A fleet/company car. A Chevette. I pressed the accelerator to the floor, the engine went “huh? you want what?”
At least you could brag to people that you drive a 'vette.
A Hyundai Elantra, it let me down in so many ways. Financially, spiritually, etc.
Anecdotally, our 2013 Elantra was a fantastic car. It had not one mechanical defect. We sold it to buy an Odyssey, but I believe it would have kept rolling to today.
I once had a loaner from a dealer that was a Dodge Caliber. Ugly as sin and the transmission was definitely on its way out. That car was just a struggle. It was a reminder why I will never buy a Chrysler product.
I got a 2008 Dodge Avenger when it was new and immediately hated it. Everything felt cheap, it had absolutely no ability to get up to speed, and felt all around sluggish.
Everything I hated about that Avenger for the 8 years I drove it were nothing compared to the two Dodge Calibers I got to drive in that time. Every bad feature for a car dialed up to 11. Felt like it was built so cheap it could fall apart on the road. My parents and my partner both got one. They were both so, so very bad. It’s unreal that car ever got sold.
The CVT in the Caliber is crap even when it’s brand new
I test drove one when they first came out. The salesperson was telling me about the continuously variable transmission, and how revolutionary it was.
“It’s a new technology? From an American car company? In it’s first model year? Ok, no thank you.”
“New technology” is just asking for trouble. Always wait till 3rd or 4th gen if you want all the kinks worked out, especially if it is something expensive like a car.
I am not defending that car.
Not good practice to use a loaner or rental as a reference. People drive those like they are trying to break them. And dealers will use a shitbox as a loaner because it is a shitbox
This was an unofficial loaner that was for sale as a used car by the dealer…so they were actively trying to sell it.
Like i said im not defending that car, was meant to be general advice.
I work for an autoparts company processing returned parts. Im the guy that inspects and rejects (if thats even worth noting).
If they were willing to use it at all as a loaner, it was probably a problematic vehicle. Even the highest quality vehicle will have some units that someone didnt put together well. Dodge is not a top quality builder to start.
But that all aside im very happy to hear you wont be buying one anytime soon
A 1971 Chrysler Newport.
The thing was a boat. You’d hit a bump in the road, and the car would act like you crested a wave and bob front to back a few times. It was wider than most pickup trucks and probably heavier. Not only could it not fit in most parking spots, it could hardly fit in some lanes. Required leaded gas, which was getting hard to find at that point. If you needed to go uphill you had to build up speed because you would slow down, even with the gas pedal floored.
The best part is that when I finally brought it in for service, the mechanic came out and said “You’ve been driving that thing??” Three out of four motor mounts had broken and the last one was about rusted through.
It did have an 8-track though, and came with a bunch of Elvis tapes.
I hated Elvis, but did manage to find an 8-track of Peter Paul and Mary.
We had a brace of rented Nissan cargo vans at work, the small ones. Those were truly terrible. They had CVT transmissions that just would not hook up. I’d get to the top of an SF hill at a stop sign and just sit there with my foot planted, waiting.
We replaced them with Ford Transits. The CVT in that model is only slightly more usable, but we all still fight over who gets the older model, with the torque converter.
deleted by creator
I used to be very anti CVT. Then I bought a 3.6R Subaru Outback. I pull a 5x8 enclosed trailer with it and the biggest giveaway that you’re hauling anything is the gas mileage. So they ain’t all bad.
deleted by creator
Pulled a 6x12 twin axle with a 2.4l turboed engine about 800 miles. Outback was totally fine, though we definitely overloaded the trailer. Got the car checked by a local mechanic and they said it was all good, though we did a fluid flush early just to be on the safe side. I don’t mind the CVT, just wish the software in the 2021’s was better.
Jeep. All of them. Rickety. Not built well. Terrible gas mileage. Bad on highways. Bad on city streets. I literally got bruises on my butt on an off road trail in one of them. Just absolute shit cars.
The only selling feature of any Jeep vehicle is the classic round front lights and the grill design … it’s like owning an Apple product, people just want to be seen in one.
