Worst car I have ever driven....
Discussion
derin100 said:
To all of the things you've already mentioned is that they've actually managed to make a petrol engine sound like a diesel!
Yes, I've noticed a lot of the modern three-cylinder engines sound rough like a diesel when they're at medium-high load. I think it's because each time a cylinder fires it's a larger bang than an equivalent-capacity engine with a greater number of cylinders, and with fewer cylinders the firings are further apart making them easier to perceive as roughness.
Most people seem to like them and describe them as 'characterful'.
coppice said:
zarjaz1991 said:
I suppose another point....I consider myself a 'driving enthusiast' as distinct from a 'car enthusiast', though to some degree it's splitting hairs.
As a result, I love driving and I enjoy the opportunity to drive anything and everything...so even driving awful cars is an experience I enjoy to some degree, since it's another driving experience for me. I'll drive anything as long as it is mechanically safe and legal. And I enjoy cars with no PAS. Odd? Maybe! I don't care....
Hear hear- me too .I still keep a list of every vehicle I've ever driven since passing my test in what now feels like 1895. I enjoy driving anything, anywhere, even if it's just an opportunity to sneer at something awful. But really, when I read about stuff like Qashqais being the worst someone has driven, it may well be true but it does show a very limited experience. As a result, I love driving and I enjoy the opportunity to drive anything and everything...so even driving awful cars is an experience I enjoy to some degree, since it's another driving experience for me. I'll drive anything as long as it is mechanically safe and legal. And I enjoy cars with no PAS. Odd? Maybe! I don't care....
Anyway Transit was mentioned above- I did many long trips driving 12 seat , throbtastic V4 Transits and loved them - great driving position , controls and heating compared to the utterly dire Leyland offering of the time , the J2 was it ? Now that was really bad, if not as hilariously ghastly as a 60s Land Rover LWB - and people now collect these horrors?
I just enjoy being out on the road, sometimes taking in the scenery, sometimes pressing on through twisties.
I'm happy to drive almost anything as long as I can get a reasonable driving position.
Ron99 said:
coppice said:
zarjaz1991 said:
I suppose another point....I consider myself a 'driving enthusiast' as distinct from a 'car enthusiast', though to some degree it's splitting hairs.
As a result, I love driving and I enjoy the opportunity to drive anything and everything...so even driving awful cars is an experience I enjoy to some degree, since it's another driving experience for me. I'll drive anything as long as it is mechanically safe and legal. And I enjoy cars with no PAS. Odd? Maybe! I don't care....
Hear hear- me too .I still keep a list of every vehicle I've ever driven since passing my test in what now feels like 1895. I enjoy driving anything, anywhere, even if it's just an opportunity to sneer at something awful. But really, when I read about stuff like Qashqais being the worst someone has driven, it may well be true but it does show a very limited experience. As a result, I love driving and I enjoy the opportunity to drive anything and everything...so even driving awful cars is an experience I enjoy to some degree, since it's another driving experience for me. I'll drive anything as long as it is mechanically safe and legal. And I enjoy cars with no PAS. Odd? Maybe! I don't care....
Anyway Transit was mentioned above- I did many long trips driving 12 seat , throbtastic V4 Transits and loved them - great driving position , controls and heating compared to the utterly dire Leyland offering of the time , the J2 was it ? Now that was really bad, if not as hilariously ghastly as a 60s Land Rover LWB - and people now collect these horrors?
I just enjoy being out on the road, sometimes taking in the scenery, sometimes pressing on through twisties.
I'm happy to drive almost anything as long as I can get a reasonable driving position.
I definitely fall into the car enthusiast bit(love looking at/reading about/listening to cars), I do enjoy driving but only in something that puts a smile on my face. If the vehicle is boring/poor to drive/slow usually means I won't enjoy the driving bit.
I have always enjoyed driving a Transit van for some reason though.
