Worst gearbox on a car you have driven

[buzzer]

Inspired by the best gearbox thread, and not wanting to push that off topic...

What is the worst car gearbox you have used? manual or auto.

I will start, I tried several Lotus Elise S1's and thought the gearchange was abysmal (particularly for a sports car!) I ended up buying an S2 111R which was "just" about OK

[GravelBen]

Hyundai Lantra... along with every other control, it was like stirring half-congealed porridge. With a damp sponge. Plus with each shift the gear lever felt like it was about to snap off in my hand.

[jjones]

1986 peugeot 205 gt, great car but gear stick was like a stick in a bucket.

a mercedes manual (it was a 2001 c200 or similar) abysmal

Edited by jjones on Wednesday 3rd November 08:04

[varsas]

S3 Land rover. I win.

[Stu R]

V reg honda civic with 100k miles on. I'm fairly sure it was actually an automatic with a gearstick placebo, certainly felt like it did feck all.

[300bhp/ton]

buzzer said:

Inspired by the best gearbox thread, and not wanting to push that off topic...

What is the worst car gearbox you have used? manual or auto.

I will start, I tried several Lotus Elise S1's and thought the gearchange was abysmal (particularly for a sports car!) I ended up buying an S2 111R which was "just" about OK

Pug 206 1.4, by far the worst I can recall and I've driven a good number of tractors too. It truly felt like someone had simply used a stick to punch a hole in the top of cardboard box....

[Gizmo!]

Renault Megane. I'm not even sure there were gears in there.

Chrysler PT Cruiser. Weird ball-on-a-long-stick feel, like changing channel on the TV by poking the remote with a snooker cue through a letterbox.

[petrolsniffer]

My 205's gearbox I still sometimes select 3rd insted of 1st.I haven't driven many cars but even the corsa c I learnt in felt better.

The corrado I got a go in was a world apart too

[al1991]

Vauxhall Corsa C.

Sloppy and vague.

[hornetrider]

S reg Corsa - is that B? Horrific.

Honourable mention to the column shift on my 84 Hiace camper... but that was just 'character'.

[scorcher]

Cavalier MK2/Nova mk1/most Vauxhall gearboxes from the 80's.

6 speed box from the E36 M3 Evo.

[Debaser]

Smart Brabus Roadster.

And a regular Smart with Idle Stop.

Both complete st.

[jbi]

LT-77 found in land rovers and rovers.

built from used matches and holds the title to worlds first continuously variable transmission, as you never knew, when getting in if it was going to be a 3 speed, 4 speed or 5 speed that day.

[wombat172a]

varsas said:

S3 Land rover. I win.

Pah, look at you and your la-de-da all synchro box. I'll suggest the land rover S2 box I had, which also had the amusing trick of electricity arcing between the overdrive lever and the surrounding transmission tunnel on every gear change. Quite entertaining at night when it lit up the whole cabin.

[anonymous-user]

The CVT in the Honda Jazz or the 4 speed in an Army Bedford!

[al1991]

hornetrider said:

S reg Corsa - is that B? Horrific.

Yep that's the B. I couldn't decide between the B and the C having the worse, but the C just edged it.

Although they feel very similar.

Edited by al1991 on Wednesday 3rd November 08:36

[Fume troll]

Smart car. Awful.

Cheers,

FT.

[7 Sevens]

Original Smart Car. It never wanted to change up unless you came right off the throttle and waited for about two seconds for it to do so. Even usual the semi auto change took for ages.

[DannyVTS]

al1991 said:

Vauxhall Corsa C.

Sloppy and vague.

Agree'd

Had the 1.2 and 1.8, both had the same gearbox

There is no fun doing 4k rpm at 70mph, and BOTH my boxes had problems going into 3rd at over mid revs (when giving it some pasty)

[LuS1fer]

The manual box in the Corvette is no picnic but the manual box in a Citroen Xsara diesel was so disconnected in feel, it gets my vote.