Worst car you've ever owned? Me: VW Dasher

[trof]

It was a cool looking car for 1974.
It had one drawback.
It wouldn't start if the driver didn't have the seat belt fastened.
Seriously.

There was some kind of contact switch in the driver's seat that somehow interconnected with the ignition.
Sounds good, right?
Everybody should wear seat belts.
Yeah.

Except...after a few months, the switch didn't work that well.
So I'd bounce up and down while turning the key and eventually it would 'hit' and we had...IGNITION!
And then finally no amount of bouncing worked and I had to have the damn thing towed to the dealer and they wanted about $500 to replace the switch.

And I said "It's yours".
hunh?
"It's yours. This damn car is yours. I don;t want it any more. What will you give me for it?"
It was some ridiculously low amount, but i took it.
Fuck it.

I bought a Toyota.
No problems.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. 1982 Oldsmobile diesel

I got the car from my dad in about 1984. The engine had horrible head gasket problems and had to be replaced three times in four years. Almost as bad was a mid 1990s Ford Taurus that went through two engines in three years and I finally got out of it when I was rear-ended on the freeway. The Olds diesel was a very poor design.

In contrast I've had a 1973 Saab like the one below for the last 12 years and have had no problems except for once changing the clutch plate and a couple of brake jobs.

[bluedigger]

2. I had the same problem with a used VW Golf.

We finally fixed it with a piece of wire bypassing the shoulder harness buckle where the short was. I was always breaking down in it, though. It was a POS.

[Archae]

3. 1965 Ford station wagon, bought in 1978.

It was breaking down as I watched, and sucked gas like a tank.

(Just think of this car, but in black.)



I sold it for $100 more than I paid for it, for junk.

[madamesilverspurs]

11. Hah!

Back in 1977 I had that white station wagon, although I can't swear to its original color; the previous owner had repainted it -- with a brush; still had brush marks around the windows. The passenger doors quit working, so I had to crawl in through the tailgate and crawl over the seats to get behind the wheel. I was driving it into the shop for safety inspection and the steering wheel came off in my hands. Later that day the hood latch broke and the hood came up while I was on the highway; only by the grace of God did I make it over to the side of the road without wrecking. The final blow came one winter morning when I turned on the heater and it blew snow in my face. Sold it for $50, $25 less than I paid for it. And I was wishing I had my Corvair back.


-

[Kali]

48. OMG!

are we related? I grew up in a white 64 ford wagon and drove it through highschool (it was a great old car, though AND it had positraction so it kicked ass at boonie parties where the show-offs in tehir big pick-ups were alwasy stuck in the sand

I am the current owner of a 61 corvair lakewood wagon. make me an offer!

[pipi_k]

4. Hah! I've had a whole car lot full

of worst cars...

there was the 1979 Audi (bought in 1989)

the 19-whatever Plymouth Cricket

the 19-whatever Dodge Omni

the 19-whatever Chevy Shove-its...er, I mean Chevettes (2 of them!)

and a whole lot more


Although I think my brother managed to outdo my shitty car record in one swoop with an AMC Pacer.

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. Cricket? is that a real car?

??

[MicaelS]

5. 1987 Hyundai Excel

Terribly underpowered, taillights leaked rainwater into the trunk. The overall quality was terrible. They must have learned from their mistakes, because today their quality is excellent.

[mucifer]

6. I had a 1984 ford escort

It ate transmissions and I swear it did not like me because I'm Jewish.

No more fords for me.

(henry ford was a known anti-semite http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/social/antisemitism/)

I should have known better than to by a ford.

[backwoodsbob]

7. 89 escort here

feel your pain

[riderinthestorm]

14. Yup, Ford Escort for me. What a disaster that car was... nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. move over. me too. 87 Ford Escort

[RiffRandell]

35. Scort owner in high school.

The thing was such a piece of shit and a deathtrap. Once my guy friend drove it and said he he would never drive it again. I forget what happened to it---I think it finally shit the bed, then I got my Dad's loaded Honda Accord. What an upgrade!

The Mercury version of the Escort was the Lynx.

[Tina8]

8. Spam deleted by Violet_Crumble (MIR Team)

[RebelOne]

9. Ford Cortina

I am not sure of the year because it was so long ago, but I think it was in the '60s. Every time it rained and I went through a puddle, it would stall out.

