Triumph TR7, iron block, aluminum head, didn't have thread inserts or studs, just steel bolts into the aluminum head. Ended up putting in a lot of heli-coils. Wiring harness was some plastic strip that just broke in two.

1975 Fiat 128. The body came off the frame one day from rust and I sold it to a junkyard for $25. Good riddence.

French made Simca... junk. my first car at 14-15yrs old
Fiat X19... cute but junk. had to push start almost every day. popped a timing belt and bent 7 out of 8 valves. using shims to adjust valve clearance sucks!
having owned something over 200 cars (American Motors to Vw) since I was 15yrs old, I'm sure there were a few more, but it's all a blur now

'70s vintage Renault R-12...puke,metallic green...heli-coils aplenty...big farm boy, bigger wrench, aluminum head and block...head gasket repair lasted about 400 miles...almost as big a POS as the R-10 my Father drove for a while (although that was a rear engine car...LOL).

Hands down!!!! 1984 Citroen GSA!!!! Driving down the road the hood latch weld broke and the hood came up to say "Hey!". parachute cord. Next month a buddy was getting out of the back door, passenger side. Glad he had a hold on the door as the welds gave out and the door was held up by him. more parachute cord. Then the spark plugs started popping out. The threads had gone bad just from being driven? JB Weld. Then the oil pan cracked, just cracked. JB weld and weld the plug to the pan before adding new oil and filter. Filter attachment point stripped out. JB Weld. Driver's door welds getting weak, more JB Weld. Oh, and driving down a country road in Belgium the cv joints go out and the ball bearings fall to the road, no steering control. Sold it for equivilent of about $25.00 US. Bought in March 1987 for about $600.00 US, sold in July 1987 to a junk yard. Did I mention it was a 1984???

Second worse was an '83 BMW 318i. A real POS, but it couldn't compare to the Citroen. Oh, the second motor for the BMW only cost me $200 so that was not so bad...

1982 Pontiac J2000 The origional sunbird. It was actually my girlfriends car and I worked on it more that I worked on her. On the way back from our honneymoon I informed her that half of that pos was now mine and I was going to sell. I asked her which half she wanted to keep for herself. It went a week later.

Bugs, what crazy beasts! I love my '70, despite the loose steering and frequent dashboard fires. I can fix almost everything, and just haven't had time to tear apart and rewire all of the electrical. But when I do, that car is expected to move from "worst ever" to "almost Porsche-cool!"

Rick V made me redo my list...how soon we forget. The worst in this order:

1. 1982 Pontiac J2000 - a bill waiting to be paid...constantly! Kids would rather walk than drive it...at least they knew when they'd get where they were going.
2. 1996 Ford Windstar...so much wrong, so little time. $1500 later and the smog problem got fixed...got brakes more often than I got groceries. Electric problems...randomly the power locks would just start going on and off.
3. 1989 Suburban...bad rap, but I did go thru 3 transmissions before someone realized it was a bad core.
4. 1978 Toyota Celica...geez, plugged cat, blown head gasket, over heating, it goes on and on...

Worst?

It's a tie...

• A clapped-out Ford Pinto Hatchback. When it rained, it leaked water on me. Even though it had no sunroof, or t-top. Then again, I sold it for more than it I bought it for.
  
• A Datsun B-210. Very reliable, but embarrassingly slow and ugly. Especially when my friends had SS Chevelles, GTOs, and Road Runners...

1976 Rolls Royce LWB....Great Ride....just like sitting in your living room... if you live in BH's..... and it was like paying a BH's mortgage..you made monthly payments to the mechanic who worked on it....

1970 Dodge Challenger 440/6 Pack....Great until you hit 35 mph...then it launched itself like the Space Shuttle....whether you wanted to or not....and it rattled like the SS tooo...

1966 Corvette 427/425 HP......Fast and Smooth.....it would squat down and run like a horse with scalded balls....but what a thrill to watch the gas gauge move from right to left as we speak...

2000 Range Rover 4.6 HSE.

Enough said?

