Whether new or used, buying a car is a process of discovery. While we can all try our best with test drives and, on used cars, pre-purchase inspections, there are always things we just don’t learn until after we sign on the dotted line. Some of those things might even surprise us, and we’d love to know about your surprises.
As enthusiasts, we typically find a way to join the hivemind after we buy a car, tapping into a community of expertise. After I bought my Boxster, I joined a Boxster-specific Facebook group with five figures worth of members but only three moderators. It turns out, that’s because the 986 Boxster community is chock-full of lovely, tactful, helpful, civilized people, and seems to largely be a self-moderating entity. I like it when car people are good people.
My most questionable surprise came from my 325i. Finding out that an airbag code was caused by a homemade smoking apparatus being jammed underneath the passenger seat, knocking a plug out of the seat harness, wasn’t quite as positive of a surprise. Negative surprises can even happen with new cars. My dad was surprised with how much he hates his Hyundai Sonata, while Matt’s big surprise is similarly short and sweet:
On the flipside, a Cadillac ATS owner who found the secret compartment in the center stack is probably stoked for that surprise. Likewise, I recently ran into someone who was delighted to learn that the ambient lighting in their Mini can cycle through colors.
So, what are the best and worst surprises you’ve encountered after buying a car? Whether an original window sticker hidden inside the handbook or weird distortion at the bottom of the windshield, voice your experiences in the comments below.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)
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Noticed a ’64 VW Baha Bug behind a gas station that had been sitting there for months. Asked and the station people knew nothing. Dug through it, found a note with a phone number. Called it to find an ex-girlfriend of the owner. Bought it for $200 (1980ish) and towed it home. All it needed was the distributor turned 90 degrees. I used it as my winter beater in the Seattle are when it was too slick to ride my CB350 Honda. Nice, cheap fix!
My W124 300E had a “burned out window motor or something” that left the driver’s side window stuck down when I bought it.
It was a fuse!
Oh boy. Having not paid more than $1000 for a vehicle until vehicle #13, I have stories. The worst was when I bought a $300 work truck that was only two years old. I paid the money, drove the truck home, and literally five houses down the street the engine dies and I managed to coast it enough to (mostly) park in front of my house. Upon troubleshooting, I found that the fuel filter was completely clogged and sand was falling out of the fuel line. I then found that the fuel filler hose had somehow been cut in half, and then duct taped back together. The pump also wouldn’t prime, so I put two and two together and new I had to drop the tank. Inside the tank was a solid 4″ worth of sand and mud, which not only killed the fuel pump, but the fuel filter blew out and filled the injectors with sand. Once I replaced the pump, injectors, fuel pressure regulator, and cleaned the whole fuel system, it ran surprisingly well.
The I noticed a slow drip from the front differential. I had tested the 4×4 before purchase and found it engaged surprisingly easy, but it didn’t really seem to fight me when turning in the parking lot, so I assumed there was something up with the vacuum disconnect on the differential. What I found was that the differential seals were shot, and the differential was completely full of mud. The vacuum disconnect was shot, but it probably died after the front differential had engaged, seized, and then trashed the transfer case’s front output. A new reman transfer case, junk yard front differential, new CV axles, rebuilt driveshaft, and new vacuum disconnect actuator, and the four wheel drive was working fine.
At this point I was into the truck almost ten times what I paid for it and it still just looked like a beat work truck, though for my purposes of a work truck it ran great and served me well for 15 years before I sold it to a friend.
This sounds like a lot of the “post hurricane” cars that pop up around here.
It turned out to be an old oilfield truck that spent its entire life in the Texas panhandle before being trucked down to south Texas to be sold. I bought it with 100,000 miles on it, and I have doubts that many of those miles were on paved roads.
Shout out to the engineers and manufacturer who obviously made a die-hard beast of a work machine.
Decades ago I bought an old 1970 Chrysler Newport from an elderly couple. After paying & signing, I was driving it home and punched it from a green light.
That big 440 pulled like a sumbitch! But, uh, why won’t it back down?
The secondaries. The old couple had never pushed it hard enough to engage them, so when I did, they stayed engaged.
A quick bath in WD-40 fixed the problem.
My dad sold his 67 New Yorker with a 440 to a coworker, in the early 80’s when driving home he floored it at a light and said it shifted into second around 70 or so then blew the original muffler off and became even more spirited
Those 440s were not to be taken lightly.
Worst – My 1990 Taurus SHO that was in a major front end collision and fixed under the table. The thing and dangerous and never ran right after I bought it.
Best – My 1991 Escort GT. Found out the previous owner put quite a bit of work into it. New shocks all around, same for the bump stops. Pretty much had someone who knew the car address all the common failure points. All this for under 3 grand. Find car, kind of wish I kept it.