They’re terrible street cars but offroad there’s really nothing more capable unless you plan to custom build a rig. If you want a smooth ride offroad it will be way to soft for on the road and vice versa. Jeeps from the factory are designed on a compromise between the two so they’re not really good at either. The build quality on modern jeeps is absolutely terrible though and the majority of jeep owners never use them for what they’re intended for so I generally agree with you. But ride in a jeep that’s properly setup for strictly offroad driving and you’d be amazed.
Are Land Cruisers not a thing in the USA? Because they are the ultimate off-road vehicle.
I’m sure you have the Hilux and there is no place where I’d choose to take a Jeep over a Hilux.
I don’t think they are available in the US but the Suzuki Jimny is the perfect off-road vehicle for me.
It’s an extremely fun vehicle to drive!
We call that car the “Sierra” in Australia. Perfect beach/dune car. Not ideal for rougher terrain, though. In fairness, the biggest thing it has going against it is the narrow wheelbase. It doesn’t fit right on the tracks made by all the other 4x4’s. If all those tracks had instead been made by narrower vehicles, it might not be so bad.
A coworker bought a Jeep and I said “Oh wow, Jeeps are great vehicles! …unless you drive them on roads.”
Nothing more capable provided it’s a Wrangler and one of the newer higher spec ones where they actually give you functional equipment like 37" tires and lockers. The old ones were build with crappy parts that needed to be swapped out before they could be truly capable and the entire rest of their lineup is pure garbage both on and offroad.
I rented a 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander in 2022 and it was amazing how unresponsive it was. It’s a small SUV with the engine of a hamster. It has a “sport mode” that really struggled to get me up some hills in Colorado.
Also, the rubber seal for the door, on 3 of the doors, was constantly feel off and could be worn as a second seatbelt.
Ooh man, I’ve driven a lot of rentals for work…
I hated hated hated the Nissan Cube. Thankfully the check engine light came on within two hours of me picking it up so I got to swap it.
But I think the one that takes the cake is actually a vacation rental car. My husband and I rented a car when we went to Belgium. It was an Opel Corsa. It struggled to even reach the speed limit on highways and definitely couldn’t go above it. The funniest thing was that all the Audis and BMWs in Belgium didn’t even bother to tailgate us; they saw us ahead of them and moved over to pass well before they got to us. They knew. That thing was hilariously bad at being a car. I was also a new stick shift driver and it was very difficult. We then went to Switzerland where we got a VW Polo and suddenly I got a whole lot better at driving stick, lol.
Why would they tailgate you at all if they could pass you? Is this common somewhere?
I guess what I meant was, they were so aware that we were lamely going as fast as we could (not very) in the slow lane that they managed to move over in plenty of time even when they were going way (way) faster than us and had to merge into other traffic. No one ever seemed to get stuck behind us unable to pass. I chalked it up to their very high awareness of our very shitty car, lol.
Ah haha I see
Some people just like being a dick instead of getting on with their lives. My answer to those people is to slow down until they pass, and it’s fairly common that I get under 10mph and think I’m actually going to have to stop before they get the hint.
Hahaha. A rented Opel was what came to mind for me as well. Followed by Plymouth Crossfire and Chevy HHR.
Thankfully the check engine light came on within two hours of me picking it up so I got to swap it.
And wouldn’t you know it, the check engine light was because of a loose gas cap. How could that have happened?
I actually don’t know the manufacturer or model.
My childhood friend had a car in the late 90’s that was like Fiat Strada, but the style was little more Japanese. My friend had ripped off all insignias and tags.
Car was a nightmare to drive. It had very little power, top speed was about 130km/h and it wobbled oddly in turns. Even the gear stick was bendy plastic thing and it was hard to tell if the gear was really in or not.
My wife’s old 2004 Honda Civic. It was the worst piece of shit I’ve ever had the displeasure of driving. And it was super unreliable to boot!
It was dangerously slow. Getting on the freeway always required full throttle to get up to speed in time, which was never enough. Some cars egg you on, “Go faster! Let me rev! I love revs! Speeeeeed! Power!” This thing was like Eeyore on Adavan, “Huh? Power? If I have to. Ththrhtbbt. That’s the best I can do.”
