I asked you guys about car decisions you immediately regretted, and I received an emotional outpouring that matched my own story. Most of us have the one that got away, but even sadder were those of you had to love your vehicles and then let them go. We also had wrenching faux pas, confusing two car garages and more. Click through to soak in the despair a little.
You never walk alone, even in your darkest moments.
Selling my Laguna Secan Blue / Cinnamon interior 2002 BMW M3 coupe / 6MT to pay off my University loan (Canada eh !). That was 15 years ago. I will NEVER be able to find the same kind of E46 M3, let alone be able to afford one now. Huge regret, and one of the reasons I will be taking my E39 M5 to the grave with me. NEVER sell the good ///M cars !
I passed on a MINT 1989 Porsche 911 coupe with less than 50,000 miles in Guards Red with the G50 transmission, full service docs, one-owner, for $18,000 in the mid-00's because I thought it would be too impractical
FML
From Bongo
Buying my F150 crew cab. I mean, it’s served me well and has needed little. It’s just a matter of circumstance. I bought the truck to tow my race car, and six months later the pandemic happened. I never went back to the track and eventually sold the race car. Now I have this big, dumb, lumbering thing that uses way too much fuel. And I have since moved to the mountains, where every road is another Dragon. This truck is exemplary of the idea that power is not necessarily fun, because it’s very powerful and fast, but a chore to drive.
But the truck is paid for and it’s occasionally useful as...a truck. Most days I just wish I had something actually fun to drive.
From Sissyfoot
Buying my Atlantic Blue 2023 GTI S 6-speed about 15 months ago. Hear me out.
I was riding a high of getting a job after being laid off from Ford in the big cull of August 2022. I didn’t have a car, having gone through three in two years of the pandemic: a C30 6-speed I still miss that I rode the high market to sell for 150% of what I’d paid in 2019, an Outback XT 5-speed that was just as good a deal as it was a fortuitous resell for the same amount three weeks after the fact when I realized I really didn’t want a big-ass wagon on stilts and an eye-searingly yellow FoST I decided I was no longer juvenile enough to enjoy and sold for a profit to an 18-year-old kid four months after Vroom dropped it off on my doorstep. I had test-driven a new WRX and even put down a deposit on one, but then I decided to give the GTI a try, as well. The driving experience vs. the Subie was incomparable and I managed to find a good deal on one ($1k below MSRP).
The buzzing noise in both B-pillars that’s been driving me nuts ever since started on the “shakedown” drive, but I put it out of mind. Surely it was something simple that would be rectified at my first oil change. (Lessons of my 2008 Impreza, where the same thing started on my drive home from the dealership and continued until I sold it three years hence, clearly not learned.) I even managed to come to terms with the weird capacitive buttons, even though I hate how I need to tap the screen multiple times to turn off the butt-warmers or cool the cabin off a couple of degrees. It even burbles and farts on occasional off-throttle moments (if I remember to cycle through the driving modes on restart). But the experience overall has been just...meh. When I worked on the Focus ST, it was the crude, “boy racer” foil to the GTI’s “mature” hot hatch. The maturity has stayed, I’ve just grown out of the ST (especially since we don’t get the excellent fourth-gen here) and haven’t grown into the GTI. Boring color (and it’s not available in a single interesting one), weird wheels, clunky first gear, decent, but not blow-your-face-off dynamics. The plaid seats are nice, though. Oh, and the paint quality is Ford-level ABYSMAL. Fucking thing scratches should you breathe on it.
Had I paid $25K for it, I would be CHUFFED. Had it been available in Cornflower Blue, I would probably still have complaints, but at least the color would have made me smile. But for almost $10K more in the worst shade of blue imaginable (with no real alternatives)...meh.
From InvoiceOrBust
The day (in 1999) that I sold myf. I did sell it to get a GTV6 which I loved and regret selling too, but that Super was in original shape (red paint burnt, interior used but good, motor in excellent shape) with only a little rust over the rear wheels. I’d purchased new steel for it and was preparing to start getting it sorted but decided I wanted the GTV6 as I needed a DD and I had a GTV that was also waiting restoration. Today one in the condition I sold it is prohibitively expensive so I’ll never own one again.
From Monsterajr
Around 2010 I saw a mid 90s NSX for sale for $26k. My second child was just born, so it wasn’t really practical at the time. But little did I know that would have been pretty much my only chance at owning one of my dream cars. They’ve now appreciated in value to the point where they are financially out of reach.
Bought a new 2018 Golf Sportwagen with the manual, mostly because I was still a manual absolutist at the time. Except rare exceptions, modern manuals are no bueno. Light, rubbery clutch, numb shifter, long throws and heavy rev hang. Also, since the car was short on power (1.8T tsi) it was impossible to overtake on the highway when cruising in 6th gear, and the 5th was basically another 6th gear so a downshift to 4th gear was required to pass in relatively quick manner, really annoying. The DSG would have been infinitely better.
From Margin Of Error
I had been unemployed for eight months after recovering from major surgery and I made the decision to sell my 1970 Buick Wildcat convertible.
i bought the car off the second owner who owned it 40 years; i owned it for nearly 10 years and had rebuilt the engine, transmission, carb and front end. All that remained to do was aesthetics and maybe fix the fuel gauge.
I hadn’t driven it in almost a year and i was staring down the barrel of foreclosure on my house, so it seemed like the logical decision at the time. Despite sitting for so long, the car started up on the first crank, and my soul died a little bit at that moment.
