Your most reliable car and your lemons

[kwsaw63]

To help El Prez pick a car that doesn't spend weeks in the shop, I thought I'd start a thread where we post up which cars we have owned that have been the most reliable and which have been lemons.

Most reliable

1. 1997 Mitsubishi Space Wagon - ran it for 3 years, only needed routine servicing and nothing failed or fell off.
2. 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer EX - bought 2nd hand in 2011 and ran it for 4 years and 120,000 km. Only needed routine servicing and nothing failed or fell off.
3. 2003 Toyota Picnic - bought new and ran it for 4 years. Only needed routine servicing and nothing failed or fell off.

 

Lemons

1. 2001 SAAB 9-5 - ran it for 3 years and it left me stranded twice with a failed fuel pump and a ruptured radiator hose.
2. 1986 Austin Maestro - bought new and water pump failed after 6 months.
3. 1983 BMW 320i - Bought new and sent back to the workshop after 1 month coz an improperly tightened radiator hose clamp caused the warning lights to light up. Authorised workshops couldn't tune the engine properly, causing it to cut out when it was warming up.

I have not listed other cars which have had minor issues or which I didn't own long enough to see how they fared in terms of reliability. So what has been your experience?

[cigcars]

*SIGH*    Alas - I've only owned GM cars my whole car-buying life - from a 1980 Buick Skylark to my current 2011 Chevy Impala. I've sat in and attempted to get comfy in Hondas and Toyotas  through the years, but just can't adjust in one of those. Right now - the Impala is reasonably reliable. The Pontiac 6000 (1986), 1981 Buick Skylark, the 1994 Buick Century, and 2000 Pontiac Gran Prix I've owned were neither lemons, nor really that reliable, primarily due to the things that normally wore out in all my GM's: the brakes, the shocks, the struts, the fuel pump, etc. The Impala I currently own has only had to have the Actuator replaced...but it still drove just fine.

[teewinot]

Going to show my age...

My most reliable is one of the ugliest cars ever made.  1976 AMC Gremlin.  Inline 6 that ran forever.

My lemon...Jeep Compass.  Worst vehicle I’ve ever owned.  A toylike 4WD system that left me in bad situations more times than I remember.

 

 

 

 

[cfc1016]

Most reliable:

1997 toyota rav4. 

Superlative utilitarian vehicle. I abused the hell out of that poor car, and she kept getting me down the road.

1997 saturn sc2

Surprisingly fantastic car. Never once let me down.

96 and 97 saw some really good cars released to the american markets. 

 

I wouldn’t really say any of the many others were lemons. Some were ok. Some were nuisances. None were *completely* horrible though. 

I will say however, that despite how much I love driving them, I’ve never had a single german car that wasn’t a pain in the ass to keep up. There’s just always SOMETHING and it’s pretty much always unnecessarily expensive and inordinately complicated to repair. 

[PapaDisco]

Gotta admit it, the AMC inline 6 was one smoooooth criminal.  Never let me down.  All the way back to the '65 Rambler American convertible.  Suweet!  

Most reliable:

1.  1959 Mercedes Benz 190SL.  Was always working on it not because it needed it but because it was such a joy to play with.

2.  1954 Chevy sedan.  As bullet proof as they come.  6 volt no less!

3.  2012 Toyota Prius (yeah, no chick magnet but I fell in love with 58MPG!), throttle felt like a rubber band, but an extremely reliable, all round good car.

Dogs:

1965 Mini (never could get the electrics to work right)

1960 Morris Minor convertible (lack of a roof caused the whole chassis to sag.  Plus I could never get the electrics to work!)

1960 Mercedes 190 Sedan.  My bad here; while I was overhauling the gas engine I shoved a diesel under the hood.  When I got the gas 4 cylinder back I reinstalled it, but the swap from gas to diesel to gas caused all sorts of crap to scale off the inside of the gas tank and I was forever pulling over on the road to clean out fuel filters and carburetor jets.  Otherwise the thing rode smooth and true.  Great suspension and a full sliding, canvas sunroof.

