Worst car ever made
Discussion
Bonefish Blues said:
binlicker said:
I suspect most of the people nominating the multipla have never gone beyond seeing one and base their opinion on looks alone. Silly! 
We had one as the daily family hack for many years covering 50K plus in it. Took us on fully loaded long didstance holidays every year and apart from a broken windscreen and an exhaust never ever let us down.
They are a nice place to be, easy to drive and absolutely brilliant at what they were designed to do. And we bought ours BECAUSE of the looks!
Simply, you are right and they are wrong!We had one as the daily family hack for many years covering 50K plus in it. Took us on fully loaded long didstance holidays every year and apart from a broken windscreen and an exhaust never ever let us down.
They are a nice place to be, easy to drive and absolutely brilliant at what they were designed to do. And we bought ours BECAUSE of the looks!
farrendahl said:
Bonefish Blues said:
binlicker said:
I suspect most of the people nominating the multipla have never gone beyond seeing one and base their opinion on looks alone. Silly!
We had one as the daily family hack for many years covering 50K plus in it. Took us on fully loaded long didstance holidays every year and apart from a broken windscreen and an exhaust never ever let us down.
They are a nice place to be, easy to drive and absolutely brilliant at what they were designed to do. And we bought ours BECAUSE of the looks!
Simply, you are right and they are wrong!We had one as the daily family hack for many years covering 50K plus in it. Took us on fully loaded long didstance holidays every year and apart from a broken windscreen and an exhaust never ever let us down.
They are a nice place to be, easy to drive and absolutely brilliant at what they were designed to do. And we bought ours BECAUSE of the looks!
farrendahl said:
Ladies and Gents I give you the Ford Pinto. The car that in a rear end impact was prone to bursting into flames. It was also the car that allowed ford to put a value on a human life. A $50 fix was deemed too expensive and so was never actioned.
marcosgt said:
Busa_Rush said:
dugsud said:
I think the Morris Marina is in the running and in particular the Coupe...in sahara beige 
The worst car I have ever driven and I've driven some really crap cars in my time
That's beautiful, especially in Limeflower with a black roof The worst car I have ever driven and I've driven some really crap cars in my time
The good news was that most Sundays he'd pick up my parents and I and my grandmother and we'd go somewhere interesting.
He had an Austin 1100 to start with and then got a turquoise Marina coupe - Because of that I think of trips to seaside and such pleasures when I see that car and so it can never figure in a worse car ever made category for me!
Of course if you were a REAL pistonhead it wouldn't either, because it's RWD and we ALL know that anything with RWD is better than anything without!
M.
PS My vote goes to the original Nissan Micra... just shading out the Tliumph Accraim!
Edited by marcosgt on Sunday 19th December 11:21
Probably why I like them . . . but if you think back to those days, the Marina was a good looking car - compared to the Cortina or Escort the Marina coupe was very stylish.
Spudler said:
A contender for sure...
Agreed, I had one of these as my first car in a fetching shade of dog s
t brown with a silver stripe down the side. I was given it for free before anyone asks.One of its more unusual features concerned the tilting of the front seats. As they tilted forwards the backrest moved in a slight curve towards the centre of the car. A very good idea to make it easier to get in the back should you really want to. Only downside was that the backrest did not stop tilting until it hit the radio on/off button So, it was always very important to remember to turn the radio off again. I had many a flat battery during my mercifully short ownership.
Replaced it with my first car that I actually paid for, a very smart (and rusty) 1977 Audi 100.
I think if you look at it logically, as others have stated, to be the worst it needs to be expensive, promise much, deliver little, be overhyped and terribly built and you should always wonder whether you will actually reach your destination every time you drive it (ie not performing its primary function of being a car). They should also have no redeeming features.
Thinking about it, in the 70's and 80's the italians made a lot of cars that fit a lot of those conditions, but had redeeming features in that they may drive well or look good.
Whilst 120Y Datsuns were rust prone, they were incredibly reliable and cheap to run and easy to maintain. The 120Y coupe even looked quite nice, as did the Marina Coupe. Cheap eastern european/Czech stuff was cheap and functional and generally reliable and again easy to maintain.
No, for me it has to be a BL car of mid-late 70's vintage, when the unions had their stranglehold on production to a ludicrous point, and the cars were so badly made that owners would report finding rubbish inside the doors of their BRAND NEW cars, they were really badly put together because nobody cared and many of them had positively ancient engines and suspension.brakes etc.
