Favorite car was Chrysler van with stow and go seats. Known as the “party van”. Crammed a ton of kids (sat 7 easily) and moved a house in that thing. Unfortunately the brakes pads were a problem and I didn’t get another one when it finally died. So wish it was a tad more dependable electronic-wise but was great otherwise. Went for something smaller but sometimes wish I hadn’t.
Worst car ever was a Jeep. Fun but think it was a lemon from the start. Believe it may have been in an accident prior.
This is a tough one, because every car has it’s flaws and strengths, and they all serve different needs. To meet the “ever had” criteria, I’ll run with any car we drove and maintained for a significant period, say, over a year.
Worst car: A 15 year old Honda Accord that we kept for a friend of my wife’s who was overseas for over a year. The car wasn’t intrinsically bad (we had five Honda/Acura products, and they were well made and reliable), but the car was in such poor condition when we received it that it was a mess with flaking paint, stained upholstery, bald tires, etc., that we didn’t want to be seen in it. We were newly married and paying a mortgage with one income, however, so we were not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The icing on the cake was the owner accused us of mistreating his car after we religiously maintained the vehicle, including expensive overdue items like installing new tires and brakes.
Worst car honorable mentions: Mazda CX7 which had parts fall off on the highway and Chrysler Pacifica, which was great for hauling kids, but everything started failing around 80k miles.
Best car, practical edition: Lincoln Aviator, which rides like a dream and has a beautiful interior. This has been the workhorse for hauling kids and stuff, and has been the ultimate long-haul vehicle.
Best car, fun edition: Cadillac CT4 Blackwing, which is an absolute blast. Who would have thought that Cadillac would make a four door sedan that steers and handles better than a BMW and is faster to 60mph than a base Porsche 911 for half the price?
Best car, fun edition - honorable mention: Honda Civic Si, with a manual transmission. For not a lot of money, it provided lots of fun.
Favorite/most fun - brand new 1991 Jeep Wrangler soft top. Cost $11,000. Drove it for 9 years and 96k miles. Sold it for $7400.
Most comfortable - 1996 used Jeep Grand Cherokee. So comfortable on my bad back! I always said when it died I was going to rip the seats out and put them in my living room. lol
2005 Pilot was a workhorse. And had amazing visibility.
Serious Question: How does someone buy a car they don’t know how to drive off the lot? Were they not informed of their transmission selection when they were buying the car? Did they test drive an automatic but ignorantly purchase the manual because it might have been less expensive? Did they think there was no difference between manual and automatic?
Seriously, no shade, I just can’t fathom this one.
Worst is easy. A used Renault 1100. Unreliable. If stopped at a stop light next to one of the old slow VW Beetles, the VW Beetle would easily out accelerate me when the light turned green. It did however get great gas mileage. The frequent reliability problems were the biggest problem. It died just as I got to graduate school so I did a master’s with no car. Fortunately I did my masters during a drought in a warm location, so that bicycling was fine even through the winter.
Best is more difficult. I would probably go with my Prius V. It has quite a bit more room than a regular Prius, and was still quite fuel efficient. I have described its zero to 60mph performance as “same day” but it was very smooth and quiet at high speed. It was also quite reliable. I was sorry when they stopped making them.
A close runner up for best would be my current Subaru Forester. It has the room that I need from time to time, and great headroom which I need all the time. I like the adaptive cruise control and very good back up camera. At my age backing up would otherwise not be so easy.
Made my day.
Her dad drove her to the dealership…and I was with them. She absolutely knew it was a standard transmission (I think most Camaros were at that point). She had already ridden as a passenger when her dad test drove the car with her.
No ignorance at all. She decided she was up for the pep the standard had, and it was also the color she wanted. And it had nothing to do with the cost. She had a very well paying job. She decided she didn’t want an automatic.
When she went to pick up the car with her dad, I was with her, and I drove her to the parking lot to “learn” to drive the car. So I actually drove it off the lot (which was fun for me!).
And she really loved that car, so it was worth it.
DH reminded me that our son didn’t know how to drive the manual Mustang wreck he bought as his first car, but he bought that car primarily as an engineering project, so I guess I had an example right under my nose that didn’t strike me as an instance of what I was asking.