[Fuzz]

Most reliable

• 2012 Mercedes Benz C250 CDI Coupe - Touch wood, this car has not yet given me a problem.
• 2004 Saab 9-3 Aero - Drove this for 4 years after buying it off my father's company (he had it for 4 years). No problems at all, though the suspension was pretty spongy.
• 1995 Holden Berlina VR Series II - Drove this car for 6 years, not a single problem.
• 1992 Daihatsu Applause Xi - This car made me a lot of money. A 5 door sedan hatch that could surprisingly hold a huge amount of stuff. Back when I was working in the clothing/textiles industry, I would cart around huge rolls of cloth or fill the car full of uniforms. Only a few wear issues (went through a clutch plate every 60k kms, and the stupid Dunlop SP Sports tyres it had originally wore out in 10k kms)

Least Reliable

• 2002 Alfa Romeo 156 Monza Twin Spark - I don't want to call this a lemon. I loved driving this car! But, I did get heatstroke in it, due to the asthmatic A/C (Australia is not a country where A/C is an "optional" accessory). And you always had to wear gloves if you wanted to use the hazard lights... unless you wanted the colour to rub off and stain your finger. When I first picked up the car, I didn't know they didn't fit the glovebox lid properly. Every time you opened it, the lid would rub against the leather door upholstery. The dealership had to order the door panel from Italy, which took 3 months. The turning circle was woefully large. My old Holden Berlina, which was a lot bigger, could out turn the 156. But despite all this, it was a bloody good looking car and a helluva lot of fun to drive.

[kwsaw63]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

Least Reliable

• 2002 Alfa Romeo 156 Monza Twin Spark - I don't want to call this a lemon. I loved driving this car! But, I did get heatstroke in it, due to the asthmatic A/C (Australia is not a country where A/C is an "optional" accessory). And you always had to wear gloves if you wanted to use the hazard lights... unless you wanted the colour to rub off and stain your finger. When I first picked up the car, I didn't know they didn't fit the glovebox lid properly. Every time you opened it, the lid would rub against the leather door upholstery. The dealership had to order the door panel from Italy, which took 3 months. The turning circle was woefully large. My old Holden Berlina, which was a lot bigger, could out turn the 156. But despite all this, it was a bloody good looking car and a helluva lot of fun to drive.

Italian cars...a dream to drive but a nightmare to own! I worked at a Lancia dealership for a couple of years and I saw quite a few lemons! 

[Fuzz]

5 minutes ago, kwsaw63 said:

Italian cars...a dream to drive but a nightmare to own! I worked at a Lancia dealership for a couple of years and I saw quite a few lemons! 

I worked for Mazda for as a salesman. The dealership also had a Mistubishi & Daewoo yard next door. One week I was told to fill in for another salesman at the Mistubishi/Daewoo side. Lady came in to pick up her new Daewoo in the morning. Got her all set up and sent her off on her way. 3 hours later, she came back into the showroom... with the rear passenger door handle in her hand. Took it down to the service centre, got it re-installed and sent her on her way. 3 days later, she came back... with the same door handle in her hand. Apparently, the clips in the door were not smooth, but rough and sharp. Every time she pulled on the handle, the sharp metal would cut away at the plastic door handle clips. It was a floor model, so the door was opened and closed a lot of times.

[kwsaw63]

25 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

I worked for Mazda for as a salesman. The dealership also had a Mistubishi & Daewoo yard next door. One week I was told to fill in for another salesman at the Mistubishi/Daewoo side. Lady came in to pick up her new Daewoo in the morning. Got her all set up and sent her off on her way. 3 hours later, she came back into the showroom... with the rear passenger door handle in her hand. Took it down to the service centre, got it re-installed and sent her on her way. 3 days later, she came back... with the same door handle in her hand. Apparently, the clips in the door were not smooth, but rough and sharp. Every time she pulled on the handle, the sharp metal would cut away at the plastic door handle clips. It was a floor model, so the door was opened and closed a lot of times.

The car pictured below is the Lancia Dedra which was launched in 1989. With a name like that, it was no surprise that the 1st one we saw (even before the official launch in the UK) was brought in by a tow truck! An Italian diplomat had brought one over and the poor thing promptly expired in the miserable British climate!

 

 

[Fuzz]

Daihatsu came out with the Sirion (we called it the Sirloin) when I worked at Mazda. Had to pick up one from the holding yard and drive it to the dealership. Was so top heavy, it felt like it would tip over when taking a corner at 30kph. The price was AUD$10k, with a $1000 cashback bonus. Of course, the car didn't come with A/C... which was a $1000 optional extra.

