Glad to see the back of it
Discussion
105.4 said:
Chedders said:
Yes a Mini Cooper S Checkmate.
Glad to of seen the back of it - I can’t understand what people see in those R53’s, this one was utter garbage.
We’ve had two. A MINI One and a Cooper, because my Wife thinks that they are ‘cute’.Glad to of seen the back of it - I can’t understand what people see in those R53’s, this one was utter garbage.
Absolute turds to own, drive and work on.
ChickenvanGuy said:
A 1990 Citroen BX 19 GTi. Fast (for the time), comfortable, well-equipped and broke down, oh, let's see - every five minutes? Leaked every fluid at every opportunity, piston rings went and it smoked like a chimney, distributor shaft failed and left me with one cylinder....
Dreadful.
Traded it for a 1992 Astra SRi before I'd finished paying for it, didn't care. Can still remember the relief of driving home in the new car, which was brilliant for the 3.5 years we had it.
Put me off French cars for life. I know that is irrational, but I've never even considered French for all the dozens of cars I've had since.
I had the 90 version as well, sDreadful.
Traded it for a 1992 Astra SRi before I'd finished paying for it, didn't care. Can still remember the relief of driving home in the new car, which was brilliant for the 3.5 years we had it.
Put me off French cars for life. I know that is irrational, but I've never even considered French for all the dozens of cars I've had since.
te car, I eventually left it in a field for others to thrash it to death. Like you never had a French car since.I've had 20 (mostly sporty) cars over my 15 year driving career, and enjoyed them all, but the only one I was glad to see the back of was my most recent, a 2004 R53 Mini Cooper S.
Indeed I wasn't surprised to see one already mentioned in the thread. Problem after problem that really took away from the undeniably great handling and pretty decent performance.
It's a shame, since I've always liked them. My dad had one when they first hit showrooms and it was great. In many ways mine was a victim of circumstance. I've had cars that have been nearly as much trouble when I was younger and back then I was happy enough to put the spanner time into fixing anything, but to an older and less patient me, with a tougher job, young kids and a house to run, I could rarely be bothered and begrudgingly paid garages to sort it.
By the time it decided to start boiling It's coolant and throwing it all over the place earlier this year, I was sick of the sight of it, sat there on the drive in a puddle of its own making. I sold it with listed faults, and took a 50% loss after less than a year of ownership, and it's now off to spend it's remaining years as a track car.
I used the money to buy an old 1987 BMW K75 the next day. Obviously a bike is even less practical than a Mini, but it chugs about, never goes wrong and is peanuts to run. Couldn't be happier.
Would I buy another R53? Yeah, a tidier example, and only if I had some extra disposable income. It's a great thing to drive and look at.
Indeed I wasn't surprised to see one already mentioned in the thread. Problem after problem that really took away from the undeniably great handling and pretty decent performance.
It's a shame, since I've always liked them. My dad had one when they first hit showrooms and it was great. In many ways mine was a victim of circumstance. I've had cars that have been nearly as much trouble when I was younger and back then I was happy enough to put the spanner time into fixing anything, but to an older and less patient me, with a tougher job, young kids and a house to run, I could rarely be bothered and begrudgingly paid garages to sort it.
By the time it decided to start boiling It's coolant and throwing it all over the place earlier this year, I was sick of the sight of it, sat there on the drive in a puddle of its own making. I sold it with listed faults, and took a 50% loss after less than a year of ownership, and it's now off to spend it's remaining years as a track car.
I used the money to buy an old 1987 BMW K75 the next day. Obviously a bike is even less practical than a Mini, but it chugs about, never goes wrong and is peanuts to run. Couldn't be happier.
Would I buy another R53? Yeah, a tidier example, and only if I had some extra disposable income. It's a great thing to drive and look at.
Edited by Pebbles167 on Sunday 22 October 15:48
GroundEffect said:
Clio 172 Cup.
It was generally built like st. Ended up the output shaft bearing went on the trans. Good riddance to rubbish.