[Tobin S.]

10. '81 VW Rabbit with a diesel motor

Bought it from a preacher at around 1993 for $750. It had a moon roof in it that leaked. The engine vibrated so badly that it broke the motor mounts. I took it to a garage and it was $525 for the repair. I had about $500 to my name so the guy took that. I was driving down the road one day not long after that and the hood came unlatched and flew up toward the windshield. Fortunately, I was not going really fast and got slowed down fast enough to avoid further damage. Finally, second gear gave way and I gave the car to a junk yard.

But I guess you really can't ask a whole lot out of a $750 car. I bought a 1989 Isuzu pickup truck after that and that was a good little truck. I had no problems out of it except for routine stuff for nine years until it blew a head gasket. Not bad for a used vehicle.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. Pontiac Tempest. probably 68 or 69 -

kind of an ugly thing, ran pretty poorly - ended up getting totaled (I was OK some woman plowed into me while she was looking at her kid in the back seat - I saw it coming).

[Populist_Prole]

44. That's ugly??

I always thought the 1968-1972 GM intermediates ( in coupe or convertible form ) were amongst the best looking cars ever, especially the Pontiacs.

[NRaleighLiberal]

45. Mine was ugly! dirty brownish green, used, dented, a mess!

[Populist_Prole]

46. I see

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. My grandma's 74 Comet (Ford Maverick clone) had the same seatbelt issue.

Never any issues, though. I think VWs just started to especially suck around that time. When Rabbits replaced the Beetles they nearly killed the brand.

[Archae]

15. Ford - Found On Road Dead

Or Fix Or Repair Daily.

Fords were really shit cars from the 60's until the 90's.
Probably longer.

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. yup. I had two - last one was a 87. probably make great cars today but that experience

soured me to the cars.

[hobbit709]

16. My brother had that happen on his 74 Toyota

He had to take out the seat and remove the relay underneath it, and then use a couple of jumper wires mounted on the relay holder to bypass it(funny how they were supplied with the unit). And he had to do this at 2 AM when he got off work and it was 30° below at the time. Needless to say the relay was never replaced.

[NV Whino]

17. VW Rabbit

The car that wrote the Lemon Law.

I sent VW an 11-page list of evrything that had gone wrong with the car (it was only 2 years old). They sent back a 1 paragraph letter saying, "Sorry, we cant so anything. It's beyond the 1 year warrenty." I will never buy another Volkswagen product.

[Digit]

23. VW Rabbit also

Purchased new, needed a new headgasket before it was a year old. It ATE headgaskets. I also wrote to VW and they also told me to shove it.

You couldn't pay me to ever purchase another VW again.

[NV Whino]

34. Two weeks after I bought it, and for the next six months

The thing just died in mid stream. Died once on the Bay Bridge late at night. The bridge guys tow you off the bridge and dump you—it's all the farther they are allowed to go. Then you must call a private tow service. Great part of town, right off the bridge.

Took months to find the intermittent problem, which was a faulty computer chip in the fuel injection system. Then there was the time the plastic radiator just cracked in half.

There were many other problems, and I finally sold it dead to an R&D guy from Kaiser. I figured if anybody could deal with the little lemon he could. The car was about three years old, new when I bought it.

I went through a spate of borrowed cars including a Mercedes (nearly fainted the first time I filled the tank), a 1952 Chevrolet (it died on the freeway, where someone stole all the pristine chrome before my friend could get it towed), a Chevy station wagon that I named the Queen Mary (the engine fell of the mounts, fortunately in my driveway), and a Toyota Corolla that guys at stop signs would offer to buy. From then on it's been Honda or Toyota products with which I have had zero problems. (Except for the piece of shit Ford Ranger someone talked me into buying when I needed a truck.)

[CottonBear]

25. VW Rabbit. It died a fiery death on a highway entrance ramp.

Once, the sunroof handle snapped off in my hand while I was closing the sunroof. I closed it the rest of the way with a pair of pliers.

It had been a mostly good car and it was only about 3 years old.

