Worst car you ever owned?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 278
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From: England
2012 CLS
Worst car you ever owned?
I've been on this forum for some time (registered 2002) and there is a real good mix of people -
I saw a thread on a UK forum recently that sparked some interest, and that was stating the worst car you ever owned.
One thing most of us have in common on this forum is owning a W211. A lovely car.
But i'm interested to know what, in your opinion, was the worst car you ever owned? Maybe for some it is the W211?
Mine was a 1971 Ford Cortina/Taunus 1.6 GLX which was handpainted in black gloss household paint. It had purple plastic interior, and could be started with virtually anything you put in the ignition. It got stolen twice, but somehow managed to be recovered and returned to me. Sold it in the rain one dark night to 2 guys who looked as if they were planning a robbery!
Well, it was 1983 and i was a poor student..........
Whats yours?
Marc
I saw a thread on a UK forum recently that sparked some interest, and that was stating the worst car you ever owned.
One thing most of us have in common on this forum is owning a W211. A lovely car.
But i'm interested to know what, in your opinion, was the worst car you ever owned? Maybe for some it is the W211?
Mine was a 1971 Ford Cortina/Taunus 1.6 GLX which was handpainted in black gloss household paint. It had purple plastic interior, and could be started with virtually anything you put in the ignition. It got stolen twice, but somehow managed to be recovered and returned to me. Sold it in the rain one dark night to 2 guys who looked as if they were planning a robbery!
Well, it was 1983 and i was a poor student..........
Whats yours?
Marc
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From: Upstate NY
58 Vette, 03 Toyota LC, 05 E3204Matic "cancelled purchase"
My worst was an SUV. Does that count? It was a 2000 Land Rover DiscoveryII what a POS.
We live close to Montreal, if you value your vehicle you will not bring it to Montreal, especially SUV's and trucks. I would drive this one all the time in hopes someone would steel it. The last time I went up before I dumped it I told the Valet to park it in the street, leave the keys in it, put a sign on it "steel me" and there would be a hefty tip if it was somehow shall we say missplaced. Still nothing..... Althought we had a good laugh over it.
We live close to Montreal, if you value your vehicle you will not bring it to Montreal, especially SUV's and trucks. I would drive this one all the time in hopes someone would steel it. The last time I went up before I dumped it I told the Valet to park it in the street, leave the keys in it, put a sign on it "steel me" and there would be a hefty tip if it was somehow shall we say missplaced. Still nothing..... Althought we had a good laugh over it.
Out Of Control!!
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From: Florida
In the market
The worst car I ever owned was an 1989 BMW 535i. It was faster than hell, and fun to drive but I had more problems with that car than it was worth. If I was any kind of mechanic I would probably not feel so badly about it.
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From: Richmond, VA
2013 E350
1986 Renault Alliance. Nuf Said!
Why? CHEAP!!!
Had air conditioning....leaked into passenger compartment!
0-60? maybe... downhill! With a tailwind!!
Wow, have come a long way since then.
Why? CHEAP!!!
Had air conditioning....leaked into passenger compartment!
0-60? maybe... downhill! With a tailwind!!
Wow, have come a long way since then.
Member
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From: Dedham MA
2015 C300
The worst car from a model perspective was my first - a 1983 Chevy Chevette "Scooter" - stripped down version of the Chevette - complete with 1.6L/75HP engine (I think I'm remembering this correctly) and AM radio with self-installed FM converter and self-installed rear window defogger! I was poor, right out of college - but great memories! It actually was a great little car!
Worst overall car is so embarrassing, I can't believe I ever bought it. By 1987 I was feeling pretty proud of myself and my career and went out and bought a brand new Cadillac Cimarron. It literally started to fall apart the day I bought it (the oil check light started acting up before I even got it home from the dealer!)- it was a horrendous piece of junk!!! I've never forgiven GM for that car and will never buy GM again!! My friends still rib me today about my "Cadillac" - I'll never live down that mistake!
Worst overall car is so embarrassing, I can't believe I ever bought it. By 1987 I was feeling pretty proud of myself and my career and went out and bought a brand new Cadillac Cimarron. It literally started to fall apart the day I bought it (the oil check light started acting up before I even got it home from the dealer!)- it was a horrendous piece of junk!!! I've never forgiven GM for that car and will never buy GM again!! My friends still rib me today about my "Cadillac" - I'll never live down that mistake!
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From: Longmont, CO
04 E320 4 Matic, 95 Audi S6, 99 Carrera 4 Cabrio, 12 Fiat 500 Sport, 00 BMW R1200C 10, BMW R1200R
Originally Posted by plocjim
By 1987 I was feeling pretty proud of myself and my career and went out and bought a brand new Cadillac Cimarron. It literally started to fall apart the day I bought it (the oil check light started acting up before I even got it home from the dealer!)- it was a horrendous piece of junk!!! I've never forgiven GM for that car and will never buy GM again!! My friends still rib me today about my "Cadillac" - I'll never live down that mistake!
My father made fun of me all the time calling it “The BMW Killer” since that is what the car was marketed as. My father could not stop laughing at that car. I told my father that he could just buy me a new car then, but to this day my parents have never cut my any slack to help me in buying a car!