The Princess has to be up there. Even when they came out they had a terrible reputation. A guy down the road got a brand new Vanden Plas model and it never ran right, used to groan and creak as it drove and the panels all started bubbling within the first 6 months of ownership. It also let in water and broke down constantly.
Another contender has to be the TR7. One could possibly argue that it at least looked OK but was horribly slow and heavy, unreliable, rust-prone, badly put together. I remember the first time I drove one, I couldn't believe how slow it was or how terrifying it was to corner in, the back end stepping out in the wet, the front rapidly following it. My mate had his green one less than a year and the interior was going mouldy and stank. It was truly truly awful.
It HAS to be a BL car, I doubt there will ever be another car as poorly built or specced ever again as back then.
The Fiat Strada is also worth a mention. I still remember the advert, which not the nine o'clock news took the piss out of - 'built by robots, driven by idiots'. But, they did make an Abarth version which was well cool.
I'm sure that all have an enthusiastic following even now - just goes to show doesn't it?! Mind you, can't see the Austin Princess owners club buying 1979 twix and marathon wrappers to put in the doors, and change out the nuts for really cheap ones which they fail to do up properly!
Thinking about it, in the 70's and 80's the italians made a lot of cars that fit a lot of those conditions, but had redeeming features in that they may drive well or look good.
Whilst 120Y Datsuns were rust prone, they were incredibly reliable and cheap to run and easy to maintain. The 120Y coupe even looked quite nice, as did the Marina Coupe. Cheap eastern european/Czech stuff was cheap and functional and generally reliable and again easy to maintain.
No, for me it has to be a BL car of mid-late 70's vintage, when the unions had their stranglehold on production to a ludicrous point, and the cars were so badly made that owners would report finding rubbish inside the doors of their BRAND NEW cars, they were really badly put together because nobody cared and many of them had positively ancient engines and suspension.brakes etc.
The Princess has to be up there. Even when they came out they had a terrible reputation. A guy down the road got a brand new Vanden Plas model and it never ran right, used to groan and creak as it drove and the panels all started bubbling within the first 6 months of ownership. It also let in water and broke down constantly.
Another contender has to be the TR7. One could possibly argue that it at least looked OK but was horribly slow and heavy, unreliable, rust-prone, badly put together. I remember the first time I drove one, I couldn't believe how slow it was or how terrifying it was to corner in, the back end stepping out in the wet, the front rapidly following it. My mate had his green one less than a year and the interior was going mouldy and stank. It was truly truly awful.
It HAS to be a BL car, I doubt there will ever be another car as poorly built or specced ever again as back then.
The Fiat Strada is also worth a mention. I still remember the advert, which not the nine o'clock news took the piss out of - 'built by robots, driven by idiots'. But, they did make an Abarth version which was well cool.
I'm sure that all have an enthusiastic following even now - just goes to show doesn't it?! Mind you, can't see the Austin Princess owners club buying 1979 twix and marathon wrappers to put in the doors, and change out the nuts for really cheap ones which they fail to do up properly!
Snoop Bagg said:
In my opinion and in no particular order!
...
Worst car ever made? Really? Have you driven one? Mine handles well, considering that is not what it is designed for. It has six individually adjustable, full-sized seats, and it's shorter than a Golf....
You cannot help but smile when you drive ours because 90% of the time there is a 17 month old girl sat next to you, who will be either asleep with a foot on your leg, or saying "geeeeah" when you change gear, or "a car!" whenever she sees a lorry, which I think she does to wind me up, or, her most recent thing, trying to lie back in her seat so she can see the moon through the sunroof.
And tell me of another car in which you can buy for peanuts, seat 6, get 60mpg on a run and fit in a proper, full-size, non-folding Silver Cross pram.
marcosgt]It's funny how people can have different memories - I have a real soft spot for [Marinas said:
... because ... I think of trips to seaside and such pleasures when I see that car and so it can never figure in a worse car ever made category for me!
PS My vote goes to the original Nissan Micra... just shading out the Tliumph Accraim!
I'm disallowing the Acclaim for similar reasons - my grandad had two, the first of which was the first car I travelled in that had electric windows - in the back too as I recall.PS My vote goes to the original Nissan Micra... just shading out the Tliumph Accraim!
