Worst Car Prior to Your XD

[johnblaze94]

Hey Kids. The goal of this thread is to see who had the worst car prior to owning your XD. You know you loved the hell out of it, but it truely was a pile. This dosen't apply to everyone, some of y'all had nice vehicles before this one. But mot me!

I'll start off by telling yall about my old car.
A 1994 Pontiac Sunbird. Red 4dr. I'll have to find a pic of it to show it off
Bottom line to that car was that I spent more time and money trying to keep it running than I paid for the car origonally. I baught the car for $2000 when I turned 15. It sat in my driveway for about a year untill I got my licence. I drove it untill Sep. of 2004 when I got my 04 GLS.

List Of Repairs:
Water pump
Pistons
Rings
Heater Core X2
Radiator
Fender
Upper Radiator Hose X7
Lower Radiator Hose
Reshaped my thermostat housing because no company made them and the dealership couldn't get one for me.
Thermostat Housing Cap X9
Starter X3
Wheel stud
Hood X5
In the last two years I replaced the brakes 4 times
Hood release cable snaped and was never fixed
Spark plugs X4
Plug Cables X4

Now on to stereo components:
Blown:
6 sets of 3 1/4 speakers
4 sets of 6X9's
5 12" Subs
Replaced:
5 radios
All speaker wires twice

Ah I loved the hell out of that car, Miss her every day. The piece of crap that it was, she was always there for me(well... almost always).

[ArunSenior04]

1990 Ford Probe
100K miles
Auto Tranny (considered one of the worst ford trannies)

Worst:

Slammed the door to hard and auto windows would slide.
Keys didnt work in any locks (opened by keyless entry)
Automatic shoulder belts broke and than locked up so they wouldnt extend or retract (common problem with al Probes)
Past owner tried to change interior from gray to burgundy (ewww). Stopped after changing carpet and seats. Half of the panels were still grey.
One headlight stuck up.
Past owner cut out rear seatbelts and took out front shoulder belts

I went from this, to my 01 XD. But you know what, if I ever find a 89-91 Probe in good condition, and I had the cash, I would buy it in a heart beat. Even though It had problems, I loved that car. Plus the support in the online community (probetalk) was amazing. For example, I posted about my car having a seatbelt problem (originally no shoulder belt; taken out by past owner), and how I wouldnt be able to get it inspected. Someone sent me a free set of shoulder belts so that I could get it inspected.

There's something about working on a discontinued, little aftermarket support car that really brings out the best in people. Thats prolly why there car club was so strong with 23K members in a short 4 years. I really miss that car. :(

[paki]

i think that you are officially winning, johnblaze94

1991 Acura Integra LS
4 door

-Salvage title.
-162k miles
-Waist belt on drivers seat didnt work
-custom made exhast.. using plumbing pipes :)
-had to replace a brand new alternator, spent $250 right there.
-automatic.. enough said
-speedometer would "flutter" at 20 mph... meaning the needle would shake +/- 5mph
-all speakers except for one had water damage
-tape deck had one channel blown.. the channel for the WORKING speaker (go figure)
-a roof dent. how the hell do you get a roof dent? (didnt happen w/ me, btw)
-many other dings, left front door had a dent
-engine had been flooded
-paint cracked everywhere
-trunk would only close if you hit the lock with a hammer first
-only one window had tint on it, and it was faded
-had fake spinners on it for a time (purely for enjoyment :))
-had to slam the driver's door really hard to be able to close it. the hinge was bad

i think thats about all. i bought the car for about $1100 and i ended up spending another grand on it (audio system, maintenance). i sold it for $1500 back to what i got it for with maintenance. so all in all it was pretty much a good car, not much of a loss :) i liked it, but i like my xd more. got this january 05

[johnblaze94]

Oh, my sunbird had 187K, was automatic, And I forgot to add a replaced Cat to the list.

Plumbing Pipe! Nice :)

Quick side note, my elantra has two spinner hub caps on it. Both on the passanger side, stock hubcaps on the drivers side. (friends said I wouldn't do it so what was I to do). In a month or two I'm getting rims, so they aren't permanent!!

[paki]

oh god i was going to have a heart attack. which ones ya got? target brand.. walmart brand.. autozone brand.. pepboys brand..? lol i had targets for a while, then proceeded to walmart, then proceeded to steelies, then back to normal hubcaps

and hey if anyone else wants an exhaust made out of plumbing pipe, i know a guy that will do it for only $50!

[johnblaze94]

Pepboys..YEAH!!:) They've got flames and everything

[paki]

LMAO im not even going to say anything

[slow 2K2GT]

my black cadilacs were a definite worst.

