POS cars you've owned

[bvibert]

It did not start out as one... but it certainly ended as one when it sat for a year with no buyer. I added that story to show how resilient yours was compared to mine.

It sat for year because it was indeed Frankenstein's monster and people were scared of it. The only parts that were original to it were the body and frame, and possibly the gas tank. Every other component had been swapped out, including the original maroon vinyl interior for a sweet black and charcoal interior from a later model sport edition blazer.

 

[Johnskiismore]

1979 Mercury Bobcat, 1979 Datsun pick up, those were the two that were the biggest headaches. Mind you they were between 9 and ten years old by the time I owned them!

 

[Swamp Dog]

1984 Olds Omega. 'Nuff said
1986 Pontiac 2000
1996 Plymouth Breeze....don't know what I was thinking there.

A few years ago, when we reached out 20th anniversary, my husband and I realized that we had owned 1 car for each year we were married. Mind you not all of them were POSs.

The mid-80s Sentra that my cousin gave us after totaling it would be a POS but we didn't buy it. Same with the '78 VW Dasher which was eventually abandoned, where, I'll never tell.

The 1985 VW Rabbit that my husband drove from TX to MA in with nothing but his huge Snap On toolbox inside (1988). Now that was a POS. Traded a hunting rifle for it and had to have the heads machined before it would run. Once the tool box was in it the headlights were pointing into the sky! Good thing he had tools with him.

The Toyota we had in Okinawa 1983. No starter. Had to make sure you parked it at the top of a hill to pop the clutch to get it started. Sold 2 Nishiki road bikes to pay for that POS. What can I say, I was 20. Came back to the states to find my "friends" had trashed my '78 Camaro.

1996 Plymouth Mini Van. My husband loved that thing. Called it his high performance mini van. I despised it. All that was missing in my life was the white picket fence. Had the 2.5 kids, house in the 'burbs, 1 dog, and a freakin' mini van. I could not have been any more white bread.

The 2004 Honda CR-V that I'm driving now. Roof leaks and AC died. Only had it 1 year.

--------------------------------------------------

Good cars:

1970 Chevy Nova. it had a 307 turbo. Loved that car, it was my first. my brother totaled it.

1988 VW Jetta. Loved that car, except for the auto seatbelts. No worries. I was hit head on 2 months after buying it and it was totalled. Bought the '89 and ran it into the ground.

2000 Toyota Tacoma. My Y2K truck. Loved that thing but it wasn't very practical for more than 2 of us. I didn't know that when I bought it that my son would reach 6'2" and I'd be the one sitting on the back bench. Not good.

2002 Chevy Tahoe. Another great car. Until gas reached $2.00. Then I traded it in on a 2004 Honda CR-V. But not the one I'm driving now. Oh no. I leased it because I had left my job and was going back to school, wanted low payments. Of course school was 100+ miles r/t, 5 times a week for almost 4 years. I had 110K miles on it at the end of my lease and couldn't find anyone to finance the remainder of lease for me. So I took the one they had on the lot. The POS.

It is also safe to say that I have never bought a car that I did not get hosed on.

 

[2knees]

It sat for year because it was indeed Frankenstein's monster and people were scared of it. The only parts that were original to it were the body and frame, and possibly the gas tank. Every other component had been swapped out, including the original maroon vinyl interior for a sweet black and charcoal interior from a later model sport edition blazer.

do you still have Hondo or Honcho? whatever that thing was.


I've owned a few garbage dumps.

A 1979 Toyota Celica. Actually was a real nice ride but i got it in 1991, a few years past its prime. It leaked so much that it actually had mushrooms growing out of the backseat floorboard carpeting.



1988 VW Golf. I actually paid 5,000 for that thing in 1994 but it was nothing but trouble. It backfired like crazy for a while. You'd be driving down the street and watch people hit the deck when it went off.

My current ride is a dump but thats my fault. I have an '02 civic that is mechanically sound. Its been paid off for almost 2 years and I have no intention of getting rid of it. No one wants to get in it, but thats fine by me. I even took the kids carseats out a year or so ago cause they wont go near it. They always say, daddy's car smells!