I didn't own it, but 9 years ago, after buying a Passat Turbo diesel to use in my work, the company informed me they were providing me with a company car. An Olds Acheiva. An hour after I picked it up, I was pulled to the side of the road, wedging my jacket behind the small of my back to ease the back-ache. A custom pad for my lower back stayed Velcroed to the seat for the duration, (and was passed on to a co-worker in the same situation when the POS was gone.)
It ate front brakes almost as badly as the late 90s Malibus. The A/C clutch seized one day on the highway causing a moment of panic before the belt snapped. It hated to go around corners and the "passive safety" seat belts were mounted to the door frame so they were held 4 inches from my chest.
I kept the Passat for family use through the next 8 years (3 company-supplied Venture vans after the Olds). It now has close to 370,000 Km on it and will likely be the last car I own (aside from the 'old E')
Les

Sorry to say, 1978 930...

Underengineered crankshaft thrust surface wasn't up to the stress from the new interlock that required the clutch pedal to be depressed when starting. Allowed 0.040" endplay to develop, requiring new crankshaft (don't a$k). Failed turbo seals laid down smokescreen worthy of HMS Hood in full getaway mode. Failed front caliper.... the list goes on.

Some of this might have been found in a PPI, but I had 15 minutes to decide 'go or no-go' and I picked wrong. In 13 months of ownership, repairs averaged $1K/month. Couldn't wait to get rid of it.

1981 Ford Escort. Spruce green exterior, mustard interior. Looked like a booger with wheels. Every time I washed it the rag turned green cause the paint was turning to powder. It stranded me everywhere I went. It left giant pools of antifreeze everywhere I went (waterpump, heater hoses, stopcock, another heater hose, in that order). Burned oil faster than my SC. When I took it in for smog check, they had to clear everybody out the garage because of the oil smoke. Both door restraints failed, so you'd better hope I didn't park next to you. Engine has 2 miles of thin hard plastic vacuum tubing that would shatter if you touched it. One day I started it and the smog pump locked up, that was interesting. It has been wrecked, so the driver seat was broken and it could not be aligned. Turn the wheel left during accell, right during braking to keep it between the lines.

1986 Renault LeCar

Bought it when I was 16 for $250. Absolutely unreliable, but I it was a hoot to drive, especially after I scored some performance parts from Archer racing. Cam, weber DCOE, headers... good for 100 hp at 7000 rpms. And it had the "big" engine... 1.4L.

As much fun as it was, it ALWAYS had something wrong with it. It was the only car I've ever owned that would overheat on the highway, or in January. Constant electrical problems, and needless to say parts were difficult to find, especially by the 1990's.

Ford Pinto - drove it all of 25 miles and had to abandon it on the side of the road. Blown head gasket. Paid $100 and then another $250 for the city to remove it from the highway and deliver to the crusher.

I see Rolls Royces going on eBay for less than the price of a mediocre 911 of the same year all day long. It never ceases to amaze me. I am often tempted to buy one just for kicks but I am afraid it would become "Static Driveway Art".

Mitsubishi Mighty Max?
My uncle has had one for about 12 years now for his work truck. Seems to be pretty reliable.

Let's see, I've only had one car, the 911, and it isn't bad so I'll just name a car that my family has had that has/is the worst: 1994 BMW 740i. Leaks oil. Tons of electrical problems. 'nuff said.

I had an 85 S-10 Blazer, that thing was built like a tank. Survived two head on collisions which should have killed it, and got over 450,000 miles on it before the cam lobes wore flat. Funny, my S-10 had the 2.8L V6 with a carburetor, not fuel injection.

I had... I believe an early 70's AMC Javelin.........it died a slow expensive death ......

A 1965 Renault Daphne, had a crank to start it with when battery was dead, four door rear engine junk

My dad's marriage proposal to my mother included that she had to get rid of her Renault Daphne...:D

!973 (Buick) Opel Cadet. Honest-to God the predecessor of the YUGO. That thing had the thinnest sheet metal I've ever seen. Lean on it and the fender would dent.

