Best: Toyota trucks.....I am on my 3rd, with over 500k miles all together. I trust them. Everything else is second best.
Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention the model, it was a '71 Audi LS100. I could not even begin to list all the maddening mechanical problems that car developed in the couple of years I had it before I finally palmed it off on an unsuspecting Ford dealer as trade-in on a '73 Ford Ranch Wagon.
The Audi handled well, was comfortable, and the engine performed better than most American cars of that period (on those days when it actually ran) and it was comfortable on long trips (in cool weather that is, the A/C never worked right from day 1). It would have been a great car if not for all the dozens (or more) of mechanical failures that not only made my family's day to day lives miserable but also ruined 2 summer vacations.
The Audi dealership's mechanics were just as bad as the Teutonic buffoons who built the car. The warranty was only for 1 year or 12K miles, but after the first few awful experiences with the incompetent mechanics at the dealer's shop I didn't even bother taking it back when it broke. But I did keep a small independent garage in business which specialized in German cars. Even the factory trained German mechanic who owned the shop couldn't fix many of the unexplained mechanical disasters that were an almost weekly occurrence, but at least he was honest enough to tell me when he couldn't find the cause of the trouble.
Don't anyone try to tell me about that great German engineering and workmanship, I had enough experience with it in my 2 years with that Audi to last me a lifetime.
I owned a first generation Honda Civic years ago. I was going to use it as a winter car. It was like a Go-Cart with doors. I drove it once then parked it next to my garage for a year. One nice summer day i was bored so i drained the radiator, started it and put a brick on the accelerator. Besides the ton of steam blowing out of it the engine would not die. I was amazed. Honda makes good engines!
The most unreliable car i've owned was a 93 Lincoln Continental. What a POS!!! EVERYTHING broke on that Crap Box. It's funny cause it was a nice looking, Comfortable, good riding boat. I gave it away for free when I bought my Infiniti.
Difficult question... I've had 50+ cars (not counting bikes)... They all had their good and bad points... I guess the most frustrating was my Mercedes.. I actually liked the car, but it was just in the shop too much for stupid things...
Drove an Opel Manta to its grave.. and my old Bimmer keeps getting me to work.. I really don't have them all that long... All my Chevy's and Fords were good, but they all had problems.. I've liked my VWs.. but I never put over 20k on one..
I know this thread is old now, but I can never pass up a chance to bitch about my '91 Thunderbird. I was my first car and I was eighteen. Not a bad looking car, but what a lemon. If it wasn't one thing wrong, it was two. It was about three years old when I bought it. It ran good for nearly a year, then it rapidly turned to crap. Constant electrical problems, a lot of blown alternators. Had to replace the transmission. Had to replace the compressor. The power steering hoses snapped the first cold day of every year. It got knocked out of alignment very easily. Radiator problems. Too many leaks and broken belts and hoses to remember. My mechanic hated that car and begged me to get rid of it (despite all the money he was making off of it). Thankfully, after three years, someone I lent it to plowed it into a tree and totaled it. My insurance covered it, so I got a ten year old Accord that ran great for a couple of years until I got something with more zip.