Last week we asked you what cars you regret owning
, and a lot of you really went all out on your responses. The following is a list of my 10 favorite answers, but I was very impressed by the detail that many of you shared. Y'all have owned some regrettable cars. From underwhelming driving experiences to reliability nightmares to cars that simply disintegrate beneath you, you've been through a lot.I regret owning my first car, my 2005 Saab 9-3 convertible. Unfortunately, I loved driving it and really
everything about it when it was working properly, but it was a $5,000 Craigslist special that ended up developing an intermittent but catastrophic electrical fault that would have required me to replace the entire wiring harness after only a few months. That slightly tainted my affinity for the car, especially considering that I needed a car to commute to school at the time, so I would have been better off lighting about $6,000 on fire than to have spent that on the Saab. But enough about my Saab story, these are the cars that you regret owning:
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2015 Subaru WRX STi
2015 STI.
As a kid raised on Gran Turismo, the STI, along with other Japanese tuner cars, always had my interest. Then, in 2004, the STI finally landed in the US. I didn't have the coin at the time, having just graduated college, but I told myself I would own one someday.
Years went by and I still held on to the love for the STI. Finally, when I saw the VA STI in 2015, I told my wife it was time to buy one. Ordered a WR blue from my local dealer and patiently waited.
Car arrived and I knew pretty much within the first week, it was a case of "never meet your heroes". It just didn't work for me. The IDEA of owning it was better than the actual owner experience. Engine was laggy and felt underpowered for 305hp. Transmission and clutch were unpleasant to operate compared to other manuals I had owned, tech was lame, list goes on.
Kept it a year, traded for a 2016 Golf R and have owned Golf Rs (including my current MK8) ever since. Even though it didn't work for me, seeing a clean STI (or WRX) on the road still makes me smile!
Submitted by: Loop51
1987 BMW M6
My 1987 M6. The reality of owning one never measured up to the dream I had for 25 years. It requires constant upkeep and repair, and every drive is tempered with anxiety of what's going to break this time. I'm in too deep, and it's too beautiful to sell. I wish I'd just stayed with the fantasy.
Submitted by: GreySpace
2009 Volkswagen Passat Estate
I bought a 2009 Volkswagen Passat wagon in 2013 after years of beaters. It was by far the nicest car I'd ever owned, and more than I could really afford, but I wanted something I wasn't ashamed of for once.
It had 85,000 miles on it and was out of warranty. I was so proud of my beautiful cobalt blue wagon...until 6 months later when a balance shaft seized and locked up the engine while I was trying to turn left through a busy intersection.
In the 18 months that I had that pile of garbage, it cost me $8,000 in repairs and the engine had to come out twice. The final nail in the coffin was when the throttle position sensor quit while on the way home from the city on the expressway. The only way to get it to respond was to slide the transmission into neutral and shut the car off and then restart it. While trying to keep up with traffic at 80 miles an hour.
I got it fixed and then sold it. Now whenever I see a modern Volkswagen I want to throw large rocks at it.
Submitted by: ChironRocket3
1981 Dodge Diplomat
My grandfather's old 1981 Dodge Diplomat.
It was a hand me down that I bought for $100. It looked nice still, but unbeknownst to us, it was a northern car with a salt-degraded rusty frame.
The front end snapped while I was driving 55mph on the highway. It was everything I could do to maintain enough control to guide it onto the median without wiping out.
My life flashed before my eyes.
Lesson learned about inspecting used cars before buying them. It was a ticking time bomb.
Submitted by: Rusty Shackleford
2013 Subaru BRZ
Subaru BRZ. I bought it when they first hit the showroom floor, looking for a sports car experience before having kids. Its a Subaru and Toyota, so it'll hold its value, be well made, and reliable, I thought. The car had several quality issues, and despite being garage kept, driven only in the warmer months, and waxing/sealing the paint every season, the clearcoat peeled over the whole car after 2 years. Other issues - interior trim peeled up in several places, and of course the annoying chirping HPFP. Traded it in and lost 14k on the car.
Submitted by: ExParrot89
A Lexus CT200h
Lexus 200h, gave my kid the G35 and thought the Lexus would be fun. WRONG!, Such a bland drive. I took back the G35 after a year.
Submitted by: quinlan tom
A 1985 Toyota MR2
I had an 85 MR2 back in college in the early 1990s. About 15 years ago I got the bug to get another one. Found a relatively clean and lowish-mileage example across the country (in the Arizona town where my dad lived) and bought it for a fair-enough price. Drive it home, spent a decent amount of money on new wheels, a spoiler, getting mechanical stuff sorted, and so on. But it just wasn't as nicely equipped as my first one; it was a bit tired, there was some evidence of repair on one of the doors, and the list of little things made me know that I just wasn't ever going to love it. Plus, that short-geared 80s car just didn't deliver the daily comfort and usable performance my middle aged self actually wanted. I drive it around for little local jaunts for a year or so, but then decided it was just taking up space in my garage. Nostalgia is a powerful and heartbreaking force. You need to be careful with it.
Submitted by: BuddyS
1996 Toyota Tacoma
This is more of a case I should know better.
Pre-owned 1996 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 manual- the truck itself was problem free. I was coming from 1993 Integra GS-R and learned immediately wasn't a "truck guy"- it was slow, cumbersome to drive and got terrible gas mileage, so not great for daily driving which i kind of knew. The trade-off was that I did a lot of "adventure" sports which I thought a truck would be good for. But no- Not being able store and lock gear was a major pain. I got a shell, but it got broken into on a couple of occasions and stuff stolen. Crawling up the tires to get skis, boards and bikes on/off the roof racks- maybe i needed a widdle wadder- was much more challenging than on a lower car.
Had it for 2 years before selling it and have never had a truck since.
Submitted by: 4speed
2002 Volkswagen Passat GLX
2002 Passat GLX 4-Motion. Hands-down, the single worst vehicle I've owned and I don't think anything will ever top it. When it worked, it drove great and handled snowy road conditions like a beast. Problem is, it rarely worked and spent as much time at the dealer as it did at my house. As soon as the warranty was up, I traded it for a new Mazda RX-8, which proved itself about 1000x more reliable if that tells you anything.
Submitted by: Funky Dynamite
2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee
202 Grand Cherokee, my current daily. Bought it in late 2023 and within a week the water pump went out, not a good start. This spring I had to replace the water pump again (different than OEM) then had a control module for the transfer case go out along with the associated motor. Now the AC doesn't work and I'm not about to throw another potential $3K into it.
Never again will I own a Stelantis vehicle!
Submitted by: Phillip Nelson
Phillip, you forgot a number from the year of the Grand Cherokee that you regret buying, but I took a guess and put a photo of a 2022.
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