Did you ever get a car you THOUGHT would be great but ended up SUCKING?

2004 Lexus LX470: I bought it for tax reasons, and fell for the wood/leather interior and strong resale. But since I took delivery I've been disappointed with the awful third seat--it takes up tons of space when it's stowed, and is very difficult to set up--major wander on the highway, and surprisingly mediocre customer service (from 2 northwest dealers). I can't wait to trade it in...

2003 Mercedes SL 500 Designo introductory model –purchased new in April 2002 – This vehicle was in the shop so often it made ownership a misery. Main issue was electrical/safety, after five visits in the first year for diagnoses and attempted repairs the Mercedes dealership mechanics still could not get the headlights to work consistently. In daily use, the worst thing about this car was not the electrical malfunctions but the leather/suede trim of the Designo edition. This trim could not handle the high heat and humidity of Houston Texas, it smelled like cat’s piss – the car not the city! Conversations with another owner of the same SL500 Designo model (and also with the Mercedes dealer’s mechanics) confirm that this outrageous smell is widespread in the Southern US with the designo trim – it may be due to the suede, or perhaps the glue.

My second worst car was a 2001 Mercedes SL, which worked okay for most of the first year, but then went to pieces. It was leased and Mercedes took a beating [which they deserved] at the end of the lease, because the value was under 40K, and the residual value built into the lease was over 60K.

It was in the shop for many different events such as air conditioning valves, air conditioning motor [replaced not once but twice in under 30,000 miles] light failures, external trim falling off, and for a “loud clattering noise when accelerating and/or steering sharp turns”.

This was the only car that I have really hated, and for which I had a celebration dinner on last day of the lease.

My experiences with the 2001 SL and 2003 SL are why I chose the displayed name of "M-B Basher".

I had reliability problems with MB and BMW. I only buy Audi now. They cost less and seem to be more reliable in general.

It seems all of your readers (that posted in this blog) drive expensive, luxury sedans...interesting...where are the honda accord, nissan maxima owners. It seems rich people have nothing else to do with there time. Something sounds fishy here.

I own a 1997 Porsche 911 (993) Cabriolet tiptronic. This car new was 84,000!!!!! The first 2+ years were great but guess what it only at the time had a 2 year warantee....... Just as it expires the fly wheel went on a car with less than 20,000 miles. It was covered under warantee fortunately with some begging. That was the last good experiance I have had. Keep in mind I am calling that a good experiance. This car has been in a dealer for as long as almost 3 1/2 months!!!! The dreaded Porsche oil leak!!!! Do germans not know how to seal engines properly??? between that and some other relatively monor issues that cost almost 11,000 to fix!!!!! The car had only about 40,000 miles!!! This is nuts. The roof opened past where it should have and over torqued and bent the frame. I have yet to get this fixed but they quoted me as much as four to five thousand to fix. The car is so beautiful to look at and I get thumbs up all the time but this car is a piece of junk. I will never own another one again!!! I can't wait to get rid of it. I could buy a corvette that is faster and will drive almost as well and if I have problems I wont have to take a mortgage to fix. The japanese make a product on average that is more reliable. I will probably stay away from German products. If you notice the pattern here. What is the percentage of cars on this list that are German????? What a shame. They can make such great cars that will get you inthe end.

001 initially started this thread speaking of a GMC Envoy XL not a high-end Porsche Cayenne but point well made, Tex and Brian.

Why do you not see people bashing camry's, and altimas etc???? It's simple this site cateres to luxury car owners. The soccer mom that just bought a 04 expedition really isnt going to care about the new S4 kickig the M3's butt. If you look at the advertisers on this site, they are all luxury car companies, and companies that sell luxury items.

I know this goes back a ways, but in 1973 I was 22 years old and after owning a wonderful Mustang Mach1, I traded it on every boy's dream, a new Corvette. In the short 6 months I owned it it was in the shop over a half a dozen times for a variety of things including a new transmission, air conditioning compressor, smog pump and an entire full body paint job. The whole expierence made me sick and I have not bought a GM product since. I went back to Ford in '74 and bought 2 more Fords until 1980 when I bought a Subaru. In '83 I bought a Honda Accord and since that time I have owned owned Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, Infinitis and now own a 2002 Lexus ES300, a 2004 Toyota Tundra and a 2003 Honda S2000. Every one of these cars have met or exceeded my expectations. I have driven many of the German makes but with the wealth of information out there about the poor reliability of those marques, I will continue to buy the Japanese brands until the German and American cars catch up, if ever.
To Eryc: this is not a bogus story but is a tale that is all too true and I am sure I am not the only one who has expierenced something similar. We all work too hard to earn the money it takes to purchase a car and do not want to be frustrated with owning one that we can't trust to do it's job, getting us from point A to point B with the driving expierence it was designed to give us. The Lexus gets me there in comfort, the Tundra hauls all my toys and the S2000 just puts a smile on my face because it is such a hoot to drive. And unlike the '73 Corvette I owned or any of the BMW's and Mercedes listed here, I do not have to worry about any of these cars constantly breaking down and costing me a lot of money and a lot of time that could have been spent somewhere besides a dealership's waiting room.