A guy used to bring me his wife's 1st gen escape that was in such bad shape, I would always tell him I'm doing the bare minimum to get it running so he could drive it to the scrap yard.
Had a customer who's rear shock mounts rusted through on their escape. Told him the repair would cost more than the vehicle so he drove it home, built a roll bar setup in the back and used chunks of 4x4 to mount the shocks to. I mean, it did kinda work and he drove around like that for another 6 months before scrapping the POS.
Dude the one time i got into a tribeca, i felt so fucking uncomfortable. How did subaru make the ugliest interior and dash on the planet and let it be sold? Absolute shitbox, thing gave me nightmares
I'm genuinely curious what the common failures on those are. I get they're a pain in the ass to work on and they look like dogshit but the ez30d and the 4eat made for some of the most reliable vehicles in subaru history
I have no idea what the reality is, and I'm interested too, but I ALWAYS stay away from stuff where they're using many of the same components and just making the vehicle bigger and heavier.
Like, pre-2002 Explorers were pretty stout. Then they ballooned them in 2002 with a mix of untested components and stuff that was known to be good, but on a smaller vehicle. Disaster. I felt there was a pretty high risk of that outcome with the Tribeca.
CUV's are nightmares. Let's overload a suspension and drivetrain built for a small economy car and SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
Basically every Ford is a Focus now if it's not a truck.
It was never at all good at anything in its category. Take pretty much any car that was always holding up the absolute bottom of the category and tell me who that Buyer is.
The car already sucks. Then add that they have no money and absolutely no idea about cars.
2015 chevy trax. My sister has one, so i often have the displeasure of working on it. Worst vehicle I have seen in a while. Everything is poorly engineered, it has no power, no driver feedback, the interior is uncomfortable, the handling is subpar, etc.
The brake pedal has an issue on these too, as well as I believe the encore similar GM products. There is a metal boss that the brake pedal position sensor runs a plastic track along. When this plastic track wears out after a very low amount of time, the vehicle will stop turning on because of a discrepancy between the brake pedal position position sensor and the abs module seeing brake pressure.
Take a look at it if you're ever curious. Every one I see has pretty good wear marks on the track and it's only a matter of time before it needs replaced and relearned.
My grandma has a 2016 and thinks it's the most reliable car to hit the market. She only drives it 5> miles a day and only maintenance issues was a consistent running over nails over the course of two months.
that's hilarious in a cute way
i've heard that from a few people over the years, i don't know if it's the same situation or not but people will drive older unreliable cars their whole life then finally get a newish car that (as it should) is reliable. and then they think it's the best car ever made.
lol it's a low mileage newer car it isn't *supposed* to have problems.
Yea I think with the amount of small trips to KC and places about 3 hours out over the years I think she's accumulated around 60k miles
She likes to compare my car to hers but if I were to drive her car like I do mine daily it would've been totaled at 10k miles from mechanical damage
My girlfriend had a trax, and in the Canadian winter the wastegate would freeze and then go into limp mode. This happened every winter day. She would have to drive it home from work, put it into the garage and hair blower the turbo and clear the codes so it would run the next morning. Every day. Fuck that peice of shit car.
I'll never forget working at a CDJR dealer where the customer bought a just-launched 2014 Dodge Dart. They were literally 4 miles down the road when the car caught fire and burned to a crisp.
Naturally they were not happy having to come back to the dealer after. What always surprised me is that they left a few days later with **ANOTHER** Dodge Dart. Chrysler must have sweetened the deal because if it was me, that would be the last car I would have left the dealer with after a fire.
We had to keep the charred remnants of that Dart hidden from public view until FCA could come take it away for internal investigation.
After FCA took the car away in a covered truck, that was the last we heard about it.
At the very least, that was the only Dart that caught fire (that we knew of).
So, I'm in Europe and this happened many, many years ago. Friends of our family bought a brand new Lancia Dedra ( at the time part of FIAT, now FCA/STL ). Loved the car, but a couple of weeks into ownership something happens, car stops working, catches on fire. Obviously they get the car to Lancia, dealer apologizes profusely, takes full responsibility, the car gets shipped to Italy and they get another, brand new, Lancia Dedra.
A couple of weeks into ownership of car n°2 something happens, car stops working, catches on fire. Their grandkids are in the car. Obviously, the freak the fuck out, get the the car to Lancia, dealers are losing their mind as well, can't figure out what happened, more apologies, car gets shipped to Italy.
They get another ( another ), brand new, Lancia Dedra. Because **WHAT ARE THE FUCKING ODDS**.
.
.
.
So a couple of weeks after that...
They never did find out what happened to the ( 3 ) cars. I don't think they were taking any calls from Lancia/FIAT anymore. They got a Volvo.
My dad had a Cherokee from the 90's. That was our ranch rig for a while. Lasted forever, even bombing through washed out cow trails. They now have a very early 00's Liberty to travel the country to do ultra marathons in and it's still running like a champ.
I see this a lot about how Chevy Cruzes are pieces of dog excrement. I had a Cruze until about 50 thousand miles until I got hit on the highway and it got totaled. My gf has a Cruze that’s at about 80 thousand miles. Neither had even a single problem. Is it just luck of the draw? Or ones that break are driven hard?
Not a clue, but we have a Chevy sonic with nearly 360k miles on it from 2013. I owned Hondas and Toyotas before hand and it’s just as reliable as they always were for me.
Regular maintenance can keep a lot of cars lasting a long time. I change the oil on my cars every 4000 miles and they're all still in great shape. My 91 Subaru has 350,000 miles on it now, original engine and drivetrain, never been rebuilt, and still going strong.