[paki]

deeeeeessssssscccccccrrrrrriiiiiiibbbbbbbbeeeee them please :D

[johnblaze94]

my black cadilacs were a definite worst.
You have any specs on the car? Repairs, Troubles?

[tricked03gls]

1988 chevy S10............damn thing cought fire and i got frost bite throwing snow on it to put it out, (i was a firefighter at the time i didnt want to call my dept for my truck bein on fire.....kinda embarassing)

things wrong - engine wouldnt start with out starter fluid
exhaust - wasnt one filled the cab with smoke
windows lol tint was dirt you COULDNT get off and the knobs were broken
to top it off the truck was 3 colors red black and primer, fender almost fell off a few times, shifter didnt really work kinda smal and hope to grab a gear
burned out 4 switches for my off road light on my duct tape roll bar
and i might have old pics id hafta dig them up of this pos and the wonderful engine fire lol had a kick'n system though

[Gman]

My worst was my first car - I still miss it

78 toyota truck - paid $500 for it.

it was sh1t brown on bottom half, and piss yellow on the top.

When we got it, it had an alum cap on the back and snow tires on the rear. And the best feature was the 8track! SO this thing was a chick magnet.

The bed was rusted through on both sides, that I tried to fix, so one side was primer black. I had backed into several things so the rear bumper was folded under the rear.

The motor ran great for having 200k, had the tip leaking 20r head gasket. It had no brake fluid cap, that I later found out was over $100 to replace, so an old plastic jar lid worked great.

The fun part was the loose tie- rods that wouldn't let the thing go over 50mph unless the planets were just in the right spots. The thing would shake so bad that you couldn't hold on to the wheel.

I drove the crap out of that thing for 2 and a half years, changed the oil once, threw the air fliter away without replacing it cause it ran better without one.

It finally died when I took a corner too close and hit a very high curb. The rear frame was so rusted that the rear axe ripped the mounts off the right side. I still drove it like that for a week, but it wouldn't go straight it was in a constant turn to the left.

It set in my Dads field for two years, till some guy came by and asked about it, he gave us $350 for it.

[kylemorg]

1978 GMC 1/2 ton 4X4 pickup with 78K to 140K miles, three speed manual. We called it the "Zombie truck". It had a plow mount on the front. I always had wanted to paint teeth on the front bumper, cause it looked and sounded mean.

Good: Lots of power from the 350 with Rochester Quadrajet and an open-sided air cleaner; since it didn't have positraction, you could smoke one of the rear tires. We also had a stock single exhaust glasspack straight thru muffler on it, which really sounded nice!

Bad: Fenders rusted out, rear metal wheelwells fell out (luckily I had a plastic bedliner) Cab mountings were rusting off so that the cab wasn't sitting straight on the frame any more -- you had to pull the clutch up with your toe. It was an ugly brown when we got it, so we painted it camoflague (SP?). Later it was painted flat black. When the front bumper rusted off, we replaced it with two stacked 2X8"s until we got yelled at during inspection. Too many repairs to mention (including two clutches)!

[Gun5]

lol this thread is good I should get my dad on here about some of his cars, one car was 5 different colors, rust-primer-paint and 2 others lol :eek:

[ilanpro]

1987 Shelby Charger, 87K Replaced everything but the engine and Trans. The only american car I have Owned other than my 89 Jeep.

[Kenshin]

Wow, Gman, I think you're winning!

Try this one:
My first vehicle, 1969 Ford F250.
390 V8 w/ 4spd manual (1st gear was a creeper gear, so I never used it.)
LOTS of rust. You could see the passenger side front tire and the pavement below it from inside the cab, and there was about a 2 FOOT diameter rust hole in the front passenger side corner of the bed.
Plywood Bed floor covering the gaping hole, custom fabbed galvanized steel passenger floorboard (again to cover the gaping hole.)
Good 'ol Pine 2x4 side rails around the perimiter of the bed.
FREAKING NYLON TIRES!!!! (Bias-ply. Complete with inner-tubes.) They literally weren't even made out of rubber. On a cold morning you could feel the flat spots in the tires as you drove until the tires warmed up. Grip? What Grip? They made the most awful smell if you smoked 'em off. Mmm... burning plastic...
Hmm... Repairs... Actually not that bad, just a new starter, dual glasspacks to replace the muffler that fell off because it rusted in half, and a busted clutch linkage.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the best one. I'm going around a curve in the road, and all of a sudden the rear end of the truck starts to feel really wierd, then the left side rear end just drops and goes CLUNK! SCRAAAAPE! I very quickly let the truck come to a stop as I see the left rear wheel with the entire left side of the axle still attached to it rolling past me out into traffic. To this day it's still the wierdest thing I've ever seen. I guess the rust was so bad that one of the parts that holds everything together disintegrated allowing it to slide out of the axle shaft. :eek:

Try and top THAT!

