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(#1) PT Cruisers
From Redditor /u/cantkillfakeplants:
My dad is a mechanic and constantly calls PT Cruisers “PT Losers.”
If you want to fix just about anything you have to take the entire engine out.
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(#2) Any Cadillac With A Northstar V8 Engine
From a Redditor:
Franchise garage technician/state vehicle inspector here.
Any Cadillac with the Northstar V8. It has a feature that shuts cylinders off at low load to save fuel - but makes a lot of noise when active - for mpg [miles per gallon] gains that aren't really impressive today (something like 20/25 city/highway).
It's also notorious for leaking oil. It's been engineered to be able to run for up to 50 miles with no oil, because designing an oil-less engine is easier than fixing all the leaks in a Northstar. I've never seen one not leaking out of somewhere.
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(#3) Volkswagen Passats
From Redditor /u/jough22:
My brother works in auto body repair and told me he'd [destroy] me if I ever bought a Volkswagen. In particular, the Passat.
They were engineered to be easy to assemble, but not to fix. All the parts that were most likely to fail required taking apart half the engine to get at, he said.
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(#4) Hyundai Sonatas And Elantras
From Redditor /u/sarahollyx:
I work at a body shop and can say almost every single Hyundai Sonata or Elantra I've seen (brand new especially) typically totals out from even the most minor collisions.
These cars don't hold their value one tiny bit.
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(#5) GMs With 3300, 3400, And 3900 V6 Engines
From Redditor /u/anail1994:
Actual mechanic here.
Buy nothing from General Motors with the 3300, 3400, or 3900 V6 engines in them. They are unreliable trash and come from the "high value" platform. That means cheap, and not for you - cheap for General Motors.
Poorly made parts all the way through and really awful engineering. The 3800 V6, on the other hand, is an amazing motor with only a few minor problems.
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(#6) Renaults
From Redditor /u/CrayRaysVaycay:
My stepdad is a mechanic and always swore against Renaults due to them always having electrical issues. I didn't listen and bought myself a Renault Megane.
Nine months down the line, the electric windows stopped working. Should have listened!
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(#7) Mazda RX-8s
From Redditor /u/ldg25:
Son of a Mazda mechanic. If you live in the North, or anywhere it gets remotely cold, do not buy an RX-8.
It won't work three to four months out of the year, and will need constant, expensive care in the other months.
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(#8) Any GM, Chrysler, Or Nissan
From Redditor /u/judgestorch:
Been a shade tree mechanic in the US for more than 40 years...
Nissan quality has fallen since their merger with Renault more than a decade ago. Worst auto transmissions in the industry now, made by JATCO.
Chrysler has never really recovered in quality since their K-car/minivan rebirth days of the 1980s. There is a reason they've faced bankruptcies and had subsequent mergers with Daimler and Fiat.
GM has shifted design and manufacturing overseas, mainly to Korea, for its passenger cars (which is an actual improvement from the crap they have been selling for decades). But the quality simply doesn't compare to Toyota or Honda. The same goes for Hyundai and Kia - mediocre quality at best.
Ford probably ranks third in quality, behind Toyota and Honda.
As cars have become more complicated to meet EPA and safety standards, reliability has dropped. There are miles of wiring, harness connectors, multiple computer control units, and countless sensors. It's almost impossible to make a car with high reliability and affordability at the same time, but the quality control at Toyota and Honda seems to outpace all others.
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(#9) Land Rovers
From Redditor /u/Butt_Putnam:
I know most people reading this aren't in the market for one, but Land Rovers are hot garbage.
Expect [bad] electrical issues that have your mechanic chasing his tail for the life of the vehicle.
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(#10) Out-Of-Warranty BMWs
From Redditor /u/innerearinfarction:
My mechanic tells me never to touch an out-of-warranty BMW.
He owns two, and says the electronic gremlins have driven him insane, and are virtually unfixable by a non-dealer mechanic. They require circuit board replacements, proprietary software readers, etc.
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(#11) Brands Aren't As Important As Transmission/Engine Combinations
From Redditor /u/Sicknessindustries:
American automotive engineer here, mechanic before that.
Brands and models mean nothing. You need to go after or avoid specific engine or transmission combos. A same make and model year of a vehicle could have a 4-cylinder engine with great reliability, but a horrible 6-cylinder.
An example of this would be any 3.0L V6 in Toyota Trucks and SUVs from 1988-1995. They are gutless, inefficient, and eat head-gaskets, whereas the 4-cylinders from that era are bulletproof.
There are some really bad ones. Any full -ize Ford Superduty 6.0L Diesel has only four headbolts per cylinder like a gasoline engine, [so] the head gaskets blow anytime something small fails. GM full-size diesels use the Japanese engineered 6.6L Isuzu Duramax, which still commands high value.
Google is your friend. Find the engine and transmission model numbers and do your research before buying.
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(#12) Ford Focus (2012-2016)
From Redditor /u/Sawl916:
2012-2016 Ford Focuses.
The clutches go CONSTANTLY, to the point where they made it a service bulletin. And it continues to happen after the warranty is up.
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(#13) Jeeps
From Redditor /u/SuperRooster1776:
Jeeps. Remember, JEEP stands for "Just Emptied Every Pocket."
