For me, it had to be my 1980 Volvo 264 GLE. The engine was a 6-cyl produced by Renault, IIRC (French engineering FTL). The top end failed almost to a one at 80K, and you had to pull the whole engine to do a valve job. That, and it was underpowered, with a weak transmission, undersized brakes, and handling like a wedding cake on a skateboard. Very poor misstep for Volvo, whose 4-bangers were bulletproof. Oh, and to top it off I traded my '78 Land Cruiser for it - a vehicle whose value subsequently skyrocketed due to its cult collector status.
I never actually owned a Citroen, but a friend did have an old DS, and he described the manual to me. First chapter: quot;Tools you need to buy.quot; Second chapter: quot;Tools you need to make.quot;
I've never had a car that was truly a bad choice in terms of reliability. When I bought my 06 NC I could have bought the exact same car with either a 6 speed manual trans of the 6 speed automatic. I wanted a stick so I didn't even drive the automatic one. I could have got either car for the same price. For the kind of driving I normally do (commuting) the automatic would have been a better choice. I may end up trading my car for an automatic version in the future and it will cost a lot more than if I had bought the automatic from the start. That said there are times that I do enjoy the manual, but also times when I don't.
I had one motorcycle that was a bad choice. I bought an 81 Honda CB900 on e-bay sight unseen in 2003. I picked it up a the guys house and did a short test ride. I didn't notice that if you took your hands off the bars at all the bike would dive to the left. To me that indicated some type of frame damage at some point. I tried to get the guy to give me some money back and even took it to e-bay arbitration. He ended up giving me $100 back. After 3 months I traded it to a car dealer for a beater 1990 Tracker. That ended up being one of the most fun toy vehicles I've ever had.
At university... Yamaha XS650 motorcycle in bought for $180, partially disassembled. Ended up costing a lot more than $180, in time, money, and irritation, though I did learn how to ride on it!
Cars -- I haven't considered anything that I owned a mistake.
-b.
1969 Triumph TR-250. Red with the Bumbleebee stripes on the hood. My first sports car. Drove it off the showroom floor. The hood (bonnett?) came loose and blew off before I could get home. Things quickly went downhill from there.
2nd mistake was a new 74 0r 75 (I guess the memory is the 2nd thing to go) Yellow Firebird formula. Terrible fit, finish, and reliability.
I have owned about 45-50 cars.
My best cars have all been Japanese.
My favorite cars, mostly British.
Ben pretty lucky with everything else.
Trading in a $12k car for a $27k car right before the economy took a nose dive and my bonus checks went from $1500/mo to $70/mo...
I did regret not buying the 5.0 when I bought my first new Mustang back in '93... but insurance companies helped me make that decision... payment was $235/mo, insurance was $285/mo. and that was on the 4 banger
My current car, a 2007 Honda CRV. Totally bland and boring. While, it has been rock-solid reliable, it feels a bit more like driving a microwave than a car. It's an appliance.
Let me put it this way. My Miata gets hand washed. I change the oil, I do all the maintenance, and I invest (okay okay.... quot;wastequot;) time and money into it. My Honda has never been washed by hand in my nearly three years of ownership. Also, I have only a vague recollection of what the engine looks like. I just don't car about the thing. And while my Miata encourages me to park strategically (not too close to the clunker, stay away from the shopping cart return, try to be on the passenger side of a car if you have to be next to one), the Honda gets parked wherever is closest to the door.
Unfortunately, the reliability isn't the only thing rock-solid about the Honda. The suspension is intolerable. The engine is asthmatic, and the interior was hewn from a solid piece of plastic. Plus, my quot;well, if I'm in it I don't have to look at itquot; stance on the exterior styling has started to wear thin on me as time goes by.
The Miata I bought has bad paint. It was an impulse buy because a lady I worked with was moving and wanted to get rid of it.
Other than that it's been great so far.
Originally Posted by supersaiyan93
My current car, a 2007 Honda CRV. Totally bland and boring. While, it has been rock-solid reliable, it feels a bit more like driving a microwave than a car. It's an appliance.
Let me put it this way. My Miata gets hand washed. I change the oil, I do all the maintenance, and I invest (okay okay.... quot;wastequot;) time and money into it. My Honda has never been washed by hand in my nearly three years of ownership. Also, I have only a vague recollection of what the engine looks like. I just don't car about the thing. And while my Miata encourages me to park strategically (not too close to the clunker, stay away from the shopping cart return, try to be on the passenger side of a car if you have to be next to one), the Honda gets parked wherever is closest to the door.