The worst surprise when I bought my 2018 Alfa Giulia wasn’t the car (not my first Italian car, or Alfa) it was the dealership’s sales department and service department arguing over who was supposed to fix what. There was a whole lot of “we don’t do that” and “they should have told you” between the two departments. I just gave up and went to another dealership and haven’t had any issues since.
I kind of missed the update to used car inspection standards, so when I saw bad rockers on an old Jeep, I figured that’d be a fine opportunity to learn to rivet (it’s a uniframe! The big frame rails were fine!). I mean, I got a car through safety by duct taping old pizza boxes to the fenders and liberally applying bondo and spray paint, so surely going from like quarter-assing it to three quarter-assing it should be fine, right? Yeah, no, standards are a lot more rigorous now, and welding is needed (but like Mercedes with her E39 Touring, finding someone to do the welding wasn’t exactly going great).
Best and worst- last year with not enough going wrong in my life I decided I needed a project car. I purchased a 1978 Fiat Spider. On the tow home I found out by way of a tire blowout all the tires on the car were original to the car. As they were preDOT date code I figured this out buy researching the brand tire whose manufacturer was sold in 1979, then in the 80s then one other time. Changing a tire on a tow dolly is not fun.
You were driving on 45-y-o tires?!?
Towing though I did test drive on them. The one shredded on me
A quite expensive WEKnife folding knife in the spare tire well. It now lives in my pocket. Worst surprise was a milkshake in my sister’s new-to-her engine.
Ugh, the dreaded “who put a Wendy’s Frosty in my crankcase” nightmare.
Buying a classic car – about 23 years ago, I bought my first classic, a ’73 Volvo 1800ES. I didn’t know who to take it to for a PPI, so, like a schmuck, I didn’t get one done. Drove it from Cary to Greensboro, and it did alright, but something was definitely off. I dug into it, and discovered that the ’73s were infamous for “soft” cams. The #2 exhaust lobe had rounded out. So, I ended up putting in a new cam and a header to replace the cracked exhaust manifold. I can take cars apart and put them back together, but I’m useless at buying them. But, I still have the car, and I love it, as neglected as it is.
Worst – a sabotaged thermostat that hid a bad head gasket just well enough that I didn’t catch on. Many, many years ago, and I was still kinda green when it came to mechanicals.
Best – That a free Subaru hatchback that had been sitting for 7 years in a bramble patch fired up and ran beautifully after just a fresh battery, gas, and oil.
Checking old paperwork that came with my 1973 Super Beetle, I saw some documentation from Sears Tire Center from 1999 for 4 tires. I checked the brand and went and take a look on the car, same tires! The car was only drove 1000 miles based on the mileage record. This was 2 years ago, I still have the same tires lol
I will preface this by saying IT’S OUR OWN DAMN FAULT FOR NOT BEING THOROUGH:
I bought a 1985 300ZX way back when. The deal was good and my dad and I were quite enthusiastic about it. Too enthusiastic.
We go iy home and the — only then — did we decide to take a look under the car. I put the jack under the pinch weld and started to lift the car…
…only to be met with a crunching noise as the jack went up and the car did not. Who’da thunk it on a mid-80s Japanese car in an area where they salt the roads?
The deal was less good when you factor in the welding and farication required to get the car solid enough to drive, but I got a couple of fun years out of it.
Best: Giant axe found in the bed of my ’91 Toyota Pickup.
Worst: XXL dirty tighty whities under the driver’s seat of my mom’s NA Miata.
Not in a car, but in a Plane. Working the local airport back in the 90’s, we had one of our corporate jets crash into the mountains in New Hampshire, they couldn’t find it for about a week. The NTSB girl came down looking for evidence and the such on one of the other planes. She left her purse in the plane, so I went through it to find her ID to contact her to let her know she left her bag. Let’s just say, she doesn’t leave home without her BOB. ( Battery Operated Boyfriend )
The summer after HS my car died and I bought a $500 Datsun 200SX. The radio didn’t work, the AC blower didn’t work, my friend broke the key and I had to start it with a screwdriver, the alternator pulley was eroding so the belt constantly squealed, and it had an electrical leak somewhere so I had to disconnect the battery any time I parked it for more than a few hours but it was RWD and 5 speed and by far the most fun I’ve ever had with $500.
Anyways, one day shortly after buying it I had to slam on the brakes and a pair of gold plated Elvis-style sunglasses slid out from under the seat. The car was missing the driver-side sun visor that this was definitely a score!
Worst: Pink anal beads and empty Bud Light cans under the passenger seat of my 911SC.
