Worst car I have ever driven....
Discussion
I drive a Corsa 1.3 CDTi van for work covering about 25K miles per year. Hardly a benchmark vehicle, but one that does what it's supposed to. Really, really not exciting but acceptable, just.
However, when it's in for repair or service I often get a hire car as a replacement. You'd expect that any car when compared to a very basic van would be a bonus but you'd be wrong. I have quite often been happy to return the hire cars and get "my" van back. But never more so than when the hire car was one of those 1.0 3 cyl Corsa things. I won't detail what was wrong with it as it would take all day, so let's just say that there was not one single redeeming feature that could ever have endeared it to me. I have never hated any car so much in my life, and I've driven some horrors over the years.
Motorized mogadon.
However, when it's in for repair or service I often get a hire car as a replacement. You'd expect that any car when compared to a very basic van would be a bonus but you'd be wrong. I have quite often been happy to return the hire cars and get "my" van back. But never more so than when the hire car was one of those 1.0 3 cyl Corsa things. I won't detail what was wrong with it as it would take all day, so let's just say that there was not one single redeeming feature that could ever have endeared it to me. I have never hated any car so much in my life, and I've driven some horrors over the years.
Motorized mogadon.
Having just test driven a Corsa D, 1 litre (on a 57 plate) for use as a runaround, I can honestly say that all of the negative remarks about the this car and the 1.2 model doesn’t make any sense? Yes, they probably have gutless engines at top speeds, and yes, they are possibly not the first choice for everyday motorway driving, but for your average driver that makes trips mainly around town and on B roads, the Corsa D is absolutely brilliant! The gearing of this Corsa seems to take advantage of such a small engine capacity, meaning it is quite nippy from 0-40, but rather lethargic past this speed. This is great for urban driving then, as it gives you the oomph to tackle roundabouts and to exit junctions. As for any really steep hills, then just drop it down a gear! I live in North Wales and know all about hills, yet on the said test drive, the 1 litre engine l drove easily managed the task (in 4th gear @ 50mph). Many of the negative comments on the Corsa D 1.0 & 1.2 etc should be taken into context as to what this type of car was originally aimed at.
Please don’t compare it to cars that are obviously in a different league, but think of it as a great first car or a worthy runaround.
Please don’t compare it to cars that are obviously in a different league, but think of it as a great first car or a worthy runaround.
In 2014 my dad hired a Corsa and myself a Fiesta whilst on holiday in Mallorca.
My dad is no speed freak but he complained about it been absolutely gutless. We had a closer look and found a block of plastic under the accelerator pedal restricting full travel.
Removed this and reasonable performance was restored.
My dad is no speed freak but he complained about it been absolutely gutless. We had a closer look and found a block of plastic under the accelerator pedal restricting full travel.
Removed this and reasonable performance was restored.
Count Crawfard said:
Having just test driven a Corsa D, 1 litre (on a 57 plate) for use as a runaround, I can honestly say that all of the negative remarks about the this car and the 1.2 model doesn’t make any sense? Yes, they probably have gutless engines at top speeds, and yes, they are possibly not the first choice for everyday motorway driving, but for your average driver that makes trips mainly around town and on B roads, the Corsa D is absolutely brilliant! The gearing of this Corsa seems to take advantage of such a small engine capacity, meaning it is quite nippy from 0-40, but rather lethargic past this speed. This is great for urban driving then, as it gives you the oomph to tackle roundabouts and to exit junctions. As for any really steep hills, then just drop it down a gear! I live in North Wales and know all about hills, yet on the said test drive, the 1 litre engine l drove easily managed the task (in 4th gear @ 50mph). Many of the negative comments on the Corsa D 1.0 & 1.2 etc should be taken into context as to what this type of car was originally aimed at.
Please don’t compare it to cars that are obviously in a different league, but think of it as a great first car or a worthy runaround.
A fiesta is better in every wayPlease don’t compare it to cars that are obviously in a different league, but think of it as a great first car or a worthy runaround.
The Crack Fox said:
I almost started a very similar thread based on a car I had recently.... A new Corsa automatic. It felt like everyone that had had a hand in the design, production and sale of this vehicle hated it, hated themselves and hated mankind.
It is very slow, very uneconomical, very uncomfortable, very bland, very horrible to drive and just dreadful at everything a small car is supposed to do. I didn’t think that anyone made a bad car any more. I drove a Vauxhall Corsa and found I was wrong.
Couldn't agree more....had one in Jersey last year but a 1.4 manual and I honestly couldn't find one reason to buy it over any of its rivals other then the fact it had a smart looking dash or the dealer was local. It is very slow, very uneconomical, very uncomfortable, very bland, very horrible to drive and just dreadful at everything a small car is supposed to do. I didn’t think that anyone made a bad car any more. I drove a Vauxhall Corsa and found I was wrong.
It was like you say, slow, bland, forgettable to drive and not especially comfortable. It had very poor steering feel, horrid gearbox, clunky and mushy with a huge, uncomfortable gearknob. They're quite cheap to buy but then so are a lot of its rivals. We have a Fabia and a Clio (both current shapes) and the Corsa felt about 10 years behind in every way. I had a Citigo courtesy car and I'd have that over a Corsa every day of the week. It's a shame because my friend has an Adam and that's quite a funky little car, plus the new Astra and Insignia are very good now so it proves Vauxhall can do it well....
It wasn't a horrendous car, I'm sure it could get you from A to B quite effectively but to me it was just x amount feet of car, you'd buy like a fridge freezer or wallpaper. The same goes for the Mokka which is another car which I can't understand why there are so many of for similar reasons. Now I know cars like this are bought to pop to Tesco in and not for hard laps around the Nurburgring but it would be nice to see a modicum of flair in the design and engineering. The Corsa and Mokka are cars you buy because you couldn't think of anything else.
Slow cars are fine, fun even, but a Corsa D is so much worse than just a slow car. The 2014 Corsa 1.2 that I rented gave me pretty bad backache (only car that did it) and could get nowhere near 70 on a long downhill slip road. The stereo was so weak my phone sounded better and it was just unpleasant in every way, including the noise it made.
The latest one is better and relatively competent, but comprehensively bettered by the Hyundai i20 and Ford Fiesta.
The latest one is better and relatively competent, but comprehensively bettered by the Hyundai i20 and Ford Fiesta.
mat777 said:
Probably a Land Rover 109 Diesel, of which I've driven 2 and both were awful.
My 88" petrol is painfully slow enough in modern traffic, but the 2.25l diesel tops out at 40mph. Not only does it accompany the glacial pace with a soundtrack akin to a meccano set in a blender, but because the cabin is bare metal inside it's amplified like being in a drum. Oh, and early 109 brakes are impossible to bleed so the pedal sinks to the floor and has to be pumped to get anything like some form of retardation. Also, being a leaf sprung Land Rover, your spine shatters with every peddble as you sink into/slide around on the flat vinyl slab seats set bolt upright.
The organisation I worked for in the early 80’s had quite a large fleet of Landrovers of different vintages. I can confirm that the diesels were amazingly slow. I remember one morning being given the keys to a brand new vehicle that must have been a 110 I think. I admired the padded plastic interior - completely different to the bare metal of all the others; however, the first farm track I went down the large piece of plastic at the top of the windscreen fell off and drew blood. I treated it with caution after that....My 88" petrol is painfully slow enough in modern traffic, but the 2.25l diesel tops out at 40mph. Not only does it accompany the glacial pace with a soundtrack akin to a meccano set in a blender, but because the cabin is bare metal inside it's amplified like being in a drum. Oh, and early 109 brakes are impossible to bleed so the pedal sinks to the floor and has to be pumped to get anything like some form of retardation. Also, being a leaf sprung Land Rover, your spine shatters with every peddble as you sink into/slide around on the flat vinyl slab seats set bolt upright.