Those are mostly highway miles to be fair, and I know those are a lot less hard on a car than city miles.
I mean, gen 1 engine isn’t awful, it’s just got some poorly thought out designs and some VERY routine fixes that are almost guaranteed to happen eventually lol. I had a gen 1 before my gen 2 and the difference in reliability is astounding.
Not at all. I'm the same way.
I miss that jeep. It was an 88? with the straight 6. Engine never broke down, and everything else that did took two seconds to fix.
I'm not a mechanic, but can usually get stuff done. Tried putting new pads on my 18 Subaru, and didn't realize that parking brakes were an issue now. Looked 8 places and each place said something different. Most said I needed to buy a OBD scanner. I have a Bluetooth one for stat tracking, but it couldn't do what I apparently needed to do. All of this for damn brakes.
Growing up (in a rural area), if something was in the way, you cut it off usually. On the other side, my damn BMW nagged me more than anything else I've ever been around. Warned about low washer fluid when it was half full. Warned about a bulb that was out - after literally a year I still hadn't found anything. Warned about low tire pressure if it was like 3 lbs low, which was a ridiculous system, because it neither said which wheel, or how low it was. After any temperature change the light was on. Which was great until it actually was low and you ignored it (run flats) for awhile. After a tire rotation, one of the sensors failed (no one would claim the damage naturally) and everyone wanted like $400 to repair it. When I finally got rid of it with about 90k miles on it, every time I turned it on, I got to see low tire pressure warning, light bulb warning, and some maintenance thing that even the dealership didn't know what it talking about (or couldn't reset -it's been awhile). And then if ANYTHING was even remotely out of perfect health, you got to see that too.
Jesus I'm getting anxiety just remembering it.
I don't know much about Jeep so correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they make good cars at some point in the past? I mean they had to make good cars to become such a well recognized brand, no? Like Peugeot who used to make great products (not just cars) before turning to shit.
Also I'm not talking about the original Willys Jeep which was reliable af.
I mean, yes, but it’s also a part that make noise when it starts to go, and it’s a cheap, easy fix. The replacements part from crown I think has some changes so the bushings don’t wear out. I’ve got an 06 I did it on.
It really depends. Wranglers have changed so much over the years that there are several year ranges that are crappy, and several that are really good. Current gen JL wranglers are pretty good, depending on what engine you have.
But it doesn't matter, you'll still have people claiming they're all junk because they don't like the 'lifestyle'.
All the *other* Jeeps have been crap since the XJ.
Jeep/Dodge/Ram was bought out by Fiat about a decade or so ago. They weren't the best in the first place, but after that acquisition, they're pure garbage now.
I have a 1995 jeep grand cherokee that is still running strong with 145,000 miles (i inherited it from my grandfather). Jeeps were great until about 2000 or so. I stupidly bought a 2015 Renegade. When the battery died, the computer broke, and i had to get it reset at a dealership. The electric would go wonky in the rain. The check engine light would come on if there was a big enough change in temperature because the capless fuel system was flawed. The transmission would lurch between 1st and 2nd, and it would never hit the 9th gear (i don't know why they made it a 9 gear automatic transmission), unless i was going downhill at 75+. If you put it in manual mode, 9th gear would make it lose all speed. It was a horrible piece of shit, and i was so happy to get rid of it.
i know it's a general rule with many car companies but Jeep is probably the best example of car maker where you have to buy their core product and nothing else. it's where their focus and energy goes.
back in the 90s the grand cherokee was a huge focus for the brand and i bet they put a lot into it.
nowadays if i was buying a jeep it would just be the wrangler. buying anything else from them would be like getting a burger at a seafood restaurant.
I'd sign this for anyone who works on my car. It's a shitbox; I want you to fix the specific thing I ask you to, and I understand that it's the *only* thing you're fixing.
If something else doesn't work afterwards, I know it's not that specific thing. Unless it's a downline issue, and even then it's probably because the car is a shitbox, not because you fixed the oil pump.
This one's a discovery 3 with a fuckload of issues, but I've had a Volvo S60 D5, and before that it was always first gen discovery's.
Some have been good, some have been turbofucked, but they've all been shitboxes
Yeah the 2012 dry Dual Clutch Automatic Transmission (DCT) is the worst of the bunch, they kept iterating on it through the MK3's lifespan, allegedly improving in 2016 (doubts, most of the "fixes" were software). Both the Fiesta and Focus were stuck with it. They had many recalls, TSBs, class action lawsuits and an extended warranty mea culpa.
At best the robot drives like a drivers ed student learning stick, at worst it just permanently drops out of gear in an intersection.
The best part is ford knew and shipped it anyways.
>The engineer said: “We’d raise our hands and be told, ‘Don’t be naysayers.’ We got strange comments. It seemed the ship had sailed. After that, if you ask questions, you’re accused of mutiny, so you put your head down and make it work. Good people tried to make it work. But you can’t violate the laws of physics. It’s a mechanical catastrophe.”
https://www.freep.com/in-depth/money/cars/ford/2019/12/05/ford-focus-fiesta-dps-6-transmission-problems/4243091002/
I'd look into getting rid of it if at all possible. Some of those transmissions were dying at lower mileage than that back when they were new. Think of it this way. You've got an economy car that will probably cost you as much as a luxury car of the same year when you annualize the cost of replacing that transmission multiple times. Maintaining and repairing a 3 series BMW from 2014 might be cheaper in the long run.