Unfortunately, the reliability isn't the only thing rock-solid about the Honda. The suspension is intolerable. The engine is asthmatic, and the interior was hewn from a solid piece of plastic. Plus, my quot;well, if I'm in it I don't have to look at itquot; stance on the exterior styling has started to wear thin on me as time goes by.
I felt like this about my OTM, 2001 Galant. I hated it while I was making payments on it because I wanted something more interesting. Once I bought my Miata and had the Galant paid for I started to appreciate it for what it was, a comfortable winter car that is paid for. But's it's a bit better looking and more interesting to drive than a CRV! I do like Chris Stack's comment to his wife about test driving a female salesman's CRV-EX though.
When I decided to quot;upgradequot; from a 1997 Olds Silhouette to a 2002 Silhouette. The 97 was a short wheelbase GL (base model). Yes, I'll admit that minivans in general are not exciting, and these are representative of the genre. This 97 was, however, reliable, spacious, comfortable.. in short it did everything asked of it with little drama. After 5 years and 130,000 miles, we decided to upgrade to a GLS LWB. We found what appeared to be a nice certified pre-owned van. The only thing they had in common was the little rocket emblem on the nose. Most everything the 97 was, the 02 was not. It was not reliable; the rear A/C failed, the power sliding door failed and we nearly couldn't get it shut manually, and the driver's door developed a leak that I discovered by following my nose for the mildewy smell. It was spacious, but at a huge expense of manuerving ability. The SWB van at least was garageable without too much drama, the LWB would fit, but no one on the passenger side was exiting on that side. Generally we despised that minivan. The story had a good ending, in that we sold it outright and got our Dodge Magnum which we absolutely loved. It's just a shame that we didn't hold onto our 97 until the Magnum was released.
1984 Renault Encore
1996 Saturn SL2
1995 Madza Miata.
Changed my idea of what a car should/could be.
Tainted my love for my 1995.5 Audi S6 (now sold)
Got me addicted to tracking (had to buy a spare Miata)
Soaked up all of my quot;loose changequot; into a supercharger kit and other mods
Annoys my wife; she is not a fan of going topless
Corrupted my friends (several have bought Miata's)
Made me the butt of may midlife crisis jokes
Damaged my he-man image (OK, that one is a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea)
Miata, I wish I never met ya.
;-)
I lnow what you mean, QuattroGuy. My current two quot;extraquot; cars are a C4 Avant (former family truckster) and the BRG (which was supposed to be a third car driven occasionally). The Audi will be for sale shortly. Although I love it, if the choice is the Audi or the Miata....
On topic - no, never regretted any car purchase.
1994 Volvo 940 Turbo. The second day we had it the turbo blew. Smoke everywhere, had that rebuilt, then it blew again. Come to find a restriction in the exhaust system, so had to totally replace that. then the head gasket blew, master cylinder. I know there was a lot more. Paid 2000 for the car, and I think we invested a total of 6000 after it was all said and probably not done. We bought it for my son and he hates the car. Frankly I don't blame him
I bought this car new in Feb., and that summer at 10,000 miles the exhaust came apart right at the resonator.
Fast forward 6,000 miles and the timing belt (rated for 60k) breaks at 16,000, it's an interference design so it has to be rebuilt.
It was all downhill after that, various major things, oil leaks, transaxle leaks, etc. it was in the shop 8 times in 38,000 miles, the last failure was not covered under warranty (according to Chrysler those parts were attached TO the powertrain not PART of the powertrain so my powertrain warranty did not apply).
Paid around $15k with interest on the loan, traded it after 36 months of ownership and aggravation for $7500 trade in on an Integra.
I can only take solace in the fact that when I went to pick the car up, they had gotten in a new AWD Turbo version, same exterior color but with tan leather interior.
I came really, really close to walking in and telling them I wanted that car instead (I had put $$$ down on the car I was buying) which I'm sure they would have loved to have done.
