy in a scrapyard for £50 because my Allegro had just been stolen and I needed something quick to get to work. He told me it had an MOT and to come back the next day to pick it up (in the days before it was online) He wasn’t there. It was the rustiest POS ever - bits kept falling off, you could see the road in several places through the floor. Engine was good but that was the only thing. In a lifetime of exercising Bangernomics, that was the stand out terrible car.
Most I’ve lost on a car was a more recent Shogun. Bought for £7,500, cost £2000 in repairs then had a lot more pending. Sold for £1400 in less than a year.