The “top rated” Goodyear tires we put on it were fucking awful as well. The tire compound was super hard, so despite the pitiful power, you could always spin the front tires in the dry. Despite the hard tire compound, they wore out 20,000 miles before their warranty was up. One time while exiting the freeway, the shit box decided it wanted to oversteer (the tail slid out) as I went around a corner at a very reasonable speed. Luckily, I was able to hold the slide and correct it (which was pretty cool). I like to push cars and to go fast, but I’ve never ever had a front wheel drive car oversteer on me before, especially at super low speeds. This isn’t really the car’s fault, but the shit tires come with the shit territory.
It had no safety features other than seatbelts and a couple airbags. No anti-lock brakes. No traction control. It had manual windows (fine, I guess), manual mirrors (eww), and manual door locks (gag me with a spoon!).
Despite all these omissions, it had alloy wheels and a spoiler from the factory! Oh, but it’s ok, it’s the fucking “value package” so all my friends won’t know I cheaped out on a car until they have to wait for me to get in the car to unlock their doors!
In the 4 years she had it, the following broke:
- The thermostat got stuck closed, which caused it to overheat which required the head gasket to be replaced
- The alternator failed catastrophically. Forget not charging the battery, try shorting out, discharging the battery and killing the engine in seconds.
- The tie rod snapped, causing the front wheels to be pointed in opposite directions (luckily this was in a parking lot so we didn’t die)
- The steering rack had to be replaced to fix the steering wheel that was 30 degrees off center to go straight.
- Something was wrong with the brake booster, it hissed when you held the pedal down in a certain position, which really inspired confidence.
What an awful car. Still, at least the previous owner left a new condom in the glove box when she bought it.
Chevrolet Cavalier. A good engine (L61)… but that’s all. Literally everything else was ultra cheap and broke.
I had one of those too, was my first car. Got to 280,000km on it (had to hit the dashboard for the digital odo to appear), pretty much every feature was broken from the clock on the radio to the rear defroster and the A/C but it kept rolling. Until someone T-Boned me at like 30km/h coming out of a parking lot and absolutely OBLITERATED it. Such an unsafe vehicle
Ah, yes, I had to do the same thing to get my dash lights to turn on. Had to bop the top of the dash in the right spot. Eventually, I had enough and took apart the dash to put conductive grease on the instrument lights.
Some time in 2015/2016, parents had a loaner Ford ecosport. That thing struggled with hills. And by hills, I mean speed bumps and anything not completely horizontal. Nobody even felt like trying to get it on a highway, we knew there was no way it could get up to speed safely.
A Skoda Kamiq with an automatic gear box.
Granted I have only driven a few cars, but damn that Kamiq had an absolutely shit gearbox, combined with a terrible start/stop system.
The gearbox refused to shift until the very limits of the rev range.
Driving in the mountains in Andalucia in a rental car with a bad gearbox was spectacular views combined with constant annoyance.
Mid 80’s Bronco. My ex insisted that she had to have a bronco. It had a 302 in it, but holy hell. I am sure it was the fact that they were still trying out emissions schemes but I bet it had less than a hundred hp. It would barely move out of it’s own way, and if you got about 6mpg you considered yourself lucky. Toss in an oil leak and it was like driving the Exxon Valdez. I can’t decide if the best day of my life was getting rid of the bronco, or her…
Narrator: Both…
I’m pretty sure you could buy one of those with a straight six, I bet they’re even more of a dog!
I had an '86 with a straight six that was phenomenal.12 mpg and would go anywhere. It’s the only car I hate I sold.
I have driven and found joy in many cars: Pinto, beetle, 2CV, original 500s, 1940s Ford tractors, beater pickups including a 1949 International, HMMWV, etc. Mopeds (like 1970s Puch), ratty motorcycles. They all make me giggly.
I had to think a few minutes about one that was just terrible, no redeeming points I could find: first (north american) gen Hyunda Excel What a soul-sucking turd.
