your best and worst car?

[sammyg2]

Another thead got me thinking (I know, hard to believe).
What was the best car and the worst car you ever owned?

It can be based on reliability, functionality, or just on how much you liked driving it.

My best was my current ride, a 2007 tundra. Worst hands down was a 1986 ford ranger POS lemon.

[legion]

Best? I don't know. I hope my new Silverado takes that prize.

Worst? Definitely the '85 S10. Lasted all of 3 month before dying of electrical problems. Some runners up include my F150 (left it in Florida in March because of oil pressure problems) and my 300D (nickled and dimed me when I was a poor college student--and my father graciously agreed to accept payment (at an inflated price) for the car when I could afford to pay him for it which trapped me into owning it).

[deathpunk dan]

Best car I've owned yet is my 1995 BMW 325is daily driver. I've had it for nearly 6 years. Bought with ~75k on it, and about to hit 200k. Starting to rust and interior falling apart, but it has never let me down, has been shockingly easy to work on, and parts are cheap.

Gotta do the rear brakes, rtabs, and rear subframe bushings before the fall.

[SGB]

obviously Porsche products are not included-
I'm going to leave out other sportscars as well....
best- 1984 Honda Civic 4 door is the only new car I have ever bought. Paid $8400, drove it 13 months and 15K miles and sold it for $8500.
worst- 1999 Dodge Ram P/U.
(the AMC Pacer my wife had in college that I thought about listing was more fun than you might think, but maybe thats just association...)

[VINMAN]

Best was probably my 89 F-150 4x4. Truck had 290,000 virtually trouble free miles on it when i got rid of it last yr. Other than a tranny rebuild and normal wear item replacement. I beat the crap out of it and it still kept going.

Worst is tough to say. I thought my wifes '95 BMW 318i was a piece of crap.

[IROC]

Best - my 911. 14 years of fun and adventure.

Worst - a 1981 Datsun pickup truck. Blown head gaskets, habitually clogged carburetor jets, intermittent starter operation...I hated that thing...

[futuresoptions]

Best Car? Hopefully my 911

worst car.....Hmmm.....I have so many choices....LOL.... I am gonna say 77 Dodge crew cab... Ugly, Hot, and could never get it to run..........

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Best overall has been the Mercedes. Claims that "1990s-current" Mercedes cars are junk are HIGHLY overstated. They're fine. Only problem I had was the auto-dimming rear view mirror didn't auto-dim (fixed under warranty a week after I got it) and a crank position sensor went bad - also fixed under warranty.

Absolute worst was my second car - a 1978 Pontiac "Formula" Firebird. All looks, no power. POS 305 cid engine which is good only for a boat anchor, not for any kind of performance build-up or tuning. Handled like a greased pig on a frozen linoleum floor. Terrible on gas. T-tops leaked like crazy. Rusted way too easily (1970s American garbage). Transmission failed too. Twice. I wasn't disappointed to see that one go to the big crusher in the sky.

I suppose my 951 might get a nomination here too. Not too many cars I've had have spontaneously burst into flames while I was driving them. It was a money pit in the worst way too. I doubt I'll ever get another one. A Porsche, sure. A 951? No way.

[KFC911]

No contest for me... a '93 Chevy S10 Blazer

[Nape75'911T]

best - excluding my 930.....93 Golf diesel....still running well (not mine now), with 400K on it.....Have an 06 TDI Jetta now....we will see how it works long term compared to the 93....it's a nicer car by far, but the truth is in the miles...

Worst - 82 Plymouth Horizon 4 door hatchback......fuch that thing was crap.

Cheapest - really old Pinto (don't remember the year).....bought it for $200 with only 18K miles on it. Owned by an old doll who drove it to the commuter train every day (less than a mile), and it sat outside all year. My Dad and I replaced a ton of metal on it by cutting up an old galvinized slide from my sisters long abandoned swingset......and the car ran great for 2 years for me, for nothing. Sold it to a pizza delivery guy for $800, he drove the crap out of it until he popped the motor......it was a good car for a 16 year old. (thank God I never got rear ended!).

[Mule]

Worst, 95 Plymouth Grand Voyager mini-van. It would be easier to list what didn't break.

