Cars you have bought but regretted?
Discussion
I'm a little unsure about mine, as it's not really a fault of the car, just various mechanics incompetence.
In the 6 months I've had it I've had to replace:
2 New Ignition Coils
4 Spark plugs (weren't change during service and car shat one into the cylinder)
Gearbox Oil
Anti Roll Bar Drop links
Then the gearbox shat it's oil everywhere due to some buffoon at the Fiat Main dealer deciding that silicone is a viable replacement for bolts and also used wrong bolts to put it back together.
And now the clutch is showing it's age and I need a new exhaust.
In the 6 months I've had it I've had to replace:
2 New Ignition Coils
4 Spark plugs (weren't change during service and car shat one into the cylinder)
Gearbox Oil
Anti Roll Bar Drop links
Then the gearbox shat it's oil everywhere due to some buffoon at the Fiat Main dealer deciding that silicone is a viable replacement for bolts and also used wrong bolts to put it back together.
And now the clutch is showing it's age and I need a new exhaust.
MG ZR 105 / 160 VVC - Both were terrible build quality and engine components were ziptied together / to teh car's chassis.
Honda Accord (2.2 CDTi) - What an awful car, thought i needed to buy a diesel to be sensible and save for the house - kept it about 3 weeks and sold for Astra VXR.
Honda Accord (2.2 CDTi) - What an awful car, thought i needed to buy a diesel to be sensible and save for the house - kept it about 3 weeks and sold for Astra VXR.
One of the first BMW Z4s intro the country ('53 plate) - got a good deal on a cancelled order and bought without a test drive as I needed a car in a hurry. Because BMW don't make cars that drive anything less than brilliantly, right?
Wrong.
An utter piece of s
t, awful to drive, no grip due to the ridiculous run-flats, awful ride, not that fast. And it was dreadfully unreliable - BMW took it back off me in shame after 18 months, the majority of which it had spent being fixed/getting parts changed/broken down...
Hated every minute with that car.
Wrong.
An utter piece of s
t, awful to drive, no grip due to the ridiculous run-flats, awful ride, not that fast. And it was dreadfully unreliable - BMW took it back off me in shame after 18 months, the majority of which it had spent being fixed/getting parts changed/broken down...Hated every minute with that car.
I had a Saturday job in a Garage.18 years old, ink drying on my pink slip. Over in monument corner sat a 1953 Cadillac still on USA plates. Long story but it became mine for £15. Drove it around on the garage trade plates, 8 liter V8 two speed auto. Ideal thing on a Student grant and part time wage. Looked like a spaceship in 1960's Glasgow ,with similar fuel consumption reckoned at 5 mpg. Drove like a wet mattress, steering column felt made from some type of rubber connected to the wheels by elastic bands. Stopped only due to wind resistance, 6 volt electrics,utterly dire. Eventually swapped it for a Manx Norton but that's another story. Then the Chevron B4, the old 911 found in a Dunoon shed, it'll only cost a few quid to fix said the guy. Yeah right !!.Two broken torsion bars = financial ruin.
First sensible car was a Coombs 3.8 Jag MK 2. Carmen Red, offset Borrani wires on Dunlop racers Koni's all round, Motolita wheel and seat belts. Wow. A veil is best drawn over the red Elan which came complete with an Albatross speedboat. Live and learn.
First sensible car was a Coombs 3.8 Jag MK 2. Carmen Red, offset Borrani wires on Dunlop racers Koni's all round, Motolita wheel and seat belts. Wow. A veil is best drawn over the red Elan which came complete with an Albatross speedboat. Live and learn.
2 that spring to mind
Locost Kit car with 2L Pinto - bought off the bay unseen and sold 7 weeks later after having driven it once. Arkward fuel filler - which meant you could only put in pence of petrol before it would stop. Gear linkage was I believe last used in the titanic - horrible affair. The welding was done by a pigeon. Anyway sold it for a few hundred more than I bought it for.
Merc E300 - need a station car flew to Scotland to pick it up - he must have taken the pictures on the other side when it turned up it was as rotten as can be. Drive home wont accelerate - needed 2k worth of worth doing in the 1st week then the head gasket was staring to fail at which point I traded it in for a R35 GTR - they gave me 2.5k for it which meant I only lost a few hundred pounds. The only saving grace was everything electrical worked !
Locost Kit car with 2L Pinto - bought off the bay unseen and sold 7 weeks later after having driven it once. Arkward fuel filler - which meant you could only put in pence of petrol before it would stop. Gear linkage was I believe last used in the titanic - horrible affair. The welding was done by a pigeon. Anyway sold it for a few hundred more than I bought it for.
Merc E300 - need a station car flew to Scotland to pick it up - he must have taken the pictures on the other side when it turned up it was as rotten as can be. Drive home wont accelerate - needed 2k worth of worth doing in the 1st week then the head gasket was staring to fail at which point I traded it in for a R35 GTR - they gave me 2.5k for it which meant I only lost a few hundred pounds. The only saving grace was everything electrical worked !
