• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Worst Vehicle Ever Built

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
AdamK47 said:
GM sucks.
Click to expand...

I sense the sarcasm...... but that doesn't change the fact GM really does suck.

the small block has been a success, but they package that in a heap of garbage. The more I think about GM's offerings, the more and more I feel like people like them enough to spend their money on them must have some sort of mental handicap
 
the equinox is a piece of shit that is true.

at least saturn used the tried and tested 3.5 from honda in their version the vue.

also on the topic of chevy's....

fuck me their frames on their 99-16 trucks rust like fucking crazy.

wax coated oh yeah thats way better than paint.

and thin??

you betcha.
 
Last edited:
Zivic said:
I sense the sarcasm...... but that doesn't change the fact GM really does suck.

the small block has been a success, but they package that in a heap of garbage. The more I think about GM's offerings, the more and more I feel like people like them enough to spend their money on them must have some sort of mental handicap
Click to expand...

GM should start putting green wheels on their vehicles.
 
madoka said:
I guess some people have never heard of the Yugo.

So crappy that a woman died when her Yugo was blown off a bridge.

yugogv.jpg
Click to expand...

I remember those well. They could be totaled in a 5mph impact. Totaled in so much as the cost of repairs was more than 80% of the cars value.
 
I like the GM vehicles I owned. Had a Grand prix with the 3100 engine and it was reliable and good to drive. The best GM car I had was a 97 GTP though. The main problem I had was a steering rack issue that GM paid to replace, but overall, the drivetrain was super solid. It is/was a great ooking car and the dexcool "problems" were by and large a bunch of bullshit. Never ever ever had any dexcool issues on either car and both had dexcool. There is a ton of documentation ou tthere that shows dexcool was not the cause of cooling issues, but who knows.. I never had any issues with it or GM in general. I would own another if the price was right.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Speeding in a Yugo... never a good idea.
Click to expand...

Owning a Yugo was a bad idea. I worked with a woman who bought one and 8 months later it would pop out of 5th gear while on the highway, she took it back to the dealer for a warranty repair only to be told "we can't get parts anymore". They then advised her to drive with her hand on the shiftier to prevent it from coming out of 5th, ouch!.
 
slag said:
I like the GM vehicles I owned. Had a Grand prix with the 3100 engine and it was reliable and good to drive. The best GM car I had was a 97 GTP though. The main problem I had was a steering rack issue that GM paid to replace, but overall, the drivetrain was super solid. It is/was a great ooking car and the dexcool "problems" were by and large a bunch of bullshit. Never ever ever had any dexcool issues on either car and both had dexcool. There is a ton of documentation ou tthere that shows dexcool was not the cause of cooling issues, but who knows.. I never had any issues with it or GM in general. I would own another if the price was right.
Click to expand...

Thing was/is if the coolant ran low and air got into the system dexcool turned gummy pretty quick. Also GM had it down as a "5yr/100,000K miles replacement" on the maintenance schedule, fuck that, mine gets changed every 30K.
 
Hmm...all this chevy/GM bashing...makes me feel better about never considering them as an option. I have owned Fords and toyotas, and knock on wood, haven't had too many issues.
 
I got tired of dealing with shit like that so I went Honda/Toyota/Nissan awhile back. I'd consider a GMC product if I were looking for a truck, but that's about it.

A person I used to work with back in Maine got one of those Equinoxes, had a similar experience. If memory serves, she got to about 20k on the odo before stuff started going out of wack, then ended up taking a hit to get rid of it in disgust before 60k. She and her man were wrenchers too. They knew maintenance and were no strangers to doing their own upgrades and tune ups. He helped me do hay one time and I made the mistake of asking him how things were going with the Chevy. Poor guy damn near had a mental break down right in front of me. Bad juju car!
 
I had a 2001 sunfire, 2.2 auto 4spd. 110k miles on it, only replaced brakes 2x, battery, serpentine belt at like 80k miles just in case.

found it online a few years later for sale again with ~170k miles.
 
