# The worst, most useless, frustrating car you've ever owned. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287 "2019-10-25T17:00:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287/101 "2020-09-08T17:40:47Z")
My first new car was a 1992 BMW 325is. It was a beautiful car, but completely unsuited for New England winters. It was a rear-wheel drive vehicle that didn’t even have a limited slip differential. Every winter I managed to get stuck somewhere. It also had all kinds of quality control problems, from issues with the interior door lining detaching to intermittent engine hesitation to intermittent electrical problems. It was also overpriced and cost a fortune to repair. My next vehicle was nearly as bad: a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder _without_ 4WD (rear-wheel drive only). The salesman was my father’s neighbor who owned a Nissan dealership in Texas. To make the sale he said nobody really needed 4WD, adding that if the weather was bad enough to require 4WD, you shouldn’t be on the road in the first place 🤨 — says the guy in Texas to someone living in New England. If that were the case, I wouldn’t leave the house for months in the winter here. At least it was fairly reliable otherwise. Finally I learned my lesson. I got rid of both of those vehicles. Every vehicle I’ve purchased since then has had 4WD or AWD (mostly Toyota 4Runners and Subaru Outbacks). ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287/102 "2020-09-08T17:51:53Z")
The worst car I owned, though, was my first vehicle: a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit that was given to me by my parents. It was vastly underpowered, barely able to get up to highway speed even with the accelerator pedal floored. It also started spontaneously disintegrating when it was only 7 years old. The driver’s side door handle and parking brake both completely detached. The rear view mirror fell off. The horn and turn signals stopped working. Last but not least, it leaked oil like a sieve. I finally took it in to get it fixed so I could pass inspection and was told it was unsafe to drive, so I junked it. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287/103 "2020-09-08T18:02:16Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > 1987 Jeep Cherokee… > > To this day I will never buy a Chrylser. If you Jeep was indeed a 1987, I think your anger is a bit misplaced. IIRC, Chrysler acquired AMC (and the Jeep brand along with it) in late 1987, so your Cherokee was designed and built by AMC, not Chrysler. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287/104 "2020-09-08T19:25:43Z")
My brother in law would actually turn the Lark around and back up hills during the winter. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287/105 "2020-09-08T21:46:35Z")
I stumbled across some interesting things about the Vega. > [@](#): > > According to DeLorean’s 1979 book _On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors_ (a whole chapter of which is titled “The Vega”), "[The Vega] produced a hostile relationship between the corporate staffs, which essentially designed and engineered the car, and Chevrolet Division, which was to sell it. From the first day I stepped into Chevrolet, the Vega was in trouble. [https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a6424/how-the-chevy-vega-almost-destroyed-gm/](https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a6424/how-the-chevy-vega-almost-destroyed-gm/) > [@](#): > > The issues with the vehicle practically went back to the beginning of its development. For example, the front end of the vehicle separated in only eight miles on the General Motors Test track. The engineers had to add twenty pounds of structural reinforcements to pass durability.[[13]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Vega#cite_note-automotive1979-13) [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Vega) But the most surprising part to me was that the quality was often bad because workers were basically sabotaging it. > [@](#): > > By DeLorean’s orders, tens of extra inspectors were assigned on the Vega assembly line and the first two thousand cars were road tested. But in 1972, General Motors Assembly Division (GMAD) took over the Chevrolet Lordstown assembly plant and adjoining Fisher body plant. Their main goal was to cut costs and more than 800 workers were laid off, many of which were additional inspectors. This led to assembly-line vandalism, with workers intentionally slowing the line, leaving off parts and installing others improperly. [https://chevyvega.fandom.com/wiki/DeLorean\_Factor](https://chevyvega.fandom.com/wiki/DeLorean_Factor) I guess I don’t really have a bad car in my past. I’ve only had two used ones. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287/106 "2020-09-08T23:21:59Z")
Not me, but every single one of my friends… My high school years were spent working on these cars. Not because I’m any good at it, but my friends’ cars were so crappy that anything we did would probably be an improvement. Tommy built a dune buggy at the age of 12 that would run for one afternoon at a time. But that’s better than Tim’s brother and his Karmann-Ghia that never did quite start. Oh, and Big Al The People’s Pal had a $15 car, where the seats were bolted onto 2x4s with nothing but the asphalt speeding by beneath you. It finally gave out and he left on I-94, figuring that it’d cost more to tow it than it was worth. And, since he’d never registered it and he’d hand-painted the plates, he was right that no one knew it was his. Fun times… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-most-useless-frustrating-car-youve-ever-owned/842287.md?page=5)