It had the BIG 1.9 that constantly leaked, burned and spat oil-no power and the carb either starved for fuel or leaked all over the intake.

Still have my '87 S10 Blazer 4x4 something less than 140K miles. Same 2.8. Best vehicle I have ever own. It has seen plenty of offroad dirt as well. Don't drive it much the last few years...too many cars, but just can't bring myself to let it go.

Sigh...my first car was a 1969 Opel Kadette Ralley...also with that 1.9L engine....try as I could, I couldn't kill it...damn, still have fond memories of that one. Must be like your first girl friend.

worst POS? 1980 Wagoneer, new $10,000 3 years later sold it for $2000. After two transmission repairs, three clutches, two carburators and an electrical glitch that was never fixed.

So far my 1993 Explorer with 180K is still with me. A little cranky, looks like hell, but starts every time and goes where I need it to. 'course i don't push hard and stay within 40 miles of home with it !

Out of the >40 cars I've had only one stands out in my mind and that was our '86 Dodge Neon, but not all the problems were the car's fault.

We bought the Neon new. A few weeks later there was a microburst nearby and the car got pelted with parts of the roof of our warehouse. Insurance paid $2400 in repairs.

A few thousand miles later a guy turned left in front of my wife. $6000 in repairs and 6 months later the car was back on the road. It should have been totalled, but since it was so new they fixed it. It took forever as the bodyshop (which had a great reputation) put it's least skilled people on the car. It's just a Neon, right?

Got it to Arizona and the transmission started to go. The dealer said it was "within specs" when my wife couldn't shift from first to second. We went through several visits to the dealer and finally called Chrysler customer service who suggested we try another dealer. They immediately replaced the entire tranny. At that point we sold it.

Last year out of the blue we got a $1600 check from State Farm. Some class action law suit regarding diminished value. Uhmm.... OK!

1973 BMW 2002... way over-rated, expensive to maintain, and IMO- ugly. Only bought it 'cuz girl friend liked it.
SOLD after 12 months. Dumped her a short time later...! SmileWavy

I'm young enough (32) and fortunate enough never to have had a total POS car. I've also only had 3 cars (other than the P-car) in my adult life. But I do remember the early-70's Olds Cutlass Supreme that my dad had. Not that it was a nightmare car, but I do vaguely recall him having to wring the neck of the starter to get the engine fired up in the morning, and ironically his inability to turn off the motor once he got home from work. Kinda like Chevy Chase in Vacation, when he brings the station wagon home from the dealer. "Clark, why's the car still running?" That was the last American car we've ever bought.

Jaguar XJ6 - a series 2. Lovely ride, but it frequently had stuff wrong and didn't like daily use (neither did my wallet). Kept on rusting right up till when I sold it. Presumably still rusting in someone else's driveway.

BMW 02's aren't so bad. Sure, they rust, and aren't that fast, and bits are expensive, and, and, and...

I've been lucky. Never had a truly terrible car. Went through the obligatory teenager cheapo rust-buckets but they all started and got me where I had to go. Otherwise the worst car I remember was my brother's 69 MGC roadster. This was MG's first straight-6, I think, with a Rover engine. Not a day went by something didn't break, fall-off or malfunction. A total calamity. He finally traded it in for an orange VW bug, which I inherited, drove all through high school and college, twice across the country, and which our family even used to pull the hay cutters on our farm. After 200k miles, New England road salt claimed its life, and tears were shed.