 

[Sky]

HEH! Great thread...I could have gone the rest of my LIFE without going over this list in public.

Let's see.....7? Plymouth Arrow hatchback. Ooof. I drove it for a while when I lived in Kentucky...drove it to MA when we moved...commuted with it (about 35k miles a year)...never spent much on it...(should have bought tires). Zero compression...took about 20 seconds to shut off. Not the pre-ignition thing....like an electric motor with a fly wheel. Rusted out, torn seats, faded paint (where there was paint). ugh

I tried to give it to a junk yard. They wanter to charge me for it!

I forget how I got rid of it, but I replaced it....with a 7? Plymout Arrow Pick-up truck (aka Dodge RAM). This POS also didn't cost me much...minimal moving parts, kept a can of WD40 to keep it running in the rain. The radiator's thermostat was inop. So I had a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator in the winter..it warmed up after about 20 miles or so. The driver's door stopped opening from the inside. Then stopped opening from the outside (you know, roll the window down and use the outer door latch while sitting in the car). Eventually the same thing happened with the passenger side, the plywood in the bed was hidding the lack of metal in the bed. One of my kids stepped on the bumper and it fell off. Donated it when I bought...

A 78 S10 Pickup, extra cab with a cap on the back. This was pretty cool...for a while. Also cost me zero in repairs,,,,a few hundred in WD 40 to keep it running in the rain. I raod that thing into the ground till I bought...


An 88 Taurus. shortest POS ownership of my life. 1-1/2 years. WHen the AC crapped out (and snapped the belt in doing so), I had the shop forgo the AC and put on the non-AC version. One day it rolled into the driveway and never started again. It had this awful squeaking that drove backseat passngers mad. You could hear the squeak reverberate as you drove through a parking garage. Awful. Donated it.

Wife bought a 90 Dodge Caravan....can you say transmission problemS! We put in three (how do you spell stupid?...Sky!).

Traded it in for a new Ford Windstar (lease)...worst new car I ever owned. Did I mention Transmission problems? We drove about 40 miles in low gear...back roads @ night cuz we had to get home (the kids had school the next day). Next weekend, we traded it in (and it behaved @ the dealership and they gave us a deal). I forgot to mention the second most stupid thing I did (with a car)....we bought it after the lease was up...that's when the trany went bad.

BEST CARS?

Well...the first ride was my grandfather's 59 Ford Fairlane, 3 speed on the column. Sweet, two tone tan and bronze. Classic.

In Itlay I owned a 67 Fiat 124 Spider (it was twelve years old). Used to put the top down, stick the skis in the front seat, windows up and heat on, Oh yeah...we were a sight.

Wife drives an 02 Chrysler Sebring convertable....nice nice.

I drive an 02 Blazer!!! Bought it in 04 from Enterprise rent-a-car, 13K miles, for $13K. I now have 128K miles....tires, oil, a tie rod...and an oxygen sensor in Aug (then a fuel pump in Sep). I love it.

 

[hardline]

My current car is a POS. 1998 Blazer. You know how little kids pretend they're driving? That's me on the highway. Driver's lock and rear passenger lock don't always unlock with the remote. Wipers have a mind of their own - forget intermittent. Rear wiper seizes all the time. Rear squirter squirts washer fluid inside the truck. No A/C anymore. Heat is either REALLY hot or it blows cold air on you (so much for climate control :roll. My daughter took a rock to the side of it one day - looks like it's been keyed. Hasn't been washed in 4 years. We won't even talk about how much food is inside it, thanks to the kids. But it does have leather interior... :lol:

I think it's almost worse than my other POSish vehicles...

1985 VW Jetta - the rust bucket. Never look at a car at night and then buy it on the spot. $1000 in 1996 bought me a car that had a floor like swiss cheese. Brian and his buddy tried their best to fix it up with some welding, but what we didn't see was that the strut towers were rusted out, too. Ouch. I didn't have that one long before it got junked. Oddly, I have no memories of that car other than the night I bought it (which I had to drive it home in the dark with no lights in the dash... that was interesting) and the day it was picked up for junk.

