Cars that you regret buying?
Discussion
What cars, if any, do you regret buying?
I have to say that on the whole, I've been very lucky and have no regrets about the cars that I have bought and owned. I used to like VWs (and still do), in fact I sold them for 3 years and had about 10 of them as company cars (I would happily have another Golf in an instant) but I'm sorry to say that I have bought 3 VWs with my own money (more than any other manufacturer) and have regretted them all a little bit.
My first was a Corrado VR6. Cool car but I paid over the odds for it and PXed a pristine white E30 325i Cabriolet (which I loved) against it for far too little. Don't get me wrong, I liked the Corrado (really cool car and I had always wanted one) but this wasn't a particularly nice example and cost me big money. Among its faults, it had rusty rear arches, needed a new clutch, had an intermittent misfire, leaked (ironically the cabriolet Beemer didn't), the sunroof didn't work and the heater was jammed on its hottest setting. Yes, it handled better than the BMW and on a good day (i.e. when not misfiring) was quite quick but I expected it to be much faster than the BMW and it wasn't really. Also, the legendary VW build quality didn't seem that impressive compared to my (older) BMW.
I traded it in at a massive loss against a mk4 2.0 Golf GTi, which on reflection seemed a bit too cheap! My intention was that it would be more practical (5 doors), more reliable (newer and lower miles), more economical and cheaper to insure. Yes, it was more practical and cheaper to insure but failed on all other counts. Just after I bought it, it needed a new starter motor and suspension bushes and seemed to go expensively wrong on a regular basis. The central locking broke and I couldn't open the rear doors, the rear wash/wipe sprayed water into the boot, the alarm went off every time it rained, it drank oil, occassionally idled roughly and due to a fault with an engine sensor (that didn't trigger any warning lights) never bettered 20mpg during my ownership! I did get it looked at eventually and got the sensor replaced (the money in fuel that I could have saved had I picked this up earlier)! To add insult to injury, it then failed its MOT expensively less than a year into ownership (the brake lights for some unknown reason had stopped working). The performance was woeful for a 2.0 litre and it was also unrefined. Nice seats though and loved the 6-disc dash-mounted CD changer! I got fed up and got rid. Should have bought the pristine E46 318i that I looked at instead, as no doubt that would still be performing faultlessy now (although having owned a BMW with a "proper" engine, it felt a bit uninspiring and old-mannish to drive at the time). To sum it up, it was a bit crap and less reliable than the 1978 VW Camper that I hired for a long weekend last year!
This made way for a brand new VW Polo 1.4 TDI. In all fairness, not a bad car. No problems in 2.5 years, quite punchy for a 1.4 and very economical. I also never paid for a service, as it came with a free 3 year servicing package. It did what it said on the tin really and dealt with my 60 mile round trip commute fairly cheaply. It just wasn't very me and I found it a bit dull (never looked forward to driving it like I have most of my other cars). Not a bad buy then (I knew that there was a low-rate finance deal available on the Polo) but I really wanted another Golf and couldn't afford it so had to "settle" for a Polo. Also, as the aforementioned Golf only had a few days remaining on the MOT, I needed a new car ASAP and didn't really have time to explore more "interesting" options that might be available for the same money.
Happily, I am delighted with my current Subaru (Impreza WRX) and it's probably the best car that I have ever owned. I like the wife's Fiat 500 too (which we have owned for over 3 years from new). So hopefully if and when I buy one my next VW will be fun to drive and reliable!
What cars (if any) do you regret buying and why?
I have to say that on the whole, I've been very lucky and have no regrets about the cars that I have bought and owned. I used to like VWs (and still do), in fact I sold them for 3 years and had about 10 of them as company cars (I would happily have another Golf in an instant) but I'm sorry to say that I have bought 3 VWs with my own money (more than any other manufacturer) and have regretted them all a little bit.
