The worst car you've ever driven...
Discussion
Ian_UK1 said:
Vauxhall Vectra - I had one of these forced on me as a company car in 1997. Absolutely hateful PoS with no redeeming features whatsoever:
Gutless, thirsty, droning, 4-pot dog of an engine.
Lousy, obstructive gear-change. Over damped action with too much mass in the linkage.
Completely dead steering. No chatter and no feedback (change in weight) to let you know what the front wheels were doing.
Appalling bouncy chassis. Over-sprung and under-damped (or maybe the other way round; it was too bad to tell)!
Terminal understeer even if you trail-braked into a corner to keep more weight on the nose.
Possibly the most boringly-styled car ever.
Dire interior, poor driving position and instant backache from the improperly-contoured seats.
'Repmobile' image. The only car people ever took the piss out of me for driving!
I always wished I'd wake-up to find it had caught fire and died!
We had a couple as pool cars where I used to work T-reg so around the same age as yours.Gutless, thirsty, droning, 4-pot dog of an engine.
Lousy, obstructive gear-change. Over damped action with too much mass in the linkage.
Completely dead steering. No chatter and no feedback (change in weight) to let you know what the front wheels were doing.
Appalling bouncy chassis. Over-sprung and under-damped (or maybe the other way round; it was too bad to tell)!
Terminal understeer even if you trail-braked into a corner to keep more weight on the nose.
Possibly the most boringly-styled car ever.
Dire interior, poor driving position and instant backache from the improperly-contoured seats.
'Repmobile' image. The only car people ever took the piss out of me for driving!
I always wished I'd wake-up to find it had caught fire and died!
They used to get so much stick it wasn't even funny, we were young lads at the time and hooligans mostly so they received zero mechanical sympathy, redline from a cold start in every gear, usually bouncing off the limiter before you'd change up, no exaggeration.
One lad used to cruise at motorway speeds in 3rd gear just to use more fuel and try to blow them up, even I wasn't heartless enough to do that to them though.
Every trip out was treated as a maximum attack rally stage, fun times!
So I do have a weird soft spot for the mk1 Vectra even though I know it wasn't exactly an engineering marvel. One finally gave up the ghost when it boiled in traffic in the middle of Birmingham after a long hack down the M6, not sure what happened to the other, but they both made 100K miles with ease even being driven like this.
coppice said:
You lads are spoiled youngsters; you missed the delights of a 1970 something Skoda 110L(unbelievably bad steering and engine which would be defeated by rice pudding skin ) Viva HA (snappy gearchange but engine a thrashy horror producing about 30bhp on a good day ) SC 100 Suzuki (directional stability of a helium balloon yet unaccountably popular with some anoraks) Marina TC (there aren't the words )and , of course , the mighty Allegro and Maxi. The latter's gearchange was operable entirely, and solely by prayer and its engine mounts were made from pre chewed liquorice .
We had two 110L at one point, my father bought one new as his first ever new car.Throttle cable regularly snapped and he had three clutches in the first year under warranty, so they put a racing clutch in, we had to take it to Brackley/Banbury for it to be fitted under warranty (from London) Details sketchy as I was about 8 at the time.
As for BL vehicles, they were all crap at one point, only at the time as good as could be expected from any car.
Which brings me to the worse car I ever owned, a 7 seater Montego Countryman, with the emphasis on C***
In between buying it and picking it up, the owners wife took it for one last drive and drove it over a mini roundabout, fracturing the sump, which the owner sealed with P40 filler. That lasted about 100 miles, about the same amount as the split radiator hose, fixed with a piece of waste pipe that shrank with the heat and so lost all water.
New sump, oh sir that's not a montego engine, it's a maesro engine, quite common, BL through in anything avaialable.
Wipers broke as the splines were stripped. Sorry you can't buy the spline, you have to buy the mechanism, then because BL use anything, that won't fit your motor, so it's a new motor as well. Then that might not fit the wiring, because BL use whatevers in the parts bin...
They were drilled and a self tapper used.
Brakes were a mixture from the BL parts bin, with different bits from different cars on different axles.
It's final death was a call from my wife "theres smoke coming from the bonnet". After the water loss episode I thought another hose had gone. "Do you mean steam", "No black smoke and now fire"
It had overheated but as she was late picking the kids up from school she'd kept going with every light flashing on the dash. I tried to let her to let it burn but as it was parked at the school the head was fighting it with extinguishers and the fire brigade put the rest out.
I happily accepted the insurance payout and asked if I could watch the hateful thing being crushed.
In between buying it and picking it up, the owners wife took it for one last drive and drove it over a mini roundabout, fracturing the sump, which the owner sealed with P40 filler. That lasted about 100 miles, about the same amount as the split radiator hose, fixed with a piece of waste pipe that shrank with the heat and so lost all water.
New sump, oh sir that's not a montego engine, it's a maesro engine, quite common, BL through in anything avaialable.
Wipers broke as the splines were stripped. Sorry you can't buy the spline, you have to buy the mechanism, then because BL use anything, that won't fit your motor, so it's a new motor as well. Then that might not fit the wiring, because BL use whatevers in the parts bin...
They were drilled and a self tapper used.
Brakes were a mixture from the BL parts bin, with different bits from different cars on different axles.
It's final death was a call from my wife "theres smoke coming from the bonnet". After the water loss episode I thought another hose had gone. "Do you mean steam", "No black smoke and now fire"
It had overheated but as she was late picking the kids up from school she'd kept going with every light flashing on the dash. I tried to let her to let it burn but as it was parked at the school the head was fighting it with extinguishers and the fire brigade put the rest out.
I happily accepted the insurance payout and asked if I could watch the hateful thing being crushed.
Byker28i said:
We had two 110L at one point, my father bought one new as his first ever new car.
