These Are The Worst Cars You Ever Bought

285k 2005 Prius. I wanted to learn about hybrids....while its a car that wont die, i learned that once the battery pack is dead, replace the whole damn thing or the car, not the individual cells.

Submitted by: Scott the Stagehand

1981 Jetta Diesel. 52 hp, starter motor was about 1/10 of that. Fuel turned to wax in the cold weather because it had no fuel line heater. 12 volt battery was too small for the high compression engine and the huge starter. I made mods to all that after the first winter. Continual issues followed I swear that it was built during Octoberfest. Obviously super slow to accelerate but did deliver decent MPG. The only redeeming factor was revenge on tailgaters, downshifting would deliver a smoke screen worthy of a bond film.

Submitted by: It’s Time

Not mine per se, but something my folks bought when I was a teenager. The first “nice” car my dad ever bought was a 4ish year old ‘03 BMW 545i and oh sweet jesus, was it the worst money he ever spent. Early 2000's was when the Germans really started to stuff computers into cars, and rarely would they keep themselves in order for more than a few years. The iDrive system was terrible. Neither the brake or gas pedal were remotely linear, so trying to drive it “normal” was maddeningly difficult. That combined with the tires practically being painted on the wheels made it the most uncomfortable car they ever owned.

To top it all off, it needed head gaskets at 80,000 miles. That’s when they admitted defeat and just sold it.

It hauled ass, but that was all it had going for it.

Submitted by: Mosko

My worst didn’t have anything to do with the actual car. I was driving a 4Runner that I LOVED, but got a new job where the commute was going to be 60 miles each way. I decided I HAD to get a commuter car immediately. Trouble is that I was,

1.) Young and stupid

2.) Worked at a car dealership, so I thought I didn’t have to pay attention (see item 1) and

3.) The GM who would have actually taken care of me wasn’t working that weekend.

The absolute ALPHA SHARK salesman of the dealership saw me coming and absolutely soaked me. I think I paid nearly MSRP for a 2-year-old Honda Accord, base BASE BASE model. The only redeeming quality was that it was a stick, but seeing as my new commute involved living on a mountain, in New England, it didn’t turn out to be as awesome as it could have. I was so upside down in this car, and my loan interest rate so bad, the whole thing was a complete mess. I still buy all my cars from that dealership, and we still talk about how fucked I got that one time.

Submitted by: Fritz O’ The Ham

A 2004 Volkswagen Passat GLX 4-Motion that I purchased in 2006 as a 2-year lease return with only 20k miles. I’ve posted about it before and won’t rehash the extensive list of problems, but it would be difficult for me to imagine anything being worse at providing even semi-reliable transportation. Just a short list of the many problems...

- Gauge cluster failed the third day I owned it
- Failed transmission shift module
- Failed ABS system
- 2 fuel tank replacements (needed a third by the time I dumped it)
- Rear differential replaced twice and would still leak
- Both catalytic converters dead by 30k miles
- Heated seats shorted out and caused a fault in the anti-theft system, leaving the car completely immobilized
- Water pump exploding prematurely and violently

And so, so much more. The treatment I received from both the dealer and VW corporate have made me swear off ever purchasing from the brand again.

Submitted by: Hankel_Wankel

This epic pile of garbage I bought in 2021, a 2005 Volkswagen Passat TDI wagon with an automatic transmission.

So, the car was great for a little while, at least long enough that I never wrote an update for this site. Then, it started exhibiting issues getting into fifth gear. Now, mind you, the transmission on it was supposedly just a few years old, so it shouldn’t have been doing that.

Eventually, the transmission issue got so bad that it sometimes didn’t like getting into fourth gear as well. What would happen is the transmission would attempt to begin a shift to fourth or fifth, tons of vibration would occur, I’d feel and hear a hard metallic bang, then the car would enter transmission limp mode.

I parked the car for a year, deciding to put it on ice while the car could still move under its own power. The idea was that I’d buy a manual transmission and have my indy do the swap. Well, earlier this year, my indy said he doesn’t do swaps. So, I pulled it out of storage and decided to sell it. During the time I’ve had it for sale, something happened to the car’s vacuum system, now the brakes are super hard and the turbo doesn’t boost. My wife then accidentally lost the title. I could fix the vacuum problem (probably the pump or a line) and replace the title, but with a trash transmission it’s maybe worth $500-$1,000, anyway. I’ve now owned three of these diesel wagons with automatic transmissions and all of them had some sort of transmission problem.

Of course, I did not learn my lesson...I ended up buying another 2005 Passat TDI wagon (now my fourth), but with a manual already swapped into it!

Submitted by: Mercedes Streeter

Lot of VWs in here so far. Could it be...?

This is super easy for me: the 2008 VW GTI I bought brand new was hot garbage.

Multiple throttle body issues, multiple transmission issues, and multiple HPFP issues were the highlights. When I got rid of it, it experienced a new problem related to oil pressure the dealer was unable to diagnose. Limp mode was a common occurrence, and that last problem threw up a “shut car down now!” error that made it hard to use the car to go anywhere. Even after it was fixed, the DSG felt like I was rear-ended every time I entered second gear.

Would a competent dealer been able to fix it? Maybe. I’ll still never own another VW

Submitted by: dolsh

This was a car my dad bought from some random guy. A 1988 Nissan Sentra. Very basic car with no power steering, manual transmission, etc etc. He did this because he got a job that was 50 miles away and his then truck, a F250 got like 9MPG. So this was going to be the commuter car. I remember it had a sort of shiny red paint job.

Then we started noticing funny things about it.

1: The driver’s side fender was from a completely different year. The side marker light was a different shape.