Even worse, two months after I sold it, the car was stolen from its new owner.
To my knowledge, the car has never been recovered. I get teary-eyes everytime i think about the time, sweat and money i invested in that car, and how it is now either chopped apart or in the hands of someone who doesn’t appreciate the car for what it is.
From Earthbound Misfit I
Having two identical 2011 Honda Pilots.
Mechanic: “Uh, which one you bringing in? So....which color please”?
Insurance guy: “Uh, which one needs liability? So....VIN please?”
State registration: “Sticker for your 2011 Honda Pilot”.... (no color listed)
Wife: “I’m taking the Pilot!” Me: shakes head, shuffles distraughtly, grabs beer
From Polysyllabic
I regret missing an opportunity to buy a Lancia Stratos (real or kit car) when I was in college. Burgundy with gold wheels.
My brother took me to the back of a greek restaurant in Orlando and one of the cooks was selling his Stratos. My brother knew that I loved the car from my days playing Sega Rally Championship. My daily was a VW Corrado G60 at the time and it was killing me how much that car broke and I knew a Lancia real or kit car would be worse so I turned it down.
It was the one time making a smart decision was the worst!
From JSinclair39
Back in the early 2010's I tried to find a low mile Honda Prelude—a car I always lusted after during the younger years. Specifically looked for a 3rd gen with the 4WS and a manual. They were rarer than hen’s teeth even back then to find under 100k miles and not clapped out. Found a fifth gen SH model on CL that was low mile and took a chance on buying it sight unseen. I was very pleasantly surprised at how analog and visceral that car felt. Best steering feel of any car I’ve ever driven (a sentiment somewhat shared by C&D when they took out a low mile 5g Prelude from Honda’s collection) -https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a27505060/1999-honda-prelude-type-sh-by-the-numbers/
“the Prelude’s steering is so precise and its feedback so organic that it should be used as a reference for steering engineers all over the world.”
I originally intended to teach my kid to drive manual in this car and let it be a high school driver, but it seemed way too nice. I thought I would move on to something else and listed it on BAT after another SH brought decent money. This was my first auction experience with them. It was even covered by Jalopnik here:
https://jalopnik.com/heres-what-a-prime-honda-prelude-is-worth-today-1797877153
Unfortunately, I missed “peak auction” values that were to follow in the year’s following so the car sold for about 1/2 what it would’ve brought just 2-3 years later.
I immediately regretted letting it go and knew I effed up selling it. I’ve often felt the 5g Prelude is one of the best driver’s cars ever made. Add about 100hp and it would’ve been carfection. All it needed was the now unobtanium Jackson Racing supercharger that was made for them. I’ve been trying to find a car ever since that felt as good on the road as that Prelude, but it doesn’t exist. A Mk7 gti is about as close as I’ve come (and an excellent driving car in it’s own right).
Not saying there aren’t faster and more refined cars out there, there’s just something about that Prelude on a fun drive...it’s like putting on your favorite comfortable shirt.
From gokstate
Not “immediately” per say. But I installed a throw-out bearing backwards. I got done and fired the car up. Pushed the clutch in and heard an awful noise. Decided to drive it around the block. About blew the input shaft off the transmission. Luckily I just needed a new throwout bearing, clutch fork and front plate that covers the input shaft (don’t know the correct name of that part). Fun times.
From Nemo
Letting go of my family 1977 Dodge Aspen wagon.
My parents bought this car new in 1977. It was our family car until 1991, then it became a secondary car. In 1995, I drove it to college. While in college it crossed the 300K mile mark. After college, it went back to my dad as a “drive to the golf course” car. In 2007, I got it back again as a resto-mod project. Living in CA, and after rescinding the 30 year rolling exemption for smog checks, it would still have to be smogged every 2 years. Passed in 2007, passed in 2009, failed in 2011. By that point, after the 2008 economy collapse we had gone from living in a house with a 2 car garage to a 2 bed room condo with no real place to work on the car. After trying several times, still couldn’t get it to pass smog. Finally decided it was time to let it go, and off it went. Yet, a year later we were able to purchase a home again with a garage. Had I just waited a little while longer... but at the time it left we weren’t even thinking we were ready for another home again. Miss it dearly.
I once attempted to fix a rust spot in my driver’s side door with a wire wheel, some bondo, a piece of Tupperware (I cut the bottom out of a sandwich container), some duct tape, and a rattle can of orange primer.
It did not go well, nor did it look good.
In my defense I was 16 and stupid.
From JohnnyWasASchoolBoy
I’m sure I’ve written about it before, but I regret buying my first car, a 98 Pontiac Grand Am GT, when I was 18. My buddy had one and I love it for some reason, so I had to have one. Found an all white, low mile one with the V6. Liked it, but wanted to keep looking. Dealer dropped the price $2k like that which was then under my budget. My dad shrugged and we bought it with a $1500 warranty.
The first taste of true teenage freedom was delicious.
Shortly after the honeymoon phase, problems started happening. Wheel sensors, ABS sensors, window switches, water pump all within the first year. Of course I had the same coolant leaking manifold issue. Also had a weird cold-weather knock that I could never figure out. That warranty saved my ass big time, but I always got nervous driving it long distances. Got totaled by a Durango 3 years late and bought a Mazda3 to replace it. Totally different experience. I miss that thing.
From FijiST