Ironic. Mine was probably one of the most reliable cars I've owned. Took loads of abuse too and never needed anything more than consumables (apart from a gearbox for the same reason as you It was generally built like s
t. Ended up the output shaft bearing went on the trans. Good riddance to rubbish. 
) Car I was most glad to see the back of was a 205 Mi16. Barely used it and it seemed to break all the time. Most memorably when I took it to Bedford and discovered it had the wrong driveshafts fitted (too short) and the battery was connected using duct tape. Both manifested themselves when it got hot on track.
Paid about a £1k more than it was worth too, so a crap decision all round. Should have bought a Clio 182
A virtually new Volvo V60 CC. bought last year and returned the same day. It was comfy on the test drive, mostly motorway, but on the mixed roads on the way home it had the most unsettled and unpleasant ride of any car I've ever owned. I took it straight back. Perhaps I should have checked if the transit suspension blocks had been left in. It was disappointing, because it would have suited my needs, and the Audi Allroads, my first choice, had been discontinued.
Just after completing my apprenticeship in 1980's I had the hankering for a lotus elan. "Have a chat with Steve; he's owned one" I was advised. So I did. "horrendously unreliable" was Steve's advice, "If you fancy a reliable fibreglass car, what about a scimitar?" he went on to say. So I bought a 1976 Se5a (PSU291P- which is currently SORN, surprisingly; I'd expect it to have been shot or set fire to by now)
It was a well cool car- pale blue with wolfrace alloys. after about a week, the oil pressure dropped and it was knocking on tickover, While I sourced an engine, the exhaust also fell off. Oh, and it had a propensity to never start -it would turn over sluggishly -when it was hot. despite me replacing the battery, alternator, starter motor, all the earth leads, carburettor, automatic choke to try nd solve. Even with a fresh engine fitted it was never cured. also replaced all the shocks, fuel tank (bh of a job; couldn't get the old one out), suffered front trunnion failure one boxing day, stranding me in the cold for 10 hours until it was recovered. I've no idea how much I pissed away on that car to try and make it right, before giving up and flogging it for a massive loss.
The new owner stalled it just up the road when my girlfriend and I were walking to the pub to celebrate riddance, yet I managed to bump start it (I was well experienced at it by this stage) as a final act.
apparently princess Anne had one; hope she was better at pushing it thank I was.
It was a well cool car- pale blue with wolfrace alloys. after about a week, the oil pressure dropped and it was knocking on tickover, While I sourced an engine, the exhaust also fell off. Oh, and it had a propensity to never start -it would turn over sluggishly -when it was hot. despite me replacing the battery, alternator, starter motor, all the earth leads, carburettor, automatic choke to try nd solve. Even with a fresh engine fitted it was never cured. also replaced all the shocks, fuel tank (b
h of a job; couldn't get the old one out), suffered front trunnion failure one boxing day, stranding me in the cold for 10 hours until it was recovered. I've no idea how much I pissed away on that car to try and make it right, before giving up and flogging it for a massive loss. The new owner stalled it just up the road when my girlfriend and I were walking to the pub to celebrate riddance, yet I managed to bump start it (I was well experienced at it by this stage) as a final act.
apparently princess Anne had one; hope she was better at pushing it thank I was.
Interesting to see all the R53 hate, I absolutely adore mine (when its working) but can see why people have an issue with them, when BMW got their hands on them they designed a LOT of the parts to be 'lifetime' which really just means 80-100k miles or 15 years, so all of them are reaching the ends of their 'lifetimes' now and lots of the parts are breaking on them at once, badly maintained/treated ones really are dogs now, but the nicer ones are worth replacing all these terrible parts and keeping up with the maintenance. I've probably spent double or triple what I originally paid on mine repairing/restoring/maintaining it, but for the money its still a really good car and should see me through another 100k now without too many issues (I hope).
