What is the most unreliable vehicle you have experienced?

I have 194k on my '06 and I still have the original turn signals, all working fine.

 

1989 Saab 900 Turbo. Loved that POS.

 

I would of paid money to watch this blow up. I've seen 4WD engaged at highway speeds without blowing up but I've always wondered if someone's pushed it to far, or the computer has an error, and things went explosion!

 

I had an 04 Alero during my first year of College to save on gas. The starter somehow weaseled it's way into a position that it wouldn't start the car but still turned at exactly 100 km past warranty. My dad had to pry on it with a 3 foot bar to get the car to start so we could get GM to bend it back . I got rid of it shortly after.

 

2004 cavalier. Dad owned it and gave it to me in highschool. During the time he owned it the window control buttons on center console was replaced a few times and a few motors as well. Ac broke aswell. I got it in 2010 and treated it like a truck when i went offroad. It miraculously made it another year almost. I killed that car. Lol

1998 s10 2.2l handled most of my teenager abuse had it 3 and a half years. Only minor stuff broke. Clutch master cylinder. Brake master cyclinder. Clutch itself. A few hoses rotted out. I over heated in cause i had water in the radiator and it froze and ended up frying my head gasket. I killed it.

1998 gmc yukon slt.
I bought it used at 119k immeaditely realized i had been duped. Radiator was cracked. Lifter started rattling. Ac was charged right before i got there and was leaking. Paint was rusty underneath leaked water inside from time to time. Fuel pump died. waterpump started leaking. Transmission went to shit. Replaced it all. Gave up hope.
Has 129k miles on it now.
Still for sale if any1 wants a truck that has everything fixed. Oh but the starter doesnt always work. Thats a recent developement.

 

That'll be why i dont buy chevy anymore.

Not to mention all the dash cracks with crappy chevy plastic.

 

To have cameras underneath would have been cool. Ejected pieces of the transfer case were wedged against the custom skid plate. To its credit, I was able to drive it another 10 miles to the nearest city and safely park before the front diff fully seized.

Oh yeah! Forgot to mention another issue we had with a different Colorado (I'm cursed with managing a fleet of these): front differential axle tube completely cracked and split away from the differential housing.

 

Wow, the most catastrophic failure we've had in our local work fleet was a Dodge Ram 1500 pushing a piston into the pavement. We could only find the hole/dent in the pavement by the time we went looking for it. Oil all over the bottom of the truck and most of the bottom end missing around the one that went kapow. I really wanted that piston as a testament to Dodge quality . I can't remember the mileage but it wasn't over 60K miles.

Funny thing is my brother had two pistons go on his 2000 GMC Sierra AND IT STILL RAN . We drove it to pick up the new to it engine and drop it off at a shop for the swap. The mechanic looked pretty confused on how a truck that needs anengine could bring one to the shop.

 

i had a 2000 grand cherokee, it ate drivers side tail light bulbs every month
while driving the oil pressure gauge would read zero then go normal
ive been fairly lucky with cars and have not have the major issues people are talking about...my 2009 is250 was burning oil faster than gas but it was covered under a tsb and free extended warranty

 

1987 Pontiac Fierro. What a price of shit. Something was alway broken. No one ever saw me either, trucks were always pulling into my lane. One day I hit a dip at about 5 mph and the upper ball joint let go. If that had happened on the freeway I would have died. That was the last straw. Next vehicle was a Toyota.

 

I've been fairly fortunate, but the worst I had was a 2011 Cadillac SRX. It was a company car that I inherited when someone else left and I was climbing the company ladder. What a PITA that car was:
- GPS would randomly think I was driving around Washington DC (even though i was always in NJ or NYC).
- Clocks never worked.
- Sunroof leaked
- There was a leak somewhere in the tube which supplies the rear washer with fluid. If I hit the button, washer fluid would come out of the door speaker and ceiling, and on star would answer through the car radio.