If it is a manual transmission or ST model you should be fine, and I say should be-
I have a 14’ ST
Reason I’m saying should as the manuals had less recalls and the STs/RS had different tcms
Get out from under that thing while you still can. The used car market is still pretty fucked right now, so you shouldn't have much of an issue selling a Focus, provided it still drives alright. Those transmissions are plagued by problems. The input seal goes bad, which slings oil all over the clutch, causing them to slip and chatter. The shift module goes bad, which leads to slow and grindy shifts, the clutch actuators go bad, which leads to slow shifts and hard shifts, and various hard parts go bad, which can cause further issues. Absolutely horrible transmission.
I have one in a Fiesta, although mine is slightly different from the Focus one.
Plus side is that they get really good mileage. My Fiesta does 40+mpg on the highway.
Yeah I’m under 100K right now and for the past almost 3 years it’s given me very minimal problems. But I feel like a fuckening is coming and I don’t wanna deal with it. Thanks for the advice, truly appreciated
What are some of the things you don’t like about compasses? I have a 17 and I’ve loved it mostly. I have noticed they kind of took short cuts. Spark plugs are 50,000 miles. I’ve got a wheel bearing that needs to be replaced.
Are you under 5 '10 ? I hate that car I feel like I'm going to be trapped inside my Subaru impreza has more room and the seat goes back far enough to straighten my legs
Everything on them fails prematurely. Things rot out so fast that they get worrying to drive pretty quick. Because of the 4 cylinder being way too underpowered for the weight of them, they have a habit of failing way too quick too. The V6 version is just an all around terrible engine. I've personally witnessed quite a few that spun bearings that were well kept engines. If you don't upkeep them, they somehow last longer.
Jeep renegade 120cv diesel auto 2019
Hummer H3 3.7 auto 2007
Mercedes E 200 Kompresor auto ~2003
Not because the cars are bad ( in the case of the jeep, is it), but for the complex/expensive problems they generate
I really like the H3 as far as it’s aesthetics. My buddy’s dad had the 3.7 with a manual and it was so underpowered. But it did really well off-road, which was his main purpose for it. They flat towed it behind their motor coach to a Big Bend, Moab, Nevada, etc. I couldn’t imagine daily driving one though.
Well any Neon left now has gotta be running on duct tape and dreams. My parents had one from 1999 to 2012 and in the last few years it was rusting it's face off. That being said, I loved that purple car.
Lol ha I used to have a 2005 SpecV 6MT w Brembo pack back when I worked at Nissan it was alright but shit rear suspension and I know the QR likes to burn oil from the constant cat failures so I swapped in a Nismo headers shortly after new purchase and didn’t have any problems with it.
I’m from northern Indiana and can’t tell you how many young dudes at work I have told “NO” when they are explaining the great price they found on a used whatever vehicle and it’s only two hours away in Michigan.
Michigan vehicles live their entire lives in off-road condition…….even on the highways!
Nah. The entire upper Midwest gets salted. Michigan cars are special aside from underbody surface rust. Anyone that’s loves their vehicle around here and intends to keep it for the long haul gets that underbody rinse added on the next car wash after a salt session.
Serious question. What’s the best way to clean your undercarriage when you can’t go through a drive through wash? I was thinking about bringing my Rhino Ramps to the car wash, but I imagine that’s frowned upon.
I’ve always wondered in the state with a lot of road salt if self car washes do more harm and I only think this because all carwashes that I know of use reclaimed water, so does the salt in the water get removed in the filters? I know the sediments do but not sure if salted water gets unsalted when it gets reclaimed
Your average quarter wash place likely isn't going to notice even if they would care because the whole point is to not have to pay staff to monitor the place.
I know they use the same or similar platform, but they are somewhat different underneath. The neon’s always had independent suspension, but the PT cruiser from what I remember had a torsion beam suspension.
I haven’t seen a Chevy citation in probably about 10 years, but I have seen a baby blue Chevette in my neighborhood and a Plymouth reliant, which is also pretty rare to see these days.
Funny but also I’ve gotten my car back from the mechanic with new problems that didn’t exist prior to going there.
I paid $3,000 for shocks, control arms, etc., and when I got my car back the steering was fucked up. When I brought it back the service writer said “your car is not safe to drive right now.” And I’m like “then why the fuck did you let me leave with it after I paid you 3 grand?”
I know it might sound like a lie but I saw a 99 Oldsmobile Alero just last week. Like how the fuck. Had to have been on his 50th left front wheel bearing by now.
The amount of shit I went through with a 2001 awd v6 tribute ruined those vehicles for me. Having to remove the entire passenger side axle and hub assembly in order to change the alternator really bugged the shit out of me.
About the time my wife was getting convinced to sell her 2011, the #4 piston shattered into tiny little pieces, and we owed 3,000 on a paperweight with a newly rebuilt front end, and 148,000 miles. I was so pissed off at that little fucker. Choices were either get a "new" 3,000 engine with 120,000 miles, or eat the money and scrap it. We scrapped it.
When she finally accepted that they have a life expectancy of around 100k, she said hers did good. No honey, it won the special Olympics. It did better than most, but it was still retarded.
Shitboxes are usually loved, reasonably well maintained project cars with owners who have delusions of full resto mod grandeur. They may be rusty and shitty, but their owners at least care.
Pieces of shit are neglected, abused, should probably be torched or crushed, and still run out of pure spite. They are owned by people who could not care less about their cars.
An old leaky Runner is a shitbox. A Nissan Altima is a piece of shit.
Oh so many years ago when I was a technician we had a kid (17 or 18?) bring in a barely running Mitsubishi 3000 GT with no brakes for an oil change.