M4CK 1 said:
Mr Tidy said:
I think it was a pool car at the insurance company I worked for in the 1980s.
It was a Y plate 1100cc Escort Popular (so 1982/1983) with vinyl seats, no heated rear screen, no rear wiper and only 1 door mirror (on the driver's side).
As an added bonus there was an amber light that lit up when you tried to accelerate, followed by a red light when you tried to go up a hill!
F*cking hateful thing that we all caned to death - the only good thing about it was it made me appreciate the drive home in my MK2 Granada Ghia.
Worst car I've ever driven was a mk4 escort belonging to my sister. The engine sounded like there was a bag of nails jumping around inside. The steering was non pas and took at least one turn of the steering before the wheels started to turn. The handling, put it this way, I found harder sponges and before you new it the car would be understeering you to the nearest ditch. It was a Y plate 1100cc Escort Popular (so 1982/1983) with vinyl seats, no heated rear screen, no rear wiper and only 1 door mirror (on the driver's side).
As an added bonus there was an amber light that lit up when you tried to accelerate, followed by a red light when you tried to go up a hill!
F*cking hateful thing that we all caned to death - the only good thing about it was it made me appreciate the drive home in my MK2 Granada Ghia.
Dr Doofenshmirtz said:
So to summarise: Small Vauxhall cars are slow and a bit pants.
I must admit - the worst cars I've driven have all been Vauxhalls
I find them consistently average to poor to drive and consistently poorly engineered (engines go pop, electrical gremlins etc), but I've never thought they sink to the depths of 'worst ever'.I must admit - the worst cars I've driven have all been Vauxhalls
Salamura said:
Wartburg 353 from 1991, one of the last of these communist abominations. Non-existent brakes, vague steering, headlights dimmer than a candle, refinement of a jackhammer. But it was economical (over 40 mpg), quite reliable, and had very comfortable seats, not to mention cavernous boot. So all in all, it had charm.
Was that the two stroke one? Actually really fancy one of those! 
Kia Picanto hire car:
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Absolutely awful on Spanish motorways, felt like it was going to go in an entirely different direction to my preference. Terrifying.
Fiesta mk4 (the ugly nosed one):
1.25 petrol with the CVT gearbox. A work colleague's that I had to drive somewhere for her.
Never experienced anything so sluggish in my life.
Absolutely awful on Spanish motorways, felt like it was going to go in an entirely different direction to my preference. Terrifying.
Fiesta mk4 (the ugly nosed one):
1.25 petrol with the CVT gearbox. A work colleague's that I had to drive somewhere for her.
Never experienced anything so sluggish in my life.
Dr Doofenshmirtz said:
So to summarise: Small Vauxhall cars are slow and a bit pants.
I must admit - the worst cars I've driven have all been Vauxhalls
Depends, I drove a Nova with a 16v XE swap on TB's - so 200bhp in a shoe box - that wasn't slow.I must admit - the worst cars I've driven have all been Vauxhalls
A lot of the Astras have been good cars too.
thiscocks said:
Salamura said:
Wartburg 353 from 1991, one of the last of these communist abominations. Non-existent brakes, vague steering, headlights dimmer than a candle, refinement of a jackhammer. But it was economical (over 40 mpg), quite reliable, and had very comfortable seats, not to mention cavernous boot. So all in all, it had charm.
Was that the two stroke one? Actually really fancy one of those! A strange car to drive, the twostroke. The freewheel was weird; having zero engine braking made you use the brakes more.
cerb4.5lee said:
The car was almost brand new too, I got it while my Nissan 200sx was in for some work. I ended up just parking the crappy thing on my drive, and I jumped in my ratty 1994 Mondeo 1.8LX instead(my shed daily at the time).
The Mondeo was only a £500 car but it felt a world apart from that Micra, and I questioned why anyone would pay so much money for the Micra(a new one anyway)...they were getting robbed in my eyes!!
