Best/Worst Cars/Trucks

[RustedRanger]

What are some of the best/worst car and trucks you guys have had? In my best list is a 72 Mercury Cougar XR-7 I gave I think $65,put in come ATF and a battery and drove it away. It had the 351 4V 270 net HP and I think I drove it for about 30,000 mi. I figured it out once and I put more money in gas through it than the total cost of the car and upkeep. Also a 72 Chevelle and 84 S-10 were good ones. The worst was a 75 Mach II Mustang 2.8,it needed a starter every month and broke down several times,once I got up to 40 mph and the hood flew off and went way way up in the air and I had to stomp it out flat enough to stick it back on. Another bad one was a 68 F 250 that couldve killed me. I backed out of a friends house and the steering splines stripped and I could spin the steering wheel,I was getting ready to drive down a curvy river road. Another bad one was a 74 Chevelle that had constant problems. It seems that the good ones were owned by older people who took care of their cars and the bad were used and abused before they got to me. I think my current Ranger is #38 and it had been let go and I'm getting it back in shape. I didn't drive all the vehicles I have had,some were for parts and others I thought I could fix and then couldn't afford it. I just remembered another stinker,a 73 Maverick Grabber with rusted out shock towers that wouldn't stay straight on the highway. I drove it a week and got pulled over for suspected drunk driving LOL

 

[joldtown]

Best in order:
2001 Escape XLS- for the wife
1989 BII 2.9 efi, 4x4- Man I miss her... RIP to a mud hole
2002 Ranger XLT 4.0 4x4- still doing her thing
1998 Taurus- Saved my life in the worst wreck I've ever been in
1980 Toyota 20r 4x4- Dad bought it brand new, my first car, my baptism into mud
1970 Buick Century "Luxus edition"- Greatest cruiser ever.
BAD!!!!= 1993 Pontiac Sunbird- Nothing good to say

 

[CJREX]

BAD: 1983 Shelby Charger. Ate alternators like they were Skittles along with a myriad of other issues.

WORST: 1984 Pontiac Trans Am. Made me wish I'd kept the Charger. Not enough web space on the internet to detail the problems it had.

BEST: 1987 Mustang 5.0. I beat it mercilessly for 150k and never did anything other than routine maintenance except for a water pump at 90k and clutch at 110k. My father-in-law got it from me and gave it to my mother-in-law who used it like an F150. I eventually got it back at 275k and it was still running good but the interior was a shambles. Spiffed up the interior with junkyard parts and drove it another 6 months. Neighbor kept pestering me to buy it so I finally sold it to him. He turned it into a drag car and sold it. As far as I know it's still running somewhere.

I've had a lot of really good vehicles, but I've kept none of them as long as the Mustang was around, so they're not really a fair comparison.

Random really good cars I've had:

'94 Taurus SHO
'96 Lincoln MKVIII LSC
'83 F150
'97 Ford Explorer V8
'03 Mitsubishi Montero Limited. I'm planning on keeping this one a long time.

 

[roadranger]

Best: (Not counting the ranger since it still needs work) 1992 Geo Metro. It was by far the most reliable vehicle I have owned so far. I never had to do anything except regular maintenance and got an average of 43 mpg

Worst: 1987 Yugo GV. I bought it from some guy in a trailer park for $250. I think I may have been cheated It didn't run, but only took a little carb cleaner to get it going again. The problem was that it wouldn't keep going. The list of breakdowns include upper radiator hose, distributor cap, spark plugs, ignition coil, oil pressure sending unit, and 2nd gear. At least the parts were cheap.

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

Best trucks: 1984 Ranger I bought with the proceeds of a very one-sided divorce settlement (I let myself get screwed, basically, to just get it over with) and my '99 B2500. Loved my F-150 (late father's old truck) but it had a healthy appetite for $4+ fuel and I couldn't keep feeding it.

Best cars: 1998 VW JettaGLX. Bought new, 6 miles on the clock, a forced purchase after my '87 Jetta - my favorite car of all time - was totalled by a jackass in an Exploder leaving the dealer lot with defective brakes (he even told the cop this). '95 Camry that the spousal associate drove for 13 years until we bought a new '07 Corolla S. Only failed us once, at 189k, when the water pump fragged itself on the interstate, taking the timing belt and tensioner with it, and flailing the radiator somehow (which had a leak anyway). Fixed it, and still have it at 209k+.