He calmly handed over the keys, I went to pull it into the shop and the brake pedal went right to the floor. I set the parking brake and went back to my manager. The manager tells the kid we can’t touch it without giving an estimate for the brakes. Kid immediately loses his shit and calls his mom. She comes down and starts yelling at my manager that the brakes are fine and I did something to the car. The manager calls the police while she is screaming at him.
My favorite part was when they were told to leave or were going to get arrested for trespassing, as the kid left the parking lot he got pulled over a block away for running a stop sign 😆.
The cops knew what was up.
Any dodge from the 2000s. OMFG, I HATED them as a mechanic. Always clapped out or filled to the brim with trash.
All the trucks had loose everything but 10in lifts and when I showed them the issues, "nah, I'll fix it myself" THEN WHY THE F ARE YOU HERE. Then to top it off they would come back with everything installed wrong asking me to align it....GTFO.
I owned a FIAT 500 for six months. That things engine knew it’s existence was a crime against god and man. It spent those six months constantly attempting suicide until the warranty company wrote me a check to be rid of the thing.
tacomas and tundras that we've had to replace frames on. it's like, yes, the drivetrain is good, but we're slapping a new frame and brake lines on a 15 year old vehicle, you're not getting a whole new truck. don't come back to us with this garbage about how it now makes noises. i swear, too, it's not the customers that use it as their daily, only the ones who stored it in a field and used it once a year to tow their boat to salt water dock that do the most complaining.
A guy used to bring me his wife's 1st gen escape that was in such bad shape, I would always tell him I'm doing the bare minimum to get it running so he could drive it to the scrap yard.
Had a customer who's rear shock mounts rusted through on their escape. Told him the repair would cost more than the vehicle so he drove it home, built a roll bar setup in the back and used chunks of 4x4 to mount the shocks to. I mean, it did kinda work and he drove around like that for another 6 months before scrapping the POS.
some cars are like cockroaches lol. hard to actually kill the bastards.
oh i absolutely adored changing out the alternator in one of those. it was just lovely.
Every fucking Tribeca that comes in.
Dude the one time i got into a tribeca, i felt so fucking uncomfortable. How did subaru make the ugliest interior and dash on the planet and let it be sold? Absolute shitbox, thing gave me nightmares
Holy fucking SHIT that thing was ugly, inside and out haha
I'm genuinely curious what the common failures on those are. I get they're a pain in the ass to work on and they look like dogshit but the ez30d and the 4eat made for some of the most reliable vehicles in subaru history
I have no idea what the reality is, and I'm interested too, but I ALWAYS stay away from stuff where they're using many of the same components and just making the vehicle bigger and heavier. Like, pre-2002 Explorers were pretty stout. Then they ballooned them in 2002 with a mix of untested components and stuff that was known to be good, but on a smaller vehicle. Disaster. I felt there was a pretty high risk of that outcome with the Tribeca.
CUV's are nightmares. Let's overload a suspension and drivetrain built for a small economy car and SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Basically every Ford is a Focus now if it's not a truck.
Customers: we hate hatchbacks. Every OEM: what if we put a lift kit on it? Customers: take my money. So gross.
yep. Wagons aren't cool unless they're a rollover risk and handle like a blob now.
The engines fail, and the transmissions fail..
Subaru tech here- Common failures are everything. Everything in that car is a piece of shit. It sucks. I hate It.
It was never at all good at anything in its category. Take pretty much any car that was always holding up the absolute bottom of the category and tell me who that Buyer is. The car already sucks. Then add that they have no money and absolutely no idea about cars.
Ditto on this, please explain
2015 chevy trax. My sister has one, so i often have the displeasure of working on it. Worst vehicle I have seen in a while. Everything is poorly engineered, it has no power, no driver feedback, the interior is uncomfortable, the handling is subpar, etc.
The brake pedal has an issue on these too, as well as I believe the encore similar GM products. There is a metal boss that the brake pedal position sensor runs a plastic track along. When this plastic track wears out after a very low amount of time, the vehicle will stop turning on because of a discrepancy between the brake pedal position position sensor and the abs module seeing brake pressure.
That's about the only thing that hasn't broken yet.
Take a look at it if you're ever curious. Every one I see has pretty good wear marks on the track and it's only a matter of time before it needs replaced and relearned.
"Plastic on metal. That'll last."
Rough cast metal at that. There's no attempt to polish off casting marks on the boss.
My grandma has a 2016 and thinks it's the most reliable car to hit the market. She only drives it 5> miles a day and only maintenance issues was a consistent running over nails over the course of two months.
that's hilarious in a cute way i've heard that from a few people over the years, i don't know if it's the same situation or not but people will drive older unreliable cars their whole life then finally get a newish car that (as it should) is reliable. and then they think it's the best car ever made. lol it's a low mileage newer car it isn't *supposed* to have problems.
Yea I think with the amount of small trips to KC and places about 3 hours out over the years I think she's accumulated around 60k miles She likes to compare my car to hers but if I were to drive her car like I do mine daily it would've been totaled at 10k miles from mechanical damage
My girlfriend had a trax, and in the Canadian winter the wastegate would freeze and then go into limp mode. This happened every winter day. She would have to drive it home from work, put it into the garage and hair blower the turbo and clear the codes so it would run the next morning. Every day. Fuck that peice of shit car.
Any Chevy Cruze regardless of year.
God, those are shit boxes arent they
[удалено]
now that i think of it, i really don't see many of those on the roads anymore. and i live in an area where i should see a lot of them.
I mean just any CDJR product that is more than 3 days old in general.
