Worst Cars You've Driven

"Matthew Keyser" (teisco15) 01/31/2014 at 23:10 • Filed to: None

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Being the teenager that I am, I have not driven that many cars, but I know enough to know a bad one. My dad's beat to crap 1995 Toyota Pickup may have 240,000 miles on it and may not be a speed demon, but this cannot compare to the my most recent drive: the 2013 Hyundai Elantra. The car was easily the slowest thing I've ever been in. I was accompanied by a driving instructor trying to get my "required" hours up with an instructor. This car was painfully slow, pretty boring to look at, and very poorly equipped. It wasn't even bad in a good, fun way. As we all know, driving a crappy car can be hilarious, but sometimes driving a crappy car is just driving a crappy car.

So that's my submission, what's yours? What's the worst car you've ever driven?

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:13

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2009 Toyota Yaris.

I used it for my driving test, and I hated every little thing about it.

TheJWT > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:18

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Had to take my in-cars for my license in one of these. The fact that it had 11 zillion miles from inexperienced teenage drivers on it didn't help either.

Textured Soy Protein > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:18

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A 2009 Chrysler Sebring that I had as a rental on a trip I took with my gf at the time. I remember saying to her, "this car totally explains why Chrysler is bankrupt." Its steering was so bad I couldn't keep it from wandering out of my lane on the interstate. The styling sucked, and the interior was a piece of crap. Its only redeeming quality was that it was, in fact, a car that drove. What a piece of crap.

Crocket Bernet > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:18

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My buddies 02 Jetta, not a particularly boring car (because manual) but it is the slowest most boring car I've ever driven.

Anon > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:18

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A 4 cylinder Ford Escape! God have mercy on my soul if I ever have to have the unfortunate experience of driving one of those things again.

AthomSfere > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:19

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Got a brand new 2013 Camry as a rental. Everything, yes everything about it was bad.

GeorgeyBoy > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:21

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I'm not even sure this needs an explanation.

GeorgeyBoy > Textured Soy Protein 01/31/2014 at 23:24

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Funny, an acquaintance of mine bought one. He was talking it up throwing the words "luxury" and "fast" around. I nearly threw up. Horrible car indeed.

Burrito de EJ25 > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:25

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I had a Hyundai Elantra as a rental when my WRX was getting fixed a few weeks ago.

I have to say, if this is the worst car you've ever driven you're one spoiled kid.

I thought it was totally fine. Power was adequate, interior quality was cheap, but functional. Road noise was acceptable, as was ride quality. The car was pretty basic aside from the inclusion of XM radio. It's a compact economy car, but I had all the necessities. AC, radio, power windows and locks, an acceptable radio. Honestly, this is a far cry from what "base" model used to mean.

It was a fantastic appliance for the short couple of days that I had it.

Obviously, a base level economy car isn't going to slam you against your seat, but it had enough power to let me merge into the highway safely. It was completely and totally adequate.

Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:26

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Mid 2000's PT Cruiser...wait for it... GT. Yep, the turbocharged one that may as well have a hamster spinning the turbine instead of the exhaust gases. I had to do the majority of driver's ed in that dreary shitbox and it was the automotive equivalent of a 42-year-old divorced father of two. The driving experience wasn't absolutely terrible (well, it was), but the worst was our driving instructor was so proud of this piece of shit and would remind us it had a turbo at every opportunity, as if it could make up for the mediocrity that mid-2000's Chrysler made so famous. I even shuddered just now at the thought of having to drive that thing again. I need a shower....

GeorgeyBoy > AthomSfere 01/31/2014 at 23:27

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Compared to what? I've driven one briefly, pretty far from the worst car I've ever driven. Not saying I like it.

Jayhawk Jake > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:31

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Rented one of these

Fuck that car and everything it stands for. It was just bad. Shitty interior, shitty power, shitty handling, shitty appearance, shitty mileage, shitty radio.