The thing with GM vehicles is that they seem pretty hit-or-miss when you go get a new one. It very much depends on what you are buying. Longitudinal data simply does not exist until new owners become unwitting beta testers and then hopefully post their rants online 5 years later.

It is not necessarily that they are all doomed to failure, but you are trekking through a minefield. They have all sorts of cars and trucks. Performance vehicles like the Corvette and Camaro. The Silverado and all other derivatives. Their mostly "in-house" vehicles. And there are former "partnership" vehicles like the Corolla and various Suzuki makes.


The thing about reliability is that there is a population of parts made, and companies target a particular failure rate and period of longevity for the part. So, even an unreliable part might last quite a good long time with quite a few owners. A water pump might be built to last 100K. Most people might get that. Others later and a different set of others sooner. GM has cut costs too much on some of its parts even when a slightly more durable but more expensive option was there, like the ignition switches.

Having things that cripple the car thrown at you is an occurrence that people simply do not want to go through, especially within the first 100K. And some models simply are far too risky of a buy. On a population-wide basis in the past the masses voted with their wallets when it came to non-trucks, and generally gravitated to the Japanese big 3 for better reliability and longevity of parts, or Euro cars for luxury and reliability before the Euros started adding tons of fancy tech and complexity to their vehicles. The repair litany would not occur until after 100k rather than before, generally speaking, with those older imports. Stuff that should last indefinitely like steering columns actually do so.


Their trucks are probably better off than their cars, but watch out, the aforementioned wax dipping of the frame has issues. This seems to be a cost-cutting decision from them, as painting, which is what they used to do, would be better. Even a lightly used truck needs the buyer to make sure the frame is inspected.
 
Based on the problems my parents had, I would put the Ford Windstar up for nomination as well.

I will say it was probably the best engineered vehicle I've ever seen though. That mini-van was absolutely rock solid until almost a week after the warranty expired. The amount of shit that started to fail after that point was incredible, and the timing that it all fell apart was nothing short of amazing planning and design on Ford's part. Bravo fellas
 
im perfectly happy with my gmc truck, and our volt. Though, i have the transmission line issue. That one is pretty stupid.
 
I think some people just shouldn't own automobiles. I've had about as much trouble out of my GM vehicles as I have out of my Hondas, which is to say almost none. Actually to that end the S2000 (yes, that Japanese branded model actually built in Japan by master Japanese craftsmen) spent the most total time in the shop, but that was one issue that apparently was simply a difficultly in sourcing the part required. My last Jeep was the most trouble prone, but even that was nothing to lose my shit over. Window regulator motors kept failing, that resulted in them providing a lifetime warranty on that issue. Woe is me, I feel so violated by Jeep over this issue that they promised to fix for the life of the product!!!
 
Last edited:
YBS1 said:
I think some people just shouldn't own automobiles. I've had about as much trouble out of my GM vehicles as I have out of my Hondas, which is to say almost none. Actually to that end the S2000 spent the most total time in the shop, but that was one issue that apparently was simply a difficultly in sourcing the part required. My last Jeep was the most trouble prone, but even that was nothing to lose my shit over. Window regulator motors kept failing, that resulted in them providing a lifetime warranty on that issue. Woe is me, I feel so violated by Jeep over this issue that they promised to fix for the life of the product!!!
Click to expand...

I've had 15 vehicles or more in my life. What I've experienced with the Equinox is non-stop since 9900 miles. I could have purchased this SUV twice over the lifetime of the vehicle for what it's cost me. (feels like anyways) I'm actually lucky I've only done the head gaskets once so far on this motor, and that happened around 40,000 miles even though I babied the crap out of it and did all maintenance. That list above is not a complete list. You can defend the GM all you want but I am knowledgeable and baby my cars with all maintenance that is needed, so your comment isn't just here.

