The Worst Car Ever

[CyberLurch]

GMC also had a version of the S-10 (They called it the S-15/Sonoma) that had Buick's monster V6 Turbo on it. Car and Driver did a drag race with it against a Ferrari 348ts, and the truck won.

The Syclone, yes. However, it was not Buick's Turbo Six, it was actually a modified version of the 4.3L Chevrolet. The high-tech Buick turbo V6 was out of production by the time of the Syclone, but GM applied a lot of what it learned with the Buick Grand National and applied it to the Chevrolet mill.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

Hmm, my worst car ever? Late 80's Suzuki Samurai. Dad bought it for me before I got my license because he needed a stick to train me on before he let me touch his prize sports car.

First off, it was a ragtop with a poorly functioning heater. In Wisconsin. Winter too, of course. January b-day, so I started driving it in probably Nov.

My biggest problem with it was that it was just too small. Every so often I'd have to push my knee free from between the wheel and the door when I went to use the clutch. Probably would not have been safe in an accident, either. My head pushed up against the ragtop when I was driving. I should see if I can find a picture from back in those days, I know mom took at least one pic showing the top bulging out where my head is.

It also ate transmissions. It would be easy to blame it on the beginner, but there were a couple of months where it was my dad's daily driver because I couldn't fit my Tuba in the back. He went through 2 transmissions in 3 months.

Had some fun in that little beastie, after it was relegated to fun and we added racing seats and moved the posts back so I could shift without worry. Also stocked helmets for the driver and passenger. We called it Yertle, after the Seuss turtle. Mainly because of the number of times we rolled it, screwing around on the tank trails at the local military base. Those were the days, before security became extreme. Cruising down a gravel trail and see an M1 Abrams in your rearview.

We were recovered by a tank crew more than once, lol. My favorite, I think they got as much of a kick out of it as we did. They used the friggin barrel of the tank to hook to the tow strap and rotated the turret to get us back upright and on trail.

[Aragarthiel]

Right now we have a car ('96 T-bird) and two trucks ('86 Ranger and '87 Bronco II with pretty much interchangeable parts). The T-bird has been sitting in our yard for months and we only drove it for a couple weeks. The head gasket blew and when we went to replace it we discovered someone had put a bolt in incorrectly, rendering it absolutely impossible to get out.

The Ranger has been a pain in our butts since Day 1. It's tiny, the windows rattle like nothing else, the heat and AC don't work, and right now we're working on replacing the engine. Unfortunately, we need to clean out the gas tank, which means dropping it. If it was even possible to get one of the bolts out. Apparently someone at some point had done the same thing with the bed off, then put the bolt on upside-down. Now, because the space between the bolt and the bed is smaller than the bolt is long, we'll have to take the bed off ourselves.

My grandpa also has an early '70s Jimmy (not sure exactly what year) that's in such poor shape I have no clue how it's still on the road. Hubs and I had to borrow it a few times when our Bronco needed repairs and every single time something on it would quit on us and it would need to go into the shop too. Fortunately the Bronco has been holding itself together for us so we haven't needed to borrow it much.

[AdamAnt316]

My second car was a 1996 Chrysler Concorde LXi. It had originally been a lease car for my mother's boss, and my mother bought it at the end of the lease. Inside, it was lovely, sporting nice leather seats, a 'high end' Infinity sound system, climate control system, and all sorts of electric niceties. The engine was a 3.5L V-6, and had a fair amount of power. However, it didn't take long for the issues to rear their ugly heads...

Shortly thereafter, she got a recall notice saying that there was an issue with the fuel system. She brought it to a dealership, who performed the recall work, and then she got it back. A day or two later, she noticed the smell of gas, and when she looked underneath the car, there was a puddle of fuel below the gas tank! Back to the dealership it went, where they hemmed and hawed about whether or not the issue was their fault, but it eventually got fixed.

Some time after that, the transmission went. I'm not sure what the initial symptoms might've been, but I remember riding in it with her one day, and every time she tried to drive above 40MPH, the car would start to shake violently! It was taken to a local transmission shop, who charged her $1700 to replace the transmission.

