Least Reliable Cars of The 21st Century?

"GeorgeyBoy" (georgeyboy)
06/17/2014 at 19:28 • Filed to: None

Give me some cars you think, here are some that stand out to me.

For the domestics, my vote is the first gen LS, Catera, and anything with the 2.7.

The Allroad when I think of Germans, the Beetle as well.

Brits, pretty much everything in the early 2000's. Disco comes to mind.

Asians, I guess I'll go with the Rio. Albeit there was a lot of crap to come out of them.

Japan, umm maybe the Verona.

DISCUSSION (35)

Nibbles > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:32

The Forenza, wasn't that a rebadged Daewoo?

JR1 > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:33

Obvious answer is obvious

Kinja'd!!!

Aero > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:33

I've owned multiple '00 LSes and an '01 Allroad. The Allroad made the LS seem like a Camry as far as reliability went. Yet I still agree the 1st gen LS is quite simply one of the most trouble prone vehicles ever made.

mazda616 > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:35

Rovers. So, so many problems with those. Kia Rios actually take a lot of abuse and keep on going. My friend has one with well over 100,000 miles and it runs fine.

GeorgeyBoy > Nibbles
06/17/2014 at 19:36

Was it? Guess I'll pick another Suzuki.

GeorgeyBoy > mazda616
06/17/2014 at 19:38

Hmm I was actually going to pick the 4th gen Sonata. Really unsure what is just crap or unreliable crap to come from some of the Koreans in the early 00's.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:39

Forget the Range Rover, or the Disco. The Freelander was the least reliable LR, and therefore the least reliable car, ever.

GeorgeyBoy > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
06/17/2014 at 19:41

I was going to pick the Freelander. Just seems like the Disco problems seem to be more known. Everyone mentally pushes the Freelander away like it never happened.

Nibbles > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:42

The Verona, wasn't that a rebadged Daewoo?

GeorgeyBoy > Nibbles
06/17/2014 at 19:44

I give up!!

Nibbles > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:45

The only bad Suzukis are badge-engineered Suzukis

EL_ULY > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:46

all of them!!!

but specifically...

2006 GS 300 (only year of the 3GR FSE)

2004 BMW 745i

2003 E320

all Land Rovers

But.... BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! above all else by a million miles!!!!

Lotus Elise, Exige, Evora

-Lotus dealer employee

dogisbadob > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:46

The Suzuki Verona is Korean, not Japanese. It's a Daewoo Lacetti.

Also, the 2001 Catera was actually good; they finally got it right in the 21st century.

The Mk4 Golf and Jetta definitely belong on that list along with the Beetle based on them.

I've also heard bad things about the BMW Minicooper.

Roberto's Chevy Aveo is another Daewoo that belongs on the list.

The Lincoln LS is a Jaguar S-Type without the cute cat on the hood, which is why it's so terrible. It would be fun to put the S-Type R's running gear in an LS though.

Nibbles > dogisbadob
06/17/2014 at 19:49

The only bad Suzukis are badge-engineered Suzukis

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:49

X-Type

GeorgeyBoy > dogisbadob
06/17/2014 at 19:49

Hey now I have a LS.

Takuro Spirit > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:50

Veronas aren't bad. DAT TRANSVERSE I6 DOE.

Well, they were no better or worse than any other Suzuki at the time. The problems with cars like them, and Kias, and Hyundais is that they are cheap cars, are treated as such, and are bought by people only interested in getting a cheap car. They do not take care of them and do not maintain them.

CRider > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 19:51

Anything with an AMG badge that's not under warranty.

Somethingwittyer likes noisy > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 20:00

Weren't the 4WD X-types complete reliability disasters? Also W220 S class or any Merc from that era.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 20:06

That's how bad it was. I was looking at one, but everyone who had one seemed to say the same thing. "It's too late for me, save yourself! Run away while you still can!"

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 20:27

My personal worst was this, a 2004 BMW X5 4.8is. Loved driving it, but it was the most expensively unreliable car I've had, ever.

Kinja'd!!!

Looked good, though.

Ad_absurdum_per_aspera > Somethingwittyer likes noisy
06/17/2014 at 20:39

Hopefully the guy who posts as "My X-type is too a real Jag" will chime in. My few years of closely observed vicarious experience suggests that it has the odd gremlin but is actually about on a par with its contemporary peers, or better.

It's important to make these comparisons within a class of car (as well as within an era). People equate luxury with complication, and the manufacturers give' em what they want. Alas, more parts and more systems-of-systems means more failure modes...

Most of the problems with that particular example seemed to (a) be transient glitches or easily worked around hard problems with non mission critical ancillary systems; or (b) stem from a previous owner who tended to have work done by somebody who would give him a deal, and in the hands of the trained and conscientious people we take it to now, the problems been permanently going away one by one as they come up.

shop-teacher > GeorgeyBoy
06/17/2014 at 21:23

My '04 GTO spent 31 days in the shop in the 3.5 months I owned it. Can't imagine worse reliability than that.

GeorgeyBoy > shop-teacher
06/17/2014 at 22:08

There's always worse.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
06/17/2014 at 22:33

The Freelander was the least reliable LR, and therefore the least reliable car, ever.

Pretty much irrefutable logic.

This literally made me LOL. Thanks!

StoneCold > EL_ULY
06/17/2014 at 23:14

Are they really that bad? I'm asking on behalf of my brother in law

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > EL_ULY
06/17/2014 at 23:19

My brain cannot understand Lotus being unreliable I thought they would be Toyota reliable since they run toyota drivetrains. My world is falling apart!

I believe you but this goes against everything I thought I knew.

Can you please elaborate?

EL_ULY > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
06/17/2014 at 23:42

engines are fine. But for me to explain would seriously take me forever. Just know that it's the little things. Immobilizers, column lock, steering coloumns, interior trim, radios, a/c units (all), window regulators, mirrors, weather seals, seat controls, exterior trim, door locks, various moduales, headlight housings, and various little things that Lotus sublets to very cheap companies. Also, they are not hand built by English engineers in exact precision...lol nope. Theu are put together by blokes in some hick town in the UK. As many of you dudes know, I work at a Lotus dealer. It has come to a point if anything breaks (cell phone, coffee machine, printer, etc) we simply say it "Lotus' d" I can get more technical about the commin issues and all the dang recalls out for them, but it would just take forever. Just know, engines are good, everything else is bad. Still, after all the cars ive driven in my life, nothing is as good as a Lotus.

EL_ULY > StoneCold
06/17/2014 at 23:45

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > EL_ULY
06/17/2014 at 23:45

that explains perfectly.

Kinja'd!!!

EL_ULY > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
06/17/2014 at 23:48

aw man, I dont like when people ask me aboit Aston or Lotus, It always ends in tears :'(

thebigbossyboss > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
06/18/2014 at 13:18

Look at this thread: "Landrover freelander problems are infinite,".

http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/806…

johnny > GeorgeyBoy
06/29/2015 at 18:50

You forgot about the Chevrolet Uplander, but, to be honest, so did everyone else.

AAsearles > shop-teacher
08/05/2017 at 21:39

Sample of one. My ‘05 GTO has been daily driven April-November since 2013 and never a day in the shop except for tire replacements.

shop-teacher > AAsearles
08/05/2017 at 22:54

I’ve always said mine was a lemon. I loved that car dearly, despite how badly it did me wrong.