Booger green 1972 Chevy Vega...

http://www.crazyjerry.com/posters/19...Vega_1_lrg.jpg

Guys! Where are the stories of 2 nd generation Chrysler minivans that ate transmissions? Friends of mine at one time had 2 of these things in their yard (purchased new) and, thats right, both of them had replacement transmissions within a year. Before they managed to 'get out from under' one vehicle was on its second replacement. Thank heavens for warranty!
Where are the Chev Luminas (and Olds Cutlasses) that ate rear disc brakes? Or was that an east coast phenomenon?
Maybe guys on this board are too smart to have bought those cars!
I once had a Renault 17 which died all-at-once at 135,000 miles. The engine, transmission, brakes, clutch and subframe all packed it in at once. I thought that was awfully decent of the POS to do that. I probably saved hundreds of dollars!
Les

And the Lexus LS-es that drop transmissions, and the 996 RMS problem, and the Toyota engine sludge, and the (in)famous MB M-class wiring, and the dealers for these brands who act like their cars are perfect, so the owners get treated like idiots...Worst of all, many of the cars I just mentioned are considerably more expensive (and newer) than the vehicles you mention, which are probably 10 years old.

Nothing's perfect, not even German products. Get over it.

did you mean a '96 Neon? had one of those as the first car I drove, the day I got my license....yes i'm young.

as for me i am also lucky that I haven't owned any crappy cars. my dad, however, worked for chrysler for 35 years and had a new car just about every year. We had a whole slew of minivans from every generation for my mom, and my dad had everything from jeeps to neons, omni GLHs (my favorite!) to chrysler seebrings.....and on and on. He now drives a brand new durango that has 3000 miles on it and will be turning that one in for another in a few months. he barely even breaks his cars in! and ironically, in the 18 years of my childhood riding around in 80's and 90's chrysler products, i can't really remember many problems with our cars.

(my dad is a die hard dodge brother though, and he might have not told me the car needed fixing on the way to the dealer to make sure that I would be loyal to his company when I get a car. oops....guess that didn't work!)

Agreed!
For those whining about "look at all the American cars", please do an actual count of the breakout (US, EU, Asia) and let us know if this holds water. My perception is that the US does not lead the pack for bad cars.

Of course if you count the "my bug is cold, will not start, and catches fire but I love it" as a positive vote for the EU cars......

P.S. My roommate has a 1995 Ford Explorer V8 with over 300k original miles. No major repairs at all. Not even water pump or altinator.

Yep, my family has had great luck with American iron too. Recently sold their '99 Chevy Astro with 105K with absolutely NOTHING replaced...even had the original battery! They still have a '97 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 with almost 200K and only a broken power window, one battery, and a wheel bearing replaced.

Then there's the '85 Mercedes 190E we had, it was on its third engine (broken timing chain problem) and third auto transmission when we sold it at 150K.

Good and bad cars can come from anywhere. (England may be an exception to this rule) :D

I'm sorry I gave the impression I was bashing American iron. As I mentioned, the Dodge minivans were new when the trannies went tango uniform. The GM fwd cars I mentioned were notorious here in the salt belt for their rear brake appetite when new, ("they all do that.")
I was very happy with my '88 Chev 1/2 ton (over 350,000 km when traded), and currently have a low milage F 150 in its place, a vehicle which seemed to experience dragging front calipers when they got hot. Solution: replace with aftermarket calipers at 40,000 km. Hmmm.
I have to shake my head when I talk to a friend who is a VW mechanic. Things like rear suspension bushings failing at 50,000 kilometers or windshield wiper mechanisms having to be removed and lubed after two years so they'll run at regular speed make me wonder what has happened to quality control.
I suppose if they built perfect cars, nobody could afford them.
Les

Had a 412 VW wagon, early 70's vintage, got it free from a cousin.

The battery was under the passenger seat and it sank through the rusted floor to the ground, still connected.

The kids noticed it before I did and wanted to know what was hanging beneath the car!!

Ned

One of the worst (I call them unreliable) was a 924 turbo I had when I was a student (some 15 years ago). Broke the transmission 3 times, broke the turbocharger, had to rebuild the cylinder head, and was constantly left by the road due to a problematic starter motor. As expected I was always with a girl each time this happened.

It was so bad, that I recently bought 2 (yes 2) to keep me in trouble....!!!! Iam a weirdo I know !

One of the recent dissapointments was a used Alfa Romeo 156 I got for a while as a company car. Was happy that I changed it with an Audi A4 Turbo