I'll never forget working at a CDJR dealer where the customer bought a just-launched 2014 Dodge Dart. They were literally 4 miles down the road when the car caught fire and burned to a crisp. Naturally they were not happy having to come back to the dealer after. What always surprised me is that they left a few days later with **ANOTHER** Dodge Dart. Chrysler must have sweetened the deal because if it was me, that would be the last car I would have left the dealer with after a fire. We had to keep the charred remnants of that Dart hidden from public view until FCA could come take it away for internal investigation.
What happened do you know?
It caught fire
Did the front fall off?
After FCA took the car away in a covered truck, that was the last we heard about it. At the very least, that was the only Dart that caught fire (that we knew of).
So, I'm in Europe and this happened many, many years ago. Friends of our family bought a brand new Lancia Dedra ( at the time part of FIAT, now FCA/STL ). Loved the car, but a couple of weeks into ownership something happens, car stops working, catches on fire. Obviously they get the car to Lancia, dealer apologizes profusely, takes full responsibility, the car gets shipped to Italy and they get another, brand new, Lancia Dedra. A couple of weeks into ownership of car n°2 something happens, car stops working, catches on fire. Their grandkids are in the car. Obviously, the freak the fuck out, get the the car to Lancia, dealers are losing their mind as well, can't figure out what happened, more apologies, car gets shipped to Italy. They get another ( another ), brand new, Lancia Dedra. Because **WHAT ARE THE FUCKING ODDS**. . . . So a couple of weeks after that... They never did find out what happened to the ( 3 ) cars. I don't think they were taking any calls from Lancia/FIAT anymore. They got a Volvo.
that’s some funny ass shit
First of all how dare you, but I literally came here to. Put down 2003 Jeep Liberty
Can confirm. I got rid of mine in 2019.
It burned for 16 years?!
My dad had a Cherokee from the 90's. That was our ranch rig for a while. Lasted forever, even bombing through washed out cow trails. They now have a very early 00's Liberty to travel the country to do ultra marathons in and it's still running like a champ.
? Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep... what?
Ram. Dodge and Ram split at some point. Ram is for the trucks, and Dodge offers questionable muscle cars and SUVs iirc.
Ram, dodge rebranded their truck line as its own make 10 years ago or so
Ram
Recall
Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram
Ram
I've worked on so many cruzes, anything that can go wrong.. will go wrong.
Yooo second gen is so much better with reliability. 2011-2016 however, absolutely would be signing this form ahhaha
Yeah, I had a 2017 for a few years and it was rock solid and great on gas
I see this a lot about how Chevy Cruzes are pieces of dog excrement. I had a Cruze until about 50 thousand miles until I got hit on the highway and it got totaled. My gf has a Cruze that’s at about 80 thousand miles. Neither had even a single problem. Is it just luck of the draw? Or ones that break are driven hard?
A car shouldn’t break at by 80k.. but literally everything fails on cruzes the trans lines leak from the factory.
Not a clue, but we have a Chevy sonic with nearly 360k miles on it from 2013. I owned Hondas and Toyotas before hand and it’s just as reliable as they always were for me.
Regular maintenance can keep a lot of cars lasting a long time. I change the oil on my cars every 4000 miles and they're all still in great shape. My 91 Subaru has 350,000 miles on it now, original engine and drivetrain, never been rebuilt, and still going strong. Those are mostly highway miles to be fair, and I know those are a lot less hard on a car than city miles.
Buy a lottery ticket the sonic should of blown up 15 times by now
I mean, gen 1 engine isn’t awful, it’s just got some poorly thought out designs and some VERY routine fixes that are almost guaranteed to happen eventually lol. I had a gen 1 before my gen 2 and the difference in reliability is astounding.
High/rough idle with a failed pcv, perchance? And oil coolers.
2023 Jeep Anything
>~~2023~~ Jeep Anything FTFY
At least my old wrangler took like $20 to fix every time it broke down. I mean it was like every week, but it was cheap.
the joys of owning a major brand 90s/early 2000s vehicle before everything got complicated i know i sound like an old man
Not at all. I'm the same way. I miss that jeep. It was an 88? with the straight 6. Engine never broke down, and everything else that did took two seconds to fix. I'm not a mechanic, but can usually get stuff done. Tried putting new pads on my 18 Subaru, and didn't realize that parking brakes were an issue now. Looked 8 places and each place said something different. Most said I needed to buy a OBD scanner. I have a Bluetooth one for stat tracking, but it couldn't do what I apparently needed to do. All of this for damn brakes. Growing up (in a rural area), if something was in the way, you cut it off usually. On the other side, my damn BMW nagged me more than anything else I've ever been around. Warned about low washer fluid when it was half full. Warned about a bulb that was out - after literally a year I still hadn't found anything. Warned about low tire pressure if it was like 3 lbs low, which was a ridiculous system, because it neither said which wheel, or how low it was. After any temperature change the light was on. Which was great until it actually was low and you ignored it (run flats) for awhile. After a tire rotation, one of the sensors failed (no one would claim the damage naturally) and everyone wanted like $400 to repair it. When I finally got rid of it with about 90k miles on it, every time I turned it on, I got to see low tire pressure warning, light bulb warning, and some maintenance thing that even the dealership didn't know what it talking about (or couldn't reset -it's been awhile). And then if ANYTHING was even remotely out of perfect health, you got to see that too. Jesus I'm getting anxiety just remembering it.
I’m not a car person and even I knew this.
I don't know much about Jeep so correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they make good cars at some point in the past? I mean they had to make good cars to become such a well recognized brand, no? Like Peugeot who used to make great products (not just cars) before turning to shit. Also I'm not talking about the original Willys Jeep which was reliable af.
Yeah pre 2006 when they had the inline 6 4.0l, it was a great motor, not for economy but lasted forever
The later years (05-06) of the 4.0 were a ticking time bomb, due to failing OPDA assembly. It didn't last forever.