The Cimarron always worked and never left me stranded. It managed to log 20,000 miles in the first 10 years, but I doubled that in one year. Everything imaginable had issues with it, but it still managed to blow cold air out of the vents and move. I HATED that car with a passion. Needless to say, our 1991 300E became available in our family and I immediately bought it in 1996. Talk about a change in cars! On the other hand, my very first car was a 1973 VW Super Beetle, which was a close second worst. The difference was that the VW was a love/hate relation where as the Cimarron was just a hate relationship.
Steve
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Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 278
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From: England
2012 CLS
Worst overall car is so embarrassing, I can't believe I ever bought it. By 1987 I was feeling pretty proud of myself and my career and went out and bought a brand new Cadillac Cimarron.
I'd never heard of one of those..so I searched google and came up with this.
My sympathies if its true.....................
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From: Longmont, CO
04 E320 4 Matic, 95 Audi S6, 99 Carrera 4 Cabrio, 12 Fiat 500 Sport, 00 BMW R1200C 10, BMW R1200R
Originally Posted by marc777
I'd never heard of one of those..so I searched google and came up with this.
My sympathies if its true.....................
My sympathies if its true.....................
Hey! that looks exactly like my car! Beige with gray/silver trim, Fog lights and 15 inch alloy wheels. It also had automatic lights, dual power leather seats, power mirrors, Climate control A/C and a VDO Yasaki full digital dashboard. However, my Grandfather bought the 2.0L 4 cylinder. I hear that even though that engine was very slow, it was more reliable than the V6. The car was so slow that the bugs hit the rear windshield during "love bug" season in Florida.
For those of you in Europe, it was the same platform as the Opel Ascona. Need I say more?
Good old memories!
Steve
Last edited by SAguirre; Feb 15, 2005 at 10:45 AM.
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was '03 E320 - now - '04 S4
It isn't a black/white best or worst thing for me. I suppose mechanically - my Fiat 124 Spider was the worst car I've ever owned. It was a real POS in some ways.
On the other hand - driving that car during my college years was incredibly fun. 100% chick magnet.
On the other hand - driving that car during my college years was incredibly fun. 100% chick magnet.
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From: Dedham MA
2015 C300
I knew when I posted my Cimarron story I was opening myself up for laughs - and I deserve them!! It actually was a pretty sharp looking car back then - I had some sport package with foglights and two toned silver - I thought it was pretty cool (oh to be 25 again!).
The absolute kicker was, among all the many problems, the glue on all the knobs and emblems was drying up and stuff was literally falling off the car after only a couple of years! One day I closed the trunk and the Cadillac emblem popped off and fell down a drain cover in the parking lot! My friends and I laughed so hard I still remember crying!!
The absolute kicker was, among all the many problems, the glue on all the knobs and emblems was drying up and stuff was literally falling off the car after only a couple of years! One day I closed the trunk and the Cadillac emblem popped off and fell down a drain cover in the parking lot! My friends and I laughed so hard I still remember crying!!
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was '03 E320 - now - '04 S4
^^^ I do have deep respect for you - it takes a real man to admit a lapse in judgement that egregious!
I always wondered... "who would buy one of those things!?!" of course I thought that when the Seville came out on the Nova chassis - but the little front driver GM chassis of the Cimmaron - yikes! :p
I always wondered... "who would buy one of those things!?!" of course I thought that when the Seville came out on the Nova chassis - but the little front driver GM chassis of the Cimmaron - yikes! :p
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From: Longmont, CO
04 E320 4 Matic, 95 Audi S6, 99 Carrera 4 Cabrio, 12 Fiat 500 Sport, 00 BMW R1200C 10, BMW R1200R
I admit I bought the car USED since I needed a car immediately and I knew this car's history well. I was 12 years old in 1985 so I could not have bought it! I paid $2,500 for it (my grandparents paid $15,000). I drove it for 14 months and 21,000 miles and then sold it for $2,900. The car had been garage kept all its life and aparently people in Florida liked it 
Needless to say, it was nothing more than a Chevrolet Cavalier with more toys on it.
Steve
Needless to say, it was nothing more than a Chevrolet Cavalier with more toys on it.
Steve
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From: Dedham MA
2015 C300
Originally Posted by lig
^^^ I do have deep respect for you - it takes a real man to admit a lapse in judgement that egregious!
I always wondered... "who would buy one of those things!?!" of course I thought that when the Seville came out on the Nova chassis - but the little front driver GM chassis of the Cimmaron - yikes! :p
I always wondered... "who would buy one of those things!?!" of course I thought that when the Seville came out on the Nova chassis - but the little front driver GM chassis of the Cimmaron - yikes! :p
I really thought I had a $16K American version of a BMW!!!
With age does come wisdom!
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From: Dedham MA
2015 C300
I'm still laughing about the whole Cimarron experience... one last story about how it all ended - by 1989 I was up here in Boston and in graduate school...needed a new car because this one was obviously falling apart! Fell in love with the new 1989 Nissan Maxima redesign...decided to get one. Went back to the dealer in RI, who was a Cadillac/Nissan dealership, to try to get a deal. What does he tell me - he'll give me $2500 for the Cimarron!! When I was finished screaming he says, almost an exact quote as I remember this well - "I can't have that car on the used car lot, it has no value - I need to wholesale it"!!
