Have You Ever Regretted a Car Purchase?

[Fined]

Purchased Dec 2013. First performance car. I discounted the negative parts of the reviews far too much and since these cars were rare at the time I didn't have one within 5 hours of me to try before buying.

The nose heavy handling, extremely numb steering, awful gearbox engagement and general character of the car (outside of the epic engine) sucked the fun out of the car very quickly, but it was easy and inexpensive to mod so I got sucked into modding it for speed. The car ended up being so one dimensional that I parked it immediately after getting the 911, even though the 911 was one year older and down on power (due to TTRS being modified) and acceleration in comparison.

[heavyD^2]

Originally Posted by Fined

Purchased Dec 2013. First performance car. I discounted the negative parts of the reviews far too much and since these cars were rare at the time I didn't have one within 5 hours of me to try before buying.

The nose heavy handling, extremely numb steering, awful gearbox engagement and general character of the car (outside of the epic engine) sucked the fun out of the car very quickly, but it was easy and inexpensive to mod so I got sucked into modding it for speed. The car ended up being so one dimensional that I parked it immediately after getting the 911, even though the 911 was one year older and down on power (due to TTRS being modified) and acceleration in comparison.

Not to be a dick but if you gave me that description and match it to a brand I would have picked Audi because that's the majority of their vehicles in a nutshell. If you want something with a nice interior that gets you from A to B in a straight line as fast as possible then look no further. If the roads in your locale have turns then run far away.

[heavyD^2]

2012 Mustang GT with track pack. I fell for the glowing reviews of the coyote engine and ordered one from Ford in beautiful Grabber Blue. It didn't take long before I realized that the China made MT-82 transmission was not up to the task. Anything under 60 degrees and I had to shift 1-4 or risk major grinding. Other owners had it worse than me as at least I didn't have the lockout issues that made it dangerous at high speeds. Also 2011/12 coyote engines had oil squirters (they were removed in 2013) as it burned oil and sounded like there was a loose ball bearing in the crankcase at idle. Also in 2012 Ford hadn't yet realized that the control arm bushings were too close to the exhaust making them dry up and creak so your one year old mustang sounded like a 15 year old beater in parking lots everytime you hit a bump. Ford didn't even have a fix for it as they told me the revised ones were also failing (eventually they added a heat shield). After 18 months I traded the lemon in on a Subaru STI. I learned from that experience to never purchase a new model Ford as they do everything on the cheap and even when they know parts are faulty they will try to wait out owners rather than fix the issues.

[wtwo3]

2016 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400

I bought this car because:
- It was a really good looking car. And that sparkly blue paint with the chrome wheels - I loved the way it looked.
- The engine was a gem
- Infiniti was basically giving away cars at 20% discounts

Why did I regret it?
- Although I felt the issues with steer-by-wire and the slow transmission during the test drive, I figured I'd get used to it, (Plus it was still way quicker than my outgoing IS350.... and hey, at 20% off that clouded my judgement). 3 years later I still hated the steering and the transmission
- The tech got old FAST. You could argue it was outdated by the time I bought it, but after a couple years it really started to show its age.

[Fined]

Originally Posted by heavyD^2

Not to be a dick but if you gave me that description and match it to a brand I would have picked Audi because that's the majority of their vehicles in a nutshell. If you want something with a nice interior that gets you from A to B in a straight line as fast as possible then look no further. If the roads in your locale have turns then run far away.

I think this is just honest. I didn't know any better and rushed my purchase. Lesson learned!

[dscabra]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

The W204 was such a POS, I don't understand why it was as popular as it was. The interior was incredibly cheap and ugly, especially before the refresh. The 3-series was heads and shoulders a better car at the time.

W203 C-240 was the worst car I've ever owned. MB eventually bought it back from me after it was in the shop for a total of 40 days in one year. This was on a car with less than 30K miles. Fuel injection, rear diff, power windows, rear window shade, air conditioning, numerous malfunctions for lights, and other things that I choose to forget. The last straw was when it just died on me in the middle of the highway. The dealer was great and I ended up in a couple of different MB cars after that 240 disaster. The best of all was a CLK 430 for reliability. I also had a SL 500 that was okay, but started having too many expensive repairs out of warranty.

[Eternalthinker]

Tesla Model X - it was in service over sensors and falcon wing doors getting stuck over 3 months. They bought it back and gave me a new one. Better, but not by much.

[NickyC]

Nuff said, back in a lovely F80 now and couldn't be happier.

My apologies for the picture.

[selbyp93]

Mercedes C200 2002

[jeffm82]

Not me but my dad's, Mercedes W124 e200, very very old car.