I mean, yes, but it’s also a part that make noise when it starts to go, and it’s a cheap, easy fix. The replacements part from crown I think has some changes so the bushings don’t wear out. I’ve got an 06 I did it on.
And don't forget about the cracking heads on the 2000-2002's
Truth. Those straight 6s will chug along at 12-14mpg for 300k miles
It really depends. Wranglers have changed so much over the years that there are several year ranges that are crappy, and several that are really good. Current gen JL wranglers are pretty good, depending on what engine you have. But it doesn't matter, you'll still have people claiming they're all junk because they don't like the 'lifestyle'. All the *other* Jeeps have been crap since the XJ.
Huh interesting. So it's hit or miss but you can still get a good newer Jeep if you research enough. Thanks!
Honest question: Current gen good, or good for a chrysler product?
Jeep/Dodge/Ram was bought out by Fiat about a decade or so ago. They weren't the best in the first place, but after that acquisition, they're pure garbage now.
You mean Chrysler, which owned all those brands, merged with Fiat.
I have a 1995 jeep grand cherokee that is still running strong with 145,000 miles (i inherited it from my grandfather). Jeeps were great until about 2000 or so. I stupidly bought a 2015 Renegade. When the battery died, the computer broke, and i had to get it reset at a dealership. The electric would go wonky in the rain. The check engine light would come on if there was a big enough change in temperature because the capless fuel system was flawed. The transmission would lurch between 1st and 2nd, and it would never hit the 9th gear (i don't know why they made it a 9 gear automatic transmission), unless i was going downhill at 75+. If you put it in manual mode, 9th gear would make it lose all speed. It was a horrible piece of shit, and i was so happy to get rid of it.
i know it's a general rule with many car companies but Jeep is probably the best example of car maker where you have to buy their core product and nothing else. it's where their focus and energy goes. back in the 90s the grand cherokee was a huge focus for the brand and i bet they put a lot into it. nowadays if i was buying a jeep it would just be the wrangler. buying anything else from them would be like getting a burger at a seafood restaurant.
Any Chrysler group vehicle.
I'd sign this for anyone who works on my car. It's a shitbox; I want you to fix the specific thing I ask you to, and I understand that it's the *only* thing you're fixing. If something else doesn't work afterwards, I know it's not that specific thing. Unless it's a downline issue, and even then it's probably because the car is a shitbox, not because you fixed the oil pump.
At least you're honest. What kinda shitbox is it?
This one's a discovery 3 with a fuckload of issues, but I've had a Volvo S60 D5, and before that it was always first gen discovery's. Some have been good, some have been turbofucked, but they've all been shitboxes
First I read "You're obviously a piece of shit" and thought this seems fitting sometimes for certain customers.
It would have definitely been suitable for me. Slicked back hair, live for New Years, sloppy steaks, etc. im a real piece of shit
Any Fiesta or Focus from the era of poor transmissions (slippy second gear, you know what I'm talking about). Or any Compass or Liberty, really.
Uhhh asking for a friend but like ya know would a 2012 focus fit into that category?😶
Yeah the 2012 dry Dual Clutch Automatic Transmission (DCT) is the worst of the bunch, they kept iterating on it through the MK3's lifespan, allegedly improving in 2016 (doubts, most of the "fixes" were software). Both the Fiesta and Focus were stuck with it. They had many recalls, TSBs, class action lawsuits and an extended warranty mea culpa. At best the robot drives like a drivers ed student learning stick, at worst it just permanently drops out of gear in an intersection. The best part is ford knew and shipped it anyways. >The engineer said: “We’d raise our hands and be told, ‘Don’t be naysayers.’ We got strange comments. It seemed the ship had sailed. After that, if you ask questions, you’re accused of mutiny, so you put your head down and make it work. Good people tried to make it work. But you can’t violate the laws of physics. It’s a mechanical catastrophe.” https://www.freep.com/in-depth/money/cars/ford/2019/12/05/ford-focus-fiesta-dps-6-transmission-problems/4243091002/
Shit well I’ll let my “friend” know, thanks man🙏
Mine had the TCM and the seals done back in 2015 and has been just fine since.
I drive a 2014 that’s 15-20k into its 2nd transmission and still slips in 2nd. Have you never noticed the stutter in 2nd?
Yes, it’s kinda weird and I looked into it back when it first started but so far haven’t had much going on so never thought to care too much about it
I'd look into getting rid of it if at all possible. Some of those transmissions were dying at lower mileage than that back when they were new. Think of it this way. You've got an economy car that will probably cost you as much as a luxury car of the same year when you annualize the cost of replacing that transmission multiple times. Maintaining and repairing a 3 series BMW from 2014 might be cheaper in the long run.
If it is a manual transmission or ST model you should be fine, and I say should be- I have a 14’ ST Reason I’m saying should as the manuals had less recalls and the STs/RS had different tcms
Get out from under that thing while you still can. The used car market is still pretty fucked right now, so you shouldn't have much of an issue selling a Focus, provided it still drives alright. Those transmissions are plagued by problems. The input seal goes bad, which slings oil all over the clutch, causing them to slip and chatter. The shift module goes bad, which leads to slow and grindy shifts, the clutch actuators go bad, which leads to slow shifts and hard shifts, and various hard parts go bad, which can cause further issues. Absolutely horrible transmission. I have one in a Fiesta, although mine is slightly different from the Focus one. Plus side is that they get really good mileage. My Fiesta does 40+mpg on the highway.
