A Mitsubishi Colt I bought from a guy in a scrapyard for £50 because my Allegro had just been stolen and I needed something quick to get to work. He told me it had an MOT and to come back the next day to pick it up (in the days before it was online) He wasn’t there. It was the rustiest POS ever - bits kept falling off, you could see the road in several places through the floor. Engine was good but that was the only thing. In a lifetime of exercising Bangernomics, that was the stand out terrible car.
Most I’ve lost on a car was a more recent Shogun. Bought for £7,500, cost £2000 in repairs then had a lot more pending. Sold for £1400 in less than a year.
So far, a 2010 Malibu I like how it looks but as a non-mechanic working on it SUCKSSS. No rear jacking point because of the exhaust so lifting the entirety is a pain, changing the damn fuel filter is awful again because of the exhaust, 6 speed transmissions have the vss inside the transmission instead so its a hassle to change vs being mounted outside the passenger side like on the 4 speed, the tiniest space to change the serpentine belt, pinch welds (I know its the norm but I hate it), programming an extra fob requires a scanner that can do so ($400+ on amazon), it has the shortest battery cables which are crimped so changing the connectors (due to corrosion) will require either putting new cable or moving the battery orientation and somehow locking down the battery after you cut the wires, some have faulty door lock actuators (guess who got lucky and got the faulty ones), no transmission dip stick so good luck getting the right level using that damn screw it has on the transmission, flimy trunk board and spare tire doesn’t sit leveled (DIYed my solution) and lastly in my experience THE DAMN HEADLIGHTS. You’d think it would be easy to change the headlights, but noooo its a massive pain. Besides that I like the flex fuel variant, gets good mileage. Replaceable parts and liquids are easy to get and affordable, has a good community online plus I think it’s pretty so I’m going to keep using it (currently fighting a mysterious problem and I’m just seeing what sticks in terms of a solution)
I had a passat for 3 days when the engine almost exploded going over a bridge from engine sludge. I loved my Ranger and hate to speak ill of it, but it was a ford. I kept a full wrench set and spare parts under the jump seats. Most parts I’ve ever changed on a car and some repeatedly. Ultimately gave in to its unfixable head warp.
Mercury Sable
I e only ever had Japanese cars, and they’ve all been great. A Nissan, a Toyota, and a Subaru.
2012 hyundai tucson. Wow, what a piece of junk. The suspension was all but fallen and rattled down the road, it was high-centered, and drove like a unicycle.
1983 Peugeot 305
Wierd electrical failure incarnate.
The car I had the most trouble with wasn’t because it was a bad car, but because it kept getting trashed. VW Cabriolet convertible. Bought it when I got my first real job out of school.
One week after driving it off the lot, parked on a busy city street, someone slashed the roof and tore out the stereo. Fixed it all up. Insurance rate went up. Six months later, knife through the roof AND a smashed window. Stereo gone. Switched to a removable, pull-out stereo. Still got broken into.
Had dozens of slashes/smashes. At one point, just left the door locks open. Nothing to take. Someone slept in the back seat (left food wrappers) and pilfered through the ashtray where I kept loose change.
Loved driving it with the top down, but what a pain it was to fix.
Jeep. Not owned but have rented two. First one was a 2022 Compass. The electric system died mid highway. Never recovered fully. Second was a 2024 Ranger. A true shit box. After a week having it I despised that piece of shit.
1994 Pontiac sunbird. 2.0 liter iron duke had 80 hp when it was brand new. God knows what it was by 2001. Thankfully it had a manual transmission, but that thing REEEEAAAAAALLLY struggled on the smallest hills.
Sounds like a hella inefficient 2.0L.
Oh it absolutely was. It was a weak POS that would last forever. The thing was in service since 1977. I have a 2.0l in my MX-5, and that engine is incredible!
The one I’ve got at the minute, a Seat Leon (mark 4); it’s built on top of VWs MQB platform and honestly it’s a piece of shit.
The list of issues is as long as my arm: The reversing beeper gets stuck, the graphics don’t draw on top of the reversing camera, plugging a phone in stops playback, the shitty entertainment system crashes, keyless entry gets shy when it rains, the emergency alerting system throws a fit if it loses mobile signal, there’s no light on critical controls in the dark, the interior light sometimes can’t be switched off, the cruise control gets confused about which side of the road it’s driving on and doesn’t want to overtake another car (it thinks it’s undertaking), the speed limiter is hiding behind UI 4 steps, the clutch jumps when cold etc etc.
Every month I discover a new niggle. This is the third Seat I’ve owned (having previously loved my two Seat Leons) and will most definitely be my last VW group car ever. What a piece of trash.
I was surprised, until I read the last paragraph. SEAT and Skoda have been the reliable VW brands for 2-3 decades, with the Ibizas and Octavias reaching mythical status. I read somewhere that some SEATs are actually rebadged VW china models. Great way for VW to squander reputation.
The one I’ve got is built in Slovenia I believe.
But it’s not really SEAT that’s the problem, but the dreadful iteration of VW’s MQB platform. The same issues affect all VW group cars in this generation.
A 1991 Ford Sierra that I bought for 100,- from a friend because I needed a car quickly. This car was already promised to be shipped to Nigeria, where Europe dumps all the old cars. It still had 3 months until the next savety inspection, which the car certainly would have failed.
The engine was still OK, but the car had some electrical issues. When using the turn signal first, and then using the brake pedal, all lights and electrical load were going bonkers, resulting in flickering and failure. The car had to be stopped and the key had to be removed in order to switch it off. Then the car could be started again and one could resume driving.
In order to avoid this issues, it was crucial to use the break pedal first, and then the turning signal, right before turning. This way the electrical issues ware not that severe - the issues stopped, wenn dis-enganging the turn signal.
Also, the doors central locking system was not working properly. Only the passenger door was operational. When I wanted to get the trunk hatch to open, I had to unlock the passenger’s door, reach inside to open the driver’s door from the inside. Then I had to walk around to fully open the driver’s door in order to pull the lever for the trunk hatch that is located next to the driver’s seat.
I only had this car for two months. One day I put the car into neutral at a traffic light. After that, there was a strange noise. I put it into first gear and the clutch refused to connect to the power train. The clutch failed, the car couldn’t be moved by its own. It went to the scrap yard.
Whatever smart MG car, its software is so slow it would be outrun by a 2010s laptop
1993? Mitsubishi Magna.
Was literally given it and still lost money. Dry solder joints all through the main fuse/relay box. Got those all fixed and it blew the transmission.
Not owned personally but my mom’s '99 Fiat Punto I used to drive in high school was awful. 60 drunk donkeys under the hood, 0-60 of eventually, brakes that yanked it to the right if you were too aggressive on them and a battery that went flat in a few days if you didn’t drive the car. It also had the tendency to just keep revving up when in neutral until you either put it in gear and engage the clutch or shut off the engine.
Anyway, I still have fond memories of that car. Going down mountain roads was fun because it was very slow, but super light, so you could just keep the throttle pinned for the most part and the rotted out muffler made it sound like a racecar lmao.