*Edit* Oh! I almost forgot! This thing was stylish, too. Guess where the spare tire was mounted... ON THE FRONT OF THE GRILL!!! Man, what a redneck-mobile.

[JacksonJ]

1990 Ford Probe
100K miles
Auto Tranny (considered one of the worst ford trannies)

I went from this, to my 01 XD. But you know what, if I ever find a 89-91 Probe in good condition, and I had the cash, I would buy it in a heart beat. Even though It had problems, I loved that car. Plus the support in the online community (probetalk) was amazing. For example, I posted about my car having a seatbelt problem (originally no shoulder belt; taken out by past owner), and how I wouldnt be able to get it inspected. Someone sent me a free set of shoulder belts so that I could get it inspected.

There's something about working on a discontinued, little aftermarket support car that really brings out the best in people. Thats prolly why there car club was so strong with 23K members in a short 4 years. I really miss that car. :(

LOL, I went from a 89 Ford Probe GL. Auto. It was Black with Burgandy interior. Looked real great, I'm with you on the buying one in a heart beat. I've looked from time to time to see if there is any available (althought I don't have the money). And I do agree, the Auto Trannies were the downfall of that car, I went through 3 of them, the 3rd tranny didn't have an OD gear. Years after I lost the car I found out it was either a Negitive Ground missing or the Speed sensor was shot. Because of the OD gear not working I was reving the engine too much on the highway and broke the timing belt going 130 km/h. I now wish I wouldn't have sold it to a scrap yard. I should have kept it. Both headlights worked perfectly and I seen they can go for upto $300 CDN each.

[big_rob]

1977 K5 Blazer-
color- rust and holes
5 miles to the gallon, anything over 40 mph it shook so hard you felt like it was gonna fall apart, partly because it was stuck in 4X4. hole in the radiator, no radio, windows didnt even crank down, jammed somehow, reverse gear was shot, but it had a 6 inch lift and 39 inch tires, so instead of backin up, i just drove over whatever was in front of me. only had it for a couple months, drove it for a winter, but it was a tank. not the worst car listed listed by far, but she was rough

on the plus side, i made money on it, paid 300 for it, sold the car to a guy for 500 cuz he wanted the 350 engine out of it for his camaro, so i did end up making money on it, cant complain about that

[tuner]

Well, Im sure I don't have the worst but i'll post anyways. It was a 99' Neon that I bought with 19,000 miles on it. I put 2,000 miles on the car when the transmission, clutch, flywheel, and all that good stuff went out. I bought the car from a dealership in Va. Beach but the guy that had traded it in had left his number and address in the car by mistake. I called him and asked if he had any problems with the car when he owned it. He said that the car had three full transmissions and since it went out again then this will have been the fourth tranny in the car and it only had 21,000 miles on the ododmeter. As soon as I got this fixed, I found out the transmission gasket was leaking!!!!!!!!! Along with the oil pan gasket, and the head gasket!!!!! The car had other minor problems and annoyances, and this was just too much. I traded the car after only four months and a little over 21,000 miles. So I'am no longer a Dodge fan at all.

[importdriver05]

mine was 97 s-10 i the motor blew 2 weeks after buying it and the tranny was going out when i traded it

[BobMs_wht2k2]

Wifes car. 1998 RAV4 5spd. Thing ate 4 cats, 5(?) O2 sensors, ECM, needed shocks and a differential by 80k miles. Caught on fire once while I was trying to drive the pos home.

She bought it new in 1998 and I was so glad to get rid of that car. Traded it for her suzuki, got $9000 trade-in. Total repair cost to put back on the lot to sell: $5000 in parts, $1100 labor + $9000 trade-in. After that and what I saw at the toyota store with new one I'll NEVER buy another toyota.

[aLoNe I bReAk]

I also owned a red 1994 Pontiac Sunbird. Mine was an automatic as well, but I had the 2-door version, which I thought looked better than the four door. I really didn't have to do many repairs to it other than basic maintenence (brakes, rotors, oil, bulbs, fluids). The head gasket blew at 92,000 miles and the cost of repair was more than the value of the car, so now I own my XD!

