best 1987 BMW 325ES-$160K when sold and still didn't use oil.

worst 1990 Vette Z-51 - anything and everything would go wrong.

I'm going off of cars I bought not needing work.

rjp

Best '01 VW Golf TDI Diesel (40-48mpg)

Worst '03 PT Crusier (wife wanted it, I got rid of it 365 days later!)

Best - 87 325is - Fun and reliable

Worst - 84 944 - Ah geez, where do I start?

Best: 1983 Audi Coupe GT

Worst: 1985 Mustang (daughters car)

Most favorable memory of: 1957 Bel Air Sport Coupe

Best: 1984 Saab 900, well at least the first 170,000 miles; current 2000 Audi A4 2.8q

Worst: 1979 Mercury Capri

Paul

Best: 90 Acura Integra GS -110k all original, bulletproof miles.

Worst: 74 Fiat 124 spyder - don't ask.

The best - a tie between the '67 VW Squareback and the '77 Datsun king-cab. They probably averaged one oil change a year (I was pretty irresponsible as a kid) and both went 200K+ miles w/o any major failures.

The worst - hands down the '94 VW Jetta. Second place was the '78 VW Scirocco.

Worst - 1997 Buick Park Avenue. A couch on wheels that at 80k started to self distruct

Best - Dollar for dollar my 91 Accord coupe with a 5 speed. Not my favorite but the best, hands down.

Best: '91 Civic Si - quick, fun, great MPG, reliable (what a shock!), fit my whole life in there in grad school.

Worst: None of my cars have been too bad, but I'll have to say my '77 Rabbit, which I bought used for $800 in '87. Mainly because she was treated so poorly throughout her life. The floor was rusting out, the engine bay was rusting out, the windshield leaked, the brakes made a BAD noise, the shifter bushings were toast (reverse? who needs reverse?).

My '89 "Scottserado" (upgraded Scottsdale) is definately the best vehicle I've ever owned and I hope to own it until I die. It's already got a salvage title due to some stupid girl hitting it while it was parked. I fixed it pretty well.

Worst? Gotta be the '00 Grand Cherokee we leased and turned back at the end of the 3 years. What a pile of crap. Comfortable and powerful, but the brakes sucked, the trans was out 3 times and the door locks ceased to work at 30 K miles. And the worst car to wash I've ever owned. All the car designers should have to wash the prototype before putting it into production. I'm serious. I cut my hands, it never stopped dripping and the roof rack made the top a bitcchh to dry.

No more Chrysler products for me.

Worst: 75 Renault R-12. Anemic engine (with a 1 gallon glass jar on the firewall as a coolant pressure tank ISYN!) Carb jets had to be blown out every few months, It would eat front pads (I got pretty good at replacing them in about 25 minutes.)
When it got rear-ended, the gas tank burst, but it protected my wife and nine-month old son, so I guess I owe it that.

Best: The 93 Passat turbo diesel I am still driving (420,000km) It still burns 5.75 litres of fuel /100 kilometers (about 50mpg) and the seats are all-day comfortable. True, it doesn't accelerate as much as it accumulates velocity, but I've got the old E for that sort of thing.

Les

Worst: 95 Mustang GT every 3k miles I had to change some electrical sensor or motor, oh and the oil. On the plus side it made my 944 look bulletproof and cheap to repair! - 90 Dodge Caravan never ending (or cheap) engine and/or transmission nightmares. It always broke down when we went outside the 50 mile radius of our home.

Best non porsche: 87 Ford F150 4x4 I6. It had 280k miles when I bought it for $500. Gas, oil, brakes, and tires were the only things I put into that truck besides the rigged lexan windshield after a tree fell on it. The truck was so bad cosmetically when i went to the local junkyard, I was waved through the line to drive it in for scrapping. I only owned it for 4 years but put 120k miles on it when I sold it to another friend. It was the perfect truck to lend to friends and neighbors, it was just absolutly reliable.

Worst: A toss-up. My ex's 72 Chevy Vega that I inherited or our 76 AMC Gremlin. There. I've admitted it. I feel so relieved . . . but it was the cheapest car you could buy at the time.

Best: 95 Chysler Intrepid. It's probably still running great somewhere. I did nothing except brakes to it in 100K. I didn't even wash it for a 2 year stretch, but it was white & it didn't show.

Ian

Best - 1993 Toyota pickup. It was the most reliable beast on the road.

