Worst car you've ever owned

[tdyoung58]

90's something Pontiac LeMans
Originally bought for my wife. Until she swiped my Nissan Pathfinder and I got stuck with it.
No A/C, 3 speed, couldn't pass a moped

 

[Janizary]

1984 Chevy Citation.

Purchased new and within the first year it would chose to start, not start, accelerate, ignore the gas pedal, whatever it felt like at the moment. Got rid of the death trap after two major 'fixes' that never fixed the problem.

You know when you hear the story "The car just accelerated on its own" and you never want to believe them? Yeah, been there. Had to kill the engine both times to stop it. Terrifying.

 

[Gullwing]

I haven't had bad cars. But growing up we had an 88 Ford Tempo for a while. Mechanic hated it, every time we brought it to him he had to buy a new special tool. One trip in the Sierras it started to stall. Dad took to one place and "fixed it", next day outside a small town it did it again but was able to coast down the hill. Shop "fixed it". Few hours later in the middle of nowhere it stalled again. Finally got where we were going and a week later took to a Ford dealer who "Fixed it". Traded it in not long after.

 

[Poena238]

I had a 1976 Cadillac Seville that would vapor lock, took about a half hour to be able to restart and run. Only had that car for about a month or so.

Purchased a brand new VW Golf in 2000, traded it in 2006 with less than 50k miles which may seem decent, but I've always drove A LOT. In comparison, my 2002 GMC purchased new already had 50k by that time. That VW was at the dealership for warranty repairs a minimum of three times per year, and was the last VW I've owned.

 

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

Ford Escort. Look up "Thin Film Ignition". It would cut the ignition without warning and not work again until cooled down. I lost my shirt on that car and have never touched a Ford since.

 

[echo1]

'95 Olds Aurora. I'd been looking out for a decent one for some time when I came up on a unit that had 45K miles. I figured that was pretty low milage for an American V8. The first year it was strong and fast but badly under braked for the quickness....then it started to nibble me to death.. AC & heater never worked consistently, then major component fail, tranny went south. While it was out I had the oil leaking POS aluminum V8 resealed, less than 10K miles after tranny rebuild, all the solenoids crashed. Traded it for a broken Dodge RV. It was nowhere near the car my '72 Lincoln Town Coupe 460 was. I wanted to scavenge the Aurora and build a mid-engine AMX with the engine/tranny set up, but I was just getting going with my SKS builds and had a Rallye Minerva basket in the hanger. Too many projects going solo.
Tarus/Sable had the same ignition issues. PAX