[kylemorg]

Oh... I forgot to mention the car I was driving in College in 1991; it was my Grandmother's old car --

1978 Plymouth Horizon (woodgrain, pumpkin orange vinyl seats, 'nuff said). The best thing about the car was if you turned the engine off when it was hot it'd "diesel" and run for up to 2 minutes without the keys in it!!!

[GTsmokeya]

Mine was my very first car a 1983 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight model two door with a 307 inch V8. This car was my most comftorable but most hated. She shook the whole car at idle.

GTsmokeya

It also had giant rust holes in the drivers door for speed enhancement. :)

[slow 2K2GT]

my black cadillacs were a definite worst.

Black Cadillacs (combat boots): There is one on the end of each leg, and they dont pack much horsepower...

[paki]

lol @ slow_2k2gt

[zx2uner]

Unfortunately a Hyundai. My fist car was a 1990 Hyundai Excel.
45,000-lifters went out-burn a lot of oil
48,000-waterpump
65,000-blow by in the 3 and 4 cylinders, replaced the rings on all pistons
78,000-cracked head, replaced head with remanufactured, and replaced head gasket
112,000-timing belt broke, bent 2 valves, replaced head wityh used one and sold the car to a teen who 2 weeks later crashed it into a burger king pole.

for some reason I still miss that car :Blasting_ :bang: :2gunsfiri

alex

[rckozma]

My first car - 1974 Dodge Colt - it was a golden tan color with black vinyl interior - 4 cyl - 4spd manual - rear wheel drive. It was called the fumigator, because it smoked so bad. It burned about a quart a day. I had it for about 4 months and paid $200 for it. The only thing I could afford to replace at the time was the am radio - I added a Kraco am/fm/cassette. It died as I was pulling it into a Toyota dealership when I traded it for my '83 Toyota Tercel.

[A&F 01 GLS]

http://encyclopedia.classicoldsmobile.com/ninetyeight/91.html bought it in 2001-2002 for $2000 200K miles.. old person drove it... rusting already... kinda nice car TIL the accident and a girl hit me hard in the front right head light and that ruined my car.. then i backed into a mail box when i was drunk... i played bumper tag in the school parking lot... It then stopped working.. starter blew on it.. and a couple other things... it WAS a nice car but now it's a PIECE!

[johnblaze94]

Oh... I forgot to mention the car I was driving in College in 1991; it was my Grandmother's old car --

1978 Plymouth Horizon (woodgrain, pumpkin orange vinyl seats, 'nuff said). The best thing about the car was if you turned the engine off when it was hot it'd "diesel" and run for up to 2 minutes without the keys in it!!!

My Sunbird came from my great Grandmother!!

I'm thinking about letting this thread go for another few days or so, and then starting a poll so that everyone can vote on the winner. Sound good?

[paki]

lol yeah. i'd say give it til sunday night at the very least.. then start the polling!

[johnblaze94]

Done!! :)

Let the folks of the sight decide!!

I guess the winner gets a free dose of all of our sympathy

[rckozma]

You will have to pick the best 10 for a poll, that is the most different selections you can have in a poll.

[Money]

My car before my XD2...1995 Camaro Z28, fully loaded. I miss her. But I am a family man now.

Worst car - 1976 Ford Maverick 4 door, banana yellow paint with a pine needle green vinyl top. Green and brown interior, audiovox tape deck, Sony Discman mounted on dash with super glue, automatic 192k miles, big dent in passenger quarter panel(from a stump that hit me.), no headliner, trunk didn't close right, went rallying with it one night, it died, got it to work again, went to a friends house for an hour, tried to start it, nothing, tried fixing it again, didn't work, grabbed all my crap, put it in neutral and rolled it down a hill into a ditch along the side of the road, called the police said the car was stolen, got taken to impound and they tried to charge me for it, but never paid for it, and haven't heard from them since. Thank god.

[2004ElantraGLS]

The car I drove right before my Elantra was a '99 Accent. I hated the car, and bought it only because it was all I could afford at the time. It was a base model 3-door with a 5-speed. It had A/C but no power windows/doors or anything. Hyundai Tape Deck.

I bought it with 8,000 miles on the odometer and traded it in with just over 130,000 miles. During that time, it was actually a very good car. I treated it like ****...and that's putting it VERY lightly. I would often go over 10,000 miles before doing an oil change, and I only put the cheapest oil in it. The recycled stuff you buy at the dollar store. I never changed any of the other fluids. I did replace the spark plugs twice, and bought a new set of plug wires once. The fuel Filter and Alternator were changed at around 125,000 miles. Also, I only replaced the air filter once. Yeah, I really abused that car. It saw the rev limiter quite often and I tortured the clutch. However, when I traded it in, the only thing wrong with it was a hesitation/bogging/sputter at low RPMs. Think it might have been one of the sensors, not sure. Oh yeah, it had the stock 13 inch steelies and I regularly drove it on rough dirt roads at speeds reaching and sometimes exceeding 55mph.

