The Best/Worst Car You Ever Had

Worst car: Geo Storm. Total lemon

Best car: anything made by Honda

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While my worst car was my first car (green vinyl top Plymouth satellite), it was my first car, so how could I not like it? It was a stripped down model so I named it Bubbles.

My love/hate relationship was with my Audi Fox. Loved that car (though driving a stick in the heat of the south was a challenge- had to put a baby bootie on the gear shift b/c it was too hot to the touch), but fuel injection was new then and it was problematic, to say the least. AAA threatened to drop me!

Most reliable - well that is a tie. My 2005 Lexus RX 350. Sold it to a friend for her son before he even had his drivers license, and they still have the car 8 years later. In fact it’s been so reliable she sold her Mercedes SUV and bought a lexus. We went out to dinner a few mos ago and they picked us up in the car! Still runs great, at 21 years old.

But a tie for reliable and by far my favorite to drive is my Tesla model 3. I did not think I would like that car. I was wrong. 8 years and its still a baby.

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Best : my 2012 Lexus CT200h. I loved that car! After driving a series of larger (at least medium sized) SUV’s I loved having a small car. Unfortunately, H talked me into selling it before we moved in 2022. I had only 60K miles on it in 10 years!

I replaced it with a Lexus UH hybrid which was the closet thing available. I had to wait a few months to get it as I insisted on getting black with tan interior (just like the former car) to honor my CT200h.

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Funny minivan (it was our Nissan Quest)

Conversation with DS right after he got his drivers license.

DS: will I ever have a car to drive?

Me: you will be able to drive the Quest.

DS: I wouldn’t be caught DEAD driving a minivan.

Pregnant pause…

DS: well, actually it’s a great minivan. It has a terrific sound system, and a sunroof, and is fun to drive.

(Good back pedal…).

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When I graduated from college I got myself a brand new bright red Honda CRX. It was a 2 seater with room for my dog in the back. That was a fun little car.
Probably my real favorite is my current Volvo XC60, with a bigger than normal engine, and Denim blue paint with gray interior. It’s boring but I “love” it. My next car will likely be a Volvo XC60 or XC40.
My least favorite is definitely the Toyota Sienna minivan. It just stopped working in the fast lane of the highway on the Friday before Christmas one year, with my kids in the car. Getting it fixed was a pain, and I was kind of scammed by the dealer. I only had that car a couple of years, even though I normally keep my cars quite a long time.

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Tie between our Ford Windstar and my Toyota Corolla for different reasons/uses. Both utterly reliable and driven until there was no residual trade-in value. All of our cars have been good, so no “worst” for me, but I rarely drive DH’s current mid-life crisis Miata because it’s hard to get in and out of, and I don’t like riding so close to the ground. He can lure me in if the car is headed out for ice cream, though.

I think DH would say either his Carmen Ghia (pre-me) or his little 1980 Honda Prelude. He’s always wanted an MG but not the repairs, so he went with Japanese reliability and bought the Miata when we retired. He loves that car.

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Honestly, my favorite vehicle ever was my Dodge Grand Caravan. Not because it was an “IT” vehicle, far from it, LOL, but because of my age and stage in the years driving it. And it was very comfortable and accommodating. Like a second home for my very busy, active boys. Good times.

Dh had a Lotus Europa when we met and as newlyweds . That was pretty exotic! He only ever let me drive it once. LOL.

The worst car we ever had was a diesel VW Dasher. What a challenge. I still have a letter I wrote to Volkswagen of America. To no avail. LOL.

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The CT200h was basically a Lexus Prius, so the closest thing to it would have been a Prius.

I know. But I wanted another Lexus.

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Worst: My first auto, a used 1970 Fiat 124 Spider. It was a beautiful, horrible car. Wood steering wheel and dash, a poor man’s Ferrari, or so I thought. When it was running well, which was not very often, it was a joy. It blew head gaskets every 3000 miles at $200 a pop. I traded it in on a VW Beetle before it put me in the poorhouse.

Best: 2021 Porsche 911, my guilty pleasure. It’s my second 911: I had to sell the first one to buy a Honda Oddysey when children dragged me out of my midlife crisis. 911s are splendid, the rare high performance car one can drive daily. In five years I haven’t had a single issue.

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Favorite car: 1982 Camaro.

Best practical car: Ford Escape. We had 2015 and 2019 models, and now we have a 2022. It’s got a high tow capacity, drives very smoothly, and is designed well to carry dogs and other stuff to our cabin. It can also make it up the VERY steep, rough gravel road to the cabin.

Worst Car: 1983 Cadillac that we bought used in 1992, just before our first son was born. It looked great, but got terrible gas mileage and the heat didn’t always work - not good in Maine!

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Our most practical car was our Y2K Tundra. We gave it to our friends last year when it was time for us to electrify our fleet. It had 60k miles on the odometer when we gave it away. It never traveled out of state but was a regular at the local dump and HD. :laughing:

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Best car: 1999 Toyota Camry was a well-built car. That generation of Camrys is well known for its long-lasting engine.

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Best

1985 Peugeot 604, gas, manual transmission

I expect few here know what the Peugeot 604 was. It was much nicer than the more common 505.