Then, one day while I was driving home, the engine (wiring) caught on fire. I didn't know this though. The flames were blowing under the car because it was in motion. The lady in front of me stopped and so did I. The flames shot up from under the hood as she jumped out of her car and yelled "your car's on fire!" A trucker grabbed his fire extinguisher from his truck and put it out. I had the car towed home and sold it for junk.

[OrwellwasRight]

50. I'll be a 4th vote for VW Rabbit. Diesel.

In the shop every 30 days like clockwork. I'll never forget the time there was some kind of problem with the fuel injection system. You could start the car, but it would only go as far as that first burst of gas before the engine would die because it had no gas (roughly 100 yards). I drove home 20 miles in afternoon traffic like that (on surface streets once I figured out what was happening). That 'effing car.

[OrwellwasRight]

51. To be fair though, I also owned this:

A 1976 Plymouth Valiant. It would not start and run for more than 30-45 seconds if it were less than 80 degrees outside unless you warmed it up for 15-25 minutes.

[pa28]

52. I'm adding another vote for the rabbit.

It was my first car and after owning it for year I seriously thought about getting a bike or walking.

On those rare moments when everything was fixed and the car was running perfectly I'd be afraid to drive it because the next major problem was just around the corner.

Truly. This was a piece of crap but the one bright spot was looking back on my AAA towing coverage and thinking about all the free tows I got. I think it was eight or nine.

[HeiressofBickworth]

18. Rotary engine Mazda

Put three new engines in it in the first five years. Under warranty, yes, but a pain in the ass. I don't care what kind of engine Mazda makes these days, I won't buy one ever again. We were part of the class action lawsuit against Mazda and got a whopping $250 (yes that two hundred fifty dollars) as settlement.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. Ford Escort

[baldguy]

24. 1980 Plymouth Horizon TC3

When it rained, all the windows leaked. The engine sucked up about a quart of oil a week. And the top strut mounts were so rusted through, no garage wanted to put it on a lift.

Was buying it from an ex-gf a mistake? Did she hate me that much?

[raccoon]

26. Man, looks just like my red Dasher. Mine was a 75. it

started having much electrical problems once it got a little age on it.

But it wasn't the worst I ever had. that honor belongs to a 1974 Chevrolet Nova.
Bought it new and when it rained, water leaked into the car on the floor in the front seat.

Took it back umpteen times and I think they finally fixed it.

Also, an annoying chrirping under the hood. took it back mucho times to get THAT
fixed too.

Turned me off to GM.

[greatauntoftriplets]

27. Chevrolet Citation.

Piece of crap.

[sarge43]

28. Ford Pinto: Nuff said. n/t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

53. Known among attorneys as :The Molotov.

Chevy had the same problem with the '64 Malibu of exploding gas tanks in rear enders, but they went to court and settled with the plaintiffs. Ford would refuse to settle and thus generate tons of bad publicity.

[sarge43]

54. Indeed

I'm paranoid about tailgaters. Ask me why.

[Brickbat]

29. 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser. Fucker threw a rod as I was driving home from work at 1 a.m.

Piece of CRAP.

[meow2u3]

30. 1987 Chevy Spectrum

I had that car for 3 years, from 1994 to 1997. Here's a list of the problems I had with it. The only good thing about that rattletrap is that it got 40mpg highway.

First of all, no air conditioning--in Texas, where I lived when I got that car. Driving in 100 degree heat with no air conditioning required that I had to drink more than my fair share of liquids and resulted in frequent urges to use the bathroom. Sometimes, there was no rest room nearby

Second, no power. When I had passengers, it took forever for me to go from 0 to 60.

Third, the timing belt snapped on me (in 1996) while I was driving from Dallas to Austin on my way to a pool tournament. I broke down right before an exit, however. Fortunately, some passers-by helped me push the car to a gas station at the nearest exit, which allowed me to call my mom to let her know what happened to me. The snapped timing belt also ruined the valves, so the next day, my mom and I traveled to a salvage yard so I could buy a used cylinder head; I was able to install it, but some of those valves on that head were damaged, but at least I could drive the car back home (the car only hit on 2 cylinders).

I had enough of the headaches with that car, so I traded it in for a 1990 Geo Storm. Good riddance, Spectrum.