My 996 turbo. I wanted one for ages, it looked lovely in cobalt blue and it went like a rocket.
Sadly an every day car it is not, it just didn't work in traffic and a quick squirt up the dual carriageway each day seemed too little too late. It cost me a fortune after a PPI with a reputable indie missed a dodgy clutch and was desperately impractical.
I still like the look of them, maybe a tip would have worked better but I can't see me buying another 911
Sadly an every day car it is not, it just didn't work in traffic and a quick squirt up the dual carriageway each day seemed too little too late. It cost me a fortune after a PPI with a reputable indie missed a dodgy clutch and was desperately impractical.
I still like the look of them, maybe a tip would have worked better but I can't see me buying another 911
My M135. Deliberately bought the 5 door model in view of it being a step up from the FN2 Type R and knowing that a little one was on the way. The car is definitely a step up and enormous fun but completely hopeless as a family car. A kids seat plus the kid seat base renders the front passenger seat uninhabitable to anyone over 5'5". The family dog now has a divider in the back seat supplied by BMW at great expense to provide boot room for a regular collapsible pram that barely fits in. I should have gone for a 3 year old C63 wagon or B& RS4 Avant that i kept threatening to own at the time.
With the current Mrs B making noises about sprog #2 already, a used RS6 / E63 is on the list, as I am not convinced having the space issue with the M135 that the new C63 would be spacious enough.
With the current Mrs B making noises about sprog #2 already, a used RS6 / E63 is on the list, as I am not convinced having the space issue with the M135 that the new C63 would be spacious enough.
thatguy11 said:
Mk1 Focus, my first car. Huge disappointment, largely because mine seemed to be the least reliable Focus in the known universe. My friend also had a Mk1 around the same time I did, and his never missed a beat. In two years of ownership, I had to replace:
- electric window motor
- speedo sensor
- fuel pump
- entire exhaust system
- front springs and shocks (both corners)
- boot latch
- fanbelt
- battery
Also the fabled brilliant Mk1 Focus steering was crap, although this may have just been my car. And occasionally when stopping at a junction it would stall...while not in gear.
I hate to say it but my mk1 focus was perfect. Handling was great, engine was sweet, nothing went wrong. Although the suspention did collapse about 3 months after I sold it...- electric window motor
- speedo sensor
- fuel pump
- entire exhaust system
- front springs and shocks (both corners)
- boot latch
- fanbelt
- battery
Also the fabled brilliant Mk1 Focus steering was crap, although this may have just been my car. And occasionally when stopping at a junction it would stall...while not in gear.
Two for me.
2000 Peugeot 306 convertible.
THE MOST uncomfortable seats in any vehicle short of a camel.
All delusions of looking cool with my first convertible were always shattered by a sound like a baby screaming every time the roof went down, until it decided it didnt like that any more and cost me about £400 for a new roof motor.
Comically bad scuttle shake
Leaky, noisy interior
Bootlid that, after two months of behaving perfectly in terms of staying open and being able to open when car was unlocked, stopped doing both of those things with the keys in it. Cue locksmith circular sawing a hole into the lid. Peugeot couldn't see a way to reprogram the new lock to the remote key so for the last week I had it it had a key for the car and a smaller poverty spec key for the boot only. Nasty.
2002 Audi A8 2.8 Sport Quattro
This was the "final edition", thankfully. Had 20" wheels, all the kit and was a great looking car in black on black. Hateful thing to live with though.
Liked collecting water behind the dashboard and its expensive TV/satnav/control screen, every now and then depositing some of that water, mixed with manky leaves, over the old woman' feet.
6 ABS sensors in as many months
Water pump made of after eight wrapper plastics, narrowly avoided catasttophic overheating episode by emergency stop when needle rocketed upward
Eat tyres long before their natural death through potholes (perhaps not a criticism fairly levelled at the car)
All others have been great.
2000 Peugeot 306 convertible.
THE MOST uncomfortable seats in any vehicle short of a camel.
All delusions of looking cool with my first convertible were always shattered by a sound like a baby screaming every time the roof went down, until it decided it didnt like that any more and cost me about £400 for a new roof motor.
Comically bad scuttle shake
Leaky, noisy interior
Bootlid that, after two months of behaving perfectly in terms of staying open and being able to open when car was unlocked, stopped doing both of those things with the keys in it. Cue locksmith circular sawing a hole into the lid. Peugeot couldn't see a way to reprogram the new lock to the remote key so for the last week I had it it had a key for the car and a smaller poverty spec key for the boot only. Nasty.
2002 Audi A8 2.8 Sport Quattro
This was the "final edition", thankfully. Had 20" wheels, all the kit and was a great looking car in black on black. Hateful thing to live with though.
Liked collecting water behind the dashboard and its expensive TV/satnav/control screen, every now and then depositing some of that water, mixed with manky leaves, over the old woman' feet.
