Worst vehilces you've ever owned?

July 22, 2005 | self / vanity

[The Other Harry]

My top two are both Volkswagens, back in the 60's. One was a Karman Gia, the other was a Squareback. My, they were awful. I tried to like them, but I couldn't.

Third would be a Chevy Suburban, also in the 60's or possibly the early 70's. I used to joke that I could see things falling off it in the rear-view mirror as we drove down the road. Still, it had its place in the overall scope of things.

Best would be a 1996 Ford Ranger. That was a great truck. If I hadn't wrecked it, I would have kept it forever.

My new Toyota Tundra is not as good. It's okay. I don't like the controls. I should have shopped more.

My GEO Tracker is pretty good. I can't figure out how to set the clock, but it works pretty well otherwise.

[patton]

Funny what happened to VW. One of my buddies actually swapped a litre of brandy for a new engine, once. The flower children screwed that up.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

I admit to not knowing a lot about cars or trucks, but yours lasted for 30 years and had over 500,000 miles on it. How could it be considered a piece of crap?

[exnavychick]

No problem...sorry I couldn't tell you more. My guess is that it is front-wheel drive, but I'm not positive.

[RandallFlagg]

Yeah. I just looked. Front-wheel-drive is the only available option.

Looks like I'm sticking with Dodge Caravan.

[patton]

It was held together with bailing wire - literally.

Get it?

[Aliska]

1964 Ford Galaxy. Differential went out the first year on a move to CA. Volkswagen Rabbit. Never did figure out why that thing would up and die whenever it felt like it. Glad to be rid of it.

Am driving a 1991 Honda Civic with less than 60,000 mi. Don't drive much. Don't know what I'll do when that goes.

[tacticalogic]

I bent a coathanger, jambed one end in the coil, the other in the distributer cap, and drove it home..

I drove an Opel Kadet 20 miles with a crapped out fuel pump. I made it to the parking lot of a Western Auto. They didn't have an Opel fuel pump, but they had gallon gas cans, duct tape and quarter inch fuel line on a spool.

Take six feet of fuel line and siphon gas from the tank into the can. Sit the can on fender and tape to the radio antenna. Drop one end of the hose in the can and tape it to the handle, start a siphon at the other end, and plug it into the carb inlet. Had to stop once on the way and put more gas in the can, but it saved me a tow bill.

[marmar]

It was paid off...a little Chevy S10...it wasn't bad at all, it was great.......the only problem was that it was stolen 3 different times....the last time on Vet Day, and I am in the AF. That sucked.....anyway I got it back twice and the last time it was gone for good.

[kevao]

Ford Taurus. One problem after another. Nickel-and-dimed me to death. Transmission died at 45,000 miles. WTF?

FORD really = Found On The Road Dead. Stay away!!!

Dumped it and bought a Toyota Camry five years ago. Not one problem since.

[exnavychick]

Well, even after owning that wretched Stratus, we considered getting a Caravan. They're pretty good! But we got a sweetheart deal on our Chevy, so we went with that, instead. :)

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

I'll take the easy way out and blame my lack of knowledge on my gender. :-)

[softwarecreator]

What a pile of junk.

Yes they were.  They sold about a billion of 'em (slight exxageration) and helped save Chrysler, but they purely sucked.

I had a hard time with normal driving conditions, I can only image the absurdity, and frustration, you had to go thru with them on patrol.

[patton]

Yeah, well my throttle cable broke - I punched a hole in the firewall, tied on a fishing line to the carburator, and drove home.

Now, the time the brake lines exploded, that was tricky.

Ever drive 1000 miles with no brakes?

[RandallFlagg]

The main thing I like about the Caravan is.......

....there's lots of room for my bumper stickers.

[softwarecreator]

But it got me places, and had 560,000 miles on it, when it died in 1994...

OMG!!!  Are you serious?  That's fantastic!!

[softwarecreator]

Love it!!

Don't you get stopped a lot because of the blur you have instead of a license plate?  =)

[exnavychick]

LOL!!

[bannie]

We (X-hubby-and-I-when-we-were-young-qne-in-love) bought a '60-something Impala while at AIT at Ft. Gordon, GA (1973). It seemed to be in such great shape that we planned to drive it home to California when we finished AIT. We got a couple of miles down the road when the driveshaft broke. A wonderful man who owned a gas station bought it from us on trust. Gave us airplane tickets home and had his son take us out to dinner and to the airport in Atlanta. When we got home, we sent him the pink slip.

That man saved a couple of young, new soldiers; and he trusted us with a hand-shake.

The car, however, was broken.

[baltodog]

I forget the year -- I want to say 1977 -- Ford Fairmount.

Tranny SUCKED. No reverse!!!

My broher-in-law's father was an engineer at Ford, and when I complained, he said that it was due to some fluid ports in the guts that never worked right...Ford knew it all the time!!!

The best?: My '99 Taurus, my '86 Bronco II, my '76 E-150 (300 Straight 6), and my '76 Volare (225 slant 6).

6-CYLINDERS WILL ALWAYS RULE!!!

[Lawgvr1955]

1973 Chevy Vega. Great looking car. Check the gas. Fill up the oil. Aluminimum block. Looked great, ran good, mechanically worthless.

At least it looked good.