Whats the Best and worst vehicle you ever owned and why
 

I was on the phone with an older buddy tonight and we were discussing he finally got rid of his GMC Denali. He’s had nothing but issues with that truck since day one. Crank sensor, electrical issues with speedo, ABS issues, Fuel pump, broken door handles, failed transmission and brakes, every 15K, the truck had around 130K on it. We got talking about the worst and best of our fleets over the years, Here are my two, whats yours?

Best: Actually had a few good ones (2006 Honda Pilot, 2005 Prius, 1982 Chevy C10) but my 1965 Lemans was the best, it was my first car. Bought it with 30K miles on it in 1984 (Jr year of High School) and it was my daily driver until 1997. It only let me down once blowing the heater core on the way to work one morning. I Finally sold it in 2001 after not driving it for about 3 years. It was killing me to watch it rust away in my yard. When I decided to let it go, I Threw a battery in it and it started right up, drove it around the block a few times and put it up for sale. A local guy bought it and used it for parts for his 64 & 65. My wife cried when he picked it up. I didn’t. I knew it was going live on as parts for other cool Pontiacs.

Worst: had a few bad ones too (1972 Chevelle, 1995 Saturn, 1976 caprice wagon) but the one that broke me from GM products for good was a 1998 Chevy Venture van. We bought it new and the first 70K miles on this van was quite good, other than a leak in the map light above the dash that the dealer couldn’t “find” and eventually stopped acknowledging as an issue. Between 70 – 105K it was a nightmare, we replaced the intake gaskets, then intake and head gaskets, then the whole motor (bought replacement right from GM w/30K mi warranty), then the transmission had to be replaced, then the intake gaskets went again on the replacement motor that had the ‘improved intake gasket design’ at 33K. GM said, sorry, out of warranty. I was furious, called GM opened a second case on this SH*T V6, but they did nothing. I finally gave up and traded it in on an ’06 Honda Pilot. I canceled my GM Mastercard (anyone remember those? Credit points toward a new GM vehicle) Wrote a scathing letter to GM listing ~34 GM vehicles Me, my Dad or grandfather bought in our lifetimes. We were GM to the core. Promised them I would never buy another new GM product if they didn’t make this right. Got no response. I kept my promise adding a NEW: Honda Pilot, Toyota Tundra, Subaru Outback, Honda Insight, Honda Accord… finally another NEW Honda Pilot last year. All have been great. I have not been on a GM lot since the Venture.

Dang. Totally different for me with the same vehicles.
My most reliable was my 71 Comet. My first new car. But it was so basic nothing could go wrong. Automatic transmission was the only option. I kept that car for 21 years and 400K plus miles. Gave it to my son who accidentally ran the engine without oil and then sold it. Next best is my 06 Silverado. 14 years and 175K and this truck has been virtually trouble free. Only warranty claim was for the clunking steering shaft. My 98 Olds Silhouette was also up there. One warranty claim for the ABS system. Kept it for 10 years and 200K miles and then gave it to my daughter who put an additional 60 K on it. She sold it to a neighbor when the A/C quit working.

My worst? 92 Lexus ES300. Internal coolant leaks that the dealer refused to acknowledge. Traded it for the Olds Silhouette. Toyota/Lexus later confirmed an issue with V6 head gaskets.

Best vehicles 95 Lincoln Town Car, Chrysler 200 (V6), and the 1968 GTO.

Worst: any GM car from 1982-2003 that i owned. 3.8l V6 Skylark with cronic stalling. Lumina with rot-out rear suspension, rotors, and a buried-deep battery.

In my early years (prior to computer aided cars) I could fix anything that might break down on me without great delay. Common sense was my scanner. But all of that changed during the eighties.
Judging by build quality, reliability and ease of maintenance, by "best" vehicles are my '02 Ford Expedition and my '02 Ford Excursion. Both are still in very good condition and have over 200K each. If I have to pick a "worst", our lower mileage '03 GMC Envoy has been a headache to keep going for the past few years (electrical gremlins), so I put my wife in a newer Expedition recently.
I can also claim that in 48 years of car ownership, I have never owned a:
Mopar
front wheel drive vehicle
foreign built vehicle

My best and worst are basically identical cars.