Got the Maxima and a decent trade up in the Boston area, but never forgot the whole "Cadillac Experience"!!!
Got the Maxima and a decent trade up in the Boston area, but never forgot the whole "Cadillac Experience"!!!
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From: Sacramento
'08 AM Vantage V8 - '03 E500
The first car I ever owned was a '66 Datsun 411:
http://www.modum.net/datsun/Grafikk/gamle_19.jpg
... it was a primitive car even for its day, based on 1950s British technology (4-cylinder pushrod engine, non-synchro first gear, drum brakes all around, leaf-spring rear suspension, whitewall bias-ply tires) but it cost something like $1700 new (with the optional heater) and it got me through college and graduate school. So, it wasn't a bad car, just a very basic one. Actually, I've never had a car that I would consider outright "bad" for its day - which may relate to the fact that I've owned only Japanese and German cars.
http://www.modum.net/datsun/Grafikk/gamle_19.jpg
... it was a primitive car even for its day, based on 1950s British technology (4-cylinder pushrod engine, non-synchro first gear, drum brakes all around, leaf-spring rear suspension, whitewall bias-ply tires) but it cost something like $1700 new (with the optional heater) and it got me through college and graduate school. So, it wasn't a bad car, just a very basic one. Actually, I've never had a car that I would consider outright "bad" for its day - which may relate to the fact that I've owned only Japanese and German cars.
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From: Mansfield, TX
11 ML350W2 / 17 GLC300
1980 Chevy Citation. This car had a 4-speed manual transmission that froze while driving at 60mph. This is fun when the front wheels freeze and you have no steering. This turned out to be a design problem where the bearing under the driven gear wasn't being lubricated properly. Chevy and GM wouldn't admit that there was any problem until a year later when they very quietly decided to pay all repairs for this type of problem.
Jim
Jim
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From: Dallas Area
2004 E500 AMG Sport and 2020 GLC300
We have a tie.
1976 Volare - engine died when making right turns, all parts were the cheapest option available, front end vibrations were never corrected. Did have comfortable seats though, which were good when sitting in traffic with a dead engine. This was my one and only Chrysler product.
1982 Buick "little limousine" Regal Limited - horrible from the word "go", well not really. It wouldn't go until I forced the dealer to correct vacumn leaks under the dash. Windows wouldn't go either - up or down. Leaked water inside when it rained. Upholstery came apart shortly after purchase. This was my one and only GM product, and last American made car.
Alternatively, two Nissan Maximas, the W210, and the W211 are just fine. 
1976 Volare - engine died when making right turns, all parts were the cheapest option available, front end vibrations were never corrected. Did have comfortable seats though, which were good when sitting in traffic with a dead engine. This was my one and only Chrysler product.
1982 Buick "little limousine" Regal Limited - horrible from the word "go", well not really. It wouldn't go until I forced the dealer to correct vacumn leaks under the dash. Windows wouldn't go either - up or down. Leaked water inside when it rained. Upholstery came apart shortly after purchase. This was my one and only GM product, and last American made car.
Alternatively, two Nissan Maximas, the W210, and the W211 are just fine.
Newbie
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1999 VW Beetle
The first year was good then it fell apart. Non-stop buzzing noise from the headliners. Needs a new battery EVERY year. Gremlins migrate from power windows to stereo to trunk release. We go so tired of it we gave it to my wife's college-age brother. The kid was excited at first, but after a year of owning he GAVE IT BACK TO US! Can you imagine that!? Now the car sits on our driveway with a non-function dashboard (dead speedometer, fuel gauge..etc.) and a moon that opens/tilts/shuts ON ITS OWN.
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From: S.F. Bay Area, CA
'18 E63S AMG
My current 1996 GMC Jimmy. Turning radius is just awful. Brakes, handling and power just suck, as well as the fact that there is always something breaking down on the SUV. It is so bad that my parents gave it to me. Eventually I will replace it, but I am lazy.
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From: Las Vegas, NV
2011 E350 Cabriolet..White and Almond Mocha
A 1972 Audi Fox...bought it as a commuter during the gas line era. Ran great for the first 5000 or so miles then it fell apart. Engine was a disaster. When I sold it with 10,000+ miles the first guy who looked at it had it inspected. Needed a valve job and a host of other things. Needless to say he passed...soon one guy said he thought it needed work but he liked to tinker with engines. That was the start of the Audi's decline.
Also my first car was a 1950 Studebaker Champion Sedan, bought used in 1952. Paid $600 for it (sailors didn't make much money then) and traded it for a new !955 Oldsmobile Super 88 Coupe and got $800 on the trade in....those were the days my friends.
Also my first car was a 1950 Studebaker Champion Sedan, bought used in 1952. Paid $600 for it (sailors didn't make much money then) and traded it for a new !955 Oldsmobile Super 88 Coupe and got $800 on the trade in....those were the days my friends.