As for my worst car....I don't think Ive owned one. All the cars I've owned only needed normal repairs like tune-ups, brakes, hoses/belts etc.

But of all of them, my '78 Chrysler LeBaron was pretty bad. It had a 225 slant six and 3-speed auto. I bought it with a bad tranny(no 3rd gear) and replaced it with a tranny from the junk yard. Intirior was red vinyl and it was actually in relatively good shape. No speakers/radio. The only gauge that worked was the speedo. The engine refused to die!!! It burned a little oil and had a few small leaks here n there, but nothing major. I adjusted the valves several times and finally, decided to sell the car. Noone wanted it because the lifters were so damn noisy, so eventually I added some gear oil and saw dust to the crank case. No more lifter noise, and I sold the car a few days later. Funny thing is, I spoke to the guy about 8 months later and he said it was still running strong. I asked him if he'd done an oil change or anything and he said no.

[jimnran]

There is a story behind this so bear with me... I had bought my wife a '91 Ford Explorer, 2 weeks after we bought it the tranny went out in rush hour traffic, got that fixed and had a buddy fix a bad lifter. So we are $2500 into 3 weeks after buying this POS.I get the bright idea that we need 2 cars. I go down and bought a '87 Honda Accord. I bought it after test driving it down the road and back, in the dark with my wife BSing with the salesman. I came back and told her it drove good, "I want it". So now we have the Explorer, runs good and the Honda, runs good, so we think. The next day I decide I need a truck and take the Explorer daown and trade it for a '92 Ford Ranger, standard cab,2 wd, V6, 5 speed, best vehicle I have ever owned. We lived in Portland, Or at the time and there is alot of RAIN. It was christamas time and we had bought our daughter's X-mas presents and put them in the trunk. My wife was saying that her window leaks and I kept saying I would get it fixed. When she would drive it would fog up so she had to either wipe a spot to see or look out the drivers window. The windshield leeked so bad that there was about 2-3" of standing water on the floor. we couldt run the heater because it cause all the windows to fog up. So december was a cold month fo my wife(LOL). So here it is X-mas and we have put all of the presents in the trunk so the kid wouldnt see them. Well at about 10-11 pm we go out to get them and when we open the trunk ( bungee cord lock) all of the presents (ALL OF THEM) are ruined! We had to go out and get new presents at 10-11pm. Thank god for Toys R Us staying open late. Needless to say this Honda caused alot of tiffs for me. My wife still refers to it as the "MOLD MOBILE" This thing stank so bad from the water you would gag getting in. We couldnt register it because it wouldnt pass emissions, driver seat belt was locked so you couldnt use it, I dont remember if the radio worked or if it even had one LOL. My wife is sitting next to me crying from laughing so hard. I ended up giving it to my brother, which in turn got it impounded. The lesson I learned here is, If you are buying a car for your wife, let her test drive it. When we bought the EGT she picked the color and transmission, just so I dont have to have another MOLD MOBILE story!

jimnran

[nogo2.0]

sorry
didn't see the date until now

[Munky]

1988 Chevy Cavalier. It was given to me by a friend, and was my first car.

When I got it, it was as follows:

No grill, instead there was chicken wire

Steering column loose, you could grab the wheel and move it back and forth about 4 inches to each side.

No ignition key, flathead screwdriver.

No drivers side window, plastic garbage bag or plastic sheeting (Pretty much made this a summer only car)

Wouldn't drive for more than 15 minutes before it would start to die at every stop. It would start right up, but it died as soon as you put it in gear.

I sold it for 200 bucks, a friend of mine swapped an engine in there and turned it into a rally/demolition derby car. We ended up blowing it up in his backyard about a year and a half later.

Good times.

[Doohickie]

Holy back-from-the-dead, Batman!

Good topic, though..... I'll go with my 90 Plymouth Sundance. The configuration of the car was exactly what I wanted (and what I like in my Elantra): a 5-door hatchback. But it was a classic case of "buying someone else's problems" in a used car. Had cooling system issues, bad heater core, cracked head, etc., etc. It was the only car in 20+ years of car ownership that I sold with less than 100k miles. It was teh suck.

[mbv2001]

well elantra is my first and only car ive ever had. lol. my parents had a 1970's ford thunderbird with no heat or ac. good ol days. lol.