My first was a Corrado VR6. Cool car but I paid over the odds for it and PXed a pristine white E30 325i Cabriolet (which I loved) against it for far too little. Don't get me wrong, I liked the Corrado (really cool car and I had always wanted one) but this wasn't a particularly nice example and cost me big money. Among its faults, it had rusty rear arches, needed a new clutch, had an intermittent misfire, leaked (ironically the cabriolet Beemer didn't), the sunroof didn't work and the heater was jammed on its hottest setting. Yes, it handled better than the BMW and on a good day (i.e. when not misfiring) was quite quick but I expected it to be much faster than the BMW and it wasn't really. Also, the legendary VW build quality didn't seem that impressive compared to my (older) BMW.
I traded it in at a massive loss against a mk4 2.0 Golf GTi, which on reflection seemed a bit too cheap! My intention was that it would be more practical (5 doors), more reliable (newer and lower miles), more economical and cheaper to insure. Yes, it was more practical and cheaper to insure but failed on all other counts. Just after I bought it, it needed a new starter motor and suspension bushes and seemed to go expensively wrong on a regular basis. The central locking broke and I couldn't open the rear doors, the rear wash/wipe sprayed water into the boot, the alarm went off every time it rained, it drank oil, occassionally idled roughly and due to a fault with an engine sensor (that didn't trigger any warning lights) never bettered 20mpg during my ownership! I did get it looked at eventually and got the sensor replaced (the money in fuel that I could have saved had I picked this up earlier)! To add insult to injury, it then failed its MOT expensively less than a year into ownership (the brake lights for some unknown reason had stopped working). The performance was woeful for a 2.0 litre and it was also unrefined. Nice seats though and loved the 6-disc dash-mounted CD changer! I got fed up and got rid. Should have bought the pristine E46 318i that I looked at instead, as no doubt that would still be performing faultlessy now (although having owned a BMW with a "proper" engine, it felt a bit uninspiring and old-mannish to drive at the time). To sum it up, it was a bit crap and less reliable than the 1978 VW Camper that I hired for a long weekend last year!
This made way for a brand new VW Polo 1.4 TDI. In all fairness, not a bad car. No problems in 2.5 years, quite punchy for a 1.4 and very economical. I also never paid for a service, as it came with a free 3 year servicing package. It did what it said on the tin really and dealt with my 60 mile round trip commute fairly cheaply. It just wasn't very me and I found it a bit dull (never looked forward to driving it like I have most of my other cars). Not a bad buy then (I knew that there was a low-rate finance deal available on the Polo) but I really wanted another Golf and couldn't afford it so had to "settle" for a Polo. Also, as the aforementioned Golf only had a few days remaining on the MOT, I needed a new car ASAP and didn't really have time to explore more "interesting" options that might be available for the same money.
Happily, I am delighted with my current Subaru (Impreza WRX) and it's probably the best car that I have ever owned. I like the wife's Fiat 500 too (which we have owned for over 3 years from new). So hopefully if and when I buy one my next VW will be fun to drive and reliable!
What cars (if any) do you regret buying and why?
2006 Vectra Diesel.
Loathsome piece of crap. I actually decided I didn't want it before I arrived home after buying the damn thing. I'd been a bit of a VX man for a while owning a few nice(ish) petrol Vauxhall's and moving with the times led me to the 1.9 cdti Vectra.
The interior was awful, it had a knock from the front suspension before I got it home (that wasn't manifested on the test drive), within a week it had a fault with the fancy headlights that swivel round corners, needed new droplinks, a new alternator and then the DMF started rattling.
I was wary of diesels beforehand.....never again. I have never hated a car so much.
Loathsome piece of crap. I actually decided I didn't want it before I arrived home after buying the damn thing. I'd been a bit of a VX man for a while owning a few nice(ish) petrol Vauxhall's and moving with the times led me to the 1.9 cdti Vectra.
The interior was awful, it had a knock from the front suspension before I got it home (that wasn't manifested on the test drive), within a week it had a fault with the fancy headlights that swivel round corners, needed new droplinks, a new alternator and then the DMF started rattling.
I was wary of diesels beforehand.....never again. I have never hated a car so much.
George29 said:
Golf GTD. I tried to be sensible and bought a car that was economical and sort of quick.