[grntuscarora]

31. Second-hand AMC Gremlin

Often it would die suddenly, usually on some dark, lonely backroad. They told me it was a bad alternator, but we could never seem to get it fixed. It was a ridiculous looking car, too, and unpredictable---I never knew if it would get me where I was trying to go.

[HopeHoops]

32. Dodge Aspen. It ran okay but it was designed for looks, not function.

It was damn near impossible to get in the back seat and they were sculpted so child seats were a pain in the ass to get secured. I'm sure it had a governor on it because the thing couldn't hold 75 mph without sounding like it was set to explode. It got me from A to B and back but it's easily the worst I've had.

The BEST is my '68 Galaxie fastback (which I still own).

[kaiden]

55. 1978 Two-Tone Green Dodge Aspen

The worst car EVER.

[HopeHoops]

57. Mine was a white '80 with a blue vinyl interior.

It was pretty reliable, but the engine and handling were crap. On the plus side, the vinyl seats came in handy when my wife was late with our first child - vinyl seats, leaf springs, and Purgatory Rd. (actual name) were just the ticket to kick her into full labor.

[KG]

33. 99 ford escort. total crap. so much for 'buying american'.

(there was a label on it that said 'assembled in mexico', so again, so much for 'buying american'.)

the '89 ford taurus before that was junk, too.

[mysuzuki2]

36. A 1960 Saab station wagon.

Maybe not so much bad as weird. A previous owner had made it into a woodie by plastering wood grained contact paper on the side. It had a 4 speed tranny with the shifter on the column. It had a 3 cylinder in line engine. It was a 2 stroke. You had to add oil to the gas tank when you gassed up. It was forever fouling spark plugs with the oil. I had to carry a fresh set of plugs and a plug wrench in the glove box. All in all a very strange experience

[pink-o]

37. Subaru sedan LE...I don't even think it had a name

Just a generic factory prototype that Subaru prolly broke the mold for after they rolled mine off the assembly line. POS blew up the alternator 3 times, and the electrical wires eventually caught fire while I was driving it on IS 280. I see these flames licking up from under my dash, and actually drove it another 100 yards cuz the mechanic who'd "fixed" it the week previous was right there. He had 3 extinguishers going at once, and that was a fitting end. They put that lemon into cryogenic stasis...hopefully NEVER to be re-aminated again!

Most Subarus are great cars. I got the exception.

[Bertha Venation]

38. I guess I'm lucky. I've never had a bad car.

My first was a '72 Toyota Corona Mark II. Next was an '83 Toyota Starlet. Then I bought a '95 Toyota Tercel. (Are you sensing a pattern?)

Now we have two Toyotas, an '05 Corolla and an '08 Yaris.

I don't believe I'll ever buy different make.

[Digit]

39. I purchased some kind of Fiat sedan second hand

I would guess it was about a '75 or so. It was horrible. Everytime it would rain, it would just die.

Then one day someone asked me if my Fiat ran in the rain....I had not realized that it was common for the
wiring to short out when it became damp.

Piece of crap.

[Aristus]

40. 1976 Datsun B-210.

I was probably its fifth owner. It had really been wrung out. When I stripped the old paint off prior to re-painting the piece of junk, I discovered that the body panels were more than half Bondo all over.

It was shit.

Its one real virtue was a sweet, smooth manual transmission. Never gave me a problem; unlike the rest of the car...

[Xipe Totec]

41. 1962 Ford Falcon

and it wasn't a bad car, just the worst of all the cars I've had.

[GeorgeGist]

42. Toss up; bought both of these POS new.

Electrical system fried within 4 yrs.

?zz=1

air conditioning, power steering, power brakes failed within 4yrs.

Toyota was OK but dealer was a crook.

Never bought new again.

[Boxcar Willie]

43. Pontiac Sunbird

it was just bad

[Rambis]

56. My sister had one of those

the doors literally fell off POS!

[LiberalEsto]

47. Dodge Caravan.

Five (count 'em) FIVE transmissions.

[yellowcanine]

49. 1976 Chevy Chevette automatic transmission.

What a dog. I would get speeding tickets for going fast downhill to try to keep up my speed on the upgrade. Finally traded it when the 4th timing belt broke - and it still only had barely 90,000 miles.