Deal Killer - Powered by Focus > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:35

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A 2013 Hyundai elantra? What a wonderful automobile. When I was a teenager, I would have dreamed of driving an Elantra. But I had it tough! Every morning, my dad used to wake me up at half past four, so I could go out and lick clean our '73 Plymouth Fury III with my tongue, just so I could have the privilege of trying to get that great green beast started so it would be warmed up before my Mom drove me and my siblings to work down at the mill for 16 hours for $0.10 an hour! And when we were done at mill, my dad would let me drive the Fury home, so he could sit in the back seat and beat me round the head and neck with his belt. And if we were really lucky, my Mom would have a cup of hot gravel waiting for us as our dinner, then dad would slice us in two with a bread knife before bed, then dance on our graves, singing alleluia. But I tell my kids this story, and they won't believe me.

Scary__goongala! > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:37

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06' cobalt just the thought of driving it makes me feel bad. Its my dads and the only time I drive it is when I take our dog somewhere.

DollaMoneyAve > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:37

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1) First Gen Hyundai Tiburon. It was my (ex)girlfriends car freshman year of college. I put a couple hundred miles on it over the course of 7 or 8 months, and it was pitiful.

2) First gen Suzuki Forenza. Belonged to a different college girlfriend. Noisy, harsh ride, bad build quality. It felt like the cheapest car imaginable.

3) Second Gen Dodge Stratus coupe. It belonged to a buddy in college, and I'll always remember it for being the car in which I got my first speeding ticket. Terrible handling, terrible ride quality.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Matthew Keyser 01/31/2014 at 23:55

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2004 Hyundai Elantra
That car is a turd.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 00:00

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I think I'll catch as much flak as the OP here but I'm tied between two cars that I think are the worst I've ever driven; both of which are my parent's cars.

First, my mom's '99 Ford Windstar. I hate drving large vehicles and I think a minivan is quite large. The acceleration in that car is crazy though and that makes up for the lackluster handling IMO. And if it wasn't for all the recalls, I wouldn't even consider it one of the worst cars I've driven.

The worst car I've driven is my Dad's '05 Dodge Magnum. It's horrid to me. back in '05-06, I always wanted to drive it; it simply was the best car besides a 911 that I'd ever driven in. 8-9 years later, it's become the "family beater", knowing what I know about cars now, acceleration in the base V6 is horrendous, and the handling, the car feels like it wants to split in half; maybe that's a characteristic inherent in station wagons?

Also every car I drove during my drivers training classes....

At least both cars are still reliable, they've been to the shop less times than my Astra, which has been in the shop three times in the past year.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 00:22

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Corolla. I had to drive it with an instructor when I was learning how to drive and the accelerator pedal felt like nothing.

That is when I was making a turn on the freeway ramp at 90mph cause I floored it through the entire turn cause it my mind, I can floor it and the car would still go nowhere.

WhereAreMyPants > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 00:29

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You are all crazy! Rental cars, while objectively crappy, AREN'T YOUR CAR! You can hoon them to all levels. I will happily annihilate a Chevy Sonic in ways I wouldn't dream of doing to my WRX.

Fastest Car.... In the WORLD

MBG141 > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 00:36

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Mid-2000's Kia Rondo. Rental car, mom's '06 Accord V6 got rear-ended in 2012 by a drunk driver out on bail for a previous DUI around 7 am. The Rondo was very small, uncomfy, smelled like cigarette smoke, and its interior looked like Band-Aid used its bandages for all of its interior.

Sad part is that I'm going to get another rental soon. A 16-yr old smashed into the back of mom's Accord w/ me driving it Thursday afternoon. He didn't brake and was texting and tailgating at around 30 - 40 mi/h. We're just hoping that they [insurance] doesn't total the car 'cause it's paid off and w/ 95k miles. Here's the carnage:

http://imgur.com/a/8KaNh

Edit: Kinja jacked up the link.

MBG141 > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him 02/01/2014 at 00:41

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Parents had one when I was a kid, I hated it. What was so bad was that we took a 1.25 day roadtrip to and from Virginia Beach to Disneyworld. Never Again.

Destructive Tester > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 00:45

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1994 Chevy Lumina
It was the Driver's Ed car for my school... Looked cheap, felt cheaper, non-existent acceleration, and the brakes might as well have been made of cheese. It even had the impressive sensation of torque steer from an engine almost totally devoid of torque... A simply amazing steaming lump of crap.