[D22M2]

F80 M3 - small tree branch through the oil cooler soured my brand new purchase .

[Alfisti]

God that front end, fmd how bad is it

[overcoil]

Originally Posted by dscabra

W203 C-240 was the worst car I've ever owned. MB eventually bought it back from me after it was in the shop for a total of 40 days in one year. This was on a car with less than 30K miles. Fuel injection, rear diff, power windows, rear window shade, air conditioning, numerous malfunctions for lights, and other things that I choose to forget. The last straw was when it just died on me in the middle of the highway. The dealer was great and I ended up in a couple of different MB cars after that 240 disaster. The best of all was a CLK 430 for reliability. I also had a SL 500 that was okay, but started having too many expensive repairs out of warranty.

2002 black with oyster interior C 240 and only had two issue (sensors at the wheels for traction control, fixed under warranty ) and out of warranty the alternator died - but gave me warning and easy to replace.
I really liked that car and wished i had kept it as a spare car.

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Nuff said, back in a lovely F80 now and couldn't be happier.

My apologies for the picture.

Why'd you buy it to begin with?

[LipeM]

Lovely old unrealiable Renault Megane 2004 1.5 dci
That mf lasted 2 months, atleast got my money back selling it as is.

[dizz81]

IS300 - lovely car but slow as hell and I could never tell if the engine was running or not. Sold it and got a 2006 GTO, loved this car and owned it for 6yrs

2020 STI Limited - "fun" car but miserable to drive (clutch was god awful) and suspension was horribly stiff. I felt everything in my bones. Traded it in for my current 2018 M4 CS and I couldn't be happier about that trade!

[dtox9]

regretted a car purchase?

- yes -

every single Chrysler product I've ever owned

a narrow potential exception goes to the intrepid - that thing was a beast in the snow!
(but a rust bucket waaaaay too early, and waaaaay too much plastic inside)

[nearwater4me]

Yes. The '04 WRX impulse buy.
I was fed up with the lack of torque on the RSX-S at the time.
Big mistake. Never connected with the Subie.

[nearwater4me]

Originally Posted by VisualEcho

Even though I sold cars for years, I still broke the cardinal rule back in 2018; I bought a price, not a car.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the IS 350 FSport well enough, but it was the wrong car, and I knew that, I just got such a good deal on it.

How good? Well, I was able to buy it new and trade it in on the M2 within 6 months and MAKE MONEY, and that was pre-pandemic, so that's saying a lot.

I don't miss that car.

For a fun car, I agree the IS350 is not up to par with competitors.
But as a reliable daily driver? I think it's 9 out of 10.

[MmmmmM2]

2002 Nissan Maxima SE....UGH! Terrible car!

[VisualEcho]

Originally Posted by nearwater4me

For a fun car, I agree the IS350 is not up to par with competitors.
But as a reliable daily driver? I think it's 9 out of 10.

Of course, reliability is definitely at the top.

[dreamingat30fps]

I have gone through a lot of cars and I don’t think I regret many of them. There is probably only one that I truly regret and I’m thankful it got totaled so I could get out of it and that was my 2007 BMW 335i. What a pos! It probably spent more time at the dealer than at home and the dealer was so bad they spent more time repairing the shit THEY broke than the original problems. Dealer even managed to crash that one on their lot, also got rear ended just a few weeks after I bought it. That thing was nothing but problems and back luck. I also never got use to that horrible interior with the camel humps.

I had a MKV GTI that I only regretted because I got it automatic. I was sold on the new dual clutch tech… nope still an automatic and boring as hell.

I technically owned a G37 for less than a week. I had always wanted one because we had an EX35 and I really liked that little SUV. I thought that engine with a manual in a sporty car would be awesome. Nope. Aside from finding out the car had clutch issues and had recently had the clutch replaced (guess previous owner couldn’t drive stick) the whole transmission was just crap. Felt super sloppy and the engine was sloooow to rev so rev matching and what not was almost impossible. Luckily I gave that shit back to carmax before the 7 days or whatever for a refund.

Had a Mini S with the Cooperworks package or whatever its called. That this was fun and had a crazy loud exhaust you could control with a little bluetooth button. Also had a BRZ which was a lot of fun to drive. You could go balls to the wall and only be doing 50mph. My issue with both was they were just very uncomfortable cars to be in for more than a short drive.

Had a VW CC that I swear had some kind of suspension issue because it truly felt like a boat floating on water. Any bump would cause it to scrap the plastic plate underneath. I guess I actually regretted that one also, but it was cheap so still not as bad as the 335.