[Doohickie]

what does "FTMFW" mean?

Do you really want to know? Well, "FTW" means "for the win!" I think you can probably figure out what MF means.

[SuperGLS]

I can't believe I never posted in this thread.

I've always felt lucky to be able to have a vehicle at all, so I don't think of any car as a "worst." With that said, I'm sure the least desirable would have been my first car that my dad gave me, a late 80's Caravan (extended). But, I think it was faster than the Elantra.

[03GT]

Worst car ever owned was the Olds Alero. That thing was in the shop more than all my other cars combined. Oil leaks, suspension rattles, warped rotors, end-link failures, worst of all, crappy service from the dealer. Hence my hatred for GM.

Best car I ever owned was the Millenia S. Never once had a single problem with it. No repairs, no recalls, no failures at all.

My XD has been recalled once (forgot why now), blows out the passenger headlight every 6 months or so and the little plastic clip thing for the visor broke so it doesn't "snap" in anymore. Other than that no problems at all with the car.

[mbv2001]

lol Doohickie. i forgot who it was but they explain it to me already. im so unhip its not even funny. i dont know or understand most slang. im the most uncool 24yr old around. lol.
on topic. a friend of mine had a 1984 town car that was total crap. he paid 800 bucks for it and coolnt even tell how many miles was on the damn thing. so after having it for 2 months and spending alot of money on it, the car over heated and lite up the night. the look on his face was priceless! lmao..

[cclngthr]

I haven't posted here either Super...

My first few cars were older, and not maintained well, but there are 2 that I did a lot of work to.

My 74 El-Camino started off as a wreck, but it was my first car and a project. My brother had ot before me and took a corner at 60 and rolled it. I got it and did this to it:

REPLACED:
roof
RS/LS quarter panels
RS/LS doors
floorpan
Funny thing is, the front end did not get much damage. The nose did escape a lot of the force. The tailgate had some, but it easily was repaired with well placed hammer hits.

I drove it around for about 6 years before doing a frame-off restoration where all of the bodywork and frame/suspension work was completed. Frame was good and managed to survive my brothers driving.

I installed:
Sunroof
dual outer mirrors
shaved body moldings
new electricals
LT-1 Corvette engine
TH 350 auto trans with shift kit
seats, interior panels.

The headache of a car was the 68 T-Bird I had. Constantly gave me trouble, from the transmission to the brakes failing. It was totalled.

[CornbreadXD]

87 dodge daytona pacifica paid $640 for it to use for a winter/2nd car and it is still sitting in the backyard next to my busted elantra.
-Steering Column Broken
-Started w/ screwdriver
-No Heat
-Gas tank leaked w/ more than 5 gallons in it
-Power mirrors didn't work
-Radio harness was stripped and replaced with all white wires
-All the wires under the hood were red, cuz someone didn't know how to rewire and colorcode (WTF!)
-Turbo didn't spool after 3 months
-Engine started knocking.....BUT I still liked driving it.

[theWorst]

1992 Hyundai Excel... no options.. totally base model manual... LOVED IT.. but so much went wrong.. except the engine.. it just WOULD NOT DIE.... lol... and so much fun to drive..

Owned it from 1997 (when i got my license) till 2000 (when I bought a Saturn L300)

Replaced: Tie Rod Ends, Brakes x twice,
Headgasket
Exhaust gasket
Entire exhaust (wish i knew about modding at that time)
Timing belt
(something was wrong with the timing kept getting off)
Clutch
Drivers side axle
Rear Suspension
umm..... the steering wheel..

I miss that car so much.. sometimes i scan the papers just for a Excel for $100... that would be a fun project car.. 4G63T of course. !!!


also wanted to mention i got in about 4 front end collisions with this thing and NOT A CRACK< DING< or BENT ANYTHING !!!
however a football put a 2 foot dent in the hood.. haha.

[Jlivan]

1997 Geo Metro.....I don't think I need to say any more. A/C was always being repaired (4 times under warranty & once after warranty) and it all ended in a broken cankshaft after the trany died.

[Schooner]

I had a '92 Cavalier RS Coupe that was basically given to me by my folks... ended up costing me as much as a new car payment would have been in repairs... had to replace:

catayltic converter
brakes (pads, shoes, discs and drums)
radiator
every belt
windshield wash spray nozzle
driver's seat (just worn out)... floor bolt broke off when I tried to take the old one out... ended up jerry-rigging a bolt with a steel plate to fit the seat in.