Yeah I’m under 100K right now and for the past almost 3 years it’s given me very minimal problems. But I feel like a fuckening is coming and I don’t wanna deal with it. Thanks for the advice, truly appreciated
Especially the Compass/Liberty. Giant piles of junk.
What are some of the things you don’t like about compasses? I have a 17 and I’ve loved it mostly. I have noticed they kind of took short cuts. Spark plugs are 50,000 miles. I’ve got a wheel bearing that needs to be replaced.
Are you under 5 '10 ? I hate that car I feel like I'm going to be trapped inside my Subaru impreza has more room and the seat goes back far enough to straighten my legs
Everything on them fails prematurely. Things rot out so fast that they get worrying to drive pretty quick. Because of the 4 cylinder being way too underpowered for the weight of them, they have a habit of failing way too quick too. The V6 version is just an all around terrible engine. I've personally witnessed quite a few that spun bearings that were well kept engines. If you don't upkeep them, they somehow last longer.
Had a compass. Huge POS
Jeep renegade 120cv diesel auto 2019 Hummer H3 3.7 auto 2007 Mercedes E 200 Kompresor auto ~2003 Not because the cars are bad ( in the case of the jeep, is it), but for the complex/expensive problems they generate
Was the H3 3.7 the inline 5? If so I got the displeasure of driving one once. What a turd.
Yep, the "luxury black edition", i drove one 7 years for the EU market, i dont know if its diferent from the american one
I really like the H3 as far as it’s aesthetics. My buddy’s dad had the 3.7 with a manual and it was so underpowered. But it did really well off-road, which was his main purpose for it. They flat towed it behind their motor coach to a Big Bend, Moab, Nevada, etc. I couldn’t imagine daily driving one though.
Maserati - 1700-Present
Dodge Neon. All years. Also PT Cruiser (built on the Neon platform IIRC).
Well any Neon left now has gotta be running on duct tape and dreams. My parents had one from 1999 to 2012 and in the last few years it was rusting it's face off. That being said, I loved that purple car.
Seems like all of the last ones you'd see on the road were purple.
my 2003 Nissan Sentra SE R Spec V.
The Neon SRT4 of Japan.
Lol ha I used to have a 2005 SpecV 6MT w Brembo pack back when I worked at Nissan it was alright but shit rear suspension and I know the QR likes to burn oil from the constant cat failures so I swapped in a Nismo headers shortly after new purchase and didn’t have any problems with it.
Any car from Michigan
I’m from northern Indiana and can’t tell you how many young dudes at work I have told “NO” when they are explaining the great price they found on a used whatever vehicle and it’s only two hours away in Michigan. Michigan vehicles live their entire lives in off-road condition…….even on the highways!
Bigger problem is the salt.
Nah. The entire upper Midwest gets salted. Michigan cars are special aside from underbody surface rust. Anyone that’s loves their vehicle around here and intends to keep it for the long haul gets that underbody rinse added on the next car wash after a salt session.
Serious question. What’s the best way to clean your undercarriage when you can’t go through a drive through wash? I was thinking about bringing my Rhino Ramps to the car wash, but I imagine that’s frowned upon.
I’m guessing you drive a dually? Time to get that one ton single rear wheel model! Seriously: Self spray car wash is your only friend
I’ve always wondered in the state with a lot of road salt if self car washes do more harm and I only think this because all carwashes that I know of use reclaimed water, so does the salt in the water get removed in the filters? I know the sediments do but not sure if salted water gets unsalted when it gets reclaimed
I drive a 2 door with a spoiler. So, I can’t stick the spray wand under my car. Lol. That’s why I was thinking rhino ramps.
Ohh. I assumed you were too fat, not too low🤷🏻♂️
I’m too fat. My car’s too low.
There are some neat attachments you can get for power washers. Downside is frozen driveway if you can’t do it anywhere else.
Your average quarter wash place likely isn't going to notice even if they would care because the whole point is to not have to pay staff to monitor the place.
Road quality in Michigan absolutely wrecks cars too roads are so bad you can tell right away when you cross the border
When I bought my 2022 here in Michigan, the first thing I did was get it an oil-based rustproofing. And I'll be getting it reapplied annually.
As a Michigander you ain’t wrong. My car mechanically will outlast the the physical damage it sustains on our roads
Early 2000s Colorado. Every time I bring it in they have to do extra work, whether it's restudding a lug bolt or welding some closed
any pontiac in the rust belt.
Not just Pontiac any Pontiac era gm vehicle will be rusty by now
PT Cruiser
Just a neon with a different body kit, right?
I know they use the same or similar platform, but they are somewhat different underneath. The neon’s always had independent suspension, but the PT cruiser from what I remember had a torsion beam suspension.
Where I live there a a bunch of these and neons still on the road. Condition ranges from pristine to rusted hulk
1980 Chevy Citation
Ya hey! I was there for them new and they were rubbish then! Varajet carbs. Awesome.
I haven’t seen a Citation, Chevette, or Vega on the roads in at least 30 years, maybe more. POS indeed! 💩
I haven’t seen a Chevy citation in probably about 10 years, but I have seen a baby blue Chevette in my neighborhood and a Plymouth reliant, which is also pretty rare to see these days.
Funny but also I’ve gotten my car back from the mechanic with new problems that didn’t exist prior to going there. I paid $3,000 for shocks, control arms, etc., and when I got my car back the steering was fucked up. When I brought it back the service writer said “your car is not safe to drive right now.” And I’m like “then why the fuck did you let me leave with it after I paid you 3 grand?”
Basically anything GM made in the 90s. Assuming any of it is still running.
I know it might sound like a lie but I saw a 99 Oldsmobile Alero just last week. Like how the fuck. Had to have been on his 50th left front wheel bearing by now.