The car I was so glad to see the back of was my old Citroen C3 Pluriel, in my 8 months of ownership it had 3 rear main seals, used more oil than fuel for a big chunk of time, and then leaked water in through the roof seals onto the driver seat, so if you drove it in the rain you got a wet crotch, and apparently theres only one garage in the country that can repair the roofs and they charge an absolute fortune, was happy to see that on the back of the scrap truck when i saved up enough to replace it!
The car I was so glad to see the back of was my old Citroen C3 Pluriel, in my 8 months of ownership it had 3 rear main seals, used more oil than fuel for a big chunk of time, and then leaked water in through the roof seals onto the driver seat, so if you drove it in the rain you got a wet crotch, and apparently theres only one garage in the country that can repair the roofs and they charge an absolute fortune, was happy to see that on the back of the scrap truck when i saved up enough to replace it!
105.4 said:
a Mercedes era Jeep WK Grand Cherokee 3.0 V6 TD.
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awful fake leather seats that were really uncomfortable after only an hour in the car
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awful fake leather seats that were really uncomfortable after only an hour in the car
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Andrew English said:
‘We could see how much they were paying for seats and it was a lot, four or five times more than we were spending,’ he said. ‘So, some of the guys sent some seats from the Chrysler 300M to Germany with a note saying they thought Mercedes might be paying too much.’ Stuttgart engineers sent one seat to the safety testing laboratories and one to the accounts department. ‘Eventually we got a one-line reply,’ my friend recalls. ‘It just said, “No, we think you are paying too much”.’
(£) https://www.the-intercooler.com/library/features/i...Gordon Hill said:
Have any of you ever owned a car that stressed you out so much that you were overjoyed when the day came to part company?
Yes. My first was a 10v UR Audi Quattro. I was 19 and thought it was epic but was the 13th owner and the turbo made sounds like a distant police siren which shat me up more than once.I later bought an e60 545i eyes open thinking it couldn’t be as big a pia as everyone said. Everything the internet said would go wrong did. I spent the purchase price in maintenance over 18 months chasing issues and gladly pxed it for nothing to get rid.
For balance I also bought a nearly new very well reviewed Triumph motorbike. Couldn’t have been happier to see the back of it after 6 month and a few hundred miles.
Vauxhall Omega 2.5 CDX.
Utterly hateful car with reliability issues from the first week of ownership. seized calipers, windscreen wipers chewing through the splines so wouldn't work or would get stuck, so new ones needed. cam tensioner broke luckily just as I started it, so managed to shut the engine off immediately . Oil filter housing managed to weld itself to the engine block, Final nail in the coffin was oil mixing with the water (common problem apparently). I celebrated with a bottle of wine the day it went off to the scrappy.
Paid £4k for it, spent probably another £2.5 -£3k keeping it running. got £120 for it from the local merchants.During ownership it gave me no joy whatsoever.
Utterly hateful car with reliability issues from the first week of ownership. seized calipers, windscreen wipers chewing through the splines so wouldn't work or would get stuck, so new ones needed. cam tensioner broke luckily just as I started it, so managed to shut the engine off immediately . Oil filter housing managed to weld itself to the engine block, Final nail in the coffin was oil mixing with the water (common problem apparently). I celebrated with a bottle of wine the day it went off to the scrappy.
Paid £4k for it, spent probably another £2.5 -£3k keeping it running. got £120 for it from the local merchants.During ownership it gave me no joy whatsoever.
My last Boxster. Bought it, got it inspected, all was well apparently, picked it up, seemed a little tattier than expected, but it was quite old. Within days, I discovered the roof didn't keep the water out (car had lived indoors previously), then soon after that discovered the engine was basically fked, and many other things were worn out and needed refreshing.
