A car you instantly regretted buying

A car you instantly regretted buying

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Discussion

keith2.2

1,100 posts

194 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Richieboy3008 said:
Honda S2000. My previous car was a Civic Type R, so I assumed an S2000 was the next logical step. Very disappointed, hardly any faster than the Civic, codt a lot more to run and just nowhere nesr as fun.
Isn't taste and preference a funny thing. My S2000 is the only car I truly regret getting rid of.

Madkat

1,147 posts

171 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Baryonyx said:
It was mechanical failure that got me.

I bought an Audi TT 225 from a colleague. Now, the price was about right and I knew the car had been well cared for. Just before I bought it, the cambelt snapped and the head was wrecked. it had been rebuilt at considerable expense to the owner at VW Silverlink, and in the meantime she'd bought a new mk2 TT.

I went and had a look over the car where it was stored, as it had been off the road for a few weeks since she'd got the new one. It all seemed to be working nicely. I paid up a few days later, handing the cash over and picking the car up in the evening. The first ten minutes of the drive were lovely, but then I noticed that it wouldn't boost properly; it'd rev to about 5000rpm, stutter and bog for a second and then surge to the redline. I thought that may have just been a hiccup, so I took it home, set it down for an hour or two and went out again at about 10PM. As I left my street, the ESP warning light flashed on, bringing me out in a cold sweat. I switched off and started again, but the trouble seemed ingrained then. I drove it out a bit and took it home, and noted that it also seemed to be running pretty rich judging by the exhaust smell, despite being properly warmed through.

Luckily, having bought this shonka from a colleague, she graciously accepted it back and refunded me, in agreement that it was obviously suffering from faults that needed rectifying. I dropped it off at VW Silverlink the next morning and never saw it again. I was gutted it didn't work out, as it would have been a lovely car if it had worked as it should have.

Coilpacks?

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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gck303 said:
phil4 said:
Toyota Prius, my first ever brand new car... bought when I was doing a long slog weekly along the M4/M25, thought some MPG and lack of congestion charge would be nice.

But that quickly changed, and as a normal car, well it had some nice gadgets but: It was really S-L-O-W... Waaaay too much body-roll. Horribly plasticky interior. Seated too high up. I'm sure there were redeeming features, but I can't think of any right now.
We have one as a second car. We really rate it. Why?

They are a bargain.

i) They are really very inexpensive to buy used. They are much less dearer than a comparitively aged auto Golf.
ii) They don't go wrong. At least ours has not.
iii) Tax. Minimal road tax and half price parking permits.
Valid points for a daily driver. However I can't help thinking the list of points above is what someone would look for in a car that has zero interest in cars.

Mike_C

984 posts

221 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Range Rover Classic - my first one, and not even my last! List of problems on the way home:

- Bought with an apparently empty tank, stuck £50 of petrol in, fuel gauge didn't move, required a new fuel level sender (pig to get to!)
- On the motorway the speedo decided to give up after a few minutes at a constant speed, at which point it had decided I knew what speed I was doing and it was no longer required. Also meant the mileometer stopped counting, making the "genuine low mileage" somewhat dubious...
- The sunroof that had so blissfully opened at the beginning of my sunny journey decided it didn't want to close when it started raining. Excellent.

I actually really rather liked that car, but even when I sold it it gave me hassle - the DVLA didn't process the V5 and I started getting bus lane fine and parking tickets courtesy of the new owner!!

Spannerski

127 posts

110 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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2003 BMW 320 diesel sport.
The most uncomfortable seats in the world. In agony after 45 minutes and I had to drive it for upto 4 hours a day.
Went back to driving my Rover 400 much more comfortable!

TokyoRich

135 posts

180 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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2004 Cayenne, a week after I bought it, (Christmas eve) cooling pipes in the engine went boom. £2k later back on the road, 6 months later, drive shaft bearing goes, another bill, back on the road, notice water in the passenger foot-well as the electrics have gone bonkers.. was just a money pit. Having said that I had everything fixed and sold it for a bargain!

athol

325 posts

209 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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renmure said:
Porsche 996 Turbo S. Collected it and knew within 100 miles it was a mistake. Super fast and super smooth, but otherwise fairly bland. Fast as st off a shovel but once the novelty of going very quickly, very easily wore off, there was no real drama and not much else to enjoy. No doubt the perfect car for some folk but not for me.
Same for me. Traded a 993tt for a 996tt tip and knew I'd committed an act of lunacy within a day. Hugely fast, too easy. Zero drama.