 

[LittleHorse]

In order from best to worst, with my reasoning in paranthesis)
1985 Toyota Celica (nothing went wrong, ever, in great condition, good build quality)
2006 Mazda MX-5 (very reliable, blast to drive, carves the corners like nothing else)
2002 Ford F-150 (very reliable, well built)
1994 Ford Ranger (fun to drive, very reliable)
1985 Nissan 300ZX (fun to drive, ok on reliability, had t-tops)
1989 Ford Taurus SHO (fast, so-so reliability, not real pretty)
1995 Honda Civic (perfectly reliable but very cheaply built, noisy interior, gutless 4cyl)
1990 Ford Bronco II (reliability untested, fun to drive)
1976 Datsun 280Z (fast as hell due to engine I built, handled awesome, not that reliable and too rusty)
1985 Ford Bronco (6" Skyjacker lift and 35" Cooper ST, but got 9mpg, C6 that ate flexplates like pizza, previous owner had cut corners)
1987 BMW 635CSi (fun at first, got looks, but ultimately spoiled due to HORRIBLE reliability)
1992 Lexus LS400 (slow, cornered like a boat, overboosted steering, numb brakes, unreliable piece of crap, was broken in one way or another the entire time I had it)
1984 Volvo 240 wagon (ugly, slow, unreliable piece of s*** left me stranded many times)

 

[Ric]

Best vehicles I've had:

My 95 Ranger. the one that started it all. I beat on that truck all the time, never gave me a lick of trouble in 120.000 miles. Only things that went bad were wear parts.

1986 Toyota Corolla AE86. incredible car. Not blazingly fast, but fast in autocross. I was sorry the second i saw it drive away.


Worst:

81 Ford full size Bronco. 302 with a manual. I was always having something to fix and what didnt need fixing, was rusting through. I hated it... everyday I owned it I hated it.

 

[Insanejughead]

I've only owned four vehicles. Three rangers and one thunderbird. I'd have to say that the '85 parts ranger is the worst vehicle because it was so abused by it's last insured owner that it would've lost all it's balls to serve me right (it has, but only for parts)


The best vehicle I've had is my current ranger. I've put nearly 60,000 miles on it and 12,000 miles ago was an engine change to a nice (but stock) 2.3Turbo. I've had a few issues with it, but nothing that's not expected for nearly 300,000 miles. Axle bearings, rust, bushings, etc etc...

My 2nd '85 served me well for only a few months before I lost control into a ditch. I still have it, but that ditch pretty much bitch slapped my truck silly. I learned all about rangers on that one and I hope to see it running again someday with the original engine back in it (2.8, auto)

The '86 thunderbird hasn't had much history, but hopefully it will soon. I'm rebuilding an '88 turbocoupe motor and getting it back to running condition so that I can have one vehicle to haul stuff, and a vehicle to haul ass... The best thing is that I'll have the same engine so that parts are cheap and mods are done easily to both of them.

 

[polkat]

I have had too many but the best would have been my 84 VW quantum turbo/diesel 5spd that thing was unbeliveable in the snow (withing reason) great mpg. A close second may have been my 92 accord but I wouldnt know too much about it it got stolden 3 months into it. (but it did zip)

Of corse my 92 ranger xlt 4x 4.0 5spd I think is above 1. its the longest vehicle I think i owned. 2. well you know the rest she's the reason I got a second one

 

[mrcarcrazy]

Best - Lotus Elise - fun, reliable, quick...and ever so practical.
Mazda MX5 - "elise lite"...almost as good...but not there.

Worst - 1995 Eagle Talon Tsi AWD - unreliable.


There's quite a few in between, but those are the best and worst.

