This is the closest our readers have come to torturing their cars to the test

Driving is a lot of fun, but sometimes things get out of control. Sometimes, the line between “wow, what a fun road this is” and “uh-oh” can be thinner than we think. That’s when we move away from going for a drive into the realm of torture testing. Before even reaching the dealer lot, modern cars go through countless hours of computer-modeled torture tests and countless miles of real-world durability testing to make sure you don’t suffer any damage, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try our hand at things like this after purchase. I thought our enthusiastic spectators had contributed their fair share of vehicle harassment, and I was not wrong. Here are some of my favorite anecdotes from Jalopnik viewers’ closest experiences with the torturous testing of their own cars.

That said, the closest I came to testing the car was when I attempted to take my 2003 Honda CR-V through mud, off-roading, and onto sand several times. That poor car was made for interstate travel and urban touring, not all-terrain touring, and yet I endured all the abuse with aplomb. What a car. Anyway, these are your answers.

Not mine, but my friend in high school. They (their parents) had an 86 Accord, which was constantly abused by three brothers who were learning to drive on rough stormy roads and in the winter. It was so bad that when they went shopping for a replacement no one would give them more than the scrap cost + a dollar, despite it running very well. So my friend gave his dad $5 and said we would take it out into the yard and ‘make some memories’ before going out to the pasture.

Did you know that the 86 Accord can be pretty good off road in a shell pit? Or that a foot and a half or 50 mph wind won’t break the suspension?

About 4 hours later after 4 teenagers got the worst of it, that Honda happily went to the scrap yard with about 50 pounds of dirt, gravel and grime, a missing rear bumper and some potted plants and grass stuck here and there.

Submitted by: JaredOfLondon

How to test the slightly modified third-generation 4Runner. This was when I was living in Côte d’Ivoire and driving a 4Runner that had been modified with better tires and shocks to handle both offroading and poor road conditions. The map is the route from Abidjan to the center where the Dogon people live in Mali, Bandiagara. The cliffs east of there are a UNESCO World Heritage Site because some of them live in these beautiful and fascinating cliff dwellings, and the doors and shutters used to keep out the sun and dust are carved in very intricate patterns and shapes (I have a Dogon door on the wall of my house.) Getting there is a torture test, and I wouldn’t consider doing it in anything other than a truck or SUV. The campaign begins in the remains of the tropical rain forests surrounding Abidjan. North of the capital Yamoussoukro, the land changes and becomes savanna and scrubland. To its north, the Sahel, the welcome mat of the Sahara, begins. The roads are in very poor condition, with dust and garbage flying everywhere, and it is highly recommended to check your air filter at each stop. This continues in Mali. The main difference is that, and I remember this road well, the roads (at that time) had not been paved in probably 30 years. Further north the Sahara begins in Mali. Between the bad fuel, road conditions, and heat it happened more than once that I wondered if it was a mistake, even though I was prepared. However, in 2026, stay away from gardeners.

Submitted by: Xavier96

In the late 80’s I worked at a summer camp that was located on private land within a wilderness area, and the only way into it was a 7 mile jeep road. The last mile involved a long, steep, rocky trail that was a challenge even for trucks with 4 wheel drive and granny gear. I had a ’75 Corolla wagon with nothing on it, but it crawled down that slope several times with 4 people and all their gear. I drove that car all over the US, including 38 states, Alaska, Canada and Mexico. Best $500 car I’ve ever owned.

Submitted by: Norm DePlume

Sometimes I drive in Quebec.

Submitted yb: Hercules Rockefeller

Million dollar highway driving between Silverton and Ore, Colorado, in a second-generation Prius loaded with two kids, a roof box, and camping gear.

That road’s horsepower math is brutal on that Prius. Under normal conditions it produces 110 combined hp. 35 of those are electric and the battery pack essentially dies after the first half mile. Down to 75 hp. Except you’re at significant altitude. Ouray is 7000+ feet and Silverton is 9000+ feet. Red Mountain PSS has an elevation of just over 11,000 feet. Probably less than 50 hp at some points, while struggling on steep grades. That little engine was screaming to maintain a top speed of 45 mph. The roof box didn’t help either as it ruined the slippery aerodynamics of that little car.

That was a wonderful trip!

Presented By: Weirdisgood

I ran over a dead deer lying in the middle of the road. Didn’t see it until it was too late. It didn’t go very well after that. Thankfully, this Pontiac Sunfire was a rental, and when I dropped it off, the guy drove me to the airport in the same Sunfire. Such harsh noises will keep coming while driving, while turning… or while accelerating… or while stopping.

Finally, the man says, “Looks like the frame is damaged.”

To which I replied, “Yes. It’s doing that.”

And that was the last I heard about it. Thankfully, no charges showed up on my credit card and no nasty letters came home asking for compensation.

Submitted by: Dallas Thomas

When I was in Portland, Maine, I had this road with a 25-degree slope that I used as my personal on-road dyno. Straight uphill for five blocks, minimal intersections on the right and pretty visible cross-traffic.

I’d stop at the bottom of the hill, then mash the throttle. With a stopwatch, I can constantly make A to B comparisons of any performance mods I make for my cars and my friends’ vehicles, and get measurable real-world results by pushing the car to maximum acceleration. It was not as demanding as it was, but it was a tough and easily reproduced test that drove even the fastest cars to their performance limits with minimal risk to innocent civilians.

Presented By: jrhmobile

Not my personal car, but I used to van pool in a Ford Transit. The trip from Palm Springs to a prison near the Arizona state line was 90 miles. On the way back, there was a fatal accident that completely blocked the westbound section of I10. So my choice was to either sit around for anywhere from 4-7 hours until the freeway started back up (after passing a certain point there were zero side roads or service roads), or take the van off-road through the desert until we reconnected with the freeway. I chose to send it. Keep in mind, the temperature was over 100°, and the roadside desert was completely unmarked. No signposts, and you could barely see the tracks where other people were off-road. Luckily it was a fully loaded van with 12 passengers, so we got some good traffic due to the extra weight. I was able to turn the van a bit in a few spots, and never got stuck. We reached home safely, the van was undamaged and several hours of our lives were saved.

Presented by: MrMcGeein3D