To the person with the 2.2L Sunfire, they are known to never die. Just like the 3.0L V6's Ford uses in the Escapes and Fusions. They are rocks.

But the Equinox (2005-2007 years) is a lemon across the board. In 2008, they switched to the newer 3.6L V6 Powertrain on many, and in 2010 they went to the 2.4L 4 bangers.
 
Last edited:
My brother had very similar experience with Equinox. They are absolute Turds.


Not all GM is garbage though.
The 2009 Saturn Vue I had owned was quite reliable and never really gave much issues.
My current vehicle 2015 Colorado has not had any issues at all, other than a couple recalls which is totally normal.
 
The comment wasn't directed at you. It was directed at the "Lulz GM is junk, Nportz4life, yo!" circle jerkers in here.
 
FuzzyDunlop said:
My brother had very similar experience with Equinox. They are absolute Turds.


Not all GM is garbage though.
The 2009 Saturn Vue I had owned was quite reliable and never really gave much issues.
My current vehicle 2015 Colorado has not had any issues at all, other than a couple recalls which is totally normal.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of the Vue's used Honda's 3.5L Powertrain that is used in the Oddesey vans

and yes GM does have some decent vehicles. My Montana has been excellent with reliability, it's a GM where the powertrain will outlive the van itself.
 
master_shake_ said:
the equinox is a piece of shit that is true.

at least saturn used the tried and tested 3.5 from honda in their version the vue.

also on the topic of chevy's....

fuck me their frames on their 99-16 trucks rust like fucking crazy.

wax coated oh yeah thats way better than paint.

and thin??

you betcha.
Click to expand...

7EmYC8y.jpg


Maybe this would have more impact if I grab a picture of my own of the ~10 frames sitting on pallets at my local Toyota dealership awaiting their turn in line at total frame replacement.

Fact of the matter is, modern vehicles from virtually all brands are stunningly well built marvels of engineering. Considering the sheer amount of parts involved and the safety, emissions, economy and performance requirements that are asked of them, failures are amazingly low. Shit happens though, they contain moving parts, moving parts break, period.

^Err...sometimes even non-moving parts like above.^
 
Last edited:
Worst vehicle I've ever owned was a '94 Isuzu Rodeo. What a pile of crap that was...

My wife owned a VW Golf, that was a pretty big pile of shit too.
 
jacktesterson said:
I've had 15 vehicles or more in my life. What I've experienced with the Equinox is non-stop since 9900 miles. I could have purchased this SUV twice over the lifetime of the vehicle for what it's cost me. (feels like anyways) I'm actually lucky I've only done the head gaskets once so far on this motor, and that happened around 40,000 miles even though I babied the crap out of it and did all maintenance. That list above is not a complete list. You can defend the GM all you want but I am knowledgeable and baby my cars with all maintenance that is needed, so your comment isn't just here.

To the person with the 2.2L Sunfire, they are known to never die. Just like the 3.0L V6's Ford uses in the Escapes and Fusions. They are rocks.

But the Equinox (2005-2007 years) is a lemon across the board. In 2008, they switched to the newer 3.6L V6 Powertrain on many, and in 2010 they went to the 2.4L 4 bangers.
Click to expand...
The 3.4L was still the standard engine in the 2008-2009 models except in the Sport package; sites like Edmunds, KBB, etc all list it as so. If there was any improvement, it was because the bugs manifested themselves in the earlier years and they fixed them in the later ones.

It also is very much related to its predecessor. It is modified from the old 3.4Ls, but certainly not all new or anything like that.

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/2011/03/rebuilding-the-chevy-3-4l3-5l-engine/
PDF has the pictures and chart.


http://troubleshootmyvehicle.com/gm/3.1L-3.4L/how-to-avoid-a-blown-head-gasket-1
Even the older 3.4Ls had problems with head gaskets. But like many auto parts, it's not going to happen every time to every buyer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top