Throttle cable regularly snapped and he had three clutches in the first year under warranty, so they put a racing clutch in, we had to take it to Brackley/Banbury for it to be fitted under warranty (from London) Details sketchy as I was about 8 at the time.
As for BL vehicles, they were all crap at one point, only at the time as good as could be expected from any car.
Trust me - at their worst BL were a whole different stage of horror to others . Fords were infinitely better. BL rubbish epitomised by Dad's Dolomite - 5 gearboxes replaced under warranty in first few months and then the bThrottle cable regularly snapped and he had three clutches in the first year under warranty, so they put a racing clutch in, we had to take it to Brackley/Banbury for it to be fitted under warranty (from London) Details sketchy as I was about 8 at the time.
As for BL vehicles, they were all crap at one point, only at the time as good as could be expected from any car.
d thing tried to kill me by collapsing its NS front suspension as I was crossing Wentbridge viaduct on A1 - the entry to which is downhill right hand curve... 
Lads Riva, worked at a dealers and took it to the banger auction in Altrincham, utter heap.
Corsa mk1 auto, had a sport button on the gear knob, it just made even more noise
Old fiat 500s, mildly amusing but terrible in most ways.
E30 BMW 116i touring auto, what were they thinking teaming that engine and box in that car, way too slow
Various purgatorial vag non turbo diesels, horrid things that would shake your fillings out at idle, gutless as well.
Micro 1 litre, my aunties car, apparently she thinks it is "nippy", ear, no it is not, it is st, no wonder she walks a lot.
Corsa mk1 auto, had a sport button on the gear knob, it just made even more noise
Old fiat 500s, mildly amusing but terrible in most ways.
E30 BMW 116i touring auto, what were they thinking teaming that engine and box in that car, way too slow
Various purgatorial vag non turbo diesels, horrid things that would shake your fillings out at idle, gutless as well.
Micro 1 litre, my aunties car, apparently she thinks it is "nippy", ear, no it is not, it is s
t, no wonder she walks a lot.J4CKO said:
Lads Riva, worked at a dealers and took it to the banger auction in Altrincham, utter heap.
Corsa mk1 auto, had a sport button on the gear knob, it just made even more noise
Old fiat 500s, mildly amusing but terrible in most ways.
E30 BMW 116i touring auto, what were they thinking teaming that engine and box in that car, way too slow
Various purgatorial vag non turbo diesels, horrid things that would shake your fillings out at idle, gutless as well.
Micro 1 litre, my aunties car, apparently she thinks it is "nippy", ear, no it is not, it is st, no wonder she walks a lot.
You're saying about the BMW 116i being slow. I still can't understand why Rover made the M47 BMW engine in the MG ZT and Rover 75 at a pitiful 114bhp. That car was so slow pulling away that it was scary. Such a heavy car with 114bhp! You would think there would be safety measures in place to prevent engines being to weak for heavy cars. Corsa mk1 auto, had a sport button on the gear knob, it just made even more noise
Old fiat 500s, mildly amusing but terrible in most ways.
E30 BMW 116i touring auto, what were they thinking teaming that engine and box in that car, way too slow
Various purgatorial vag non turbo diesels, horrid things that would shake your fillings out at idle, gutless as well.
Micro 1 litre, my aunties car, apparently she thinks it is "nippy", ear, no it is not, it is s
t, no wonder she walks a lot.DegsyE39 said:
X reg 1.0 corsa with the 3 pot lump, Hateful misery inducing turd heap. Crap handling slothlike performance, Just terrible... Also any other vauxhall, Worst seats of any car manufacturer imho, All like church pews.. Dogst
You drive a BMW and think that Vauxhall seats are bad!?t1598Craig said:
But the winner? The 1998 Buick century I drove in Canada.
How can you make a car with a v8 so slow?
It didn't have a V8.How can you make a car with a v8 so slow?
I wonder just how accurate this is. Or possibly, how well-maintained the car was. You can find in countries where there is no equivalent to the MOT (or a very cursory check) that cars simply aren't maintained and only repaired when they fail to move.
My current octavia has its moments. The handling was dreadful as standard. I couldnt believe a car could be set up so badly. But ploybushing and better suspension helped that side of things. Its the reliablity that gets me. Following a mian dealer cambelt change the engine actually fell out of the car, the dealer put it right but it shouldnt happen in the first place. Its got constant niggles and always needs something, from cheap stuff like indicator relays switches, various coolant/boost/vac hoses, interior water leaks, the majority of sensors have been replaced. And the best bit is... They're all common faults that are extremely well documented across the entire VAG group. German build quality my arse!
Its a one owner car with full dealer history and doesnt get ragged. Compared to my old astra with no history, owned by a lad who drove it till it ran out of petrol and it got absolutely ragged raw every trip, it had half the issues the Octavia throws at me.
I can easily forgive previous cars faults as they cost a few hundred and the brands had flakey reputations but I expected much better from VAG.
Its a one owner car with full dealer history and doesnt get ragged. Compared to my old astra with no history, owned by a lad who drove it till it ran out of petrol and it got absolutely ragged raw every trip, it had half the issues the Octavia throws at me.
I can easily forgive previous cars faults as they cost a few hundred and the brands had flakey reputations but I expected much better from VAG.
Edited by KM666 on Sunday 5th June 14:05
RammyMP said:
RammyMP said:
Got a Fiat Punto hire car at the moment, it's woeful. The boot release is a tt, build quality is ste and the further you push the accelerator the louder it gets, doesn't go any quicker though!
Why do people buy these cars when you can get something like a Seat Ibiza for similar money?
And the air con is st, build quality is ste and the further you push the accelerator the louder it gets, doesn't go any quicker though!Why do people buy these cars when you can get something like a Seat Ibiza for similar money?
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