This one was mine, a 1998 Mercedes W208. The nice things about it were the cool Mono-Wiper, the engine (supercharged 2,3L M111) and the seats that were perfect for my height. It had a terrible ASR system but came with a LSD, so it was lots of fun in the winter.
The not-so-nice things about it were that the ignition randomly would not recognize the key, a missing catalytic converter, two fist sized rust holes in the front control arms, rust all over the underbody and the absolute worst 6-speed manual transmission I have ever used.
It also had multiple alignments but it didn’t take long for the steering-wheel to be off-center again. You could see the tail end “crabbing” in the rear view mirror. There was something very wrong with it, which can probably be attributed to one of the 7 previous owners.
This isn’t even counting all minor annoyances like the frameless windows not lowering themselves when you open the doors (that was only a thing after the 1999 model year), the wind noise, the awful interior materials, the broken seat latch in the rear, the trunk lock not working… I could go on for an hour like this.
So anyways, what is the worst car YOU have ever owned?
I’ve had a few including a 1986 galant that needed a new transmission three times in the two years that I owned it (luckily all were replaced under warranty) and a 1991 Toyota Camry that I bought for $500 and it died a month later. I can’t fault either of those much though because they were each way over ten years old when I got them. The one that takes the cake is a 2003 mazdaspeed protege which I bought new and it shot a piston through the block 2.5 years after I bought it. Since I was over the mileage on the warranty at that point, Mazda didn’t honor it. The car had a handful of other issues during the time I owned it too. I won’t buy another Mazda.
Ah Mazda, the Japanese Alfa Romeo.
I’ve never heard that before, but it’s perfect. I’m going to start calling it that from now on.