Enginerrrrrrrrr > AthomSfere 02/01/2014 at 01:05

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Agreed. I had the same one as a rental. Holy crap I hated it. I even went into it thinking it might not be bad. Boy was I wrong.

1: Ugly

2: Handling completely numb... the steering wheel felt like a video game, only with less resistance.

3: Suspension was bad, felt all the bumps when I didn't want to and felt like it was floating through corners.

4: Acceleration wasn't that great... engine seemed to have smoked a joint beforehand.

5:Gas mileage wasn't even good.

6: The entertainment system wasn't very good and took a while to figure out how to properly find a radio station (I'm an engineer, I usually figure this stuff out rather quickly).

My 2000 Accord was better in all categories, and that's sayin something.

Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > MBG141 02/01/2014 at 01:30

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I'm so sorry :(

The Vibe Guy, Apparently > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 01:38

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Does this thing even have sway bars? It rolled like a boat. Not to mention is feels massive when it isn't that big. I don't like cars that can't handle themselves at normal speeds, and this was the worst. Heck, I drove this after I drove a Camry, and I thought the Camry was a better driver than this.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > GeorgeyBoy 02/01/2014 at 02:44

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I've never driven one but I don't want to think about it.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Textured Soy Protein 02/01/2014 at 02:47

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I've driven one Sebring I think it was an 09 and It was awful. It was a low mileage(like 30k) granny owned car too b/c who else actually bought a Sebring.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > AthomSfere 02/01/2014 at 02:51

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That's too bad I spent about 3 hours behind the wheel of an 06 Camry XLE 4cyl, and While it wasn't very fun it was nice, smooth, and comfy, but it wasn't a rental stripper model either. I even got 35 MPG on average for my trip which was mostly 60MPH but some in town as well.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 02:57

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The worst car I've ever owned/ driven was a 94 MX-6 4 banger not only was it a pile it was also a piece of shit. But it was ruined buy the previous owner/s so I can't really say it was the car's fault.

duurtlang > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 05:30

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My ex had on of these. A 1999 Toyota Corolla hatch in silver. Amazingly boring to drive, horrible interior and that face only a mother could love.

Pedro Rafael > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 07:46

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This:

biturboism, the cult > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him 02/01/2014 at 09:25

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*CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESOLUTION*

Stupidru > Destructive Tester 02/01/2014 at 09:28

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I had a 97 Lumina as my first car. I got rid of it at 135,000 miles when it would make a different noise every week. I sold it to my aunt and uncle for $1, and a week later they had to replace the entire fuel system for $700. I think a year later they took it into the shop and the mechanic wouldn't let them drive it out, saying "this thing is a metal coffin. It's unsafe to drive".

In my 7 years I had it (high school and college, so it didn't get a ton of miles), we replaced the intake manifold (cracked), the front wheel hubs (3 of the studs had broken off), gas tank straps, door lock (criminal in downtown Milwaukee broke into it in broad daylight right in front of my eyes. Dumbass.), exhaust (leak), alternator, AC clutch (eventually just re-routed belt to bypass the AC), coolant hoses (leaked onto my serpantene belt causing that to break), 3 sets of tires, new bumper and hood (dad only put new tires on front wheels, leaving 2 mediocre tires on the rear. Drove over snow and the car started to rotate. I hit a mailbox on the other side of the road and the rest is history), new windshield, new heater core.

What an abomination of a car.

thebigbossyboss > Matthew Keyser 02/01/2014 at 10:46

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I forget what exact year it was, but it was Chrysler Dynasty. 92? 96? I unno. The car's brakes did nothing for 95% of the brake pedal travel, then the last few inches of travel would grab like all hell. It also had more body roll(s) then jabba the hut.

Even my Ford Tempo was better than this thing. At least it felt in control.

thebigbossyboss > Jayhawk Jake 02/01/2014 at 10:48

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Honestly, I had one rented (thanks insurance!) for the drive from Ottawa to Washington DC. It was an alright highway cruiser. Then again, my list of cars owned consists of a 1992 Ford Tempo...and a 2003 Cavalier.

