It's a dream of many to own a sports car. The thought of owning your very own exotic 90s Ferrari for example may be a tempting prospect, however, finding a well priced model from this period is only half the battle.
The models in this list may have provided the styling and speed to make any of us wish for our very own, but underneath, there are serious problems with a lot of these models. As a result, they should be avoided at all costs. Here are 10 sports cars from the 1990s that were notoriously unreliable.
10 1990 Maserati Shamal
One brand that's never been renowned for its reliability is Maserati. Unsurprisingly, Italian cars feature fairly heavily in this list of unreliable sports cars, and the first is the Maserati Shamal.
The styling and twin turbo V8 made the Shamal Maserati's most expensive car at the time, and whilst a good car in its day, the aging Italian mechanical parts make the Shamal fairly unusable today. This is common for older Italian cars, as it seems these manufacturers have yet to crack how to keep a car good for as long as possible.
9 1994 Ferrari F355
Sports cars are built to be lightweight and fast, and in the F355's case, this may have been taken too literally. Ferraris have always looked good, sounded good, and gone fast, and the F355 from the mid 90s is no exception. The problem with this car is that the maintenance costs are insanely high, given the type of car it is and the general fragility, which makes it more than tiresome to live with.
For the price, a much more modern and well-built sports sedan would be a more worthwhile purchase, that is until Ferrari manage to create an engine that doesn't fail so regularly and cost thousands to rebuild.
8 1991 Jaguar XJS
Owning a Jaguar XJS can mean owning your very own piece of British sports car heritage, however, this one should be avoided at all costs.
Some XJS models came equipped with rather hefty V12 engines, but on the face of it, this is probably a complete waste of time. The thing that plagues this car, and makes it particularly cheap in today's market, are the exceptionally poor electronics. 90s British car have never been fondly remembered from a reliability standpoint, but having a V12 means nothing if the electronics stop you from driving the very car housing it.
7 1996 Lotus Esprit V8
Coming once again to Britain, the Lotus Esprit is a particularly unreliable car from a manufacturer with a reputation for unreliable vehicles.
The fairly complicated mid-engined layout of the Esprit V8 leads to a few issues, resulting in frequent breakdowns. One of the biggest reliability concerns for many cars comes from the use of turbochargers, these often break quite easily and the Esprit V8 has two for its 3.5-liter V8, which simply adds further insult to injury. Esprit V8s are vehicles that can work great if looked after correctly, but the sheer amount of attention and care needed makes them unreliable for most of us.
6 1992 BMW 850 CSi
Despite the German's reputation for creating generally excellent and well put together cars, the experimental BMW 8 Series from the 90s made life for its drivers' hell.
Sure it has sporty looks, but most non car fans won't realize that underneath the hood of this rather unassuming 8 Series, is a monumental 5.6-liter V12. This behemoth would be difficult to tame in even some of today's more advanced cars, but the 850 CSi used 30-plus year old computers, in a car from the 90s. Putting it bluntly, the 850 CSi simply didn't work and as a result, 8 Series BMW's from this era are incredibly cheap considering the enormous power underneath.
5 1997 Porsche 911 Carrera (996)
Another shocking entry from Germany is the famed Porsche 911. Porsche fans consider this era of 911 one to forget, this is because there are a few issues which, if left unchecked or unresolved, can lead to your beloved Porsche being nothing more than a big fancy paperweight.
The most infamous problem involves a shaft connected to the crankshaft and camshaft by a ball bearing. This bearing is un-lubricated by default and after time, it would wear and break. This issue was seen in around 5-10% of Porsches from 2000-2005, coming with no warning, and the resultant fix is a brand-new engine.
4 1991 Alfa Romeo 33
Certainly no stranger to the controversies of unreliability and breaking down, Alfas past and present have been synonymous with failure. One of its offenders from the 90s comes from the Alfa Romeo 33.
Every part on this car seems to have some sort of problem at some point or another, including, poor quality brakes, weak and unreliable suspension, a gearbox which wears too easily, numerous issues with rust, and so on. Luckily, replacement parts are not too expensive so as long as you don't mind a fairly long term commitment, and you have plenty of patience, the Alfa 33 may not be all that bad.
3 1999 Ferrari 360 Modena (Coupé)
Just before the turn of the millennia, Ferrari launched one of their most recognizable cars of all time, the Ferrari 360 Modena. Stylish, yes, unreliable, also yes, the 360 Modena has issues with the engine mounting points on chassis breaking, fluid leaks, out of date engine software, and a cam variator problem.
This last issue caused critical damage to the 360's engine and as a result, a number of models from 1999 and 2000 were recalled. Generally, a good rule of thumb when it comes to purchasing Ferrari's, is buying one that is later in the model lineup, e.g., a 2005 or 2006 360 Modena as opposed to a 1999 or 2000 model.
2 1996 Vector M12
The Vector M12 is a car that has thankfully been forgotten since its creation in the 1990s. But if we dig up the past for a second, we can unfondly remember that the M12 was based on the Lamborghini Diablo.
Not a bad basis for a car, but in execution, the M12 managed to lose the looks and gain a few pounds without becoming any faster. The awful fiberglass shell replaced the Diablo's body and the overall build quality and reliability sank well below the Lambo it was based on, truly shocking, considering Lamborghini are hardly famous for reliability themselves.
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1 1990 Aston Martin Virage
Certainly not the best looking Aston ever made, the Virage was a disaster both inside and out. Aston Martin got off to a pretty poor start to the new decade with the 1990 Virage, it was below average to drive and even worse than that, the build quality was beyond unacceptable.
This isn't something that is rare from British cars, especially around this time, but you'd figure that a brand back by prestige and quality would perhaps not use headlights from an Audi 200 on one of their sports cars for example, whilst charging over $150,000 for the privilege.
Sources: Road and Track, Top Gear, Drive Tribe, Piston Heads, Gear Patrol, RAC, Car Survey, Autotrader