Classic Cars that Disappointed

[Yertis]

I drive a very modern car most days, and am lucky enough to have two classics (obviously people have more, and they are even luckier, or more likely have just worked harder, or are cleverer, or whatever :stupid: ) . The TR6 is always more fun than I remember, and the first time I open the taps after I've not driven it for a while always makes me grin. But it's quite hard work on a decent run, and I finish any longish drive feeling fairly shagged and smelling of fumes. But it's never disappointed me. The Quattro on the other hand, every time I jump in, just feels like a modern car but crappy, because of the interior which is basically at least thirty years out of date. However, after a couple of miles it starts to display those characteristics which made it so amazing in 1980, it's so lovely to drive, sounds so wonderful...

But mine are well up together. I've driven some TR6s which were utter crap.

[WJNB]

The Alpine was a great crumpet puller but rusted away before my eyes.
The Capri GT looked pretty but was gutless even with its twin Webers.
The rather eccentrically personalised Minor convertible an absolute hoot, pulled the crumpet amazingly & NEVER disappointed, how weird is that?

[Vanin]

Next door neighbour let me drive his XJ220 to Cadwell.
Difficult to enter, especially from the passenger side, and very restricted view due to the massive width, massive rear and inadequate mirrors.
The engine sounded awful and harsh both inside and outside and as there were no rubber engine mounts, more awful plus loud only inches from your ear.
The dashboard looked like it was taken straight out of a standard Granada. The racing clutch was like an electric switch, either on or off. We stalled it several times trying to park at Cadwell in front of an amused crowd.
It was so wide and intimidating on the road that you could not test the performance. Couldn't see anything up behind or judge the front of the car.
Best left parked on the drive as a static work of art!

[Flip Martian]

WJNB said:

The Alpine was a great crumpet puller but rusted away before my eyes.
The Capri GT looked pretty but was gutless even with its twin Webers.
The rather eccentrically personalised Minor convertible an absolute hoot, pulled the crumpet amazingly & NEVER disappointed, how weird is that?

Isn't that the whole thing about classics though? The unexpected delighting the most. Its not about the fastest, the most sleek or whatever. Its character and personality, maybe.

[Grom1t]

For me a few cars stand out.

MGB GT V8, bought it ran it for 6 weeks and got rid, it was horrible....

TR6, liked the look but one test drive was enough to put me off, same applied to a TVR 2500m

£225 for a Mk1 Granada 3.0l ghia 10% of the cost of the above, bought as I crashed my car and It was in my price range 30 years ago and it was fantastic... Loved it so ran it for a year.

[300bhp/ton]

Xtriple129 said:

MG B.

Not as I expected at all. Noisy, slow and handled like a camel. Shame as it was a new shell and all new throughout.

What were you expecting tbh? Silent, superfast and Formula 1 style handling

[300bhp/ton]

finlo said:

Mk1 Golf GTI after all the hype, and this was back in 1984.

Not really a classic car in 1984 though...

[456mgt]

Don't know if 1994 is really 'classic', but recently, it was a Porsche 928GTS. If it had been any good I'd have bought it on the spot. It wasn't. Drove like a tank; ponderous, slow (5.4L V8!!) and all controls heavy. It was OK once it was up to cruising velocity in a straight line, but Christ it was horrible everywhere else.

[Downtown Abbey]

456mgt said:

Don't know if 1994 is really 'classic', but recently, it was a Porsche 928GTS. If it had been any good I'd have bought it on the spot. It wasn't. Drove like a tank; ponderous, slow (5.4L V8!!) and all controls heavy. It was OK once it was up to cruising velocity in a straight line, but Christ it was horrible everywhere else.

Still counts as classic, especially since the model was first introduced in the '70s and was largely unchanged during its life. Surprising to hear these are rubbish to drive. I always thought they would be very smooth and very much a tourer, but very quick in a straight line.

[300bhp/ton]

Downtown Abbey said:

456mgt said:

Don't know if 1994 is really 'classic', but recently, it was a Porsche 928GTS. If it had been any good I'd have bought it on the spot. It wasn't. Drove like a tank; ponderous, slow (5.4L V8!!) and all controls heavy. It was OK once it was up to cruising velocity in a straight line, but Christ it was horrible everywhere else.

Still counts as classic, especially since the model was first introduced in the '70s and was largely unchanged during its life. Surprising to hear these are rubbish to drive. I always thought they would be very smooth and very much a tourer, but very quick in a straight line.

I would image the 928 does exactly what it's meant too and does it as well as it ever has. The reality is, most people simply expect the wrong thing, then blame the item rather than accepting their expectations were just wrong from the start.

Not having a go at 456, it's just human nature....

[Nick Grant]

Surely one of the benefits of the simple mechanics in a classic car is that they are easily modified to get the result you want.

My '57 Chevy drove like a boat when I first got it, now it handles like a (heavy) go kart. Need more power, reliability or economy? Put in a modern engine.

That's how I've always looked at it anyway.

[Grom1t]

456mgt said:

Don't know if 1994 is really 'classic', but recently, it was a Porsche 928GTS. If it had been any good I'd have bought it on the spot. It wasn't. Drove like a tank; ponderous, slow (5.4L V8!!) and all controls heavy. It was OK once it was up to cruising velocity in a straight line, but Christ it was horrible everywhere else.

I ran a 928S4 for around 18 months, some of your points I agree with as very Germanic which was not a surprise, however ponderous and slow it was not, mine at 150,000 miles felt like it was on tracks and is the only auto car I have every owned that could spin the wheels from a standing start and keep that up until around 85mph, it would then go on to hit the Rev limit in top gear.....

It had massive 265/38/18 decent tyres on the back, when I sold it at 176,000 miles it still felt great.

The build quality is great, for me it lacked personality that you get with a British car, albeit with poor panel fit and build quality that goes along with this