Changed for a 996tt manual which was marginally better. Had it for 6 months, bought another 993tt.

Made all further turbo Porches boring for me. Haven't even considered a 997 or 991.

Ali_T

3,379 posts

256 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Alfa 33 16V Permanent 4

The alarm bells should have gone off when the RAC inspection turned up lots of filler at the rear and a dent on the front wing diagonally opposite. Not to mention that it was an ex lease car that had obviously been mercilessly thrashes and not looked after. But I wanted one, and it was the only one on sale. Had to take the train from Edinburgh to London and drive it back up. It broke down on the M40. And again on the M6. And again on the M8. That started a 3 month saga of the local Alfa dealer being unable to fix anything and the warranty company denying every claim. To think I bought it to save money!

The Don of Croy

5,975 posts

158 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Tonsko said:
...The last straw was when we went to a free party in Wales...
Please don't tell me people 'pay' to go to parties in Wales. The shame.

My most recent worst car was a Volvo V70 D5 SE - bought blind off the web. Me in Sussex, car in Edinburgh. Phone call to establish bona-fides - chap was helpful, full dealer history, only one prior owner, 130k, loads of kit, very keen I should see the car before buying...

Knocked him down £600 to <£3000 and Easyjet one morning to the frozen north. Car was clean but far more bodily scrapes than the photos on AT could show. Nothing too major but nearly every panel had a dink. Mudflap fell off one corner when I shut the door. Nevertheless money had been wired through and off I went...just 20 minutes down the road the engine 'hesitates' whilst cruising at 70 - all the warning lights illuminate but then disappear as the engine re-starts, but the aircon and cruise are temporarily unavailable (but come back after a re-start).

Same hiccup occurs once more on the homeward journey. Telephone previous owner - never experienced it! Over the next 18 months it repeats this hiccup peripatetically and it gets longer...sometimes with a light power surge too.

On holiday in France next spring the aux belt gives out on Day One. Travel insurance gets us mobile and we collect car on way home at the end of the week (450.00 eur poorer). CD player jammed on the quayside - when I removed it the ECU needed re-setting (£45) otherwise it wouldn't recognise it and disabled the ABS for good measure.

First service recommends brake fluid change - no bleed nipples on three calipers. £1000 later it has new brake fluid, and some re-furb calipers. Mechanic has holiday on proceeds (I think).

That was the last straw - part-ex (£2000 back!!) and move on.

Other than that I still really like big Volvo's - nothing better packed to the roof with family and bikes off on holiday sitting in comfort. As long as it gets there.

Tonsko

6,299 posts

214 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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The Don of Croy said:
Please don't tell me people 'pay' to go to parties in Wales. The shame.
Heh. That was just what we called them. Outdoor parties run by folk with generators and a sound system. Raves, if you like.

alburnie

22 posts

213 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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BMW 750i…a black, V12, make that a V9 by how it went, and more bongs, bings and warning bells than a crazed ice cream van. A total shed that I thought would be a great cruiser. This knack of mine to own fantastic cars, along with, what I thought were quite leftfield and cool continued for some years. They included in no particular order the following absolute rubbish. Cadillac Escalade in black with huge wheels, Tiger Woods had one at the time I bought it off the showroom floor and I liked golf! What more stupid reasons do you need? Evo FQsomething or other..couldn't drive more than ten minutes quickly without needing to visit a petrol station and they sound nasally challenged despite all the power. A Golf R32. Not a bad car but what is it that people love about these so much, a basic GTi at the time was and is way better, why did I upgrade? This again like the Evo and Cadillac were brand new and I never test drove them prior to ordering. Lesson learned methinks. Comically abusive comments expected and deserved gentlemen.

moffat

1,020 posts

224 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Well not mine exactly but my wife's now ex new Mercedes A220 CDI AMG whatever... It's pretty awful in nearly every way. Terrible engine, sounds like worse than a black cab, terrible ride with suspension so unforgiving that you need dental insurance, horrible plastic interior.... not sure what else to say... it replaced a Scirocco which I didn't like that much either but this was a whole new level of awful.

At the same time I had a new C63 Coupe and they couldn't have been further apart in quality - especially ride. Even with the AMG suspension and 19" alloys the C63 rode so much better.