I was really excited when I got it, thinking it was luxury. After about a month, I started missing the 2004 Dodge Ram I had. When the lease was up, they asked me what I wanted and went with a 2015 Grand Cherokee. After 6 months, I have 19k on it and couldn't be happier.

 

1986 Camaro IROC.. In the dealer more then my garage... Always overheating here in AZ.. Pure Chevy crap...

 

yikes! i may need to trade mine in after hearing this horror story

 

I recently had the ac fixed on mine. But sometimes it wont start because the battery clip is not tight enough so I just pound it down again knowing it will hold for a while. Thats the end of my taco horror stories.

Other unreliable cars I know of.
Mazda 323 from mid 1980s that thing left my parents stranded (I was like 4) and the car was like 20. So we bought a new 2004 pontiac vibe. I have also heard bad stories about volkswagen corrados.

 

I would like to drive one. I would like to see what a 3 cylinder feels like....not much I'm sure

 

A 1989 Plymouth Voyager required 3 tranmission replacements (under warrantee). By what I have read in these comments, Chrysler hasn't made a workable automatic since the 1970's.

 

1998 Cadillac Catera - I got it super cheap and just needed something to drive to work and back. It was a nice car and drove well but . . .
Coolant bypass valve went out twice in a year (it's a plastic valve buried behind the engine to work with the 2, yes 2 water pumps)
Coolant hoses burst one by one
Burned oil but could never find out why
Power windows randomly didn't work
Power seats would randomly move a little bit while driving
Transmission had issues
And my favorite:
Seat Heater shorted out and burnt a blister on my ass

 

Bought a new Plymouth Voyager in 1994, and aside from being a bit heavy on tires and brakes the only repair in the first 100k miles was a transmission under warranty. Later it developed a rear main seal leak and the ex-wife traded it in rather than fix the leak!

 

Oh man, this is tough. In high school I had a couple project cars to learn on that were older and rough. They were bought cheap $500 and $1500 respectively. An 89 Supra Non-Turbo and an 87 BMW 325is. The Supra had sat in a back yard for a while. It had ants. Put about 4k miles on it and just paid a mechanic to fix the leaky valve cover gaskets that I tried fixing once and failed to do. Right after that it threw a rod going down the highway. Big Boom!! The BMW was fun as hell but like the Supra it had been neglected for years. I learned a lot on it but ended up replacing almost every component around the engine and got tired of dumping money in it. Finally when the water pump went I decided enough was enough and unloaded it.

As far as daily drivers, I had a '02 S10 ZR2 w/ the 4.3 Vortec. Besides the typical Chevy things with the interior plastic and so on it was reasonably reliable while I was in college. I was hard on it but maintained it well. In the 40k miles I put on it, it needed an Intake Manifold gasket (leaking coolant), Mass Air sensor (under warranty), and ECU (under warranty). I ended up ditching it at 100k miles just as the transmission started slipping. Then there was my e46. '02 BMW 325Ci. I loved that car and was OCD with preventative maintenance. Replacing shit was a hobby and granted most of it was premature and not really needed. I strived to keep it up 'tip-top'. That being said, fixing or replacing something was becoming a monthly thing with that car. I had a lot of parts fail prematurely on it, well before 80k. Purchased it with 48k and sold it 5 years later with around 120k on the clock. So I would have to argue that was prolly my least reliable car.

 

I had a friend who owned one of these. Still to this day his biggest vehicle regret. In additional to some of the usual VW issues, he decided to change his own oil one day and was new to doing it on this car. Instead of draining the oil, he loosened the wrong bolt and drained the automatic transmission. Then he overfilled the engine with new oil thinking he had drained it. He drove it about 10 miles or so back to his house from his friend's place and realized it was running like shit and not really shifting. After figuring out what he did, it was a mad dash to refill the transmission and drain and refill the engine oil. As soon as he was done, he washed up, changed clothes, and drove straight to the dealership to trade it in.