Best (recent): All the missing trim and parts on my recent ’65 Falcon purchase that were all hidden within the mouse nests and debris inside the cabin and trunk.
Gross, bud light
I ordered a 2023 Maverick Hybrid back in September of 2022.FFW 9 months and it finally shipped. FFW another three months and it still had not made it to the dealership. After multiple phone calls to both Ford and my salesman failed to answer any questions, I drove down to the dealership and cornered the manager. Turns out, when my truck first arrived at the local railyard someone broke in and stole the keys for over a hundred new cars and trucks so they had to hold offloading until they determined which vehicles were affected. When they finally decided that my truck wasn’t affected, they opened the railcar to offload it, only to find the truck was damaged in shipment, so it was held again while they figured out who was paying, whether it needed to go back to Mexico for repairs or if they could be done here, and finally to wait for parts for the repair. By the time they finally called to tell me I could come pick it up, I had already soured on the deal and used my down payment money to by a 2007 Boxster S. Yeah, I’m not hauling any supplies from the lumberyard in the Porsche, but grin on my face every time I get out of it makes it all worthwhile.
I had a dream recently that I bought a used Porsche and was having the time of my life, but then I woke up anxious thinking I had to fund repairs for the dream Porsche.
That one of the tires leaked.
That the seller obviously cleared the codes for the EVAP canister leak, and then the CSL naturally came on a week later.
That the traction control light would come on randomly due to a intermittent failure of the steering angle sensor.
That there had likely been an accident to the driver’s side rear door, and whatever replacement had more poorly aged window seals that seemed to go from ok to flaking off over a matter of weeks. Water was getting into the door through there because guess what? The bottom of the door was rusting out.
That Hyundai window regulators are so ridiculously expensive.
That purchase gave me some serious trust issues.
Best surprise: Found $20 in the 911 I briefly owned.
Worst surprise: VW diesel reliability.
Wait, you have multiple diesel horror stories? What’s with you and diesels? I’m starting to understand why you hate them.
Only two, but they’re the worst two vehicles I’ve owned, and explain a lot of my current opinions on VW, diesels, and buying used cars in general.
It does explain your opinions. And I still think it’s funny how different my personal experiences and resulting opinions are regarding diesels and used cars(no real VW experience firsthand).
Just last week my friend bought an old 1990 f350 diesel for $1500 that had been sitting for several years and we got it running, and running incredibly perfectly, with remarkably little work.
French fries. French fries everywhere in my used truck. Under the seats, in the center console, even somehow in the steering column housing. I found another (fossilized) one last year — nearly ten years later. They’re insidious.
But do they taste good?
Better than the beads Griznant found upthread
a snapon ratchet and 10mm socket when I removed the plastic tray under the engine
So THAT’S where it went
That’s worth real money
“I recently ran into someone who was delighted to learn that the ambient lighting in their Mini can cycle through colors.”
That could be read two different ways. I’m guessing they were happy rather than driven to rip out the offending lights.
The last 3 vehicles I have purchased have had hammers in them. Take that as you will. For those curious, mini sledge, 3 lb lead and a ball peen.
I got a ride home from a cute girl I met at a party once that had a ball peen hammer in the center console. Agreeing to give me a ride back to the hotel, she threatened me with it if I tried anything stupid. I was absolutely smitten.
(just it case it doesn’t come off correctly in my punchy little story, we were flirting all night and getting along well. There was no indication or intimation of unwelcome behavior. Plus, usually I have to explain what a ball peen hammer is for, but a lady with one would have been a catch. Alas, she lived three hours away.)
Bought a $500 boat once and there were 5 ball peen hammers scattered about in various hiding places. Still wonder what the hell they were fishing for.
Would you say the vessel was hammered?
My old Audi Coupe had a thump sound in the door whenever I cornered hard. When the regulator inevitably went out I found a nice curved handle hammer in the door (with no evidence the door had ever been apart since it left the factory). I still have the hammer and I wish I still had the car.
An old timer I worked with at the airfield used to complain bitterly about someone swiping one of his good hammers. About a year later we found it, inside the tail of a Piper Cub he had been working on about a years before. How it never jostled itself loose and punched through the skin (fabric plane) I don’t know.
Best surprise: A really nice package of playing cards inexplicably in the vents of my aunt’s Mercury Topaz.
Worst surprise: Every other detail about the Mercury Topaz.
Come on, the details of the Mercury Topaz couldn’t have actually been a surprise, could they?
In my defense I wasn’t exactly a Mercury Topaz expert.
I imagine your experience changed that. Does the Autopian community have a Mercury Topaz expert? Sounds like you might be it.