All the unreliables were owned by family members, and I was the lucky one that got to work on them.
The worse of the worse starting at number 1
1 Pontiac grand am's, mid ninety's
2 Ford Taurus
3 VW Jetta
4 84 Chevrolet suburban

 

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I once owned an AMC Pacer. My ex-wife wanted one and I caved. When we went in to trade it, the used car guy came in carrying the inside driver's side door handle which had fallen off. When you combine ugly with poor reliability it is hard to get a good trade-in. One of my ex's friends thought it was "cute" and bought it. We moved out of town shortly later.

 

Don't be embarrassed. I thought it was an interesting design myself....though all that glass made it hard to cool inside, it also made for good outward visibility in the days before screen-cameras. Poor reliability was a hallmark of many American-built vehicles back then, not just with AMC. And the Pacer set an automotive record .........it was arguably the only 2-door car (and especially the only modern car) in history with one door longer than the other.....presumably to make for easier entry/exit for rear seat passengers.

 

1975 VW rabbit. First car. I believe this was their first attempt at a water cooled engine. That radiator/cooling system was a disaster. Bought it used in 1984. School bus yellow.

 

in 1974 i was buying a new javelin and was sitting in a new pacer when the salesman said ,i can get you a hell of a deal on this and i said, i wouldnt take it if you gave it to me for free and he said; that wasnt the first time he heard that.

 

My 2007 BMW 328i that I bought 6 months ago has been pretty bad. It's been a terrible experience. My 1999 Saturn SL2 had tons of issues but it never left me stranded. It's a tie at the moment. The BMW's parts cost a lot more though.

 

1997 Dodge Caravan. Biggest Piece of **** ever to sit in the garage. Bought it brand new back in '97 and after 2 years the trans failed, by year 3 the window regulators had gone, fan belt had gone, radiator leaked like Niagara falls, failed thermostat, and failed power locks. That was enough for me to say I will never own another American car. Dumped it beginning year 4 and bought a brand new 2001 Honda Odyssey that would last the next 6 years problem free, until i traded it in for a brand new 08 Odyssey

I've now got my eye out for an 04-05 Mercedes CL55. I pray to the all mighty deities that that car will not join the ranks of this thread...

 

2000 Land Rover discovery. Head gasket job every other year and something was always going wrong with it. Dealer only parts 99% of the time and never in stock.

 

My first car was the most unreliable I had. It was a 69 Chrysler Plymouth. My parents bought it for me while in high school. I didn't care about the reliabilty. My grandfather and I did most of the repair work right in the yard.

 

Yep, I'll bet you did a lot of repairs. Except for the always-durable Slant Six engine, the Torqueflite automatic transmission, and some of their smaller V8s on the 318 (5.2L) block, Chrysler products took an enormous quality drop in just three years (from 1966 to 1969) and remained there. It helped lead to severe financial problems, and borderline bankruptcy a decade later.

 

ok since mmarshall let this one by I will have to ask Ice350, which was it-a Chrysler or a Plymouth, and which model? My 1st car was a 1965 Chrysler 300 and it was very reliable with a 340hp 413-4 v8. I agree with mmarshall's post though as my girlfriend's dad once had a 1969 Dodge Polara with a little 318 in it with an anemic littler 2-barrel carb that never ran right. A real POS that sat in the garage most of the time.

 

Agreed, that part of it is unclear, but it probably doesn't make much difference. In most of their vehicle lines, Plymouths, Dodges, and Chryslers all used the same platforms and unibody-shells back then. A Plymouth Fury/VIP, Dodge Polara/Monaco, or Chrysler Newport/300/New Yorker, for instance, were all essentially the same cars mechanically under the skin, except that the Chryslers, especially the New Yorkers, had more trim, standard equipment, and sound insulation. Same with the the other Chrysler-product price/size-lines.


2-barrel V8s on 60s-vintage Chrysler products always seemed to have drivability problems when cold or warming up, even when the rest of the car was decently reliable, like before the late 60s. Those two-barrel Carter AFB carburetors were notorious for butterfly-chokes, manifold heat-risers, and accelerator pumps that either didn't work at all or didn't work properly. The inevitable result was too much choke or too little (usually too little, except when the butterfly stuck closed in cold wet conditions), lean-mixture popping/backfiring, carburetor ice/stalling if one didn't keep the throttle open, and annoying stumbles/hesitations when trying to pull into traffic. Usually, though, once fully-warm, they ran OK. Still, though, it was enough to make one TRULY appreciate modern electronic fuel-injection.

 

That's not typical. With the advent of the C5 Corvette in 1997 they became very reliable, especially considering they're high performance sports cars. My own C5 went through the usual time related repairs and of course the harmonic balancer had to be replaced (typical) otherwise a very reliable fun car. Sorry to hear about yours. Here's a pic of my C5 that's now traded in on a 2014 C7.

 

Unless the last owner took care of the ABC suspensions, supercharger and components, a whole slew of sensors (airbags, and others I can't recall but if you go to mbworld.org, you'll see a couple pages of all of the owners' complaints and TSB), and you have aftermarket warranties-then you're ok

Due to the age and it's the chrysler merger era, I'd be careful. If you have $$$$ set aside, then just enjoy it.

I like this old body style.

 

as long as that 55 AMGs suspension, supercharger bearing, and supercharger oil was taken care of, those are the main failure points