Fast-forward to 2005, when she got another car, and I was handed down the Concorde to replace my beat-up but otherwise fairly solid 1991 Dodge Spirit. At first, all was fine and good. However, a month or two after I got the car, I was getting on the highway when I noticed that the temperature gauge had pegged H, and a bunch of warning lights were on! I had it towed to the shop, where they weren't able to find anything majorly wrong.

A week or so after that, I was driving to school when I noticed the gauge had pegged once again, and it was leaking coolant everywhere. Another tow to the shop, where they finally found the problem: the A/C compressor had developed a seized clutch, which had caused the belt driving it to snap, which had caused the cooling fan to get jammed, which had caused its fuse to blow. No idea how they failed to spot this the first time around........

A month or so after that, I was getting off the highway when the engine decided to stall. As I tried to figure out what was going on, I got to the end of said off-ramp, which ended in an incline as you merged into traffic, and the car rolled to a stop. I tried to brake, but the pedal was rock-hard, and I accidentally rolled into the guy behind me! Fortunately, he was understanding, and actually gave my car a push with his to the top of the incline, where I managed to get the engine re-started without incident, and got it home.

Soon thereafter, it started stalling more and more often. I'd be pulling up to a stoplight or stop sign, or going around a steep curve, and the engine would sputter and die. It also seemed to be inordinately difficult to start when the engine was warm. I eventually developed a theory that the "speed-distance sensor" was conking out, but the shop couldn't figure it out.

While this was going on, the last straw came. While driving around with a friend, I pulled up to a stoplight (dunno if it decided to stall). When the light turned green, I started to pull away, and soon head a loud *THUMP*, followed by a hissing sound. As I tried to make heads or tails of what was going on, my friend noticed that a large amount of white smoke was pouring out of the back of the car! Pulling into the parking lot of a nearby bank, I got out of the car, and discovered that the entire rear suspension had collapsed! I called AAA, and was informed that they'd given me me too many tows that year, so I'd have to pay. Fortunately, my mother was willing to put the tow on her account, and it was towed home for the last time.

Total time I drove the car: less than six months.

[Aria]

Had some fun in that little beastie, after it was relegated to fun and we added racing seats and moved the posts back so I could shift without worry. Also stocked helmets for the driver and passenger. We called it Yertle, after the Seuss turtle. Mainly because of the number of times we rolled it, screwing around on the tank trails at the local military base. Those were the days, before security became extreme. Cruising down a gravel trail and see an M1 Abrams in your rearview.

We were recovered by a tank crew more than once, lol. My favorite, I think they got as much of a kick out of it as we did. They used the friggin barrel of the tank to hook to the tow strap and rotated the turret to get us back upright and on trail.

That is so awesome!

[ADoyle]

The worst car was something my ex had which was a Chevy Corvair from the early 70's or so, and his plan was to restore it because his dad was a mechanic for those cars. It was basically a pile of rust held by off-white paint, with only lap belts for all seat belts, and wires that once held the ceiling lamp that I always got my hair caught on. The highest speed that bucket of bolts could go was about 40MPH max, so there was no way anyone was going on the freeway with that.

[RichS]

Worst car ever was my first when I was 16, a '76 Chevy Van 20. My dad modified it a bit - put in an icebox and a bed in the back, but didn't finish it, so it was all exposed 2x4s and plywood. This was originally a work van, so it wasn't finished with carpeting/upholstery inside. In fact, it originally only came with the driver's seat inside until that was replaced with two aftermarket captain's chairs. It looked great outside with the modified exhaust; my dad got rid of the stock for a dual exhaust, each pipe running the length of each side and exiting before the front of the rear wheels.

What made it the worst; one of the main problems was that the brake master cylinder gave 90% of the braking to the front. The number of cars I almost rear-ended...

The other problem was that the original failed steering column/gear was replaced with a '72 unit. This replacement didn't have a tilt function, so it was permanently set at what seemed to be a 15 degree angle. There was about a 1/4" of play in the gear as well. I felt like I was driving a bus!

Thankfully, the van was only a short-term get back and forth to school vehicle, and was replaced with a 200 Honda TwinStar when spring came. My dad then sold it to my uncle.

[Nunavut Pants]

The worst car was something my ex had which was a Chevy Corvair from the early 70's or so...

Last model year was 1969, so it was most likely from the 60s...

[wolfie]

Definitely from the '60s, since the first model year was 1960.