Your car horror stories

I'm the sort of person who loves looking up the worst cars ever made, and reading the ensuing scathing reviews. Something about me seems to get some sort of pleasure from reading about the worst cars money can buy, or horror stories people have about their cars. And I've noticed other car people are the same. So...here's your chance. Post up all the horror stories you've got from your previous rides, or stories you've heard from others. Be it a lemon, or just a plain piece of junk...let's hear it.

I'll start with the black minivan on the left hand side of this photo:



No it is not in a junkyard, it is my boyfriend's parents house. (The van on the right is his dad's, the van in the back will be explained shortly). His mom has had this Chrysler Town and Country for years, and the past couple years have been nothing but trouble. A few years back the transmission went out while his family was visiting family in NYC. Having no way home, his mom bought a used one and had it installed. Over the past year or so, this van was going to the shop nearly every month. The AC would go out, there would be brake problems, coolant system issues...just about everything that could go wrong did. She ran it into a pole once, hence the mismatch front end. The door handles had fallen off, and the car left her stranded many, many times. The nail in this vehicle's coffin though, was related to the coolant leak, which required her to put coolant in the radiator frequently. For a one or so month period though, she was (for reasons unknown to us and her) pouring power steering fluid into the coolant. When her mechanic realized this, he said it was about time to start looking for a new car. Nonetheless, she brought it to Lexington to visit us one day (a four hour trip). At the start of the trip, all the dashboard gauges and dials stopped working. I had to maneuver it out of the driveway...and for the 60 feet or so I drove it I was scared. The brakes felt...wrong, and the engine was making a horrible ticking and screeching noise. Sure enough on the way home later that day...it gave up the ghost. It is currently residing in her yard, providing parts for his dad's old Plymouth Voyager.

So she bought ANOTHER shabby Chrysler Town & Country to temporarily replace it (the van in the background), which also gave her many problems. Against my boyfriend and I's urges to buy a nice, reliable Toyota, Nissan, or Honda...she bought a 2004 Ford Taurus. So I'm expecting to start hearing similar stories again soon. I should note that she has plenty of money to buy a nice car...she just doesn't care.

That's the worst I've heard...so let's see if you guys can beat it. (Sorry for the long post, I'm bored and cleaning the apartment )

 

My current van is the worst vehicle I've owned. Duck tape all over the front bumper, rear bashed in, hood creased. My wife's grandma ran it into her house. That's how the front got damaged and the rear, well lets just say she was cruising along on the hwy, saw a garage sale, mashed the brakes and put it in reverse and wonders why she got rear ended!

 

Wow, I did think that was a junkyard.

 

Ill I could hear in the back of my head was banjo music...........

 

haha not all Kentuckians are rednecks Best part...she's not even from Kentucky, she's from Peru xD

 

Owning a 2004 Hyundai sonata that rusted out in about 2 years was my horro story, Good thing My sister totalled the damn thing out. No more hyundai's ever! Ps. Rusty is that an external airconditoner unit on top of the black van or just a van bicycle helmet? hehehe.

 

Dang two years? What specifically rusted out?

It's actually grille from the newest generation of Dodge Grand Caravan...no idea what it's doing there :shead:

 

The lower edges of the door panels and also parts of the muffler. I live in Good old wintery buffalo. The salt during winter might have accelerated the process. I am surprised that they have a new grill on an old van... man be they were going to try and retrofit those??

 

Google Clovis California, its redneck town LOL......... thats where Im from.

 

Maybe its time for another caravan :d

 

It always surprises me when I see newer cars with lots of rust. That's something I suppose you'd expect to see in about 1970, but you'd think that rust prevention techniques would have improved some by now...

 

My 2010 GMC sierra, I wont go into details because i would literally be here all night. GM bought it back, Lawyer told me for every 10 lemon claims they get 8 of them are GM's. I guess after the bankruptcy in 2008 they had a change of suppliers to help boost profits, they were rushed to tooling over in china and other parts of the world and has been shit ever since. He said the worst year to buy any GM is 2009 anything made in the second half.

GM was in my blood, my GPOP sold them for years and years and thats all my family would own, i grew up with them. My 06 MINI was the first foreign car in the family and burst everyones bubble that it would be nothing but problems (it wasnt, was actually flawless) Since then my dad has owned nothing but audis and not one has been short of amazing and reliable, after my 2010 fiasco my GPOP went to ford (he had one of those calvin stickers on his truck's pissing on ford) and the rest of the family went to toyotas. I will never own another GM in my life and i dont think anybody else in my family will be buying one either.

Good Story Rusty, I chuckled.

 

My '92 Toyota MR2 has been my biggest trouble maker. I had been looking for one for a long time and couldn't find one I wanted, in good condition. Then I found this one, on the other side of the state. The owner assured me that it ran perfect, paint was excellent, and it had no issues at all. So I take the trip expecting to buy. Test drive went well, felt great, couldn't get it up to any speed in town so I never put it in 5th. The paint wasn't that great, there were big scrapes around the rear wheel arches like snow chains came undone while driving. I was disappointed, but that wasn't gonna break the deal. So I buy the car, go to fill up for the trip home and I discover the dipstick doesn't read oil. I started to get sketchy about the car. I put a quart in for safe measure and had a couple extra just in case. Now getting on the freeway I pop it in 5th gear and it makes a very strange sound, like a whining sound almost. But it seemed to work just fine so I kept going.