1986 Jeep Grand Wagoneer - purchased for $800 (1999, I believe) by Brian for me as a secret . Spring popped out of driver's side lock. Rear power window (to get into the cargo area) had to be disconnected because it wouldn't shut off. Leaked a lot of oil. Headliner was falling down. Leather? seats were pretty shot. The car tried to kill me... in the winter, in spite of letting it warm up for 15 minutes or so, invariably when I would take the left turn into the driveway at work (about 1 mile from home), it would stall leaving me stranded with oncoming traffic. That carb hated me.

I have others that had POSish qualities, but I wouldn't necessarily label them as a POS.

Brian, it's more like they're not POS's until you stop putting your hands on them.

dont hate on the blazer i have the same year. it a champ. three years of vt trips. getting beat on in the city. i am close to relagating her to city car. i just can't seem to pull the trigger on the fj crusier.

my blazer is da shit.

 

[MR. evil]

HEH! Great thread...I could have gone the rest of my LIFE without going over this list in public.

Let's see.....7? Plymouth Arrow hatchback. Ooof. I drove it for a while when I lived in Kentucky...drove it to MA when we moved...commuted with it (about 35k miles a year)...never spent much on it...(should have bought tires). Zero compression...took about 20 seconds to shut off. Not the pre-ignition thing....like an electric motor with a fly wheel. Rusted out, torn seats, faded paint (where there was paint). ugh

I tried to give it to a junk yard. They wanter to charge me for it!

I forget how I got rid of it, but I replaced it....with a 7? Plymout Arrow Pick-up truck (aka Dodge RAM). This POS also didn't cost me much...minimal moving parts, kept a can of WD40 to keep it running in the rain. The radiator's thermostat was inop. So I had a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator in the winter..it warmed up after about 20 miles or so. The driver's door stopped opening from the inside. Then stopped opening from the outside (you know, roll the window down and use the outer door latch while sitting in the car). Eventually the same thing happened with the passenger side, the plywood in the bed was hidding the lack of metal in the bed. One of my kids stepped on the bumper and it fell off. Donated it when I bought...

A 78 S10 Pickup, extra cab with a cap on the back. This was pretty cool...for a while. Also cost me zero in repairs,,,,a few hundred in WD 40 to keep it running in the rain. I raod that thing into the ground till I bought...


An 88 Taurus. shortest POS ownership of my life. 1-1/2 years. WHen the AC crapped out (and snapped the belt in doing so), I had the shop forgo the AC and put on the non-AC version. One day it rolled into the driveway and never started again. It had this awful squeaking that drove backseat passngers mad. You could hear the squeak reverberate as you drove through a parking garage. Awful. Donated it.

Wife bought a 90 Dodge Caravan....can you say transmission problemS! We put in three (how do you spell stupid?...Sky!).

Traded it in for a new Ford Windstar (lease)...worst new car I ever owned. Did I mention Transmission problems? We drove about 40 miles in low gear...back roads @ night cuz we had to get home (the kids had school the next day). Next weekend, we traded it in (and it behaved @ the dealership and they gave us a deal). I forgot to mention the second most stupid thing I did (with a car)....we bought it after the lease was up...that's when the trany went bad.

BEST CARS?

Well...the first ride was my grandfather's 59 Ford Fairlane, 3 speed on the column. Sweet, two tone tan and bronze. Classic.

In Itlay I owned a 67 Fiat 124 Spider (it was twelve years old). Used to put the top down, stick the skis in the front seat, windows up and heat on, Oh yeah...we were a sight.

Wife drives an 02 Chrysler Sebring convertable....nice nice.

I drive an 02 Blazer!!! Bought it in 04 from Enterprise rent-a-car, 13K miles, for $13K. I now have 128K miles....tires, oil, a tie rod...and an oxygen sensor in Aug (then a fuel pump in Sep). I love it.

I see your problem.... you have owned way to many American cars. I will not even consider buying an American car (except for a Corvette) but American pick-up trucks are pretty good and we actually own one. Until things drasticlly change in the American auto indusrty I am all about Japanese cars. Our last cat was a 2001 Nissan Maxima that I bough new and put 120,000 miles on. That car was rock solid for over 7 years. We just got rid of that and purchased a new 2009 Honda Accord Coupe. Its our first Honda and we are both hooked!

 

[severine]

do you still have Hondo or Honcho? whatever that thing was.

That moved on when he got the Passat wagon last year. Honcho... 1983, IIRC. Pretty interesting truck but not exactly safe nor family-friendly. Brian went through an FSJ period for a while.

 

[bvibert]

do you still have Hondo or Honcho? whatever that thing was.

That moved on when he got the Passat wagon last year. Honcho... 1983, IIRC. Pretty interesting truck but not exactly safe nor family-friendly. Brian went through an FSJ period for a while.

Yup, sadly it's gone. It had so much potential when I got it too. Just another one of my projects that didn't come to fruition. Most people would have called it a POS, but it was solid and served me well with minimal upkeep. Plus, as an added bonus it kept me from speeding. 8)

 

[o3jeff]

I just googled Honcho to see what this thing was and the first link was for a magazine, after clicking I was pretty sure that that was the wrong type of Honcho. Moral of the story, make sure you put the year and name when googling it.

 

[2knees]

I just googled Honcho to see what this thing was and the first link was for a magazine, after clicking I was pretty sure that that was the wrong type of Honcho. Moral of the story, make sure you put the year and name when googling it.

:lol:

was it a pic of one of the village people or something?

 

[severine]

:lol: It's a full-sized Jeep pick up truck. It was pretty cool looking and didn't cost much.

 

[o3jeff]

:lol:

was it a pic of one of the village people or something?

Go ahead and google it, make sure no one is looking over your shoulder.

 

[severine]

Go ahead and google it, make sure no one is looking over your shoulder.

:lol: :lol: :lol: That guy has quite the grip! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[ChileMass]

1970 Dodge Dart - 1st car I ever owned, bought in 1981 from a friend for $200. Had a terrific 288 cu inch slant-6 engine that ran like crazy, but the body rusted off the frame so I had to junk it.

1972 VW Bug - my 2nd car, bought in 1983 for $675. Drove it for almost 4 years until my feet went thru the floorboards. No heat, no AC, no radio, no nothing. Had a 2x4 for a front bumper, but it got me thru college. It started in upstate NY winters when everyone else's cars were frozen solid.

1976 Subaru DL - the ugliest car I ever owned. Bought it off my brother for something like $500 when the VW died. Yuck. The oil pan leaked and smoke backed up into the passenger compartment when the car wasn't in motion. Blecccch.

In 1988 I finally bought myself a decent car - another Subaru, but at least it was a new one......

 

[2knees]

Go ahead and google it, make sure no one is looking over your shoulder.

I'll just wait till i get home i think.

 

[bvibert]

I just googled Honcho to see what this thing was and the first link was for a magazine, after clicking I was pretty sure that that was the wrong type of Honcho. Moral of the story, make sure you put the year and name when googling it.

:lol: I've heard that Honcho was the name of some 'alternative lifestyle' publication back in the day....

This is the beast to which Pat was referring:

 

[drjeff]

Go ahead and google it, make sure no one is looking over your shoulder.

The ladies that I employ just appreciated the cover "beefcake" shots Now I must quickly go view some ski porn to set my world straight(pun intended ) again!

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

lucky enough to always had good cars

-85 VW Golf 2 dr
-93 VW Jetta
-97 Acura Integra (2dr hatchback) aweful in the snow
-99 Audi A4 Quattro
-02 Saab 9.3 Hatch
-92 Jeep Wrangler
-02 Audi A4 Avant Quattro

 

[Moe Ghoul]

My first post college car was a used 70's VW Scirrocco which was an electrical nightmare.