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Only left stranded 4 times since I started driving in 82/83.
First time in 83/84 driving home from school and my 67 Ambassador decided to blow the left front brake line..
Second time in 86/87 - while in college my 69 Cougar decided to jump time in the middle of downtown Martinsburg WV.
Third - 04/05 94 Ford Ranger blew the rear brake line as I was pulling out of my driveway with the jetski trailer hooked up...lucked out that time.
Fourth - last summer same 94 Ranger decided to give up it's starter in the Harris Teeter parking lot....if there had been anyone around to push or a slight hill I could have rolled it and popped the clutch...
I had an s10 that was less than three years old. The transmission failed at 35,000 miles. It was a warranty replacement. That was the most catastrophic failure. My "old" vehicles have had breakdowns and required. But the then new ride was a regular hoopty.
Years ago, I was in a remote area in Colorado and pulled into a campground area that appeared vacant, but there was an older man and his wife parked way back in one of the turnarounds. He waved me down. They had a brand new Ford E conversion van that would not start. No cell phones then. I gave them a ride to the nearest town, which was about 15-20 miles away. They said they had not seen anyone all day. Of course, I had a beater with no air conditioning, but they did not seem to mind.
My POS Volvo-purchased new and maintained better than the mfr specified.
My Chevy Citation--also purchased new and maintained better than the mfr specified
However, I have to point out that the widely-reviled Chevy Citation stranded me on only one occasion, while the Volvo--with its "legendary" but absolutely false reliability/durability--stranded me on 4 occasions.
As I tell my friends and relatives: Volvo? Yeah, I owned one...ONCE.
I've only been really "stranded" twice, though I've had to limp a couple of vehicles in. Once was a used Olds Cutlass that the alternator quit on in the middle of Florida. Second was a Blazer with about 60 thousand miles on it. The LEGR valve (which turned out to have a recall on it) went on the fritz in Kansas. Day 1 was close to an exit where I limped into a dealership who supposedly "fixed" it. Everything seemed fine then just before Topeka, out she went. Had to be towed. This was before cell phones were really popular, but we got our first one right after that trip. Old school mechanic just took the thing out, said the car would run fine without it, but just wouldn't pass an emission check. That let us finish our trip (we were headed to Florida from Colorado) and then get it fixed at home.
My POS Volvo-purchased new and maintained better than the mfr specified.
My Chevy Citation--also purchased new and maintained better than the mfr specified
However, I have to point out that the widely-reviled Chevy Citation stranded me on only one occasion, while the Volvo--with its "legendary" but absolutely false reliability/durability--stranded me on 4 occasions.
As I tell my friends and relatives: Volvo? Yeah, I owned one...ONCE.
(Translation=NEVER AGAIN!)
I can relate!! Had a 75 DL242 bought brand new but at two years and not that many miles, the fan belt broke just east of Safford AZ on Memorial Day. Fortunately, there was a farm house across the highway and the owner let my wife stay in the Air conditioned house while the farmer took me into town to get a fan belt. Then, the farmer had one of his hired hands put the belt on for me right there along side the road. I was so grateful and appreciate their kindness. I am pretty sure they were Mormon people and they were angels sent from the Lord.
However, that was just the start of the problems with that Volvo. If I had had a cell phone in those days, AAA would have been on speed dial. Because of the finicky nature of the fuel injection, the car stopped on us so many times including twice on Central Expressway in Dallas. And I was in grad school at during most of that time and really couldn't afford the expensive repair bills that it cost. After 4 years, I was ready to drive it off a cliff . Thought seriously about trading it in but didn't want to have car payments showing up on our credit report as we were wanting to buy our first house. That car cured me of European car envy. Drove carefree Hondas for years and now very happy now with my Lexus
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57821
Any car of any age could leave you stranded,nwhether worn out or just bad luck to have a defective or inferior part. My first new car was the first to strand me, a 1973 Pinto Squire wagon. At about 20k miles the fuel quit on the freeway, and I had to get it towed home and walk to the nearest auto parts to buy a new one. Much later, I got stranded twice by a 1996 Toyota 4Runner, at 90k and again and 99k, transmission failure, then blown head gasket. Most recently a 2002 Jeep Liberty, now gone, thankfully blew its transmission at 92k.
I've had three that stranded me at around the 20K mile/2 year mark.
1. '71 Buick Skylark -- water pump failure.
2. '73 Chevy Caprice Classic -- fan belt failure. (After that first one, the car threw them every 10K miles -- 2 more before I traded it.
3. '00 Ford F250 PSD -- I had a couple early problems, one in which the engine wouldn't run and another was some electronic piece in the clutch.
I've bought a handful of vehicles new and driven them for up to 14 years (most) and 180K miles (most). I've noticed that the failure rate goes up with the years and miles, to the point that (in retrospect) they're not too trustworthy beyond 100K.
NOTE: I normally have my cars serviced by the dealer when the service manual calls for it. If the mechanic says (and shows me) something needs fixed, I don't argue. But beyond a certain point, it no longer makes financial sense to fix that A.C., etc. Time to trade.
1979 MG Midget...my first & last, brand-new car. I wanted a sports car, to treat myself after working my way through college & grad school...what a POS. I ended up wanting to beat it to death, but it was already dead & I still owed $$ on it.
I can relate!! Had a 75 DL242 bought brand new Because of the finicky nature of the fuel injection, the car stopped on us so many times including twice on Central Expressway in Dallas. And I was in grad school at during most of that time and really couldn't afford the expensive repair bills that it cost. After 4 years, I was ready to drive it off a cliff . Thought seriously about trading it in but didn't want to have car payments showing up on our credit report as we were wanting to buy our first house. That car cured me of European car envy. Drove carefree Hondas for years and now very happy now with my Lexus
Yup!
That crappy CIS system stranded me twice, and I was also stranded twice by sudden fuel pump failure.
I think that, in the 7 years that I owned that POS, I had to replace the fuel pump 4 times.
Also, the engine idled so badly if it was tuned to factory specs that I had to adjust the timing twice a year. Normally, I had it tuned so that it idled decently, but just before it was time to take the car for its annual state inspection, I had to adjust the timing so that it would pass the emissions test. Then, right after passing inspection, I would revert to the timing that allowed the engine to run properly.
However, the worst part of that car was the electrical system. Right from the first week of ownership the electrical problems with that car were just appalling.
Because I didn't have the funds to replace this POS, I held onto it for 7 years, sinking ever-growing amounts of money into it in order to keep it running. Eventually finding a buyer for it was one of the happiest days of my life.
Volvo=Money pit!
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