[kwsaw63]

14 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Daihatsu came out with the Sirion (we called it the Sirloin) when I worked at Mazda. Had to pick up one from the holding yard and drive it to the dealership. Was so top heavy, it felt like it would tip over when taking a corner at 30kph. The price was AUD$10k, with a $1000 cashback bonus. Of course, the car didn't come with A/C... which was a $1000 optional extra.

...and despite that less than stellar start it went on to become the best selling car in Malaysia when it was re-badged as the Perodua Myvi. 

[BrightonCorgi]

The most reliable car I ever owned was an '84 Toyota Celica.  Timing belt broke and there was no engine damage.  Put another one and off I went.  Nothing ever really broke over 10 years I owned it.

 

The least reliable car I owned, or probably anyone could own was an '85 Maserati Biturbo E.  Need I say more???

[kwsaw63]

On the positive side, Lancia were in the latter half of their multi-year winning streak in the World Rally Championship with the Lancia Delta Integrale when I worked there. Used examples were in high demand in the UK due to the hefty depreciation on new units and at one point I used to fly over to Germany to bring back used units. All the Integrales sold in the UK were LHD anyway, so bringing back German units was no issue.

I used to blast from Cologne to Vlissingen on the Dutch coast at around 180km/h to 230km/h (depending on traffic conditions). My favorite trick was to accelerate down the slip road to the autobahn and overtake cars already on it, such was the phenomenal acceleration enjoyed by the Integrale.

 

[BrightonCorgi]

2 hours ago, kwsaw63 said:

 

One of my favorite cars of the era.

[kwsaw63]

48 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

One of my favorite cars of the era.

Couldn’t agree more. I was so privileged as a twenty something petrol head to be paid to drive them back from Germany on unlimited autobahns. 

[Cayman17]

Most reliable: 2001 Volkswagen Jetta TDI 

lemon: wife’s (then girlfriend) 2000 Volkswagen Passat with oil sludge issues that resulted in class action settlement. Took me over a year, but she got paid in the end by VW. 

[Matthew]

Most reliable:  2000 Jaguar XKR (hard to believe) - only problems I've had in 18 years are related to the convertible top.

Lemon:  1998 Audi A8 - so many things broke on the darn car and all were an expensive nightmare to fix.

[magoo6541]

Most reliable: I guess I'm lucky.  Never had to take any vehicle I've owned in for unscheduled maintenance. Maybe I've never owned anything long enough.

Lemon: The first car that I drove regularly was my mothers 72 (I think) VW Beetle.  Issue was rust in the fuel tank and it would clog the fuel filter and the engine would die from fuel starvation.  I would have to pull the inline filter and knock the rust out and it would usually start right back up...  Usually. Once it left me stranded in the middle of no where and I had to walk several miles to a house. Only thing home was the dog and the chain was just long enough for him to bite my leg. Then had to limp a few hundred yards more and it took several minutes to convince the homeowner I really NEEDED to use his phone. It's been so long I can't remember but I think I had to give him my grandparents phone number and he called my grandfather to come help me.

[BrightonCorgi]

15 hours ago, Fuzz said:

And you always had to wear gloves if you wanted to use the hazard lights... unless you wanted the colour to rub off and stain your finger. 

Sticky buttons...  Doesn't matter if it is Ferrari or Fiat, how they keep turning out cars with that crap finish on the plastic is beyond me.

[SmokenWhisky]

Reliable

- 2014 Toyota 4runner, so far its been a dream

- 2001 Chevrolet Silverado short box 4x4, approx 250,000k when I sold it, no issues, just regular stuff brakes, oil changes etc

Lemon

- 1992/94? Ford Exploder Eddie Bauer ed - what a piece of garbage, transmission issues, 4x4 issues, radiator issues, wheel bearing issues, plus many more, bought it used from a family friend and it quickly went downhill 

[SmokenWhisky]

great website with lots of info on reliability https://www.carcomplaints.com

[kwsaw63]

8 hours ago, Matthew said:

Most reliable:  2000 Jaguar XKR (hard to believe) - only problems I've had in 18 years are related to the convertible top.

 

...you are the exception that proves the rule!

[Nino]

Most reliable : Mazda 626 ... owned 4 or 5 of them, always great.

Lemon : Audi A100

 

[BrightonCorgi]

5 hours ago, kwsaw63 said:

...you are the exception that proves the rule!

All my Jag's have been solid!

[kwsaw63]

Just now, BrightonCorgi said:

All my Jag's have been solid!

...then you have slain the prince of darkness!