I absolutely hated it. Driving a diesel just depressed me, so after less than 2 weeks I swapped it in for an Audi S3.
I did this too, but it was a standard 2.0 TDi GT, and I somehow managed to last 6 whole months. I even swapped for something very similar to yours, an Audi TTS, which I really like.I absolutely hated it. Driving a diesel just depressed me, so after less than 2 weeks I swapped it in for an Audi S3.
The other car I regret was the 991 C2, it ruined my hopes for 911s, it felt far too big on the road and a retrograde step in almost every aspect from the 987 Cayman. The interior was absolutely faultless though, and I got rid for break even.
This:
I tracked it about a week after buying it. Full-throttle on Railway Bend at Knockhill; I see a James Bond smokescreen behind me, accompanied by most of the dash warning captions lighting up. The engine sounded like someone was chainsawing through a bottle bank. HG failure with a side helping of big-end bearing failure. Of course I only found out the bearings on the rods/crank were knackered after I'd paid for the top-end rebuild...
Jap import engine then fitted. Managed to get 15 miles from the garage before oil press light came on accompanied by top-end hammering. Stopped car to find about 4 litres of oil underneath it. Garage had bodged turbo oil return which had split and come apart. Car recovered and fixed. Got the car back: HG failed about a week later, again on track, despite the cooling system having been checked previously. HG repaired under warranty. Collected car from garage in Glasgow and drove it straight down to Leeds; turbo expired spectacularly on the way. I'd asked the garage to replace the previously dodgy rubber turbo oil return pipe with a braided steel item while it was getting the head repair. I'm convinced the t
ts didn't connect it up properly. Dumped the car in Yorkshire and managed to sell it to an SXOC member who had a decent engine to drop in.
To this day I associate the 200SX with puddles of hot coolant, steam coming out of the bonnet, red warning lights and bankruptcy.
I tracked it about a week after buying it. Full-throttle on Railway Bend at Knockhill; I see a James Bond smokescreen behind me, accompanied by most of the dash warning captions lighting up. The engine sounded like someone was chainsawing through a bottle bank. HG failure with a side helping of big-end bearing failure. Of course I only found out the bearings on the rods/crank were knackered after I'd paid for the top-end rebuild...
Jap import engine then fitted. Managed to get 15 miles from the garage before oil press light came on accompanied by top-end hammering. Stopped car to find about 4 litres of oil underneath it. Garage had bodged turbo oil return which had split and come apart. Car recovered and fixed. Got the car back: HG failed about a week later, again on track, despite the cooling system having been checked previously. HG repaired under warranty. Collected car from garage in Glasgow and drove it straight down to Leeds; turbo expired spectacularly on the way. I'd asked the garage to replace the previously dodgy rubber turbo oil return pipe with a braided steel item while it was getting the head repair. I'm convinced the t
ts didn't connect it up properly. Dumped the car in Yorkshire and managed to sell it to an SXOC member who had a decent engine to drop in.To this day I associate the 200SX with puddles of hot coolant, steam coming out of the bonnet, red warning lights and bankruptcy.
My Audi TT 225. The drive home after buying it was terrible, I was sweating profusely on a balmy February night as it developed fault after fault that hadn't appeared until I had handed over the cash. Then the fault would disappear and everything would seem fine. Even an extended drive on the way home didn't blow out the cobwebs. I got my money back for it the next day, but what a dreadful experience that was.
Looking back, it was fast and had a lovely gearshift, but it wasn't engaging to drive at all. The thing I regret most is that the missus was really excited about it, as she had always liked the mk1 TT and was really looking forward to it. I've told her that if she ever wants a a cheaper car for herself I'll get her a good TT, though. I think I was just unlucky.
Looking back, it was fast and had a lovely gearshift, but it wasn't engaging to drive at all. The thing I regret most is that the missus was really excited about it, as she had always liked the mk1 TT and was really looking forward to it. I've told her that if she ever wants a a cheaper car for herself I'll get her a good TT, though. I think I was just unlucky.
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