engines - crappiest of them all ?

[SuperHangOn]

The Trabant engine. Apparently you had to fill them with oil at every fill up (?) and belched thick noxious smoke everywhere. Lovely.

Triumph Stag V8.

Rover 4.0/4.6 V8. Pathetic power, atrocious economy and the blocks self-destructed.

[gazza285]

TankRizzo said:

I4 - Peugeot XUD9A, 68bhp from a 1.9 diesel unit. I affectionately christened it "creeping death".

They last a long time though, just a shame it feels like forever...

[clunkbox]

Chris1255 said:

Ford Duratorq 1.4 TDCi. Fiesta hire car, I'm sure it moved when you pressed the accelerator but it would have taken a team of scientists to detect it...

I don't know if they've ruined it since then, but I used to drive a 2004 Fiesta and Fusion with that engine and really liked it for what it was (small, economical and kinda slow). You have to drive it more like a petrol than a diesel, not much torque but rev the hell out of it and it'll go.

One was still going strong at 200k and the other at 180k when they were sold. Only issue is fuel system starts leaking at 100k. And ours got driven hard from cold daily. Particularly on the steep hill leaving Inverness, which required third gear and redline for almost two miles to maintain 70 mph in the Fusion, but it never complained.

One 500 mile round trip the Fusion managed three people, the boot and most of the back seat loaded to the roof, with a boat towed behind. And I still managed to overtake HGVs on the A9. Just.

[framerateuk]

Jonny_ said:

Worst four pot: GM (Vauxhall/Opel etc) 1.4 Ecotec.

- No torque low down
- Not much more in mid-range
- And not a lot at the top end either
- Coarse and noisy
- Lousy economy

Tried the 1.2 Ecotec? All of the above, but worse in every way.

The Vauxhall 2.0L Diesel in the Insignia is a woeful engine too. Plenty of go, but very uncivilized and noisy.

[MX51ROD]

TankRizzo said:

I4 - Peugeot XUD9A, 68bhp from a 1.9 diesel unit. I affectionately christened it "creeping death".

That engine was also in my first Berlingo van , the driving method is the same as a 2CV , keep going, brake as little as possible, hence front tyre wear was not good

[clunkbox]

I'd say the most crappiest engine I've experienced is the 1.8 petrol in '13 or or '14 Insignia Hire car. No torque, no top end power and it sounded horrible, which is a shame because I was actually pretty impressed by everything else about that car. Perhaps it just needed to loosen up due to being new, but I've never had the displeasure of an engine with so little character.

[Axionknight]

framerateuk said:

Tried the 1.2 Ecotec? All of the above, but worse in every way.

The Vauxhall 2.0L Diesel in the Insignia is a woeful engine too. Plenty of go, but very uncivilized and noisy.

I was in an Insignia taxi last weekend that sounded like a tractor, compared to my 5 pot Volvo diesel (D3/150bhp), it was awful infact.

[iloveboost]

Andy665 said:

Many will disagree but how the combined resources of Volkswagen Group could create such a dull, characterless engine as the 1.8T lump is beyond me. Had two cars with those engines and hared them - tuneable maybe but that's like sprinkling a dog turf with glitter and saying its now pretty

I think they were good engines for their time, but the 1.8T sounded dull compared to some five and six cylinder engines. You could make the same cricicim of most four cylinder Saab and Volvo turbo engines around that time. A map and intake will liven up the noise and power delivery.

[crossy67]

Wow, when I read the thread title I immediately thought CVH, looks like I'm not the only one. In fact, I can't think of many good (for their period) recent Ford engines. The 1.8 Duratorque in the older Connect and Mondeos, no power until 1500rpm then boom and it's all over by 3k. I drove quite a few new cars for a few years and never drove a Ford who's engine performed well. The 1.6 16v Focus, gutless bottom end and really didn't wanr to rev past 3500rmp.

But there is an even better gem no one has mentioned yet. The original 1.6 diesel they put in the Mk3 Escort and Fiestas. Never in my life have I driven anything so slow. Add to that their habit of catastrophically and instantaneously cracking cylinder heads leading to them spewing all their engine oil all over the road. This is my worst engine of all time.

[gazza285]

SuperHangOn said:

The Trabant engine. Apparently you had to fill them with oil at every fill up (?) and belched thick noxious smoke everywhere. Lovely.

Two stroke engine, you put oil in the petrol.

[iloveboost]

Oilchange said:

Another vote for the Ford CVH. Gutless, uneconomical and unreliable and worse still it was the best thing about the entire car, which says very little.
Boat anchor.

In the US they got the CVH in the lower spec Focus. Lowers the price point, but I bet some people dislike the Focus because of it.