So I get home with it and did an oil change the next day. Oil was dripping from both sides of the engine but I couldn't find the leaks. And the dipstick still doesn't read oil. Several months later a tie rod goes out, then 5th gear gave out on the high way, then the other tie rod goes out, then the voltage regulator in the alternator started acting up and would turn into a ground when the car was off. A ground wire connected to the batteries positive terminal is a great way to kill a battery dead. So now it sits until I can replace the motor and tranny. And I'll do that when is get my other MR2 running after I blew the engine doing a bit of enthusiastic driving on a quiet, twisty lake road. These cars are money pits, but are so good when they're working lol

 

I had an 08 sierra, I heard rumors of that. After the bailout I wont buy another GM product. They stopped using alot of the american supply chain and now they are paying for it. I probably have had 10 GM trucks and SUVs in as many years and never had any issues other then a bad differential on my 07 yukon, but that was fixed under warranty............ Now I hear alot of stories.


If I ever buy another Domestic truck it will probably be a Ford.

Im pretty happy with my VWs right now, long term I think they are just as good as anything else out there, its how you maintain them.

Im sort of on the fence about toyota though, Id love a tundra, but after getting recall notices almost bi annually for an IS350 I no longer own, and watching my dads tacoma have to have the firewall re welded in 4 spots, and a good friend of mine had the same issue. IDK. Both issues their were gaps in the welds and Carbon Monoxide leaked into the cabin, they could have been killed or seriously injured. And from what they were told (keep in mind this is an 08 tacoma and a 2012 tacoma from DIFFERENT plants) that the robotic welders frequently miss spots. Another friend bought a tacoma about 6 months ago and it was leaking water into the cabin under the carpet. This is a 2013 tacoma.....Toyota took 2 months to figure out it was condensation from the AC system, they had to replace the entire system, new carpet etc. then he gets it back. It went back to toyota 3 times in two months for a rattling dash. finally they just bought it back.

I wont even go into the people killed in the throttle issues.........

Honestly ALL cars have issues, its how they are resolved that sets the companies apart

 

My 2004.5 Dodge Ram 2500 has been (knock on wood) a wonderful truck. Bought it with 26 miles on it from a dealer in Austin and got it for a good price. I've got close to 105K in the odometer now and I've only to replace the steering wheel (leather starting wearing too quick), steering pump and perhaps one other thing. Although it gets less than 20 miles per gallon, I work from home so don't do a lot of miles.

I really want an Audi, but the dealership in Austin is not very good. At least not from what I've read. So BMW it is. Those 535i models with the M Sport package look mighty tasty.

 

Had a brand new 550 in the shop recently, P1et. Absolutely stunning.

 

I really want an audi too, but I agree those new 5 series are real head turners.......

 

you know, I've never been a fan of Toyota and Lexus. Im a guy that has to literally feel quality. If I get in and I feel like the door is hollow, the steering wheel is made out of molded PVC and I feel like I'm going to press through a button when I change something or turn on my lights your car is really cheap, if you cant make things that i touch daily out of quality components where else did you skimp? Everyone I talk to seems like their toyotas cars always in the shop for this and that. I think they have such a cult following that they "can do no wrong" so they have given up ion caring about quality. I got into a new Avalon at the Philly car show with a sticker price of around 60k and it was literally theworst feeling interior car I have ever touched followed only by infinities and Cadillacs joke of a quality "luxury" interior. Being able to sit in a Cadillac, then Toyota, then infinity and finally a BMW/Audi interior back to back really shows that the Germans put a lot of thought and "money" into the interiors and the buttons. It truest is night and day. If I'm sitting in a 60k car and I'm going to buy it it had better feel that expensive, not like some pos toy

When mini switched to the new r56 style (07-current) I was horrified at the interior and the quality that BMW chose to pair that with. I swore I would never own another mini again because it literally fealt like it was going to fall apart, I guess they listened to all of the complaints because in 2011 they redid the interior with much higher quality components. It's still not up to par with my 06 but its worlds better then the junk they put in the 07-10 years.

and I agree, if I'm going to go back to a domestic work vehicle it is going to be a Ford! Seems like they are on the ball with their trucks!

 

I agree, the quality has to be there. That is why I now own VWs, the newer ones are highly rated, have few if any recalls and have outstanding warranties. But, when you get inside they feel like quality. The interiors are done well, they don't feel cheap. I can get in my passat, and then sit in an Audi and they feel identical. Not knocking lexus untill they decided to go with that horrid new grille. But the interior of my IS had alot of gaps in the dash. The fit and finish just was not there.

 

They are gorgeous. Any pics Ken? The 550i would be my first choice, but I am ready for a vehicle that is sensible. My wife's 135i gets decent fuel mileage on the motorway but it still averages low 20s combined. A 535i would be a good compromise between performance and economy.