Here’s what Gemini says about it:

If yours was an ’85, that is exceptionally rare territory.

1985 was the final production year for the 604. Peugeot officially ended the line in November 1985, and only 581 cars rolled out of the factory that entire year across all markets.

By that final stretch, Peugeot had worked out all the early kinks and given the car its best mechanical spec:

The Upgraded 2.8L V6: For the 1984–1985 run, the gas version was bumped from the earlier 2.7-liter up to the 2,849 cc (2.8-liter) PRV V6. Badged as the GTi, it pushed output up to around 150–155 hp with much stronger low-end torque than the earlier cars.

Standard 5-Speed: The 5-speed manual was standard equipment on the manual gas cars by then, giving you that relaxed, ultra-tall 5th gear for effortless high-speed cruising.

Refined Cabin: The final-year models featured the cleanest dash layout, upgraded switchgear, and the late-era alloy wheels (often the Michelin TRX-style metric alloys).

Because the mid-size 505 had arrived and was absorbing most of Peugeot’s sales in the early ’80s, very few people were ordering brand-new 604s by 1985. Driving a gas, manual 604 from that final vintage meant you were behind the wheel of one of the rarest, most sophisticated French executive cars ever put on the road.

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I can’t remember ever owning a “worst” or “least favorite car.” :slightly_smiling_face:

And I’m fortunate enough to have way too many “best” or “most favorite” cars to choose from, but if I had to nail it down to one, then I’d say the best is my 1st generation (“NA”) Mazda Miata with the pop up headlights.

Iconic sports car, handles as if it’s on rails, quick, nimble, Japanese reliability, inexpensive to maintain, etc.

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My favorite was my Audi A7. I loved everything about it - sleek, sporty, fun to drive - still had 4 doors and a hatchback for the kids. I hit a wicked pothole that broke the bottom frame. We had it fixed but it never rode the same so we traded it in.

Least favorite has to be a tie between an Oldsmobile Achieva (SP?) that I drove early in my marriage when the budget was razor thin. It had manual roll down windows and we lived in upstate NY so they often froze and I couldn’t wind them down. I parked in a parking garage for work where I had to scan my badge and during the winter, I’d have to open my entire door to scan my badge each morning.

My other “worst” was my Jeep Liberty. It rode so rough, we called it the “Jiggle Wagon”. I has happy to be rid of it. Didn’t drive it for very long.

Funny…my husband actually brought this subject up (not related to CC at all).

His favorite car was a Mercury Mystique which he had for 10 years and about 200,000 miles. Even the dealership service department said that these cars never lasted that long. It was a company car when we bought it, and was about a year old with very low mileage. It had a funny option package that my husband liked…manual transmission, leather seats, excellent sound system, electric drivers seat…but really that was it…which was perfect. I was the one who saw it in the showroom. I politely asked if I could drive it…and the salesperson wasn’t thrilled that they had to take it out of the showroom. Say what??

DH says the Mystique was his favorite, followed by a Honda Accord that he also had for a gazzillion years, sold to a friend, also hit 200,000 and also was manual transmission.

My husband misses his manual transmission cars.

At one point in our lives, DH and I each drove an Accord (loved all our Hondas). When we eventually sold mine, I hugged him and said, “It’s so nice to finally be back in one accord…” (I knew the dad-joke lover in him would find that funny.)

My very first car (didn’t own one until after I was married) was a brand-new manual Honda Civic sedan. I loved that car because it was my first. No car since has had the pickup that one did. It could spring off a red light, 0-60 in a nanosecond, and I could practically park it in a motorcycle slot.

Funny Story: My company provided onsite computer training and support services to Ford Motor Company. One day, a manager interrupted my class to ask for the key I had to one of the other classrooms, so I tossed him my set. He returned a few minutes later, walked up to the front of the classroom, and slapped my keyring down on the desk saying loudly, “Here are your HONDA keys.” That got back to my boss and, before the end of the day, my boss had arranged for me to trade in my beloved Civic for a Ford product on the vendor “A” plan. I drove that Tempo (yuck) the rest of the years I had to be on Ford property. I hated that car, but it rode nicely and never gave me any trouble (so doesn’t qualify as a “worst”).

ETA: If you drove a “foreign” product onto Ford property, you might just find your car missing when you returned to the parking lot. When you raced back into the office to report your car stolen, someone might tell you, “Hmmm… Let’s check the engineering shop. Perhaps your car has been borrowed for a ‘hoist review.’” Message received.

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The first new car I bought was a Honda Civic (the little hatchback model). I loved that car. I also bought an extended warranty package which was used to replace the transmission completely just after the regular warranty expired. But I still loved the car. It was totaled when it was hit by another car. Replaced it with a Tercel.

Both manual transmission cars.

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My fil always loved his manual transmission cars.

One summer, my oldest had an internship for an auto company. One of the jobs was to drive a manual transmission car on a test track.

He went to visit his grandparents and learned to drive a manual transmission.

I totally forgot that he did that! I wonder if he still remembers how? I’ll have to ask.

I will happily drive a manual but haven’t for years. Kind of went away with roll up windows!

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