Posted on 09/12/2010 7:39:28 PM PDT by ThinkingBuddha
These are the cars that cause us to mumble under our breath when they drive by. So smug. So reliable. Sure! Drive right past our shop! How's a mechanic supposed to make a monthly boat payment with so many of these things on the road?
Yes, the cars we hate most, as mechanics, are the cars that provide us with the fewest repair dollars. I mean, you see a '99 Jeep Grand Cherokee roll into the shop and you can practically smell the transmission rebuild. But the cars on this list? You'll be lucky to sell their owners a set of brake pads or a muffler.
If you're looking for a car to buy, however, this list might provide you with some good clues. Oh, sure ... don't worry about us!
P.S. This list reflects our own experience, of course. So when we cite the ready availability of parts, we're talking about the typical repair experience in metropolitan areas in the Northeast. We're not sure the same is true in North Grainbucket, Iowa.....
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
Sorry, still have my Fiat 124 Spyder. Bought it off the showroom floor in May, 1977. Still runs, still looks good, and easy to fix.
Sorry, still have my Fiat 124 Spyder. Bought it off the showroom floor in May, 1977. Still runs, still looks good, and easy to fix.
>>Sorry, still have my Fiat 124 Spyder. Bought it off the showroom floor in May, 1977. Still runs, still looks good, and easy to fix.<<
Don’t be sorry, I am glad it worked out for you.
But the reason Fiat Motors of NA pulled out of the USA market was their reputation for making a bad product.
I’m well aware of the rep...I must have gotten one of the good ones!!!
I just sold my ‘95 Nissan extended cab truck; had 230k miles and still ran great! Edmunds.com has pages of happy owners w/200k & 300k miles on’em and still going strong.
What 'stuff' is breaking on yours? My drivers seat cracked (seat covers are next purchase).
>#1 junk..BMW
The 3 series is decent, but not up to the camry/Corolla/Civic/Accord.
It’s the 5 and 7 and 8 that break a lot.
“I have a 2006 Honda Accord V6 Coupe - how fast do you want to go, my car can do it and with great acceleration.”
I will race you for pink slips in my 2008 Shelby GT500 from a 40 mph roll to 120 mph.
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Hehe. Thanks for the laugh. The Accord, like all Honda’s comes with a first rate suspension, and the V6s are a delight.
The Honda Fit, though basic and of adequate forward thrust, handles as well as many “supercars”.
Luckily my husband yanked me away before I slammed the hood down on the man’s neck.
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Wives!
“Triumph TR7”
Triumph, MG, anything British Leyland......
I had a 74 Shi.....I mean Spitfire that lasted for 12 of the 18 payments and then threw a rod out of #3 cylinder. When it was running it was the most fun of any car I ever owned, but I spent more of my time under the ‘bonnet’ than behind the wheel.
Talk about failed transmissions.....
1988 Dodge Dakota with the V6 and 904 tranny. Died on my wife at just over 70,000 miles. (I was on a 6-month deployment with the Navy when this happened.) Tranny rebuilt and died again at 98,000 miles. Shortly thereafter I found out (with the help of the guy at the parts store) that Dextron II tranny fluid would “cause premature failure of the torque converter.” And the owner’s manual listed Dextron II as a suitable for the Mopar Type 7176 tranny fluid. Sold it to a friend in 1998 with 105,000 miles and warned him about the tranny fluid. He drove it until about 3 years ago with no trnasmission problems.
Why would Chrysler list a transmission fluid in the owner’s manual that would destroy the transmission? Last Chrysler product I have ever (or will ever) bought.
I used to have a TR4, had a rear main seal leak, the rag top was gone, it had a weird metric tire size and had those knockoff center hubs, I drove it from San Jose, CA to Salt Lake City and back, slept in it, drove it in the rain and kept a case of oil with it all the time. This around 1977.
About the only issue I had with it was the Stromberg carbs, I was only about 19 but I figured out how to rebuild them, and I replaced the head gasket, I wish I had another car like this one.
I have been a general mechanic with a very large amount of Snapon tools for hire since 1980, in the last 15 years I stopped working on cars and went into heavy equipment.
The cars I hated with a passion to work on was anything Dodge, they always had weird electrical issues and some funky carbs, the transmissions all leaked. Almost any American car made in the 1980’s with most of the biggest crap coming from GM like the Olds diesel, the Chevy Cavalier and Citation.
I would rather say the cars I like the best were to me the ones that were organized, well designed, easy to work on and were actually not seen much in the shops. The American cars were pure crapola until around 1990 and then the Fords seem to get their act together, GM always seem to have a wild spaghetti nest of poorly laid out vacuum hoses to incomprehensible stuff.
People say they hate Mercedes and BMW I have to disagree, they and the VW Rabbit were easy to work on. But the emissions garbage is what made it so hard to make a living as an auto mechanic.
It was probably the big reason I quit working on cars and I worked at three dealerships and a lot of private shops over the years, mostly anything from Japan is precise though troubleshooting seems awkward, anything from the UK is an electrical nightmare but I loved the Jaguars.
Actually if I were to go looking for a restoration project almost anything British would be my number one choice, I do like their style.
I am in the middle of a restoration project. I picked the simplest car around with the easiest to find parts.....
1969 VW Beetle convertible. It’s a labor of love.
Nothing wrong with that, its the cheapest car partswise I have ever seen. I can’t stand vehicles or motorcycles that require expensive parts.
I have an older 1980 Honda CX 500 bike, any part new from Honda costs an arm and a leg though used parts from Ebay are cheap.
I have pretty much given up owning a car...ever, they just don’t have any long lasting appeal to me, not the Corvette, Camaro or the Mustang, no interest. The cars I do find of interest are the very limited production types, I like being the only person for over a hundred miles with something different. A DeLorean would have been nice.
I drive a 2002 Chevy Silverado 3500HD dually, has an 8.1L big block, terrible gas mileage but I love it, my dream truck is owning a customized Peterbilt, I drive one all day long but I want one just to own it, Peterbilts last forever.
The YAHOO article is from Tom and Ray Magliozz’s http://www.cartalk.com/
They do have some interesting stories, but be forewarned, also poor humor.
“You will win but the Accord owner didn’t pay near what you did. “
And using that logic the owner of a bicycle didn’t pay near what the owner of the Accord did. You get what you pay for.
“Hehe. Thanks for the laugh. The Accord, like all Honda’s comes with a first rate suspension, and the V6s are a delight.
The Honda Fit, though basic and of adequate forward thrust, handles as well as many “supercars”.”
After experiencing the power of a 500hp V8, I would never use the words “V6” and “delight” in the same sentence. I seriously doubt the odd looking Honda Fit could handle as well as a ZR-1 or SLS AMG.
I visited Germany for a few weeks back in 1986. At that time, a lot of kids were riding scooter (two-cycle). Most of the pumps had a deal where you put in extra coins and the oil would pump out with the gas - I honestly can't remember how it mixed for the right ratio, but the pump did it all for you.
Jeep Forum has wonderful folks who can talk you through just about anything. Give their site a search.
Anymore, a rough-running vehicle is a sensor going bad somewhere. On my last Cherokee (a 1992, with 215,000 on it), the choice of the fix (found on the Jeep Forum) came down to cheap, but time-consuming (crank position sensor), or spendy, but quick (computer). It was the computer - Autozone had them for $150 bucks.
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