The Maestro he had in-between them was so bad he took it back after a week to try and get his old Acclaim back, but they'd sold it, so he traded the Maestro in and bought another Acclaim.
The 3 cylinder Corsa, possibly the most offensive car to motoring, ever. Comical throttle response, it must have a flywheel the size of Iceland the way it revs, then sloooooooowly drops back down to idle about 20 seconds after you have let off the throttle. So slow it's actually dangerous on a uk motorway!
blugnu said:
marcosgt]It's funny how people can have different memories - I have a real soft spot for [Marinas said:
... because ... I think of trips to seaside and such pleasures when I see that car and so it can never figure in a worse car ever made category for me!
PS My vote goes to the original Nissan Micra... just shading out the Tliumph Accraim!
I'm disallowing the Acclaim for similar reasons - my grandad had two, the first of which was the first car I travelled in that had electric windows - in the back too as I recall.PS My vote goes to the original Nissan Micra... just shading out the Tliumph Accraim!
The Maestro he had in-between them was so bad he took it back after a week to try and get his old Acclaim back, but they'd sold it, so he traded the Maestro in and bought another Acclaim.
He also 'inherited' my great-uncle's later 1.3 Marina saloon, which although gutless in the extreme never really struck me as worthy of the hate people pour on them - It was certainly much more enjoyable to drive than the Acclaim...
M.
Edited by marcosgt on Monday 20th December 08:45
Mr Dave said:
Ferrari F40.
Not as nice as the 288 GTO nor as special.
Apparently not as good to drive as the 288 GTO.
Not as well built or well engineered as the Enzo or F-50.
Over 1,300 built when it was supposed to be limited production.
Not a successful racer.
Proper Ferraris shouldnt have turbos (which is what everyone on here cries about when Ferrari talk about going turbo to cut emissions)
No creature comforts (it is a road car not a race car after all)
Has less power than a modern BMW 4x4
And it is the most overhyped car in the whole wide world because it is trendy to like them.
Ferrari F-40 =/= BMW 335d mapped but at least the BMW335d mapped can take you to do your shopping.
Really though, the old Kia Rio was dire.
fNot as nice as the 288 GTO nor as special.
Apparently not as good to drive as the 288 GTO.
Not as well built or well engineered as the Enzo or F-50.
Over 1,300 built when it was supposed to be limited production.
Not a successful racer.
Proper Ferraris shouldnt have turbos (which is what everyone on here cries about when Ferrari talk about going turbo to cut emissions)
No creature comforts (it is a road car not a race car after all)
Has less power than a modern BMW 4x4
And it is the most overhyped car in the whole wide world because it is trendy to like them.
Ferrari F-40 =/= BMW 335d mapped but at least the BMW335d mapped can take you to do your shopping.
Really though, the old Kia Rio was dire.
king blasphemyRB26DETT said:
Zad said:
I think that is the first time I have heard a Marina called more stylish than an Escort or a Cortina.
Ill take that Cortina anyday over a crappy Marina.You honestly think a Marina is more Stylish than say a Mk1 Escort in Signal Orange with a Black Vinal Roof ?
Wow.
We know now that the basic Mexico didn't handle that well either although slightly better than the Marina. The Marina was never used in anger for rallying which is where the Escort won its popularity. The 1.8 TC saloon was used for rallying for a couple of years but never with the budget that Ford had.
Busa_Rush said:
Think back to the 70's . . . forget what you know now . . . the first Mexico looked like a tarted up 1100L shopping car . . . which was in effect what it was. The Marina was a coupe - very stylish in those days, had an 1800 engine and could be had with twin carbs, again very modern.
We know now that the basic Mexico didn't handle that well either although slightly better than the Marina. The Marina was never used in anger for rallying which is where the Escort won its popularity. The 1.8 TC saloon was used for rallying for a couple of years but never with the budget that Ford had.
Outrageous! How can you say the Mexico was a tarted up shopping cart?! The crossflow engine was a superb engine that was well tuneable, and the mexico did not have a standard shell either - it had a strengthened as did it's very hot stablemate, the RS1600.We know now that the basic Mexico didn't handle that well either although slightly better than the Marina. The Marina was never used in anger for rallying which is where the Escort won its popularity. The 1.8 TC saloon was used for rallying for a couple of years but never with the budget that Ford had.
It had a superb pedigree too, and went on to become one of the most successful rally cars in the world.
How can you say it was a tarted up shopping trolley!
Sacrilege!
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