Those things will run, but you will have so many minor issues, you’ll want to get out of it so quick,
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(#14) Audis
From Redditor /u/zombiebub:
I work at a shop that specializes in European cars, with an emphasis on German vehicles. You could not pay me enough money to drive an Audi.
The amount of catastrophic failure I have seen on cars with less than 100,000 kilometers on them is insanity. Especially the 2.0L Turbos.
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(#15) Older Land Rover Discoveries And Defenders
From Redditor /u/aguycalledsteve:
Older Land Rover Discoveries and Defenders.
They rot like a ripe pear in the sun, and leak like a sieve. Parts are expensive and near constant maintenance is required.
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(#16) Ford Tempos And Contours
From Redditor /u/InferiousX:
Ford Tempo or the Ford Contour.
Notorious for transmission failures.
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(#17) Ford Fiestas And Focuses (Automatic Transmission)
From Redditor /u/rahtin:
This latest generation of Ford Fiestas and Focii with automatic transmissions. They really screwed up with their dual clutch system and refuse to recall it or update it.
The manual transmissions are fine, and otherwise they're great economy cars overall with very little required maintenance. But the automatic transmissions are a dice roll.
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(#18) It Depends On Care
From Redditor /u/TheMetalWolf:
Mechanic here. To be fair and honest, there isn't a single brand or model to pinpoint. It's all about how you take care of it.
I've seen $200,000 cars that I wouldn't piss on to put out a fire, and I've seen $2,000 vehicles that are apocalypse proof. Some of my friends and co-workers that spend so much money on repairing their cars, or buying new ones just to neglect them, get to the same "oh, it's a piece of sh*t" mentality.
Meanwhile, my derelict (in appearance) 18-year-old truck (I've been the owner for the last eight) soldiers on with just basic service, and a few fixes and upgrades here and there.
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(#19) Any Car With A V12 Engine Or Hydraulic Suspension
From Redditor /u/mikehosek:
Mercedes Master technician here. Any V12 engine vehicle.
Also, vehicles with hydraulic suspension. In both cases, parts are way too pricey.
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(#20) Fiat 124 Spiders (1966-1985)
From Redditor /u/TechnicalDrift:
Older Fiat 124 Spiders.
They used low-grade steel for the chassis; almost all of them have rusted through unless they were kept in bone-dry conditions at all times. It's a shame, too.
The engines on those are fantastic. In good condition, they're definitely a collector's item.
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(#21) Mini Coopers (2006-2011)
From Redditor /u/Phantom_Scarecrow:
Hobby mechanic.
Mini [Cooper], 2006-2011, with the N14 "Prince" engine. The issue is solving itself (by aging out), but the timing chain tensioners fail early, causing a loud rattle that leads to skipped timing and major engine damage. They can fail as low as 20,000 miles, and often go around 50,000.
Older cars had the Tritec engine; newer ones have a different tensioner. The ones in that age range should have been fixed by now, but you never know.
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(#22) Any Chrysler, Dodge, Or Jeep
From Redditor /u/batmanthepumper:
Any Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep. I was a dealer technician for 18 years.
The product sucked. Still does.
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(#23) Anything You Can’t Afford And Won’t Enjoy Driving
From Redditor /u/petiterunner:
My grandfather was a mechanic for over 50 years and the main thing he had to say on this topic was:
There are cars that you generally should avoid, like Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge models, or Pontiac, Sebring, and Suzuki - but at the end of the day, the only car you should truly avoid is one that will cause you trouble financially and that you won’t enjoy driving.
Every car will have anecdotes and stories of being horrible or great. My grandfather knew that Corrolas and Camrys were great for reliability, but he avoided them because he always ended up hating how boring as hell they were. The desire to trade them in for something cooler 24/7 defeated the purpose of keeping them... [for their] reliability.
He always told me to pick something that I would genuinely find fun to love and drive, as long as I was in a good place financially... Over his life he’s ended up picking many cars that he knew were trouble causers over ones that weren’t because he simply found them fun to have for those five to 10 years they lasted.
He’s a big believer that just because cars can last 15- to 20-plus years doesn’t mean that they should. So, just keep in mind your own perception of what’s fun and cool and what you can financially afford to replace when buying a car. If you would rather drive a BMW that’s more unreliable over a Camry or Accord, and you have the money to buy another car if it breaks down, then you really shouldn’t avoid it like the plague if you can get some good years of usage and fun out of it.
Likewise, if you are in a bad place financially, then yes, pick something reliable. But he always said too many people were keeping themselves from buying something they would truly love because it had a reputation of not lasting for 200,000 miles or whatever.
The more you love the car, the more likely you’ll be willing to keep up its maintenance, cleanliness, and overall specs, and that’s a major part of keeping your car running in and of itself.
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About This Tool
More and more people are considering buying cars. In many places, cars are no longer just luxury goods, but necessities. However, many people have also raised doubts: you can always see the list of the best car brands, why is there no list of the worst car brands? Now this random tool has generated a list of car brands that you should never, ever drive.
This random tool generates 23 items, including some car brands which you should never buy, suggestions are from mechanics, such as PT Cruisers, Renaults, etc. If you want to know which car brands are, you could click each item, then avoid using these brands of cars.
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