What is the most unreliable vehicle you have experienced?

mine's the same year with 180k miles. i'm the second owner. i recently had the same problem with the power steering, had to replace everything. same issue with the radio as well, i'll be replacing that soon and mind as well do the speakers and add a backup camera at the same time. the good thing is the engine itself has never had a problem, as long as that stays strong i'm willing to fix the secondary mechanical systems to keep this thing going. especially since there's nothing on the new market that i would regard as comparable.

 

2007 Jeep Liberty

Owned it for 100k and 6 years

-Every window actuator replaced once

-1 Fuel pump

-3 Spark plug changes due to noticeable garbage engine idle.

-1 Radiator replacement

-1 Transmission cooler due to it leaking

-1 Coil pack

-1 Fuel injector

-And a countless amount of headlight bulb changes. That thing just loved to burn out bulbs.

 

Whiteblock (5cyl) F/AWD cars are not nearly as reliable as older redblock (4cyl) RWD ones

 

1988 Pontiac LeMans (built for GM by Daewoo). 110% POS.

 

Preach it brother! you could be talking about my 2011!

It’s the nickel and dime stuff that drives me nuts. Near constant fixes of stuff that just shouldn’t be failing at 10 years on my 2011.

A major repair here or there isn’t even that bad - but the laundry list of little stuff that needs to get replaced is infuriating - then mix in some bigger ones (I have a new steering rack sitting in my garage as well) and you start feeling like Toyota is just a name plate.

 

1992 4Runner, a/c at 2 months, pinion seal at 30k miles, 65k miles head gaskets leaked luckily hidden warranty covered it. Rear window in tailgate would always go down but not go back up, never found the problem. Rear diff went out completely, sound like a jet going down the highway. Front rotors warped around every 30k miles no matter what brand. Heater core started leaking and there were 6 different ones depending on where made, engine, drivetrain. Whole dash to firewall has to come out, of course they sold me the wrong one. Shop owner had to leave in till the correct one came and he said he hoped he remember how it all went back together. I never got it back, sold and cut my losses. It was made in Japan. Almost forgot, would start fine every morning after sitting over night but if you stopped in went in a store for 30 minutes it would not start till it cooled down. Couple different places including Toyota dealer couldn't figure it out. I finally figured it out, process of elimination, temp sensor was bad and sensed the motor was cold even when hot and flooded the motor. That probably went back to when they replaced the head gaskets. My next Toyota was my 2005 Dblcab 4wd and wasn't much better. Just to many short comings, weak springs, weak tailgate, shudder at take off, wind noise, terrible seats and mpg. Engine, tranny and a/c was great in the 8 years I owned it from new.

 

Worst,by far were the Dodge/Jeep vehicles. Bought a new 01' Cherokee sport (sold my 96' reg cab 4x4). Left me stranded a few times,certain sensors went out causing it not to start. alternator died at 30k. Thankfully nothing else went wrong after the warranty ran out,and I kept it a year longer then sold it. 2005 Dodge Dakota,similar scenario. Sensors went bad, had a funky idle. Ended up the cylinder heads were defective,replaced under warranty. The truck was a complete turd with the 3.7, NO power at all. I sold it to a buddy of mine,and he had no issues. He then sold it to his brother who still has it. I also had a 95 Dakota ext cab 4x4 w/ the 318. Didn't put a DIME in it the 4yrs I owned it

 

I believe the 60's Lemans was puking at the thought of the nameplate being resurrected for that pile of rubbish

 

I scored a little 5hp outboard off of eBay for 50 bucks once, including shipping. It didn't make sense, but I wasn't going to question it. Maybe I should have. On my first trip I got a mile out before the prop spun right off the shaft. 5 dollar part, one hour paddle back to go buy it. On my second trip I was nearly across the lake before the impeller ate itself and cooked the motor. Thank goodness I kept a set of oars to get back, but that still sucked. I wound up replacing the impeller for reasons unknown, maybe just to get it to "run," but it was clear that the little head was done. Wound up trading it to a marine shop for whatever their "cash for clunkers" special they had going on.