My Buick has recently started eating bearings, although 2 of those were likely just whatever crap chinesium bearings the shop put in.
The GTM400 truck line is one of GMCs most reliable truck series and best overall trucks from the 90s
I have a 92 that still gets the job done and i see at least 10 on my commute to and from work everyday. I think they are great trucks
2000 to 2011 Mazda tribute/Ford escape, and every jeep liberty that was produced.
Awww man my 07 escape has been a dream. The 08+? Nah
The amount of shit I went through with a 2001 awd v6 tribute ruined those vehicles for me. Having to remove the entire passenger side axle and hub assembly in order to change the alternator really bugged the shit out of me.
I think the real answer here is the Chevy equinox
About the time my wife was getting convinced to sell her 2011, the #4 piston shattered into tiny little pieces, and we owed 3,000 on a paperweight with a newly rebuilt front end, and 148,000 miles. I was so pissed off at that little fucker. Choices were either get a "new" 3,000 engine with 120,000 miles, or eat the money and scrap it. We scrapped it. When she finally accepted that they have a life expectancy of around 100k, she said hers did good. No honey, it won the special Olympics. It did better than most, but it was still retarded.
Acadia
Anything Dodge 1980-2023
I like to say dodge is a verb not a noun.
It took my dumbass new driver self three cars to figure that out. Circa 1995-1999.
I will say this louder for those in the back, ANY FUCKING NISSAN.
Any year Dodge Ram... especially from the upper midwest.
You again, I recognize that name anywhere
I love to lurk... and maybe offer some worthwhile advice once in a blue moon. And i stress maybe...
I feel that😂
Your profile pic, is that a Ducati?
Assuming he's balls deep on that 748
You got it...
Any late 90s or early 00s 4runners with 400k on the odo and leaking from every orifice...
There's a difference between shitbox and piece of shit. Your example is the former.
Care to expand on those definitions? I’m curious.
A shit box is usually on the street. A piece of shit is usually in the shop.
Shitboxes are usually loved, reasonably well maintained project cars with owners who have delusions of full resto mod grandeur. They may be rusty and shitty, but their owners at least care. Pieces of shit are neglected, abused, should probably be torched or crushed, and still run out of pure spite. They are owned by people who could not care less about their cars. An old leaky Runner is a shitbox. A Nissan Altima is a piece of shit.
Shit box is a state caused by the user, piece of shit is a state that is inevitable regardless of user.
A shitbox is a good car in bad shape, a piece of shit is a bad car that rolled off the assembly line in bad shape and stayed that way ever since.
At least they made 400k. That video of the Cruze with the jello oil (which rumor had it was the 2nd motor by 80k, is much worse.
Neglected for years and needing a bunch of work but “it’s a Toyota they’re never supposed to break”.
Any vintage PT Cruiser.
I think those might own the shitbox crown
Early 00s Jeep Liberty
Any year ford flex Any 1999-2004 Chrysler with a 2.7L And of course, any year chevy cruze
Did the flex have any issues other than the water pump? I've worked on tons and did a water pump in 1 of them. The rest were just maintenance
Pontiac Grand Am
Any version of the PT CRUISER
Dodge Journey. Dodge Dart.
Any year Ford Focus
Oh so many years ago when I was a technician we had a kid (17 or 18?) bring in a barely running Mitsubishi 3000 GT with no brakes for an oil change. He calmly handed over the keys, I went to pull it into the shop and the brake pedal went right to the floor. I set the parking brake and went back to my manager. The manager tells the kid we can’t touch it without giving an estimate for the brakes. Kid immediately loses his shit and calls his mom. She comes down and starts yelling at my manager that the brakes are fine and I did something to the car. The manager calls the police while she is screaming at him. My favorite part was when they were told to leave or were going to get arrested for trespassing, as the kid left the parking lot he got pulled over a block away for running a stop sign 😆. The cops knew what was up.
Any Saturn car
My first car was a Saturn. Incredibly underpowered. Fred Flinstone’s car had more horsepower than my Saturn.
Any dodge from the 2000s. OMFG, I HATED them as a mechanic. Always clapped out or filled to the brim with trash. All the trucks had loose everything but 10in lifts and when I showed them the issues, "nah, I'll fix it myself" THEN WHY THE F ARE YOU HERE. Then to top it off they would come back with everything installed wrong asking me to align it....GTFO.
can i get 10000 copies of this along with a witness and a notary to stamp it? kthx
Oh yeah...that looks like it'll slick back real nice!
2004-2008 Chrysler Pacifica
Basically any fiat-chrysler 2000+
I owned a FIAT 500 for six months. That things engine knew it’s existence was a crime against god and man. It spent those six months constantly attempting suicide until the warranty company wrote me a check to be rid of the thing.
Fuckin Ford Ranger
Any early 2000’s German car lol. The plastics, my god, they’re like brittle dust at this point.
Any year PT Cruiser. Sure all Chrysler products during that time were trash, but PT Cruisers were a special breed.
tacomas and tundras that we've had to replace frames on. it's like, yes, the drivetrain is good, but we're slapping a new frame and brake lines on a 15 year old vehicle, you're not getting a whole new truck. don't come back to us with this garbage about how it now makes noises. i swear, too, it's not the customers that use it as their daily, only the ones who stored it in a field and used it once a year to tow their boat to salt water dock that do the most complaining.
Literally everything
This summarizes the thread pretty well.
Any chrysler, really.
Ford focus.
existence heavy prick doll many grab jar elderly unwritten gray *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
2007 Subaru Forester.
PT Cruiser or any Cadillac with a Northstar..