I decided not to because:
1. The salesman had been a jerk and I didn't want him to have the chance to make more $$$ (one of those deals where the salesman pissed me off so much I actually walked out and the manager came outside and talked me back in)
2. My wife had to follow me back and was impatiently waiting, getting the other car would have probably involved another 2 - 3 hours of waiting and she was ready to go already
3. I realized it was the classic mistake of what NOT to do....show up for your car and then ask to buy a more expensive model....car dealers LOVE that stuff....
I can only imagine what else could have gone wrong with adding a turbo and AWD to a line of cars that truly defined the term POS.....
Analogeezer
1984 Ford T-Bird Turbo Coupe. Like falling in love with a hooker - a bad hooker. I am very ashamed.
Mine was replacing my former '85 Jetta with the Miata.
The Jetta was a dirt cheap, bullet proof car that was even fun to drive (albeit a slug). However, it had a few potentail issues coming up and I was planning on going back to school full-time so I wanted a car that didn't require tinkering. As such, I donated the Jetta (it was a karma thing, long story) and bought the Miata for $3k. Unfortunately, the Miata ended up costing me another $4.5k in repairs over the following 18 months plus the involved headaches and time spent fixing things. That money/time/resources/stress spent on the Miata would have easily taken care of any issues that the Jetta had, and I have no doubt it would still be running to this day as a solid, reliable daily driver.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Miata and am glad I have it. But from a financial perspective, getting it was the biggest automotive mistake I have ever made.
BB.
Originally Posted by bonswa93
1984 Ford T-Bird Turbo Coupe. Like falling in love with a hooker - a bad hooker. I am very ashamed.
Hum...I had two Turbo Birds - a 87 and a 88 and loved them both. I would gladly buy one today if I could find a nice pristine example at a fairly reasonable price.
Built during the peak of really bad American car making.
In the less than 25,000 miles I owned the car I went through a drive shaft, transmission, muffler and exhaust, and 4 heater cores!
I was surprised you could put gas in the car without draining and removing the air conditioning, because you couldn't do anything else to the car without doing that first.
All the hinges rusted, and everything made of rubber rotted off the car, from the hoses to door seals.
It's the reason I haven't bought a truly American made car since.
My worst car decision was buying my first car when I was 21. It was a lemon, any mechanic would likely have told me it was a lemon but I was in a rush to get to Ft. Hood and didn't know squat about cars so I bought it and it lasted a mere six months.
1992 Dodge Dakota. Mistake #1 was not getting a 4 wheel drive truck. Mistake #2 was the choice of brand. Bought it new, it leaked oil @ the rear seal from day 1. Several trips back to the dealer, where they kept it for weeks at a time waiting for parts, screwed up more than they fixed, etc. Came this close -gt;lt;- to filing a Lemon Law claim, instead traded in on a 4x4 F150 which I kept for the next 10 years/100K.
Back in the early 90's I bought a crapped out BMW 2002. I didn't mind it was not great looking, but what I didn't know was it had electrical problems. After I bought it, it would die randomly. I took a substantial percentage loss getting rid of it. That was a mistake I think.
Also in the early 90's, or maybe late 80's I bought a crapped out Kawasaki GPZ1100. I came fairly quickly to the conclusion I couldn't handle it. I got rid of it close to what I paid so I guess that was a little less of a mistake.
Probably the used 544 (1958??) Volvo I bought in 1967. It had been converted from 6 to 12 volts, but even worse the engine had been quot;rebuiltquot; by people who did not know what they were doing. The radiator came loose at the bottom and swung into the fan, but worse, they previous owners did not ream the ridge, when they installed new rings, and after a few months it broke a top ring and scored the cylinder wall.
It would have been a pretty good car, if It had not been worked on by idiots.
I regret NOTHING!!!
1996 V6 Camaro. That car was a nightmare from day one, and never qualified for the lemon law. The last straw was at 36,500 miles the engine holed a piston. Chevrolet would not warranty the engine because it was 500 miles out of warranty. I started with talking nice, then over the course of a month it got to threats of lawsuits, etc, etc. The car was green, so I took a white shoe polish marker, and wrote a short story of what happened on both sides of the car. I then towed it to the dealership that stuck me with the POS, and parked it blocking both of there service lanes. I then locked the keys inside of it and left never to see it again.
I won't go into details about what happened afterwords, but it was not pretty for either side.
It might just be the 90' Mariner Blue we recently acquired.... but th'jury's still out. |
Post at 2-7 08:11 AM
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