However, I do remember thinking the interior reminded me of my 1988 Toyota Corolla..this was 2012.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Textured Soy Protein 02/01/2014 at 10:53

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I reserved a jeep when on vacation, and when I arrived they only had a Sebring convertible. I was pissed, so I said "ok i'll take the Mustang convertible", pointing to the poster on the wall. "Oh I'm sorry sir we're all out of those as well" Damn. So I get stuck with the Sebring, and what i couldn't comprehend is why the turning radius was so huge. Only good feature, was the top went up and down quickly.

fhrblig > Matthew Keyser 02/02/2014 at 10:21

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I rented one of these Galants when my car was in the shop, about 10 years ago. It was so terrible that it actually made me angry. Cheap and shitty plastic interior with mouse fur upholstery, terrible noisy 4-cylinder engine paired with an awful automatic, and it felt like it was assembled by people who hated their jobs, and by extension, hated me too. I had to resist the urge to tell the rental agent "Fuck this car, and fuck you for giving it to me!" when I returned it.

AthomSfere > GeorgeyBoy 02/02/2014 at 14:38

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Body roll, and steering were what first got me frustrated. If I changed lanes the only way I could feel the lane change was the body roll and the rest of the car did not speak to me all. The wheel feels like it is 1000 miles away sending communication one way via satellite to the tires.

Infotainment system: I don't like these anyway, but the Camry's made me realize exactly why. A giant screen that is useless for people who like to watch the road when driving. Its response was slow, or not there. I found myself constantly either not clicking, or double clicking when what I wanted was to push the button once.

Eco awareness stuff was a distraction. Basically all it was good for was telling me accelerating is bad, cruising is good. I don't need a green / red light flashing in the alerts area to tell me this.

Also, it was the V6. Acceleration wasn't bad, but nothing fun about driving this thing. The infotainment setup was frustrating enough I never used it. So instead I got to hear the V6 make uninteresting noises while the automatic transmission badly guessed what gear to be in, and slush into gear.

If I have to compare it to another car, this would be Toyota's Caprice Classic. It would be OK for long drives through Oklahoma, Kansas or any other great flat expanse of flat highway. My Grandparents would like this car, if it weren't Japanese. But it was a dull experience, only meant to get you from point A to point B and forget the entire trip.

shitheelandtoe > Matthew Keyser 02/02/2014 at 16:31

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Just about everything I drove when I lived in England for 3 awful years in the 70s. But the Morris Marina in particular. When I turned the wheel to full lock, the front tires rubbed the fenders. And that was just the beginning. That car was so awful even Jeremy Clarkson hates it and he thinks the British shit ice cream.

Shiftright > Matthew Keyser 02/04/2014 at 23:19

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College room mate's '84 Fiero 2M4 with a slush box. I'm convinced all mecahnical components were made of dried out wood.

RX > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 02/05/2014 at 15:01

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mid 90s neon, Circa 2003, owned by a girl I knew in college. Had acceleration similar to a power wheels.

edit wasnt trying to reply to you, but to the thread in general. I have however driven a 3.5L magnum, didnt think it was that awful. Nothing amazing, reminded me of an suv, but with a lower center of gravity.

RX > Matthew Keyser 02/05/2014 at 15:03

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mid 90s neon, Circa 2003, owned by a girl I knew in college. Had acceleration similar to a power wheels.

gabdere > Matthew Keyser 02/06/2014 at 17:29

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I had one of those recently for 5 days and i disagree with what you say. How could you experience any speed and have any feedback from a car you're driving with an instructor. I'm not saying it's the best car i've ever drive, but its better than a lot. I strongly suggest to you not to drive an Accent because it'll be worst than the elantra.

d16y8 > Matthew Keyser 02/06/2014 at 22:35

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The green turd above, also known as a Geo Metro; no offense to anyone who has one, btw. My family rented one when I was a kid: the pos broke down the same day they rented it. The think was gutless, rattled, made strange noises, and was ugly by hatch standards of its day. Idk, I hate to bash it, but it is what it is.

My Kids Have Four...Wheels (And Paws) > Matthew Keyser 02/07/2014 at 11:12

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Oh, so-so-so-so many rentals:

The consummate winner:

- 2012 Dodge Avenger (probably the most monumental piece of shit without any redeeming qualities)

Honorable mention

- 2011 Toyota Camry (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn)