Best/Worst car you've ever owned?

[winona1]

I love the stories!

Worst - “sporty” bright red Chevy Vega — a quart of oil more often than a gallon of gas

Favorite — F150 but it died on the 8th floor of a parking garage in Chicago at my son’s doctor’s appointment

Another favorite — Mazda Miata convertible - till my shoulders said no more of reaching back to open and close the top

Now — last VW Bug made, in Jalapeno Orange

 

[montenido]

2004 Toyota Prius was one of my favorite cars. It was Toyota's flagship for technology at the time. My son totaled it without a scratch on him. I am loving the Tesla 3 that I've had for 5 years now.

Worst was a Chevy Suburban, early 90's. What a POS. The wipers would quit working in the rain, plastic pieces would fall on you while driving. My once and never again chevy.

 

[TheBar]

I'm not an "expert" but having own more than 50 cars in my life, my best cars have always been rated the worst by Consumer Reports. With maybe the exception of a Ford Pinto wagon. It was one of my worst and was rated bad for good reason. It needed Fixed Or Repaired Daily and was also known to exploded on impact.

 

[Daffyd-WO]

Best= 1969 Buick GS Stage one
Worst= 2008 Chevy pick up

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

My worst was a classic "lemon" - a vehicle that for whatever reason had far more than its share of problems. It was a brand new 1967 Pontiac LeMans that must have come down the assembly line on a bad day. Multiple body and interior parts were misaligned or weren't even bolted/screwed in place. Me & the dealer's service manager got so frustrated with the car & my weekly complaints that we argued and he threw me out of the service area. I had to get the Pontiac District Service Manager to referee. To his credit, the DSM took my complaint list, got me a loaner car, and had everything fixed right after a week in the shop, but the day after I got the car back I traded it for a 1968 Dodge Charger RT. Too many bad vibes to keep that poor Pontiac!

My best, and maybe fondest, was a 1980 Datsun 280ZX. Fun to drive, comfortable, and totally trouble free. Fell in lust with the Nissan 300ZX when it came out in 1984 and traded the 280ZX for it, but never got the same level of enjoyment out of it.

 

[DonTom]

2004 Toyota Prius was one of my favorite cars. It was Toyota's flagship for technology at the time. My son totaled it without a scratch on him. I am loving the Tesla 3 that I've had for 5 years now.

Worst was a Chevy Suburban, early 90's. What a POS. The wipers would quit working in the rain, plastic pieces would fall on you while driving. My once and never again chevy.

For most of my drives, I enjoy my 2022 Chevy Bolt (EV) more than my 2018 Tesla M3. Main reason is the way the Regen works on the Bolt, so much better than Tesla. The Regen being light, but make it extra heavy as needed with the Regen level on the steering wheel, makes it especially fun to drive. It also has progressive regen on the little used brake pedal. Brake harder, more Regen. I doubt if the brake pads have ever engaged in that car.

But for a trip of thousands of miles, I would take the Tesla, for it has a much better DCFC rate and better navigation system than the Bolt.

-Don- Cedar City, UT

 

[Rene T]

I had two best cars. My 1st car was a 1959 Chevy Impala convertible. Red inside and red outside with a black top . It had a 283 and a 3 speed on the column. That car rode nice. I bought it used and kept it for about 4 years. Then I ordered my next best car. A 1967 Malibu with a 327, 4 speed and dual exhaust. That car was fast. I couldn’t afford a SS with the 396 but my car was real fast in its class. The color was gold with black interior.
I can’t really remember any bad cars. I guess I was lucky

 

[mountainkowboy]

BEST vehicle? There's been a few. 69 GTO RAM AIR, 71 Rancho 351SCJ, 64 Malibu, LOVE my IH Scouts and truck. 90 F350 Lariat C/S, the 'ol Harley.

The worst....94 Aerostar van. They ended up buying back under the lemon law thing.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

Best car: 1964 Dodge 330 2-door, with a 383 cid Hi-Performance engine mated to a heavy duty 3 speed manual transmission.

Runner-up best car: 1971 AMC Gremlin with 232 cid engine and 3 speed automatic. Fun car to drive, economical. We put almost 200K on that car and would probably still have it if we hadn't got t-boned in it and had it totaled out from under us.

Worst car: 1984 Chevy C30 Crew Cab 454 cid engine with TH400 automatic transmission. Spun a rod bearing at 57,109 miles on the clock and Chevy refused to talk about any help since it was 7K miles past the warranty - ended up going through arbitration and getting 1/2 the cost of a rebuild.

Worst car runner-up: 1974 Dodge Colt station wagon. Timing chain jumped a few teeth and destroyed the engine at about 76K miles. Rebuilt it and it happened again in about 20K miles. Getting parts for it was an ordeal because Mitsubishi changed the engine design midway through the model year and both old and new design went through the asssembly plant simultaneously - the only way to know which engine you had was to tear it down and match up the parts.

 

[Kirk]

It was a brand new 1967 Pontiac LeMans that must have come down the assembly line on a bad day.

I too had a 1967 Pontiac, but mine was the Tempest LeMans with the the 230 hp OHC Six and a 4 speed manual transmission. It was not only the worst in that it always had some oil fouling in the #2 cylinder, but it was also one of the most fun cars to drive, particularly since I was only 26 years old. It was back for warranty work on that cylinder repeatedly but never solved.

We also had a 1988 Ford Probe that was great fun to drive, but much later in life and no more kids to ride along. The only problem we ever had with it was the traffic tickets that my wife got when driving it.

Best for the time and purpose owned would be the 2001 Honda CRV, all wheel drive that we towed for 8 years behind the motorhome as well as driving it for 170k miles.

 

[RayIN]

Worst; 1972 Chevrolet sedan with a 282 V8, wouldn't pull the hat off your head. Best; 1968 Oldsmobile 4-4-2, or, 1974 Lincoln Mark V.

 

[woof-n]

Worst car= It was my first car. 1962 Pontiac Bonneville convertible that had been sitting in a field for three years. I bought it for $100. I replaced, repaired or rebuilt, generator, starter, carburetor, transmission, master cylinder, brakes, brake lines fuel lines, fuel tank leak, radiator, transmission, repaired all of the rust holes. Then found out that the frame was soft and motor went bad. I argued with Spuds auto part to give me $32 dollars for it. That car did teach me to be a mechanic!! lol

 

[NY_Dutch]

Worst would be the 1971 Vega I bought to flip. In the 4 or 5 weeks I drove it with for sale signs in the windows, it used three quarts of oil. I made a few dollars on it when it sold, but not much.

Best would likely be my current 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid, especially at today's gas prices.

In the most fun category would be the 1972 Dodge Charger Rallye 440 that I inherited from my aunt. That car really knew how to step out when I stepped on the go pedal!

 

[TheBar]

Worst would be the 1971 Vega I bought to flip. In the 4 or 5 weeks I drove it with for sale signs in the windows, it used three quarts of oil. I made a few dollars on it when it sold, but not much.

I had a 72 Vega. By the time it had 50k miles it burned 3 quarts of oil on a 150 mile trip. The strange thing was it didn't have blue smoke coming out the tailpipe. I sold it for $400. 3 weeks later it was sold at auction for $25 after being abandoned in a farmer's field. But it was better than my Nissan Sentra and Pinto wagon.

My dad had a 76 Vega GT with 4 on the floor that was really fun to drive. By then Vegas had cast iron cylinder liners. He sold it when it had 120k miles on it and it didn't burn oil.

 

[winona1]

Yep, I hear you with the Chevy Vega. I think mine was a ‘72 and yes, 4 on the floor. I bought oil by the case and just carried it with me. I don’t know where the oil went — no spots on the driveway and no blue smoke. Just evaporated?

 

[8Muddypaws]

The car I had the most fun in was a 2006 Honda Element. I could get 3 of my favorite sailboards, 3 two piece masts, 4 or 5 sails, a couple of booms, a couple of gallons of water, wetsuits, and a good lunch in it without any outward sign it was stuffed full of expensive gear. Prior to that I used a full sized Ford van.

The worst car? That was probably a ‘56 Chevy coupe. Nothing in it worked for long. I had to depend on it to get me from Campbell, ca to Palo Alto 5 days a week. It eventually blew a rod and was junked. That was my last GM car. Almost bought a Corvette once but I came to my senses.

 

[Professor David]

The Chevy Vega seems like the worse car of all time. A friend owned one and the engine blew up at 50k miles.

 

[jymbee]

Must have mentally blocked out a few years for some reason as I completely forgot the most enjoyable vehicle I owned was a 1972 VW Kombi van. Added our own plywood bed, stereo (8 track!), some benches etc. etc. A lot of great memories.

Despite it's relatively primitive accoutrements we had a least as much fun camping with friends in Cape Cod for example as I do now at sites traveling with our Class A. Not that I would give up the A of course.

 

[ButchW1]

The Chevy Vega seems like the worse car of all time. A friend owned one and the engine blew up at 50k miles.

GM also had a twin cam Cosworth Vega… A collector car now… Almost as expensive as a Vett at the time…
Butch

 

[EdJunior]

Yep on the Vega. That was actually my first car that I paid for, a '74. I was working a night shift at a truck stop. My sister (a lead foot) "borrowed" the car, and didn't check the oil in it. And sure enough, blew it up. The dealer I bought it from was really great and worked with me to buy a '65 Plymouth Fury III that I drove all over East Texas. Until my sister "borrowed" it one day, and you guessed it...she blew that one up too! She never drove another car of mine.