Worst - 1995 Jeep Wrangler. I replaced tie rods, alternator, starter, water pump, power steering, battery, and 1 headlight in less than 60,000 miles. Not to mention the horrible gas mileage from a 4 cylinder.

Best reliability: Pretty much all our Ford products. '99 F550 (work truck). Tens of thousands of miles with nothing more serious than a dropped brake pad. It sucked down air filters every 3k. Always kept a few spares - when the air filter loaded up, the truck would suddently drive like it was on 2 cylinders.

'04 F150 Lariat, built like a tank and a pleasure to drive.

We've had four different Mustangs, too - not a lot of fun to drive when you're a 911 guy, but a great everyday car if you're a couple of DINKs. I had a coupe, wife had a convertible. She still has hers, actually.

Worst reliability: Pretty much any VW product. The worse was a '92 Corrado SLC - repairs that should have been nickel or dime cost thousands. Sunroof cable broke? You'll need a whole new sunroof unit - no individual parts sold in the USA. Sorry. Three water pumps - $$$. Interior held up like *****, plasticky parts started breaking before the warranty was cold.

We've had like half a dozen A2 Jettas. They'll never actually die or stop running, they'll just have bad shift bushings, leaky head gaskets, leaky exhaust manifolds, collapsed lifters, bad HVAC systems, hose failures, and alternator issues. I remember, one of my very first dates when I got my license, I took our '85 Jetta. Front engine mount failed, so every time I'd leave a light, the engine would pop up and whang the hood. (I'm sure my enthusiastic 4 krpm burnouts had nothing to do with it). Other great and funny failures through the years. There was our '92 Jetta that had a badly miscalibrated fuel gauge - we ran out of gas constantly (it would go dry indicating a 1/4 tank). One trip down to the beach, got halfway there and the alternator puked the belt right onto the Interstate. Drove home in the dark. The great things about the A2s, is that parts are dirt cheap and they are as easy to DIY as a 911. The CIS never failed me on any of them, and the engines would keep on truckin' even though the head gaskets were completely gone. Just add water!! Local machine shop would do the heads for $125 a pop.

Best all around: 2001 BMW 530i Sport. I've put 35k on it in 18 months, it is the most fun-to-drive daily driver I've ever had, and is largely bulletproof. I'm fanatical about the maintenance which is pricy, and some of the minor repairs have been painful. Still, I got it for an embarassingly low price and it is a vault. I hope to drive it until it falls apart.

Biggest surprise: '76 911 Targa. I just finished putting it together. The engine is dry and a hell of a lot of fun to drive. It handles better than my '85 coupe.

What's next? Hopefully a Cayenne. I see them at my local shop now and then. I ask the shop owner, "What do these come in for?" He says "Oil changes. That's it. That's all these things ever need". So far, it seems they are really well-built, even the early years. The wife really wants one, so when the '05s (we want a stick) hit the right price point, we'll sign up.

Best my 76 911, I drove it back from the west coast, and have put about 10k miles on it with No problem's. The worst 95' VW Golf, the hood was open more than than the door's I would have been cheaper to ride it the car while it was towed than to fix all the crap that went wrong with it. In 10 months I put a head gasket, timing belt, fuel pump, exhuast,battery, starter, A/C compessor, coil, tires, brakes, and the list goes on! Not bad for a car with 85k on it when I bought it and 91k on when I sold the POS. When I was cleaning the car out I found a book of matches I should have used them LOL LOL

Best- Without question the '97 Civic i bought new and drove 100k+ miles. Still looked and drove like new when i sold it. interior looked fantastic and motor was one happy camper. VERY impressed.

My '01 Tacoma 4x4 was having a good run as well but traded in on a Tundra when son was born (it was a std cab). I dearly miss that truck.

Worst ever is our '01 Jeep Grand Cherokee. straight 6 is doing fine at 100k but that's about it.

Based on reliability...The worst : GM products...A 1997 Sunfire and a 2002 Montana...both got there engines opened before 50000 km...the Montana got A/C problems...paint lift off...water infiltration...misc electric fall down...And the best...Honda products...a 1988 Civic and my present one a 1995 Civic...change the oil and brakes and GOOOOOOO....!

Best: My old 1970 911S without a doubt.

Wost: Jaguar XJS -VDP I danced in the street when it left.

Worst-'95 GTI VR6, loved driving the car but something was always going wrong.
Best-'71 240z put over 100,000 (200,000 total) miles on the car w/ just basic tune ups. It was pretty beat when I bent it up and sold it though.
Here's a link to the cars I've owned:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/361651-list-car-nuts-3.html