6 ABS sensors in as many months
Water pump made of after eight wrapper plastics, narrowly avoided catasttophic overheating episode by emergency stop when needle rocketed upward
Eat tyres long before their natural death through potholes (perhaps not a criticism fairly levelled at the car)
All others have been great.
uuf361 said:
A few haven't been great:
Mk2 Astra (when I was 18) - in its past it must have had a dodgy history as it was a bit rubbish overall.
Nah, wasn't dodgy history. Wife and I bought 2 new Mk 1.3L Astra Merits in our youth. Looked nice and shiny in the showroom and thought it was a step up from our first cars.Mk2 Astra (when I was 18) - in its past it must have had a dodgy history as it was a bit rubbish overall.
Both hateful, a mass of hard plastic with every unused switch blanked off taunting you - Merit = hunger spec. No 5th gear so motorways were 4K rpm assaults on the senses. Seats resulted in both visiting the osteopath for months.
Eventually ended up trying to kill it off by using it to carry horse feed & bedding. Was last seen on bricks in an estate front garden.
Since learnt to do some research, the follies of yoof....
Owned 22+ cars - easier to enumerate the ones I don't regret - I think 3 have been ok, a couple just about reasonable and the rest were all big regret.
Worst was a 2005 Jag XJ though, by some margin.
ETA - Audi A3 is catching it up for crapness.
Worst was a 2005 Jag XJ though, by some margin.
ETA - Audi A3 is catching it up for crapness.
Edited by V8forweekends on Monday 29th September 13:55
In 2000 I part-exed my immaculate 11K miles owned from new V8 Rosso red AJP Cerbera for a brand new Tuscan that I'd been to the factory to see being built.......... Within 10 miles I knew It was never going to be what I imagined, by the time I got it home I'd found a dozen things wrong with it and nine months later ( nearly 2/3rds of which had been back at the dealers) when it left me stranded on an industrial site for the umpteenth time I told them to go get it and sell it as I never ever wanted to see the pile of st again. Not only did it put me off TVR's for life (I'd had four) it nearly put me off cars full stop.
t again. Not only did it put me off TVR's for life (I'd had four) it nearly put me off cars full stop.From a satisfaction POV - or lack thereof - only 1 car in 24 years of driving:-
The MK4 Golf R32
I've owned several unsatisfying cars (Pug 106, Cavalier, Allegro, Jetta, Alfa 147, Rover 25 et al) but I knew they were dull before buying them. I expected more from the R32. It's always been on my 'car Bucket List' but what a disappointment. If ever a car failed to live up to it's on-paper credentials, it's the R32. It really should have been a thrill a minute, but it was a yawn a second. A car with the most irritating engine in the world, which tries to break your neck with brutal and jerky throttle response below 2500rpm, and then feels flat as a fart from then on.
Very reliable though. Well, mine was. I liked it quite a lot initially, but then like a girlfriend I was only interested in sexually, I got bored of it real quick.
The MK4 Golf R32
I've owned several unsatisfying cars (Pug 106, Cavalier, Allegro, Jetta, Alfa 147, Rover 25 et al) but I knew they were dull before buying them. I expected more from the R32. It's always been on my 'car Bucket List' but what a disappointment. If ever a car failed to live up to it's on-paper credentials, it's the R32. It really should have been a thrill a minute, but it was a yawn a second. A car with the most irritating engine in the world, which tries to break your neck with brutal and jerky throttle response below 2500rpm, and then feels flat as a fart from then on.
Very reliable though. Well, mine was. I liked it quite a lot initially, but then like a girlfriend I was only interested in sexually, I got bored of it real quick.
For some odd reason I was persuaded to swap my V8 SD1 for a Maestro.
What an utter utter pile of crap. Kept telling me that the battery was not charging (yes, it was the talking one). It was as I checked it with a meter.
Then parked at the traffic lights it emitted the most awful amount of white smoke I have ever seen coming from a car.
What an utter utter pile of crap. Kept telling me that the battery was not charging (yes, it was the talking one). It was as I checked it with a meter.
Then parked at the traffic lights it emitted the most awful amount of white smoke I have ever seen coming from a car.
WreckedGecko said:
thatguy11 said:
Mk1 Focus, my first car. Huge disappointment, largely because mine seemed to be the least reliable Focus in the known universe. My friend also had a Mk1 around the same time I did, and his never missed a beat. In two years of ownership, I had to replace:
- electric window motor
- speedo sensor
- fuel pump
- entire exhaust system
- front springs and shocks (both corners)
- boot latch
- fanbelt
- battery
Also the fabled brilliant Mk1 Focus steering was crap, although this may have just been my car. And occasionally when stopping at a junction it would stall...while not in gear.
I hate to say it but my mk1 focus was perfect. Handling was great, engine was sweet, nothing went wrong. Although the suspention did collapse about 3 months after I sold it...- electric window motor
- speedo sensor
- fuel pump
- entire exhaust system
- front springs and shocks (both corners)
- boot latch
- fanbelt
- battery
Also the fabled brilliant Mk1 Focus steering was crap, although this may have just been my car. And occasionally when stopping at a junction it would stall...while not in gear.
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