Shiv_P said:
A fiesta is better in every way
I've driven a Fiesta and a Corsa, bought the Corsa (this was the previous model Fiesta), both were low power engines, 1.25 Fiesta vs 1.4 Corsa. Fiesta was marginally better handling but the Corsa had a nicer interior, much more equipment, slightly quicker feeling, was more refined at speed, in fact at 60 the Corsa didn't feel like a supermini at all, the Fiesta did. More recently bought an Astra over a Focus, admittedly didn't drive the Focus (again last gen Focus), sat in the Focus then the Astra, Astra had a much nicer feeling interior, much more equipment at a much lower price, the mid spec Focus in 2017 didn't have rear electric windows, no cruise control, no auto lights or wipers, the Astra had all the above on the base model (mine is mid spec and has everything a car could possible need and more) but about £2k less.
Worst car I've ever drove however is a Vauxhall, the Viva courtesy car I got when the Astra was in for a repair, to be honest I immediately didn't like it because it was during that heat wave in July and it didn't have A/C, other than that it was tinny, noisy at anything over 35, speakers were crap, the fuel release was in a stupid place so every time I opened the door I caught the latch with my foot and when it started raining as far as I could tell you couldn't change the intermittent wiper speed, so you either had it on constant but not enough rain so starts squeaking, or a very slow setting where you couldn't see by the time it wiped. The thing that bemused me is it had no A/C but it had cruise control, I'd rather have A/C on a city car, I did go on a motorway in it, not very enjoyable at all. One positive it did have though is it had that kind of fun go kart feeling, like driving my first car again.
Edited by carlove on Sunday 24th February 23:48
Just to be different I'd have to say a 03 corsa 1.2. The worst thing was the way the throttle pedal in no way seemed to control the engine and had about a two second delay before the engine did anything. Combined with vague steering and horrible gear shift it really was a dismal driving experience.
Have driven plenty of similarly powered small hatches and none have been anything close to how s
t that corsa was. One example being local garage loan car Hyundai getz 1.3. Not much more power than the corsa but felt much perkier, responsive and generally more fun to drive.
Have driven plenty of similarly powered small hatches and none have been anything close to how s
t that corsa was. One example being local garage loan car Hyundai getz 1.3. Not much more power than the corsa but felt much perkier, responsive and generally more fun to drive. Couple of years ago I got a 1.25 Kia Rio (2016) as a courtesy car. It looked ok outside and I was keen to try a newer model from Asia after hearing how much better they were these days.
Got inside and that's where it went downhill. Black plastic everywhere, like a 1996 Nissan Almera. Started it up and got ready to go. Noisy and rough through the rev range, gears had about a mile of throw between them. Lots of noise accelerating, little progress. The brakes were poor. It rattled over bumps and wallowed through corners.
I was so disappointed. Only positive was the mpg.
Got inside and that's where it went downhill. Black plastic everywhere, like a 1996 Nissan Almera. Started it up and got ready to go. Noisy and rough through the rev range, gears had about a mile of throw between them. Lots of noise accelerating, little progress. The brakes were poor. It rattled over bumps and wallowed through corners.
I was so disappointed. Only positive was the mpg.
In 2005, I had a Vauxhall Meriva as a company car... awful, poor brakes, wheezy engine. Other strong contenders include Citroen C3, and Fiat Stilo with an awful "City Mode" power steering setting which makes the steering way too light. Renault Laguna with the credit card shaped key which could be easily mislaid...
Scariest - old LWB landrover which had around 8" of play in the steering - terrifying trying to keep it on my side of the road even at 30mph
Worst - 2CV driving it home after Dad bought it, utter POS and managed to select reverse - locking the wheels up - instead of 2nd / 3rd
Most disappointing - last of the air cooled 911 - I'd wanted one for ages and when I got one it was nothing like the reviews said, flat six howl - my arse, it sounded like a beetle - sold within a month
Worst - 2CV driving it home after Dad bought it, utter POS and managed to select reverse - locking the wheels up - instead of 2nd / 3rd
Most disappointing - last of the air cooled 911 - I'd wanted one for ages and when I got one it was nothing like the reviews said, flat six howl - my arse, it sounded like a beetle - sold within a month
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