Worse built car you have ever owned
Discussion
maz8062 said:
Citroen BX GTI 16V
Fantastic car - fast with good cornering. But the hydraulic issues renders the car practically useless.
I have had 5 hydraulically-suspended Citroens over the years, done several hundred thousand miles in them and the only failure was the little rubber return pipes at the bottom of the front struts which split. You have been very unlucky. Fantastic car - fast with good cornering. But the hydraulic issues renders the car practically useless.
In answer to the OP, Minivan 1965. From self-igniting wiring to front suspension which tries to kill you when you try to repair it, it was lethal and rubbish. I'm glad I only paid £15 for it!
1964 Mini 850.
Couldn't use the jack as it would just go through the sill.
When selling the car in 1969 I was removing the seat belts. On the lower pillar mounting on the driver's side turning the spanner 1/2 a turn removed the fitting with a piece of the pillar attached. Car was a heap of rust.
Haven't had a 'bad' car since.
Couldn't use the jack as it would just go through the sill.
When selling the car in 1969 I was removing the seat belts. On the lower pillar mounting on the driver's side turning the spanner 1/2 a turn removed the fitting with a piece of the pillar attached. Car was a heap of rust.
Haven't had a 'bad' car since.
miken2k8 said:
Had an mgf for a few months from november till start if this month was fine when i got it but after using it like it should be used it just gradually fell to bits and got scrapped.
So it was fine for the first 18-25 years of its life, including the 15 years without manufacturer support (because the manufacturer doesn't exist anymore)... then you got your hands on it and it gradually fell to bits? 
Can't blame MG Rover for that one
A Chrysler Ypsilon
Ok, I had it as a courtesy car but if I had to describe how bad it was, its was like nails down a blackboard into a bucket of sick horrible. Not even British Leyland made them that bad. Children pointed and cried when they saw it, and if I opened the door and they witnessed the interior they would run screaming to their parents and I ended up in a police cell.
Absolutely horrendous inside and out, and to drive......'boat' would have been a pleasurable description, had you been able to call it that. 'Dangerous' was a better description. Almost to the point that I wanted it to crash to put me out of my misery.
Ok, I had it as a courtesy car but if I had to describe how bad it was, its was like nails down a blackboard into a bucket of sick horrible. Not even British Leyland made them that bad. Children pointed and cried when they saw it, and if I opened the door and they witnessed the interior they would run screaming to their parents and I ended up in a police cell.
Absolutely horrendous inside and out, and to drive......'boat' would have been a pleasurable description, had you been able to call it that. 'Dangerous' was a better description. Almost to the point that I wanted it to crash to put me out of my misery.
AC43 said:
I had a couple of classic Mini's and the engine was like something from the 50's at best. I did a pretty heavy tune on it which just went to highlight that the crank was made from cheese. The thing then rotted away.
The Sud, Sprint and 33 that followed were mechanically fine in terms of the drivetrains but lots of other moving parts failed regularly - indicator switches, horn switches, heater fans, wiper assemblies, that sort of thing. And the Sprint did start to rust towards the end.
In more recent years I had one of "those" Mercs where the paint wasn't stuck to the shell and caused lots of corrosion - or at least It would have done for someone as I got shot of it sharpish.
..that will be because the engine is from the 1950's.The Sud, Sprint and 33 that followed were mechanically fine in terms of the drivetrains but lots of other moving parts failed regularly - indicator switches, horn switches, heater fans, wiper assemblies, that sort of thing. And the Sprint did start to rust towards the end.
In more recent years I had one of "those" Mercs where the paint wasn't stuck to the shell and caused lots of corrosion - or at least It would have done for someone as I got shot of it sharpish.
The cranks are not inherently soft per se but they only run on three bearings, the 1275 is very undersquare, and in Mini form has a heavy weight orbiting off the end of it, hence controlling vibrations is an issue but if properly built and operated within their limitations (revs) they are a decent, albeit compromised, power unit (good enough for dominating rallying in the mid/late 60's in the Mini). The cars certainly do rot though!
TimmyMallett said:
A Chrysler Ypsilon
Ok, I had it as a courtesy car but if I had to describe how bad it was, its was like nails down a blackboard into a bucket of sick horrible. Not even British Leyland made them that bad. Children pointed and cried when they saw it, and if I opened the door and they witnessed the interior they would run screaming to their parents and I ended up in a police cell.
Absolutely horrendous inside and out, and to drive......'boat' would have been a pleasurable description, had you been able to call it that. 'Dangerous' was a better description. Almost to the point that I wanted it to crash to put me out of my misery.
It was that badly built or you just didn't like it?Ok, I had it as a courtesy car but if I had to describe how bad it was, its was like nails down a blackboard into a bucket of sick horrible. Not even British Leyland made them that bad. Children pointed and cried when they saw it, and if I opened the door and they witnessed the interior they would run screaming to their parents and I ended up in a police cell.
Absolutely horrendous inside and out, and to drive......'boat' would have been a pleasurable description, had you been able to call it that. 'Dangerous' was a better description. Almost to the point that I wanted it to crash to put me out of my misery.
viggyp said:
It was that badly built or you just didn't like it?
Both. The interior was thin plastic. Even thinner than Vauxhall or French hatchbacks (and I had a Saxo so I know about flimsy plastic s
tty cars)….like graphene thin.....everything was beige. Beige velour. Beige plastic. Edited by TimmyMallett on Monday 6th April 11:46
Peugeot 206 GTI. Was actually quite good fun when it was working. The rattles in that car were unbearable, the clocks stopped working and were replaced twice, loads of electrical niggles, the exhaust just randomly fell off one day and the dreaded rear axle bearings left the back wheels looking like an old pair of ugg boots.
I’ve only owned 2 Italian cars. A MK1 Punto with the mighty 1.1 8valve, I did 100,000 miles in 2 years and NOTHING went wrong at all. Brilliant car.
And an Alfa 156 Tspark. Nice car but it was just a wrong ‘un from the start.
I’ve only owned 2 Italian cars. A MK1 Punto with the mighty 1.1 8valve, I did 100,000 miles in 2 years and NOTHING went wrong at all. Brilliant car.
And an Alfa 156 Tspark. Nice car but it was just a wrong ‘un from the start.
TimmyMallett said:
viggyp said:
It was that badly built or you just didn't like it?
Both. The interior was thin plastic. Even thinner than Vauxhall or French hatchbacks (and I had a Saxo so I know about flimsy plastic stty cars)….like graphene thin.....everything was beige. Beige velour. Beige plastic. Edited by TimmyMallett on Monday 6th April 11:46
I didn't own it but I did rent it for several months.
A pretty young Dodge Charger. The control dials had several mm of play, you could push in sections of the dash with your fingers, the rear bench wasn't attached to anything. I liked it a lot but it felt shoddy especially since it's supposed to be relatively fancy.
American cars in general seem to feel a bit more thrown together.
A pretty young Dodge Charger. The control dials had several mm of play, you could push in sections of the dash with your fingers, the rear bench wasn't attached to anything. I liked it a lot but it felt shoddy especially since it's supposed to be relatively fancy.
American cars in general seem to feel a bit more thrown together.
Vauxhall Sintra - righty claimed the JD Powers pile of sh@t award two years running, i think Top gear actually sprayed fertiliser on one to illustrate the point. On mine the first engine blew at 27k miles second at 45k. Windscreen wipers would fall of if it was windy, headlights didn't work if it was wet, and engine often in limp mode all this on a new car. Not helped by totally inept Vauxhall dealers. Much much worse reliability than any of the large collection of sub £500 rust buckets I have owned over the years.
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