I bought an 02 Saturn Vue with the EcoTec 4 and a 5-spd manual back in 2005 with 40K miles. I currently have 296K miles on it, and I've never been in the engine. I had to replace the BCM computer one time, and had a clutch go out at almost 200K miles. It is still my daily driver. It uses a quart of oil about every 2500 miles. I only run 10W-30 (manual calls for 5W-30) full synthetic. I have abused the crap out of it. I've put a tarp in the cargo area and hauled fill dirt a couple times and hauled motors in the cargo ba. I put a 2" receiver hitch on it and regularly tow 2000+ lbs (manual says I should only tow 1500 lbs). It is extremely reliable but looking awful tired. one wheel bearing went out at 180K, and I recently replaced the front wheel bearings around 280K. The one original wheel bearing left on it is starting to make some noise.

About three years ago, I bought it's replacement, an 05 with the same engine and tranny. It only had 86K miles, was owned by an elderly couple who drove it little. It has been a POS. I bought it in January, and when spring rolled around I found the a/c didn't work. Then it developed a somewhat random misfire and occasionally threw a check engine light. I think it might have been a partially clogged fuel injector. Then last summer, the slave cylinder went out in the clutch. It will probably cost me $2K minimum to fix the a/c and clutch. I paid $2K for it, and I've just about decided I will scrap it and be done with it. I will say that before the clutch went out, it drove great (minus the a/c).

Right now, I have a 56 mile round trip commute to work and back, so gas mileage is important. Once I retire, I'll probably get something like a short bed pickup or something more interesting. I kind of like the FJ Cruisers.

Mike

Worst '82 small Ford wagon.. 73 GMC 4x4 truck Rotted out in 1 year. 1st year GM used recycled steel on their trucks.
Best '83 Nissan Sentra MPG. still going at 275k when I sold it. 40 mpg.

My wife got a ‘03 Toyota Avalon in around ‘05, had 30,000 miles on it. Besides the usual brake pads, rotors, oil/filter changes, tires,and 1 battery., the only repair it ever needed was a set of ball joints. We sold it with 205,000 on it and it ran perfect, no engine lights, and only had a spot of surface rust above 1 wheel well when we sold it about 2 years ago. The most BORING and ugly car I’ve ever drove, but I’d own another one if they still made them like that!

The worst-my wife (at the time) was pregnant with our first kid. She wanted a minivan to replace the cherry ‘82 Olds 98 2 door I bought her. She chose the newly introduced ‘95 Windstar. Gawd, I’m not even going to go over the nightmare that thing was. I always said I’d never buy a Ford, but it was gonna be her ride. I had a file folder an inch thick from the warranty work I had to have done to that thing. I dumped it about 2 years later and forced her to drive a brand new 4x4 Suburban!

Hands down my most reliable vehicle/ best ever owned has been my 1998 Ford Ranger 2.5L 5speed 2WD zero options. I've owned it since 2006, This truck( I know not a full size) has taken everything I've thrown at, and has been driven thrubthe worst of winters in a province that uses wayyy too much salt. It currently has 331,000kms which is about 206,000 miles,basically been been thru hell and back with this truck in 14 years and it has NEVER let me down till about 2 months ago a week before Xmas.....

Driving down the road it just quit on me, like someone disconnected the battry while I was driving down the road while I was crossing a bridge, Now I don't know if anyone here has ever broke down on a bridge but its a very nerve racking experience, had to have it towed,....later that same day after a long day at work, I disconnected and then reconnected the battry and it fired right up.....wtf?....I didnt have a time to mess with itband knew I needed a new DD for a while, I picked up something else for cheap to use and pushed my truck to the side...so now its just sitting there and I'm not sure what to do with it,the body has taken a beating over all these years, I had always wanted to drop a 5.0l.SBF in it although due it the current body condition that's highly unlikely now, and I bet 100$ if I drop a fresh battery in it right now it'd fire right up like I drove it yesterday, I checked all the grounds and having never diagnosed the problem with 100% certainty I don't trust to drive it anywhere, but I don't have the heart to chuck it. Not sure what to do.
Have MANY other pics of if including one of me andvmy oldest boy doing an oil change on it when he was merely 3, he doesn't want me to sell.

