Vehicles That Disappoint You???

[SID297]

I thought this would be an interesting topic. My wife was talking about interesting SUVs that are fun to build up (like our old TVS Explorer), and the Trailblazer SS came up. I really like those old things, but they've always been a huge disappointment to me. Everyone knows the interiors tend to disintegrate overtime, but that was pretty much true of everything GM was building at that time.

The thing that always bothered me was that save for the engine, the drivetrain seems to be made of glass. I remember when they were new that guys were blowing up transmissions N/A. I've also seen front and rear diffs, and transfer cases explode. That all adds up to a vehicle I like the looks and idea of, but would never really want to own. The TBSS disappoints me, what vehicles disappoint you?

 

[jrandy]

*insert argument over the Demon here

I've always wanted a Jeep SRT8, but the cost of maintenance, consumables, and gas milage has always turned me off. Outside of that, they are an absolute blast to drive from stoplight to stoplight.

 

[13COBRA]

Lately, Competition Orange Cobras.

 

[Coiled03]

Lately, Competition Orange Cobras.

Icwutudidthere

 

[08mojo]

*insert argument over the Demon here

I've always wanted a Jeep SRT8, but the cost of maintenance, consumables, and gas milage has always turned me off. Outside of that, they are an absolute blast to drive from stoplight to stoplight.

I just got rid of my Jeep SRT for the very reasons you list. Absolutely an awesome daily driver, but the costs were just too much.

I was pretty disappointed in the e46 M3 I had. It was an absolutely incredible chassis with excellent handling. The only problem was that it made no torque...I need torque in my life to have fun, and 200 ft-lbs doesn't cut-it.

 

[black4vcobra]

TBSS is a good one, could have had a lot of potential but they weren't build heavy duty enough.

5.4 F150's - motors never had enough power to compete and the cam phasers issue was the nail in the coffin. The rest of the truck is good though

05-10 Mustang GT's - decent performer but Ford should have skipped the 3V and went straight to a DOHC 4V engine

94-98 Mustang GT's - the power went down and weight went up since the 80s???

1st and 2nd Gen DSM's - Fun little cars in the 90s but quality was extremely lacking and they broke all the time. Most were driven hard of course but that doesn't excuse interior stuff breaking

Any F-body that doesn't have a 5.7 - 2.8/3.1/3.4/5.0 F-bodies might look fast but they aren't at all. Even with the 5.7, the rear end was probably going to break anyway

04-06 GTO's - The idea was decent in theory but the styling was meh at first and the LS2 and more aggressive styling that came were band-aids for the fact it looked like a big Sunfire.

Dodge/Chrysler anything until 12 or so years ago. Just junk overall and plenty of their vehicles since then are junk. Around here in Wisconsin it's not uncommon to see Dodge minivans or Durangos that are less than 8-10 years old with holes in the body panels due to rust.

I'm sure i can think of more later but those are the ones off the top of my head

 

[SID297]

TBSS is a good one, could have had a lot of potential but they weren't build heavy duty enough.

5.4 F150's - motors never had enough power to compete and the cam phasers issue was the nail in the coffin. The rest of the truck is good though

05-10 Mustang GT's - decent performer but Ford should have skipped the 3V and went straight to a DOHC 4V engine

94-98 Mustang GT's - the power went down and weight went up since the 80s???

1st and 2nd Gen DSM's - Fun little cars in the 90s but quality was extremely lacking and they broke all the time. Most were driven hard of course but that doesn't excuse interior stuff breaking

Any F-body that doesn't have a 5.7 - 2.8/3.1/3.4/5.0 F-bodies might look fast but they aren't at all. Even with the 5.7, the rear end was probably going to break anyway

04-06 GTO's - The idea was decent in theory but the styling was meh at first and the LS2 and more aggressive styling that came were band-aids for the fact it looked like a big Sunfire.

Dodge/Chrysler anything until 12 or so years ago. Just junk overall and plenty of their vehicles are junk. Around here in Wisconsin it's not uncommon to see Dodge minivans or Durangos that are less than 8-10 years old with holes in the body panels due to rust.

I'm sure i can think of more later but those are the ones off the top of my head

The 5.4 3V was a decent engine when combined with a 6R80.