 

Anything made in the late seventies or early eighties was absolute junk

 

Me personally owned?

2004 Dodge Neon. What a piece of dog shite. And Chrysler does not stand behind or honor their warranties in the slightest.

 

Wow man, that takes the cake. Sounds like at least you were on a lake, although sounds large enough. I was definitely concerned with being stuck miles down the coast.

 

I purchased a 1958 Elgin 7.5 H.p outboard from a friend I worked with. It was for my 12 foot john boat.
only $100. It ran good in the 55 gallon drum. Put it on the boat and went to the Saint johns river.
Put the boat in at the ramp and went down about 1/4 mile up stream and got caught in tall eal grass.
Stalled the motor. I got it cleared and when I went to pull the starter rope the pinion gear on the
recoil stripped the teeth off. I tried for and hour to fix it but ended up walking the boat
back to the ramp in shoulder high water and fear of gators attacking. I did that 1/4 mile in what
seemed like 10 minutes. Lived to tell the story. Sold motor for $50 as is.

 

I have only ever owned 1 VW, of any model, so my experience may not be typical.

I bought a 2014 VW Passat SEL TDI brand new. Within the first 7K miles, it grenaded the first turbo. Got oil and debris in the intercooler and engine. Within less than the first year, the dual climate control system went out on the passengers side. A factory OEM wheel cracked and literally broke in half. Just at the 3 year mark, the 2nd turbo grenaded. A month or so after that, the drivers side front window Up/Down control stopped working.

A few months later I sold it back to VW as part of the big "dieselgate" scandal/class action lawsuit, and used the money to buy my Tacoma.

 

1989 Jeep Comanche Pickup truck, the "Eliminator". Said truck, 1st night on my way home went from 55 MPH on the x-way to about 15 mph. I had the same issue for months until I begged a dealer to replace the black box (computer) in the vehicle. After this, the last straw was me driving in Tn and the wheel bearing welded to the spindle. Not a mechanic but that's what I was told, the only thing holding the tire on was a washer. I worked out of state a lot back then and when I went home to the dealer he tried to sell me an extended warranty . I sold it first chance I got and never looked back. I liked the truck, too bad it was such a lemon.

 

It's funny how you mentioned the window actuators! My wife drove a 2004 KJ for about 14 years that I had mostly good luck with. At 12 years old, literally THREE of the four actuators broke WITHIN TWO days of each other.

Other repairs:
Power steering hose which was a pain as the front grill had to be removed
Rear limited slip blew up at 76k and required a new diff.
Front drive shaft

A nephew now has the KJ and oddly enough that 4th original window actuator is still working! He's also recently replaced the alternator and even did a lift on it, and they say it rides better the stock.

I liked driving it. It had the SelecTrac transfer case that had the additional full-time 4x4. We ended up replacing it with a 4Runner Limited due to that also having the full-time 4x4.

 

1988 Dakota ... needed a new transmission at 88k, among other things.

 

Hate to say it, but my 2006 Tacoma SR5 4.0L 4wd Auto. Out of all the vehicles I've owned, it needed the most repairs by a wide margin. It was dealer maintained, then meticulously maintained by myself so it's not as if I neglected or abused it. It's the second Toyota truck I've had to get rid of due to frame corrosion.

That said, I've had pretty good luck over the years. The only vehicles to leave me stranded were my '84 Rabbit GTI when the timing belt jumped two teeth and my '82 Toyota SR5 4x4 Pickup when the rear pinion nut backed off and locked up the ring gear, pinion and diff carrier.

 

3 brand new F150s..
2015
2016
2018
Absolute lemons all of them. From electrical issues, overheating, transmission problems and lastly the alternator died at 70k and stranded us in the mountains. Of course not covered by warranty as its not an engine part they told me.. literally traded the 18 in with a puddle of what looked like transmission fluid under the truck. Good riddance to domestic garbage.