My own personal mistake tend to stem from not speccing enough stuff, but I generally get my car choice right.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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TVR Chimaera. Had an S2 prior to that that drove like a go-kart and I absolutely loved it, perfect Sunday/weekend car. The example I owned must of been one of the best out there. Even so, the Chimaera was the car I always wanted. Admittedly it was faster and sounded better but was much more grown up, more of a GT type car and bit of a let down to be honest. Then one the liners slipped in the engine so I had to get it rebuilt at considerable expense. Put me off TVRs for life which probably did me a massive favour as next on my list would of been a moneypit Cerbera......

DaveB42

3 posts

199 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Audi S3 DSG - awful car:
Suspension made from scaffold poles so rubbish ride and handling unless on race track
Sport mode that ragged it to red line in every gear before changing up
Economy mode that changed up immediately before turbo properly spun up making it feel like a dog
Impossible to pull away smoothly at roundabouts in first without turbo spinning up and launching you forwards, try to grab next gear to avoid this but paddles not where I left them due to them being on the back of the wheel which of course I had turned in order to get around the roundabout (trying to use the gear lever helped a little but not much) - I live in Milton Keynes so this was a bit of an issue
Made my wife car sick within 100 metres

Sold it within 3 months losing £5k

Will need quite some persuasion to buy another Audi as a result.

willmagrath

1,207 posts

145 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Dr_Rick said:
Had a Disco4 living in the sticks, when we moved to town we figured something smaller was needed.

1 - 'Logic'was applied and an F15 X5 was bought. City driving was a nightmare because the car flared wider below the window line so you never really knew where the edges were. Sold it after a couple of months of fear of scratching it up.

2 - Got a 5door Evoque. Seating is comfortable. That's about its only redeeming feature. Boot is tiny, engine rough, ride even worse. Will offload momentarily.
There's ya lesson, dont buy a 4x4 as a normal car unless you really need it to go offroad!!

Atmospheric

5,305 posts

207 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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A 1999 Jaguar S-Type 3.0 V6

Everything failed spectacularly with one week.

It was 2014 in the "rains", which engulfed southern England.

First a offside rear suspension squeak fine with it as it was a shed.

Then it wouldn't go into gear.

Then it developed a misfire on Cylinder 5

Then it conked out on Junction 4 of the M20 causing a massive tailback.

Scrapped it.

GM182

1,263 posts

224 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Always enjoy this type of thread as it makes me feel less bad about some of the stinkers I've bought. smile

1993 Camaro 5.7 when I was in Dubai. Endless transmission and a/c problems and the handling was pretty crap too but I'd known I would buy it as soon as I blipped the throttle and it rocked on its suspension. It got me from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in an hour 100 mph average speed when it was on song.

Alfa gtv coupe. Busso engine was superb sounding but needing a new clutch and two weeks later an alternator that was between the engine and bulkhead necessitating an engine drop was painful on a £1500 car. Only kept it for 6 months.

Most disappointing was probably my recent 996 c4s cabriolet. Hard ride, not really that fast, lots of niggles plus wishbones, alternator, ill fitting RMS needing to be done twice. Never gelled but kept it a year in the hope that I would fall for it but never did.

Gone back to a hot hatch (Megane 225) just waiting for something to go wrong but so far so good


mikey k

13,011 posts

215 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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keith2.2 said:
Richieboy3008 said:
Honda S2000. My previous car was a Civic Type R, so I assumed an S2000 was the next logical step. Very disappointed, hardly any faster than the Civic, codt a lot more to run and just nowhere nesr as fun.
Isn't taste and preference a funny thing. My S2000 is the only car I truly regret getting rid of.
How is a purpose design RWD roadster a logical step up from a 3dr FWD hatch rolleyes

l354uge

2,892 posts

120 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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VTEC YO

Barkercup

24 posts

195 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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Clio 172 Cup,

Was hunting around for a good one last summer. Found one on ebay with 58k. Rang the bloke, It all checked out got the train up the next day to pick it up. looked lovely as per mileage and ran nice when cold. stopped for fuel noticed it sounded like a diesel, couldn't change the blowers from the demist setting, brakes were wooden, got it home and had a torrential downpour overnight and it filled full of water, same day drove to work in the wet and crossed a roundabout at 10mph and exited it backwards thanks to a nice worn set of sunny tyres. You could feel the steering wheel falling to bits as you drove it. I commuted 50 miles a day in it for nearly a year after doing a 12 hour nightshift which nearly made me cry every time.

Also had a 911 carrera 3.2 which was possibly worse!