2nd on the list would be my t/a 40 year old pick up coil gave out, only time in 20 years it ever let down, can't really hold it against it.

Worst, pretty much every other POS I've ever owned

Best : 1969 Camaro SS396. It was always reliable despite me running it to death and it whipped plenty of 5.0 Stangs when they were the hot car to have. The only bad part about it was it used a lot of fuel with 4.10 gears and I had to use expensive racing gas in it as it had 11.5 compression.

Worst ? My wife’s new Cavalier when we got married in 1997. Nothin but trouble, the damn A/C went out when our first daughter was coming home from the hospital and the car wasn’t even 6 months old !
Within a year of ownership with very few miles it blew a part of the head gasket out and coolant was shooting out.

WORST:

'94 Ford F-150, 300-CI inline-6 w/5-speed manual - Got terrible fuel mileage (worse than my '92 GMC K1500 with a 350-CI), didn't have enough power to pull a sick whore off a pisspot, and the oil pan rusted out from the inside-out, requiring it be replaced.

'02 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab, 4.7L V8 w/automatic - Where do I start? Had to get rear axle repaired under warranty (new carrier with bearings, ring & pinion, seals, axle bearings, etc), dash board cracked and split into chunks in less than 5 years, electronics under dash (heat/vent controls) were constantly going up, sheet metal in cab was so thin where door hinges mount that it would flex if you leaned on door when open. The final straw was when it needed a valve job at 147K miles due to a known factory defect. It seems the valve guides would "raise" in the head casting until they came in contact with the valve spring retainer and then POP! off goes the rocker/follower. After replacing two lifters on two different occasions on opposite heads, the third time it did it I was advised to get a valve job. So I did one side only to the tune of $2700 and then sold that piece of sh*t.

BEST:

My '92 GMC K-1500 Sierra-ST, 350-CI w/automatic...I sold it in 2004 with 319K miles. It had been through 2 transmissions and one rear (but I did a lot of hauling and towing with it). Was still running on original engine.

Currently, my '99 GMC Sierra 1500, 5.3L V8 with automatic...it currently has 304K miles and the engine, transmission, and rear axle have never been gone through, save for normal maintenance (fluid/oil and filter changes, tune ups, etc). I've had to replace all of the fuel and brake hard lines from corrosion, and the A.C. compressor and associated equipment, but she still runs like a top.

WORST:

Forgot to mention my '05 Ford Excursion with the 6.0 powerstroke diesel.

Biggest POS of an engine I've ever owned in any vehicle. When it ran "on" it ran like a scalded ape, but it required constant fiddling and repair to the fuel injection system and related hardware. I must've spent 10 grand on maintenance in the 7 years I owned it, and barely put 10K miles per year on it, in spite of it being my wife's daily driver.

Best vehicle was my wife’s Mini Cooper. Bought new and sold it 7 years later with 144,000 miles on it. I had to do very little to it besides basic maintenance. The worst was probably my 1989 GMC 3500 dually. Even the paint started peeling off the fenders after a few years.

Worst....1983 Dodge Shelby Charger 2.2 5 speed non turbo, bought it new. Great car for about 2 years. Had about 20,000 miles on it. Then in about a 4 month period, put a clutch, a starter, and an alternator on it. Still had charging issues, so traded it on a used 83 GMC 1/2 ton with a 305. That had 50,000 miles, and the 305 had overheating issues. Had a GM warranty on the engine that covered heads, and block, but not the head gasket. Would have to pay 7-$800 for a diagnosis. If it was the gasket, I had the entire bill. Traded that on a Ford F250, and never considered GM for a newer vehicle again.

Best....1992 Ford F150 Supercab. 4.9 Automatic overdrive transmission. Bought it new, went almost 95,000 trouble free miles, traded it on a 97 F150, and regretted it, didn't like the 97 anywhere near as much as the 92.

Both of mine I purchased new:

Best - 1979 Pontiac Grand LeMans - 211,000 miles with the only engine related parts repaired/replaced (other than spark plugs, oil and filters) - ignition module, fuel pump and alternator. Paid $5200 for it new on year end close out and sold it in 1991 for $1000. 2nd place - 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix - 156,000 miles - replaced a starter (those 3.8's were just great motors). Sold this car to my best friend in 2007 for his daughter to drive. Reliable transportation for her until she rolled it 2 years later.

