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’70 Chevelle 350 2bbl
-surging on acceleration
-left front tire wore out on the outside in less than 5000 miles
Neither the numerous mechanics nor the GM Engineer that looked at it could fix either problem.’90 Taurus
-stalling and rough idle
-on long road trips after about 2 hours of driving, a damper inside the dash would close and then no more AC until the car cooled down completely
Numerous mechanics tried and failed to fix these problems
-AC compressor failure
-numerous CV joint replacements
all w/ less than 70,000 miles
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I haven’t really driven lots of cars so my opinion doesn’t hold a lot of weight but if there was one car I consider a blight on the road, one car that if I had my way would be stricken from history, it would be the Dodge Caravan and it’s numerous offspring. There’s really absolutely nothing exceptional about them in any way as far as the ride or driving experience is concerned. They look hideous from every conceivable angle but *particularly* the back. Getting caught in traffic behind one of these bulbous freaks of the automotive world is a comparable experience to being inside of a Vietnamese POW camp. This is exacerbated by the fact that these things are absolutely everywhere so you’re many times seeing multiple Caravans at the same time. Last but certainly not least though are the drivers. I can certainly understand why someone driving a Caravan they paid good money for would want to kill themselves but the driving habits of most Caravan owners seem to indicate they want to take with them as many people as possible. A Caravan, loaded with children, is the most ungracefully driven machine I’ve seen yet. No indicators, ever. Foot to the floor, flying by cars in all lanes regardless of traffic speed. Erratic lane shifts with no real purpose other than to cut someone off for the hell of it. Headlights are optional before 8pm always. They maintain this incredible precision of always being exactly in your blind spot yet completely unaware of their surroundings. I’m convinced a meteor could strike the roadway leaving a mile wide crater and every single Caravan driver would drive top speed right into it. That is unless there was a sign indicating road work ahead in which case they would all crowd into the one open lane to the right of the crater and attempt to hit the workers trying to fill in the hole.
I hate working on all the Euro trash. There just isn’t good help in Mitchell, All Data Pro or Identifix on them but that being said, most of them sold here in the States seem to be pretty solid and reliable. I wouldn’t own anything late model Chrysler or GM, garbage! That being said, I love to see them come to the shop because they are simple to work on and are always broken, in other words, these are the cars I make my living off of. To drive? I bleed blue oval. They are affordable, easy enough to work on, and they just seen to hold up. My second choice would be either Honda or Toyota, they seem to be very reliable as well.
Wow these stories make me feel good about my car. I have a 95 z28 that the previous owners drove hard. I’m sure they raced it… But in three years I’ve had to replace the brakes, rack and pinion, window motor, a ton of sensors, bearings, ball joints, and had my transmission blow up on the highway. I’m drawing a blank but that list is too short to be full… There’s still plenty of stuff that doesn’t work but it’s good experience for me. Most expensive thing was the transmission which was around $2000 cuz I couldn’t do that myself… I hate the big dashboards in Camaros cuz they crack soooo easily. And I absolutely hate how the doors are made of that composite plastic crap. My driver side window sags so much because the stress of the regulator is making the bolts eat away at the plastic so instead of having four nice little holes for the regulator assembly, I have four long ugly holes that don’t support the weight of the 3 ton window.
The absolute worst car I ever owned was a 1984 Isuzu Impulse that I bought new for $15,000 ($32,000 in 2012 bucks). It was a great looking car for the time and was loaded with features. But after about a year it literally started to decompose. Exterior and interior trim rattled like crazy before it fully loosened and fell or blew off. Was a RWD car and was terrifying to drive in the snow. Tried to swap the tires, but Isuzu said only OE Potenza dry-weather tires could be used because of car’s ‘unique’ suspension design. Front main seal started to leak enthusiastically at about 60K miles. Overall, this car had the durability of a potato chip. Sold at an embarrassing loss. Junk!
And that is a ROVER …yes built in UK the only model i know that was sold in the US was the 800 or as it was badged sterling ..2.0 litre or 2.5 engine auto saloon or hatchback …so bad you,ll never forget you owned one :angry: .build quailty ..a joke ..engines weak ..good luck with the electrics you,d need all you can get. avoid like the plague and thats been nice to plague 😉
And that is a ROVER …yes built in UK the only model i know that was sold in the US was the 800 or as it was badged sterling ..2.0 litre or 2.5 engine auto saloon or hatchback …so bad you,ll never forget you owned one :angry: .build quailty ..a joke ..engines weak ..good luck with the electrics you,d need all you can get. avoid like the plague and thats been nice to plague 😉
Without a doubt the Chrysler K-car series, a platform which covered multiple models for years. Visually unappealing, not enough power to get out of their own way, PITA to work with. The only time one of these brought happiness to its owner was when they drove it to the salvage yard and watched as a crane lowered its claws into it to toss it into the abyss.
Without a doubt the Chrysler K-car series, a platform which covered multiple models for years. Visually unappealing, not enough power to get out of their own way, PITA to work with. The only time one of these brought happiness to its owner was when they drove it to the salvage yard and watched as a crane lowered its claws into it to toss it into the abyss.
My least favorite car strictly from a mechanic point of view is a ford Taurus. Alignments on these suck. Every single one I have ever did needed camber fixed at all 4 corners (grinding out bolt holes).
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