DH also answered the question by saying that lots of people (guys?) think driving a stick (i.e. sports car) is cool and want to learn how to drive one, so they buy one and learn after. Makes sense.
Worst worst car- ancient 1966 or so dodge dart with rusted out holes in the floor, no seatbelts. My first car, which cost about 250$. I only drove it for a year (wearing a bike helmet to protect myself in a crash) and then “sold” it to a friend in exchange for lifetime haircuts. She moved soon after, so that arrangement didn’t last long.
Best car so far, my all-electric. 2024 Nissan Ariya Evolve+ SUV, bought used with less than 1000 miles on it for about 55% of the original purchase price. These were only sold for two years in the states, and bombed miserably due to bad marketing decisions. (Oversupply of vehicles, didn’t qualify for the $7500 federal tax credit because made in Japan, fast charging to 80% may take 5 minutes more than some vehicles, touch screen has older graphics, cars were overpriced.). Since I use Apple CarPlay, the graphics issue is a non-problem, since I bought it “used” for 28k I don’t care that it was overpriced originally, I charge it at home, and carry a Tesla universal adapter for the very few times I need to charge on the road so no issues there. It has a huge double moonroof, heads up display, seat memory (great since DH and I are over a foot difference in height), and my very favorite thing- the birds-eye view cameras that show you an image of your car as if from above when you are parking!!! So useful now that I am old. I easily fit 8 foot lumber in it (once I remove one of the grandkids car seats) and the seats are so so so plush and comfortable.
It’s still sold overseas, but it’s an orphan car now here in the states, so I hope there won’t be too many problems getting parts if something breaks! 
Worst car(s): Volkswagen Rabbit and Volkswagen convertible beetle. I was very young but still totally remember being on the side of the highway numerous times due to those cars breaking down and one catching fire.
Best Cars: We became a Honda family after those Volkswagens and every single car we have owned has been awesome- Civic, Prelude, Accord, CR-V and Pilot. Loved them all.
Newer vehicles also tend to have worse outward visibility to the rear and rear side than older vehicles did.
My favorite was my silver Nissan Quest. Seriously comfortable driver’s seat. That was the height of my mommy carpool years and that minivan was great!
Best car: 2015 Subaru Forester. Reliable and tough enough to drive on gravel, across fields, through deep snow etc. High clearance, all wheel drive - just a tank workhorse. 140k miles and going strong.
Worst car: 2004 VW Jetta. In shop at least every 6 months and the parts were always “coming from Germany” so repairs were delayed by weeks. Parts seemed to always be on the slow boat!. Too bad VW didn’t think to stock parts for its new-ish cars in the US! We replaced it with a Honda Civic and never looked back.
Since that car was likely made in Mexico (so most parts should have been available from suppliers on the continent), perhaps the dealer was not entirely truthful on this matter.
I also have two LCs–2000 & 2013, so probably the same series/model that you have. Sadly, the 2000 sits attached to a trickle charger in my garage. I think it is time to get rid of it b/c my city-dwelling children have no use for it. The 2013 is my daily driver and I agree it is very comfortable.
Very low repair costs on the 2000 for the first 20 years. Had to replace the starter and the exhaust system rusted out twice. A couple of repairs after year 20, but nothing huge.
The newer LC has had a number of electronic things go. I fear that is the way with all of the technology on cars.
I went to buy an automatic Honda Accord, and left the dealer two hours earlier owning a standard. I had never driven a standard, or even been tempted to, so cannot explain how this transpired. Roommate’s BF had to teach me how to drive it, and I will say that commuting into Boston as a new stick driver was interesting. I was new to Boston and the ways of their drivers. Boston driving trained me for my subsequent move to Manhattan.
That’s great to hear! Our DD just put her deposit down on a brand new 2027 Land Cruiser!
I have only looked at the new model from the outside, so I don’t know how the ride compares to the older models. I have seen it on the road in the Lexus model but do not notice many of the LC model.
Why is a deposit required? Is it not out yet? Clearly I am not keeping up with automotive trends!
If you can drive in Boston, you can drive anywhere. Driving in Boston taught me:
I grew up in the Detroit area and thought I knew how to drive. Boston taught me otherwise, but I am truly comfortable driving anywhere now.
@OctoberKate , oh my, be still my heart!