Worst - 1984 AMC Renault Encore 5 spd manual - 176,000 miles - but I can't remember how many times I had to replace CV joints, transmission repair and was just not reliable. 2nd worst (not purchased new) was a 1995 Toyota SR5 pickup - it ran good but the box literally disintegrated from rusting. Also was my first experience with an electric tank mounted fuel pump. What I expected to be a $50.00 replacement (based on my mechanical fuel pump experiences) turned out to be over $400. Toyota parts were just too expensive at that time. Literally gave this truck away to the Rawhide Boy's Ranch (Bart Starr charity) as a tax deduction with only 150,000 miles.

Worst: 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne 235 CID 6 cylinder. Bought used with 7,000 miles. No power, 12.3 MPG highway. After a few years of working on carbs, I now know the mileage was due to the Rochester B carb with the power valve stuck on. But that should have helped the power.

Best: 1979 Ford Econoline 300 CID 6 cylinder. Bought used at 80,000 miles. At 81,000 replaced the 3 on the tree with a 4-speed (and clutch and pressure plate just as insurance), replaced the Holley single barrel with a Carter AFB. Mileage prior to change 12 MPG highway. Mileage after change 22 MPG highway. Excellent power (often pulled 16 foot trailer with John Deere 2010 w/front end loader, this dropped mileage to about 19 MPG). Daily driver, winter salt and cinders rusted the underside. Fixed the rust twice, the third time gave up..................at 460,000 miles! Maintenance: 2 batteries, and 13 electronic ignitions! No other maintenance other than normal plugs, radiator hoses, oil, filters, etc. Cylinder head was never removed from the block. But I did carry TWO electronic ignition modules in the glove box.

Favorite: (know you didn't ask, but maybe should be part of the thread).....off-topic 1968 Datsun roadster, imported through Canada, could not be sold new in USA. Quickest and fastest car I ever owned, until my "slightly " modified 74 GTO was finished.

Jon

My worst: 99 cavalier z24. Rod broke and piston crashed into the head at 93k miles. 01 ram 1500, 5.2 5-speed manual. Truck would not get better than 8mpg no matter what and had constant electrical issues.

Best: 03 Hyundai Tiburon. Bought it with 20k miles and had zero issues for 6 years and sold it with 90k to finish my goat. 97 ram 1500, 5.2. Bought with 200k and and besides gas and oil didn’t stick a penny into it for 5 years and sold it with 270k. And my current 99 ram 2500 CTD I swapped it a few years back and it’s been trouble free for the last 30k

I’m not including my GTO in here cause by these standards it would fall u dear the worst category since it has been the most expensive by far. However I love the car to death. My 51 ford rat rod also falls into this category.

Best: 1999-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Three of them. Almost a million miles on the three. Cheap to buy, reliable, comfortable, great 4WD, easy to repair, cheap parts, decent fuel mileage. Worst: 1994 Geo Metro Paid $75.00 for it and it wasn't even worth that. Only got 35 MPG and what a sacrifice to get that!

Best: 73 Plymouth Fury, 360ci, 727 trans. Never put anything in it except gas and oil.
1970 Ford 9 pass country squire, 351 windsor, "3 on the tree", manual steering, radio
delete. Used as a truck while building house, and then a garage.
Worst: 65 Mustang K code coupe. While is was a blast to drive, it was a real "needy" car,
constantly setting valves and dual points. Crummy brake system, funky front end.
Pa salt drove it to an early grave.

For me its hard to say whether its the late model GM's I owned, the VW Passat Wagon I had or the 2 Jaguars I had. I will say this much, once you own a Jaguar you know you'll never own another.

Best.... 94 Lincoln Towncar and 2000 Jeep GC Laredo 4.7. The 79 Formula Firebird I bought new was a good car too.

Worst... the 2014 Ford Focus we're driving now. Noting but problems with the transmission clutches, even tho Ford fixes them for free under a 150,000 mile warranty they gave us.