When I gave it back it had about 350,000 KMs (which is why I am not too bitter about it all)... the engine still worked great... but there was more rust than sheet metal. The little 90HP 4 cyl just didn't cut it either. I used to make regular trips between Toronto and Halifax... and just didn't think it would make it back that time.

That's when I picked up a '92 Oldsmobile Acheiva. Nice car, smooth ride... but it required work as well....

brakes (everything again)
head gasket (never did... got rid of it and bought my Elantra!)

My Elantra has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Have had it for 5 years now and haven't had to do a single thing to it (outside of regular maintenance). Liked it so much I bought out the lease last month!

Not even brakes (yet... probably some time this year). :-)

[Pete03GLS]

i had a 1992 hyundai excel hatchback.

it was a cheap lil car, given to me by my dad, it was severly under powered, but i guess that was a good thing since i was just starting to drive.

if i could, id get that car back n get rid of the elantra... or atleast keep both of them if i cud. i loved that lil car.

[Matrixloader]

My first car and worst car was a 1987 Honda prelude 2.0Si
I lived in Kodiak Alaska at the time.

1. the sunroof leaked water into the back seat
2. muffler fell of the same week i bought it
3 the cars paint did not match
4. the bottom side was rusted
5. tranny went out in 7 months , 1 week after i had sold it, so the new owner had the worst luck.

[Tommy]

worst is hard in my history. there were a lot of bad ones.

first really bad one was an 89 toyota camry, 4cly 5spd. Most obnoxious car problem ive ever had.

Guy had it on craigslist, said the engine was rebuilt, clutch replaced then one day it just died, wouldnt start. Asking $600 for it. I go out to look at it, turns out all it was was a broken cable on the starter. Reconnected it, started right up, drove it home. Ran like a champ for about 2 weeks.

THEN, im driving down the road, shift gears, and it stalls. While the car is moving, at like 40mph, the engine just shut off, no warning, nothing took 5 minutes to get it restarted. Drove fine for a couple more miles, then did it again. At this point im baffled. Finally got it started again, drove it home, parked it for a day or 2. Start it back up, ran great for a day, then stalls at 45mph again. Got it going, and its got NO power at all, barely moves.

I battled that thing for another 2-3 weeks. Just constantly stalling while driving down the road. Ive replaced the fuel filter, fuel pump, distributer, ECU, TPS, MAF, cold start injector, ignition control switch, everything i could think of. Its gotten to the point it wouldnt even start anymore. So christmas night, im outside working on it again, try to start it up, and BOOM, huge fireball shoots from the engine bay. Thing bursts into flames. So there i am, christmas night, calling the FD to come put my car out. Burned to a crisp. had that car barely 6 weeks. $600 + about $500 in parts, burned up and gone for ever. Still have no idea why it caught fire, or wtf the stalling was all about.

Then there was my 89 VW GTI 16v. Within 2 weeks of buying it, the fuel system goes to crap. Spent about $300 replacing parts, trying to get the ****ty mechanical fuel injection system working right. After getting that sorted out about a week later the timing belt snapped, while i was going out to eat with some friends, and the guy i bought the car from. Trashed the head. $600 and 2 weeks later, its back on the road. Drove for about a month, running great, going to a car meet with the same guys as when the belt snapped. Driving down the interstate at 65 and the engine just dies. Coast to a stop, wont start up. Get it towed home, compression check yeilds 0 compression on 3cly and 15psi on the 4th. When i pulled the plugs, one of them was destroyed. Not good.

Got the head off, found a valve embeded in the top of the #3 cyl, pieces of shrapnel everywhere. Defective valve on the rebuild head f'd me over good. Scrapped that car to the neighbor, got $300 out of it.

That $1500 car ended up costing me about $3000 after all the work, towing and parts.

[Deviant]

1999 Ford Ranger.

[slyderdai]

Mine 85 S-10 Blazer.
When I got it the brakes went out on th e way home. Replaced all the lines and master cylinder. Then the whole exhaust fell off the following week. Later on that year I find out the 4wd doesn't work (after getting stuck in the snow) My father in laws 85 ford tempo pulled me out lol. The day after my daughter was born it died driving down the highway. No idea why it just died and wouldn't start back up. So I got the elantra. The truck sat in my back yard for the whole summer never starting. I decided to sell it and it started right up the guy who bought it still drives it now 2 years later. I saw him last week and ask him how it's running he said he couldn't ask for a better vehicle WTF????

[hotbod4you]

1995 Ford Contour SE V6. Had a little power, but was a pos. I can't even remeber everything that went wrong. Anyways, it was my first and last "american"(i think it was made in mexico) car.