Lasted two months and by the end of it I hated the fking thing. Lost a packet but was glad to see it gone.
ked, and many other things were worn out and needed refreshing.Lasted two months and by the end of it I hated the f
king thing. Lost a packet but was glad to see it gone.Renault meganne scenic i bought it. it had loads of money spent on it ( bloody lemon) within 3 weeks the autobox packed up
then the brakes ,radiator, coil packs, alternator, speed sensor then finely head gasket all in less than a year bd thing only had 48,000 on it . Worse car by far i have had in over 40 years
then the brakes ,radiator, coil packs, alternator, speed sensor then finely head gasket all in less than a year b
d thing only had 48,000 on it . Worse car by far i have had in over 40 yearsProbably the Audi S3 8L
Thought a turbo hatchback with quattro would be fun...gutless isn't the word, my totally standard Saab 93 TTiD would keep up with it. Zero character from the engine and when we looked into tuning it found out the rods fold like warm toffee. I always laugh when I get told the 1.8T is super tunable now
We had so many issues, random dash lights, drivers door catch requiring you to close the door in a certain way...then sometimes popping open onto the second catch while driving, clutch totally failed, overheating issues, parts were expensive, working on it was always a PITA oh and the failure that sealed it's fate, the selector forks being held on by the cheapest rivet Audi have in their inventory. Causing the fork to fall off eventually and you lose all gears on that stack, meant driving home with 3rd basically
When it worked it was pretty competent especially when it snowed, but that car has put me off VAG cars for life. It's been replaced with a BMW e92 330d which is better in (nearly) every way
Thought a turbo hatchback with quattro would be fun...gutless isn't the word, my totally standard Saab 93 TTiD would keep up with it. Zero character from the engine and when we looked into tuning it found out the rods fold like warm toffee. I always laugh when I get told the 1.8T is super tunable now
We had so many issues, random dash lights, drivers door catch requiring you to close the door in a certain way...then sometimes popping open onto the second catch while driving, clutch totally failed, overheating issues, parts were expensive, working on it was always a PITA oh and the failure that sealed it's fate, the selector forks being held on by the cheapest rivet Audi have in their inventory. Causing the fork to fall off eventually and you lose all gears on that stack, meant driving home with 3rd basically
When it worked it was pretty competent especially when it snowed, but that car has put me off VAG cars for life. It's been replaced with a BMW e92 330d which is better in (nearly) every way
Gordon Hill said:
As a serial sheddist
Have any of you ever owned a car that stressed you out so much that you were overjoyed when the day came to part company?
Yes, I've been a serial sheddist too, and I find that sheds get a lot of sympathy when they break, after all they are old and worn, so the odd problem is ok.Have any of you ever owned a car that stressed you out so much that you were overjoyed when the day came to part company?
But
The nearly-new Primera was a stresser. Not for running costs, but the annoying issues.
Central locking popping open whist driving.
Steering permanently pulling to the left.
Doesn't sound a lot, but it made me hate the thing.
105.4 said:
Gordon Hill said:
For the most part the Germans don't seem to be doing too well here.
They’re premium executive cars don’t you know.
1993 Corrado VR6. Bought after a long and consistently reliable spell of 4 Corolla GTI's. The most unreliable car I hope to ever own. It did pretty much everything they're known for and more, engine out twice in 9 months, bore glazing, door handle failure, seized calipers, porous sump, broken sunroof rails and motor, handbrake cables, abs issues, dry joint in the fuel pump relay causing intermittent hot start, etc. etc.
An endless list of typically German, on the fritz tat that infuriated me after 7 blissful years of processing warranty claims for Lexus ( ie, turning up at work and putting my feet up for 8 hours a day ), and running Japanese performance cars with exemplary reliability.
A side of me was delighted to see the back of it, yet it still remains as an absolutely standout memory of a great handling car, and for that, I miss it. It was a much better drivers car than the Impreza Turbo 2000 that replaced it.
Oh yeah, a dishonourable mention must go the the Fiat 126 BIS that I had for a thankfully brief period, a truly joyless POS so typically unreliably Italian as to be the definitive stereotype for any form of criticism aimed in the direction of said country with regard to an inability to produce a vehicle capable of simply proceeding as and when required.
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