[AC43]

crossy67 said:

Wow, when I read the thread title I immediately thought CVH, looks like I'm not the only one. In fact, I can't think of many good (for their period) recent Ford engines. The 1.8 Duratorque in the older Connect and Mondeos, no power until 1500rpm then boom and it's all over by 3k. I drove quite a few new cars for a few years and never drove a Ford who's engine performed well. The 1.6 16v Focus, gutless bottom end and really didn't wanr to rev past 3500rmp.

But there is an even better gem no one has mentioned yet. The original 1.6 diesel they put in the Mk3 Escort and Fiestas. Never in my life have I driven anything so slow. Add to that their habit of catastrophically and instantaneously cracking cylinder heads leading to them spewing all their engine oil all over the road. This is my worst engine of all time.

Yeah CVH's were awful. I had a Sud when my old man had an Escort. The CVH moved the Ford thing forward 20 years but unfortunately only for the early 50's (Kent) to the early 70's (akin to something Fiat were putting into the original 128.

But you've reminded me of the non-turbo Cavalier 1.7 I had for a week once. Sounded like a Massey Fergueson but couldn't pull a greased stick out of a dog's arse.

[AC43]

cirian75 said:

Old mans TLR had open harpoon race cans, the smtek airbox mods and yoshibox, it sounded glorious

Much like this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqeiAXIMi-M

Edited by cirian75 on Friday 22 May 07:16

Heaven. That's what a twin should sound like

[castex]

Mr E said:

You are of course correct. I vaguely recall an attempt at a flat 12 that was dreadful around that era and assumed it was life.
Google tells me it was a coloni-Subaru effort; and never made a race.

Wowsers, kudos to you sir.

[Bone Rat]

Lot of newish engines here but my nadir was reached with the Soviet copy of the lovely Fiat engines of the 70's. Yes the hateful things found in Ladas. had one in a Niva. 1600cc of Ivan's best...
Noisy, sounded like some sort of threshing machine off the steppes, lacking torque, thirsty & crude. It did seem to go on forever though unlike the body work & self destructing interior

[iloveboost]

jamies30 said:

V5 as fitted to the B5.5 VW Passat. As smooth as a 4, as economical as a 6. No redeeming features at all.

The V5 was probably the least popular engine because other than a nice noise, why wouldn't you buy a 1.8T? I don't think it was crap.

[Coatesy351]

Oldsmobile 350 diesel

[fatjon]

texaxile said:

Vauxhall V6 as fitted to the Omegas etc worth a dishonourable mention.

Leaky rocker box covers, seizing oil filter brackets, plastic tensioners prone to breaking, oil prone to mixing with coolant. Apart from putting out reasonable power and being smooth, if you had a bad one ( as I did ) they're a nightmare.

I have had several of them. Currently have a 169000 mile Frontera 3.2. In over 200,000 miles of driving a vectra 2.5, an Omega 2.5 and 3.0 and the 3.2 Frontera I have had one leaking oil sender and one failed cam sensor and one cracked exhaust manifold. Maybe I'm just lucky?

[itcaptainslow]

Limpet said:

itcaptainslow said:

pigeonskirt said:

Rover K series??

Why?

I don't think it's the worst, but it's a bit crap. How many otherwise tidy, well cared for Rovers end up in scrapyards or in the classifieds as spares or repair because of HGF?

I accept that the K is very innovative, and has lots of positive attributes, but it has this massive, fundamental issue that you can't really overlook if you plan to own one for any period of time.

It perplexes me as it's an issue which can be sorted comparatively cheaply and permanently. Other than the HGF issue, it's lightweight, tuneable, economical and produces decent power even in standard trim. Likes revs and sounds good too.

I'd say the HGF problem is fairly minor compared to issues other modern engines have!

[pigeonskirt]

itcaptainslow said:

Limpet said:

itcaptainslow said:

pigeonskirt said:

Rover K series??

Why?

I don't think it's the worst, but it's a bit crap. How many otherwise tidy, well cared for Rovers end up in scrapyards or in the classifieds as spares or repair because of HGF?

I accept that the K is very innovative, and has lots of positive attributes, but it has this massive, fundamental issue that you can't really overlook if you plan to own one for any period of time.

It perplexes me as it's an issue which can be sorted comparatively cheaply and permanently. Other than the HGF issue, it's lightweight, tuneable, economical and produces decent power even in standard trim. Likes revs and sounds good too.

I'd say the HGF problem is fairly minor compared to issues other modern engines have!

I agree in part, but many a crap engine could be made better if it was modified beyond original specification. HGF was/is a fundamental issue which affects many of these engines and ultimately spoils what good features the engine has (in my opinion of course).