[ilanpro]

1985 shelby charger, I wii NEVER buy an american car because of it

[CornbreadXD]

my daytona = your charger those cars are awful, but the turbo dodge guys swear by them

[jalmir]

The worst car I had was my 1991 Dodge Colt ... a real peice of **** that died at a stop sign.

[Whiplash]

My J1 is the worst car I have owned.

[jalmir]

lol I believe you, I had the same engine in the Colt ... 4G61 engines are pure bs engines! the engine blew even before it got to 100k miles!!! (it had 153 000km)

[Whiplash]

I have the 1.8L. 4G67...same thing as 4G63 but smaller. All the same problems.

[2002 GLS]

Wow, i would stay my First car, a 1994 Saturn Sl1 with A/c P/s and T/C and all 85HP.

[murda-c]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/henry517/IMG_2819-1.jpg?t=1206671168

My first car. 1988 mazda 323 i got for almost nothing.

Never changed the oil because a put a quart in every few days.

82 bhp when it was new in 88. it raped everything on the road.

[2loud2k2xd]

1996 mercury sable. bought it and drove it home. only to have the motor blow on me on the way home. the dude i bought it from put 80w oil in it to quiet the motor down. i was 17 and didnt know sheet about cars. just needed a car to get stuff done.

[krodammi]

have to put in my .02. the car i had right before the elantra was a 90 dodge omni bought it for $700.

no outside driver's door handle

hatch had to be held up with a stick

odometer was stuck at 132,430 (who knows how many miles were really on it)

headliner falling off (we held it up with thumbtacks)

didn't need a key to start as long as you didn't lock the key thing. could pull the key out of the ignition while the car was running

couldn't drive it very far in one trip because the exhaust was coming into the car and it would make you sick

had it for a year and then i had to renew the plates but had to pass emissions first. took it in and failed, put that "guaranteed to pass emissions" crap in the gas tank, took it in and failed, took it to a shop and they pulled some part and replaced it, took it in and failed, replaced the cat, took it in and failed...all the while my tags are now expired. i had picked it up from the shop and got pulled over on the way to take it back to the emissions place. he let me slide for the registration but i didn't have insurance because in the state of az you can't have insurance without a currently registered vehicle and you can't have the currently registered vehicle without passing emissions. took it in and failed. failed a total of 10 times, couldn't figure out wtf was wrong with it so i traded it in for the elantra. they gave me $500 and are now charging me 28% interest but its the best thing that ever happened to me

[mtlelantra]

My wife had a Datsun 210 outta high school. Floor board rusted through- you could see the road while you drove. Ahh, safety 1st!

[BColeman]

1990 Dodge Colt
1997 Ford Contour
1976 Volkswagen Beetle
1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera International
2002 Hyundai Elantra GLS
2001 Mazda B3000
2005 Ford F-150
2005 Hyundai Elantra GT


Only the bottom 2 on the list above were my favorites, and most reliable. My first XD was a Lemon, but Hyundai kept screwing me over. Blaming the freakin' Pioneer HU on the Air Bag light staying on (*****es!!!). I still have the '05 XD2, which hasn't given me problems other than the motor.

[Gomez]

First car was a 1989 Silver Nissan Sentra 4 speed manual. Bought it for $1500 with about 96k miles. Replaced the clutch twice, likely due to me not driving stick well. I replaced the exhaust at around 110k miles.

I had to replace the front bumper cover, grille and radiator. I was on my way to see Fight Club when 2 deer committed suicide using my car. I was going about 40 mph when I see them standing on the side of the road. I slow down a bit and the moment I was about to pass them they darted out in front of the car. Slaughtered both of them.

The engine started leaking oil around 120k. Towards the end of its life I was putting in 2 quarts ever 1500 miles.

The last time I drove it was on my 45 mile commute home from my job. The engine sounded horrible. I pulled over. Looked at the oil level. It was low. Took the cap off and steam was coming out. I got home and parked it. Within a few days 2 tires were flat and it wouldn't start. That car was just ready to die.

2nd car was 1993 Blue Satrun SL1 Sedan Automatic. I only drove this car for a year. The seats were comfortable. Auto was nice, I was tired after 4 years of a manual. The worst thing about it was that it was horribly slow. I would put the pedal to the floor and have the power by next week.

I noticed the early signs of an oil leak and used some of that engine oil stop leak stuff that I got from a guy I worked with and it actually stopped the leak. Or just postponed it until I sold it. It needed a new thermostat but the guy I sold it to didn't notice when he test drove so oh well.