 

[Dusten]

Gen 1 cts-v

I owned one. Looks amazing. Great handling. Great brakes. Always the thought in the back of your mind that the diff is about to explode.

 

[black4vcobra]

The 5.4 3V was a decent engine when combined with a 6R80.

Ya, they were finally making enough power towards the end of the life cycle but that damn cam phasers issue is a black eye on an otherwise reliable drivetrain.

 

[AustinSN]

The 5.4 3V was a decent engine when combined with a 6R80.

My dad has one in his 2010 platinum and it's not a terrible setup, it was certainly better than my 06 Lariat. That engine was a let down for me, between the phasers, spark plugs, fuel economy and power they left quite a bit to be desired.

I can't really think of anything else I was disappointed with, maybe it was my 300 i6 in my Bronco. Everyone spoke so highly of that engine but you REALLY had to twist it to get it to run the speed limit up any sort of hill out here. It could have had a bad cat or something though, I didn't have it for very long.

 

[MDShelby]

1974 Vega - kept the oil companies in business... Absolute worst motor ever built that I had the displeasure of owning or maintaining.

 

[MDShelby]

My dad has one in his 2010 platinum and it's not a terrible setup, it was certainly better than my 06 Lariat. That engine was a let down for me, between the phasers, spark plugs, fuel economy and power they left quite a bit to be desired.

I can't really think of anything else I was disappointed with, maybe it was my 300 i6 in my Bronco. Everyone spoke so highly of that engine but you REALLY had to twist it to get it to run the speed limit up any sort of hill out here. It could have had a bad cat or something though, I didn't have it for very long.

But it had all the torque you wanted down low.

 

[CobraBob]

I had a 2002 Infiniti QX4 SUV that was great overall, except for the lousy 4-speed automatic with overdrive and crappy 15mpg with the V6. Rode great. Luxury features. But that transmission and gas mileage....disappointing.

 

[Pribilof]

2016 WRX - Built like a tin can. A blast to drive on the highway but an absolute dog in town. Also, the wheelbase is so short than the ride is about 10x as bumpy as my SVTPP, live axle GT500. Also, a fake "rally car" has less ground clearance than the GT500. Scraped the WRX on EVERYTHING.

2016 Explorer Sport - great engine, built like crap. 12 trips to the dealer to fix the roof rack. Multiple other warranty repairs, recall for exhaust fumes in the cabin. The list was endless. I dumped it for a Toyota LC200 and could not be happier.

2016 - current Tacoma - get that car engine out of a truck! Would have preferred they stuck with the 4.0 they still use in the 4Runner. Even that isn't a great truck engine but it's worlds better than a 3.5 L Atkinson

 

[Klaus]

I can't really think of anything else I was disappointed with, maybe it was my 300 i6 in my Bronco.

Blasphemy. I loved that motor. Had in a econoline and a f150 when I was younger. Indestructible and loved the torque down low.

2016 WRX

Hilarious, you nailed it. My SVTPP feels like a luxury car compared to my 2011 5 door. You forgot to mention the circa 1985 interior build quality.

 

[BJCobra99]

2004 CTS with the 3.6 engine(white diamond color.) Fun to drive, good mpg, good looking car. Yet the damn engine grenaded at 35k miles, one month out of warranty. Bought a Saturn 300hp 3.6 replacement engine for $1k shipped on eBay and got rid of that car. Never went back to another GM product.

Sent from my [device_name] using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[SID297]

I'll throw in the H3 Alpha for the same reason as the TBSS, that stupid 4L60 transmission. GM had a 6-spd auto at the time that was far better. That behind the all aluminum 5.3 V8 would have made a decent SUV.

 

[13COBRA]

My dad has one in his 2010 platinum and it's not a terrible setup, it was certainly better than my 06 Lariat. That engine was a let down for me, between the phasers, spark plugs, fuel economy and power they left quite a bit to be desired.

I can't really think of anything else I was disappointed with, maybe it was my 300 i6 in my Bronco. Everyone spoke so highly of that engine but you REALLY had to twist it to get it to run the speed limit up any sort of hill out here. It could have had a bad cat or something though, I didn't have it for very long.

Do you ever keep anything very long?

 

[Kiohtee]

My own. But hopefully my upcoming changes fix that.

 

[AustinSN]

Do you ever keep anything very long?

lol

I had my 12GT for 3 years.