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What is a terrible car that for some reason, you just can't help but like? It can be unreliable, impractical, have a cheap interior, poor build quality, controversial styling, whatever.
I'll go first. I absolutely love the Series II Land Rover Discovery despite its less than stellar reliability.
1973 Vega. That car got the best gas mileage of any car I've ever driven. I got it from my mother and step-father.
Step-pa hated it. Drove it until the oil pressure light stayed on constantly (past when it came on during turns or while braking). t] He'd add three quarts of oil. The crankcase held four quarts. He considered that an oil change. I'd keep oil in it, adding a quart with every other tank of gas.
It had A/C but I never ran it because it lugged the engine too much.
The two speed automatic Vega had better acceleration than the Toyota Celica that replaced it. It also had more interior room than the Celica. The Celica had A/C, though, and it wasn't a Vega.
I've often liked cars other people thought were ugly and will admit that I think the Pontiac Aztek got a bad rap when it was really just a little ahead of its time.
Old ones? My first nearly new car was a 1962 Corvair Monza Coupe. I jokingly called it my Baby Vette. I really liked it... until I just grew tired of it a few years later. It was a fun car, an inexpensive car to buy and operate, and I was never convinced that it was dangerous. It sold some books for Ralph Nader, but studies later indicated it was no less dangerous than other cars on the road at that time. Unfortunately, that was too late to rescue the Corvair.
Another fun car that got an unfair (imho) rep was an '86 Suzuki Samuri ragtop. I had seen the earlier version in '72 or '73. It (the older version) had a 2 or 3 cylinder engine with a top speed of 50 mph. It just wasn't practical for me, as I live 70 interstate miles away from the Rockies and didn't think driving it there would be that great, but the new '86 model had it all -- engine big enough to travel the interstates but still the perfect little "Jeep" for the back country or grocery-getting.
I was lucky enough to come across this all-new model on the first day it was available in Colorado, even though I lived 350 miles away in northern Wyoming. We had gone to Denver for a Bronco's game, iirc, and I saw a few perched on a dealer's lot from I-25 as we entered Denver late one Friday night. I wheeled around and found the lot. It had arrived earlier that day on the first train cars full of them. I picked from a half dozen or so, paid cash a couple hours later (midnight) and drove it back home on Sunday.
It was purchased as a winter car for my wife, who normally drove a 924 Turbo to work, which wasn't worth 2-bits on snow and ice. My son, who was 16 at the time, and my daughter, 2 years younger, both took it over as their fun car. With my wife and kids fighting over it, I was mostly left out, but it was a delight to drive. Simplicity at its finest.
My daughter came home shaking once after she'd driven it over a street curb and about 30 feet up a 45 degree dirt slope before getting it back onto the street. It scared her, but it didn't roll. Years later my son admitted to spinning out at an intersection and hitting the rear tire on the curb hard enough to bend the wheel, but it didn't flip. (Smart kid, he was able to replace it with the spare, then replaced the spare wheel without anyone ever catching on!)
I had this 1985 F150 several years ago. It was horribly rusty even when I bought it. Paid $1000 for it in 2000, and kept it for 12 years. It was laughably slow with its inline-6 engine. Every body panel was rusted through except the hood which only had surface rust. Had a knock that you could hear coming a mile away when it was cold... would quiet down somewhat when warmed up. The rear brakes would stick the first stop or two you made if it had been sitting a while, maybe skid a tire for a little bit- but they would free up after a couple stops. The thing was geared pretty low and no overdrive on the transmission, so it liked to go about 65 or 70 on the interstate. It would go faster... just sounded like it was coming apart.
I was a mechanic for my first career, so fixing it was never a problem... and I did a fair amount of that But it got to the point where I realized I could put thousands of dollars into that truck and work on it for a year of weekends... and it would still be junk. Plus the exhaust fell out while it just sat in front of the house.
So I sold it and bought a newer GMC. Now this GMC is nothing special, but it's a better truck in every single quantifiable respect. Far more reliable. It doesn't leak. A/C works great. It's quiet. Cops don't notice it, and I don't get looks of pity when driving it. Better gas mileage. A LOT more power. Significantly better hauling/towing capacity. Much better interior room. The wife can/will drive it because it's an automatic. Has cruise control and will go 85mph on the interstate, uphill and downhill all day long without complaint.
I've had this GMC for maybe 7 years? It's a good truck. But I just don't LIKE it as much as that nasty old Ford.
I think it was the simplicity of the thing. The 300 inline-6 is basically a tractor engine... and with the T-18 transmission and its glorious 5.11:1 low gear it had unlimited torque at very slow speeds. We used to take it up in the mountains and in rough areas you could just put it in low gear, and it would idle along at walking speed. It was geared so low that I would accidentally take off in third gear once in a while- it would just ping a little and take off. WHEN (not if) something broke, it was mechanical and dirt-simple to fix. Sure it might take some work, but there were no real mysteries that I couldn't figure out.
Even got it to pass Colorado emissions testing by putting multiple bottles of isopropyl alcohol in the front gas tank along with only a gallon or two of gas, and with the ignition timing advanced so far that it would barely drive. It actually had a computer controlled carburetor system on it (EEC or something?). I'm not convinced that it actually did anything, but it never gave me trouble.
I've thought about getting another one like it... maybe swap in a Cummins 4Bt diesel. But that's a lot of work, and all Fords of that era are rusty unless I were to make a trip to the desert. Plus this boring GMC is just so damn practical.
alfa romeo spiders ... esp the 2 liter powered ones where the spacing between the wet cylinders on the block deck finally got too small to keep a head gasket for any reasonable length of time. Retorquing the cylinder head was almost a routine maintenance chore at very few miles if there was any reasonable hope of not blowing a head gasket too frequently.
fun to drive when everything was working OK,
but they were fragile and prone to numerous problems that made traveling with one problematic. A real labor of love to keep on the road.
in the same vein as the enchanting Brit sports cars of the '50's-60's-70's ... fun to drive when they were running right, but unreliable maintenance hogs and a lot of work to keep running properly. Even so, my '61 MGA Coupe racked up 160,000 miles before it was mercifully hauled to the boneyard with a worn out engine/trans/clutch/brakes/suspension/trashed out electrical system. Triumphs, MG's, A-H's, Jags ... all had similar issues. The TVR I had made all the problems in those cars seem trivial by comparison.
In the same vein as an Alfa, any Fiat 124. Coupe, sedan, spider. I've driven several and always like how light and direct the car feels. The engine makes the right sounds. Snick-snick transmission.
I had a '66 Rover 2000TC that was a dream to drive, and a beautiful l looking car, but I had so much trouble starting it, which was typical of British cars. I traded it on a '70 Datsun 510, an amazingly wonderful car with a reputation to match. The dealer later told me they did a valve job on the Rover, and it started fine after that. Valve jobs on Brfitish cars were considered routine maintenance, like changing the distributor points.
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But it got to the point where I realized I could put thousands of dollars into that truck and work on it for a year of weekends... and it would still be junk. Plus the exhaust fell out while it just sat in front of the house. 