Best, I guess it depends on how you want to classify that. I had a '74 914 that I drove the wheels off of for 2 years on $350 of repairs (most of that preventative). Had a '93 Q45 that was excellent in every respect. Had a '95 Crown Vic (Ole Blue) that went 220k miles on 1 window regulator, a water pump & a map sensor.

[Aerkuld]

Porsche-O-Phile is onto something, my girlfriend has a 2002 SLK-230 Kompressor and it has been great.

As for me, worst car was the 1997 Chrysler Sebring. The two redeeming features of the car were the stereo and the air conditioning. A close second would be the Renault Alpine GTA V6. I'd compare it to a 911 wannabe with all the quirks but without the reliability. But it was a great car to look at and fun to drive when it was working.

Best car? It would be a tough choice between my current 911's. But Porsche's aside I had two Nissan 1989 200SX's back in the UK. They look the same as the 240SX over here but have 4 cyl Turbo engines.

[azasadny]

Best - My 911 or my 2007 MazdaSpeed3 (tie)

Worst - My 2006 Ford Escape or 1976 Chevy Camaro (tie)

[jyl]

Best - 1989 Porsche 911 (no surprise), 1963 Land Rover 109 (took licking, kept ticking), 1976 VW Dasher (ditto), 1965 Ford Mustang (dead reliable, great fun to drive).

Worst - 1995 Range Rover (fine to 100K miles, then repair costs went up exponentially); 1986 Merkur XR4Ti (fun to drive, stunningly unreliable and Ford orphaned it making certain parts NLA).

Of recently acquired cars, 2007 Toyota Prius looks like will make it into "best" list. Jury is still out on 1988 VW Vanagon Westfalia.

Oh, forgot the 1984 Ford F250, probably makes it onto "worst" list. Hydrolocked and bent a rod, so rebuilt motor, then replaced tranny, I guess it ran alright after that.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Best: wife's '03 4Runner V6. Bulletproof from new until 65k. ZERO issues. Further reinforced my opinion of Toyota trucks being the world's best.

Worst: '93 BMW 325i. Appaling build quality, especially for a BMW. Interior made most domestics look like a Lexus. I was always replacing something, then the transmission started going out. Fairly fun to drive, when it was right (rarely). Happy to see that one go.

[Scott R]

Best: my 2001 A4 2.8l

Worst: 1999 Ford Taurus SHO, all doors locked, burned to the ground, had it not been for a good samaritan I would have gone up with it. Although it's tied with my wifes 2003 Jeep Overland for overall crappyness.

[gatotom]

Best car without a doubt was my first car bought in 67, a 59 chevie impala for 125 bucks. The day I bought it a few of my buddies all went to see the latest movie, Grand Prix, and when we came out of that movie we christened the chevie the blue ferrari. It was one of the few cars I made money on, kept for a yr during my second yr of college. I would go in a gas station and tell the guy fill the oil and check the gas. When I passed thru town a blue cloud would follow me.

We sideswiped a car one night going to a bar in the woods, it got hit 2 more times and the last one was in a parking lot, the honest guy that hit it left his name and number. I called him up and told him it would take 250 bucks to cure the problem, he sent it and the bar hoping got way more serious. By the end of the school yr the car looked like a demolition derby car and one day a fellow student asked if I would trade him for a stereo set, I did cuz I couldn't bring this hunk of junk home for the summer.

The worst one was a 76 jeep truck, bought it new and it basically fell apart after 6 months, I was building houses at the time and doing mass driving, I took it back to the dealer and gave him the keys and said its yours now, never did finish paying for the junk and it never hurt my credit.

[Eric 951]

Best AND Worst car was one in the same--1979 924 which I had in HS,
best because it had the removable sunroof, handled great, was a 5-speed and was my introduction to Porsche.
worst because it was slow as molasses, parts were expensive, and it had electrical gremlins which I was never able to completely solve.

[grudk]

Best: '93 Miata. Loved that car. So much fun for the money. Ex- took it in the divorce. B#$@*

Worst: '99 BMW M-coupe. That POS cost me a fortune with two blown engines. No more BMWs for me - ever. Bitter? YES

[Dottore]

Best was a 1960 Mercedes 180 sedan. It felt like it was machined from a single billet of steel. I bought it as a first year student with 110,000 miles on it and sold it 8 years later with 310,000 miles on it. The road trips we took in that thing were legendary, and it was 100% reliable.

Worst car I ever owned was a Renault Espace. Bucket of bolts. Complete crap.