 

[racsan]

best was my '88 2.3 ranger s/c. got it at 98,000 and drover it until it was at 203,000. another good one was the '87 astro van. my '93 has been good and bad, not as trouble-free as the '88 though. the worst was a '85 jeep CJ-7. fun toy, but you dont want to have to depend on it every day. ive enjoyed the taurus sedan, its been dependable, effecient and comfortable. my dream rig would be a diesel 4x4 van. (with a manual trans)

 

[Nhaz]

Best. 1985 honda GL. what a shit box. But. i bought it for 200 bucks someone had bumped a pole with it. Minor work with a hammer fixed it right up.

Drove it for 5 years. well beyond the safe limit you should drive a car. I finally decided to park it in its 5th year when the body started to sag in the middle as the unibody cracked behind the driver seat Second gear was missing third you had to hold it in. This was the car I discovered just how good short strand fiberglass is, its why it lasted 5 years.

I parked it for another year after that before finally getting it hauled off the junk yard. It started first try and Drove it on to the flatbed.

gawd I love old honda's you can't kill them.

worst. Hyundai excel this car broke the day it was bought. the computer died then it broke the day after as the shifter cable broke. then I replaced one of the injectors... and on and on and on and on. This car lasted less then a year, I personally crushed it. I wanted to make damn sure the wrecker wouldn't sell it to someone else.

My vote it still out on my 1992 ranger. I bought it with all the problems a old car has so when I iron those out, I want to see it run at least a year without breaking. then i will say if its a good truck or not =>

 

[chittybangbang]

Worst
2002 E-250-
POS POS POS POS POS POS POS POS POS POS POS POS POS POS
Not Ford tough.FoMoCO could care less about customer
Any questions?
1984 VW Rabbit L
Not reliable
Better
Honda Oydessey
Never buy a first year model
1990 Ranger
Tranny and paint problems,but it has never stranded me in 19 yrs
Best
1997 Camry v6
Almost 215k,it doesn't own me a thing

 

[darkspork]

My list is pretty short since I'm only 20. Best to worst:

1. 1992 Chevy S-10 4.3 (Pros: couldn't break it, ran like new at 225k miles, still driven by my little sister, paid $100 for it, felt like it had a lot of torque for a v6, 23mpg highway, comfortable seats. Cons: terrible wet traction, regular cab is cramped for tall people, A/C made the idle very erratic and never really blew cold air, power window motors burnt up quickly)
2. 2003 Ranger 4.0 4x4 (Pros: excellent snow and ice traction, cheap to maintain, cheap to insure, decent power, nothing has broken yet, Cons: terrible gas mileage for a v6, transmission is sometimes difficult to use, seats feel kind of cheap, ignition lock is annoying and seemingly useless, newer V8 Dakota would have cost the same)
3. 2003 Pontiac Vibe GT (Pros: good gas mileage, 100hp/Liter, versatile, solid engine + transmission Cons: Weak clutch common on all 2zzge vibes, cheap plastic would break in the winter, lots of small things needed replacing, relatively expensive to insure, terrible control in strong cross-winds)
4. 1974 Chevrolet Nova (Pros: ran strong when it ran, very solidly built, seats were like a sofa, turned heads and received many compliments, seating for 6, huge trunk, surprisingly decent handling, really cheap to insure Cons: after timing gears wore out became a money pit, 1 barrel carb was hard to find a replacement for, exhaust leak at manifold would make me sleepy...)
5. 1995 Ford Aerostar, I drove it when my dad needed a reliable way to go distances or when I needed to move large things so drove it 40% of the time (Pros: pretty respectable gas mileage for its size, very comfortable seats, wasn't lousy to drive, ice cold A/C Cons: couldn't smog, stalled at times, unreliable, fell apart as time passed, huge blind spots, large turning radius)

 

[4x4fun]

best 92 geo tracker, drowned it a few time, and never quit, the only non wear part i ever had to replace was the comp, hit every thing bolted down in the town, and still lit up the tires with 130k of the hardest miles, 6 people learned how to drive stick with it. rip.....you gave that lady's bmw hell on your way out..............still in court three years later

ok 03 dodge Dakota. it was fast enough, more of a pretty boy street truck

bad 06 ford ranger, 40k blown rear tranny seal, and mostly alot of stress about messing up something im paying 355 a month for lol