2: The car pulled heavily to the right. If you let go of the wheel it would immediately try and turn right.

3: Under the hood there was a mass of wires that has been spliced together with electrical tape.

4: It leaked every time it rained.

5: Occasionally and without warning it would cut off. One time it did this on the freeway when going 70MPH. That was scary as fuck

Dad took it to our family’s mechanic. We got a call. The question asked was... had the car been under water? Long story short, the car had been in a major accident, the frame was bent, the engine had been replaced and the whole thing had been jerry-rigged back together.

We eventually sold it. And yes- we were honest to the buyer about the car and its weird history.

Submitted by: ROBOT TURDS

In 2008, I bought a 1991 Mercedes 560SEL for $4,500. It was 100% clean inside and out, a beautiful and comfortable car with astonishingly advanced features for a car from 1991, although perhaps not so astonishing given that it was Mercedes’ top-of-the-line model that year.

In 2010 I gave it away for free, having spent about $30k in repairs in the two years I owned it. There was something terminally wrong with the engine - it bellowed thick black smoke out of the tailpipe, to the point where if you punched the gas on the interstate, a cloud would block all three lanes behind you behind an opaque wall of unburned hydrocarbons. It got between 3 and 5 miles per gallon, and only took premium. The engine needed to be revved constantly or it would stall - at red lights, I would have to slip it into neutral, goose the engine to about 1,500 rpm, and keep it there until the light turned green so I could slip it back into gear. And EVERYTHING on it was insanely expensive to repair. The brake pads had special sensors in them to notify you when they were wearing low, and getting those required spending $2k to have 20 year old boxes with “Hergestellt in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” stamped on them shipped across the Atlantic. The driver’s window stopped operating, and it cost $1,500 for the window switch to replace. Worst financial decision I ever made.

Submitted by: neverspeakawordagain

2019 Chrysler Pacifica Touring Plus with the S Package.

Bought it lightly used November 2022 with around 60k miles, had full maintenance records and had clearly been taken meticulous care of as it looked showroom inside and out. I was a little concerned it was going to be a gamble, but knowing Mopar minivans, I figured given the maintenance history, it would be a solid van.

It now has 85k miles. In that short 25k miles, it’s needed:

1.Brakes on all 4 corners.

2. A complete suspension rebuild.

3. Lost an EGR valve that ended up leaving it bricked on the side of the road.

4. Had the AUX battery kill the main battery without warning, again leaving it bricked on the side of the road.

5. Lost it’s rear head gasket due to the terrible engine bay design on these that causes them to run excessively hot.

Turns out the Pacificas are utter shit. Now I’m stuck with a van I can’t drive because it needs a $4k+ repair that won’t actually be a permanent fix.

Submitted by: ThatVanGuy

1999 Oldsmobile Aurora. Underpowered. Electronics went haywire. Truck leaked like a sieve. Poor visibility. I hated that car.

Submitted by: President Zod

Mazdaspeed6 was the worst car I’ve bought. I’ve had over 35+ cars during my lifetime so far, and I love all brands, irrespective of country etc. So long as a vehicle is engaging to drive, in accordance with MY criteria, I will put my money where my mouth is. I skipped the MS3 because the MS6 is the prettier looking car, and AWD is just better. Also, as far as hatchbacks go, GTI and Mini Coopers were my go-to. People always complain about how expensive and unreliable Euro cars are, which has NEVER been my case. Boy was I wrong about the MS6. In just over 20K miles of owning an already low-mileage, well-maintain, documented history MS6 that was BONE STOCK, I got the infamous knocking sound associated with (Google it) ‘Zoom Zoom Boom” issue. I always drove it sedately under 3K RPMs and followed all the “rules” of driving a Mazdaspeed vehicle. Then of course, the clutch throw-out bearing went as well, all of this in just daily driving. Timing chain rattle was always present on cold starts. It would’ve rusted itself to death by now as well. Beyond the reliability issues and the expensive Mazdaspeed-specific components, the MS6 wasn’t as exciting to drive as JDM fanboys would make you believe. It felt heavy, the engine did not like to be under 3K RPMs, but also wasn’t happy towards redline, and the AWD system was nothing special either. The gear lever was oddly weighted for a stock unit, and the clutch pedal was also unnecessarily heavy. Also, the clutch pedal vibrated and it got worse. I sold the car super quick and while I do like plenty of Mazda’s vehicles, the MS6 left a bad taste in my mouth. I suppose it was a Ford after all, seeing how Mazda has since been better on all accounts.

Submitted by: Da Car Guru - 15,000 RPM daily driver

It was rough and cheap and expensive and great

Submitted by: Bob

In 2018 I purchased a 2002 SVT Focus for $2500, 140k miles, the paint on the front bumper was rough, needed alot of maintenance, brakes, clutch was almost gone, tires. Etc. I had owned these cars prior and knew their hiccups, and at $2500, it’s fine. Plus, it was from the original owner, but he did get lazy towards the end of his ownership, and it showed.

I sorted the whole car out, front bumper repainted, all new lights, only thing left was the clutch, but it was still drivable. About 2 weeks after getting it looking and driving well, the bottom end starts knocking.

I got an engine from a friend that had like 170k, but it ran like a top. Did all the normal fixes during the engine swap, fresh OEM Luk clutch kit and Steeda short shifter with new bushings, it was a whole new car after.

I kept it another 2 years as a side car for nice days and it was constantly a headache with random things leaking for breaking. It was old and essentially a economy car with a high strung 4 cylinder. Great cars when they work right and have been cared for though.

Submitted by: PLindsey