Why did you need a loan car?The Mondeo was only a £500 car but it felt a world apart from that Micra, and I questioned why anyone would pay so much money for the Micra(a new one anyway)...they were getting robbed in my eyes!!
Berlin Mike said:
thiscocks said:
Salamura said:
Wartburg 353 from 1991, one of the last of these communist abominations. Non-existent brakes, vague steering, headlights dimmer than a candle, refinement of a jackhammer. But it was economical (over 40 mpg), quite reliable, and had very comfortable seats, not to mention cavernous boot. So all in all, it had charm.
Was that the two stroke one? Actually really fancy one of those! A strange car to drive, the twostroke. The freewheel was weird; having zero engine braking made you use the brakes more.
Edited by thiscocks on Thursday 28th February 11:40
The worst car I've ever driven was a Fiat 126. Presumably that was better than a Fiat 500 since it was the upgraded version. Unless you have an Abarth tuned version with an open bootlid, I cannot imagine how people enjoy owning vintage 500s. They are ghastly.
I can't really think of the second worst, because that Fiat was so much worse than everything else I've ever driven.
I can't really think of the second worst, because that Fiat was so much worse than everything else I've ever driven.
Three stick in my mind:
Early 2000's Rover 25 CVT. Dear god!! A desperate stab of the accelerator yields nothing more than the engine screaming like a banshee on the redline, with no discernible increase in speed.
2003 Corsa 1.2 Easytronic. Seriously GM, WTAF is with this gearbox?!? Gear change goes like this.... Accelerate, clutch engages, smash teeth on steering wheel with resulting hesitation... several seconds pass, giving ample time to compose oneself before the gearchange occurs and the clutch disengages, resulting in violent whiplash as your head pummels back into the anvil-like plastic apparatus Vauxhall call a head rest.
Peugeot 206. Any year, any model. I wont start on the looks as it just doesn't seem fair. Get more steering feedback running around the garden making brum noises with a family size marshmallow grasped at the 10-2 position. Gearchange is like nothing I have ever driven, every shift makes my bones itch. A special kind of interior fabric which has the ability grip on to dust, fluff and other detritus with the same gravitation pull of Jupiter. And that plastic... everywhere, an horrific 'pattern' embossed into it as if to somehow laughably pretend that it has once listened to a martian describe what leather looks like in his native tongue. Oh and watch your size 11 feet don't get caught in the steering column UJ under the dash as the fluffy seats will cling on to more than just dust.
Early 2000's Rover 25 CVT. Dear god!! A desperate stab of the accelerator yields nothing more than the engine screaming like a banshee on the redline, with no discernible increase in speed.
2003 Corsa 1.2 Easytronic. Seriously GM, WTAF is with this gearbox?!? Gear change goes like this.... Accelerate, clutch engages, smash teeth on steering wheel with resulting hesitation... several seconds pass, giving ample time to compose oneself before the gearchange occurs and the clutch disengages, resulting in violent whiplash as your head pummels back into the anvil-like plastic apparatus Vauxhall call a head rest.
Peugeot 206. Any year, any model. I wont start on the looks as it just doesn't seem fair. Get more steering feedback running around the garden making brum noises with a family size marshmallow grasped at the 10-2 position. Gearchange is like nothing I have ever driven, every shift makes my bones itch. A special kind of interior fabric which has the ability grip on to dust, fluff and other detritus with the same gravitation pull of Jupiter. And that plastic... everywhere, an horrific 'pattern' embossed into it as if to somehow laughably pretend that it has once listened to a martian describe what leather looks like in his native tongue. Oh and watch your size 11 feet don't get caught in the steering column UJ under the dash as the fluffy seats will cling on to more than just dust.
mikecassie said:
Vauxhall Mokka, rental car I had for 1 week. Terrible in just about every way and I would never say to anyone to get one, it had no redeeming features that I could find.
I had one for a week in Belgium - wasn't a good experience although mine had the added disadvantage of power sapping auto gearbox.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff