The worst car(s) you have ever owned/driven?

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2002
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bed or the pub
Probably been done before but I need a laugh, so i figured i'd ask here, and give a little of my own nostalgia. List the worst cars (for any reason) and the reasons why they were terrible. Mine would be as follows:

1987 Ford Fiesta 1.1 "Popular plus". Hmm, plus eh? Right..
This car had done silly miles, like 134k when i bought it (admittedly for £20) at an auction. It had no first gear when i bought it and the brakes had the alarming problem that when you pressed the pedal, the car would pick at random two wheels to slow down and two wheels to do nothing to. It also felt down on power and was covered in rust. By the time i got rid of it it only had 2nd and 4th gears, took 5 goes and a load of wd-40 to start even in summer, reverse sounded like i was torturing 10000 cats, and it would NOT go above 40mph. Oh and the clutch groaned. I got rid of it when i sat in it one morning and the seat fell through the floorpan. Still, got more than i paid for it at weigh in and learned good clutch control :D

later on i had a 1997 vectra 1.8. This came to me as a non runner, and a £40 airflow meter later it worked. For 17 miles, then the radiator literally exploded. fixed this with scrap parts, and it worked for another 43 miles and then started missing and backfiring and wouldn't run properly at all - this wasn't an overheat problem either, tried all sorts to find out what was wrong, nothing showed up... So i got rid.

Replaced that with a Sierra 1.8 that i got on the "i'll take it away for free" rule as it had 4 months t&t on it. Unfortunately, when it ran it did like 4mpg. So i swapped it for a bottle of whiskey to a mate who was building a kit car - it wasn't worth fixing

And this ends my truely bad car run. I've had some cars you would think were awful, like old maestros, ford ka etc but they have all performed solidly, and done the job i've bought them to do. Until recently... this one is VERY recent and i still haven't recovered, i'm still twitching and shaking...

Went up to edinburgh on the train to pick up a 1972 Land Rover SIII diesel. This was a standard, pretty nice structurally land rover that had "slight engine problems, no rilly an essue mate et'll dehfinitely get ye hoome"

Oh yes. It got me home from edinburgh to sheffield. At 28mph, top speed out of a very sick and overly loud sounding 2.25d in a vehicle which had no o/d and no 4th gear.. also no soundproofing and no stereo. Also the suspension seemed to be locked solid - it was, when I got it home. Not forgetting the 1/4 turn of play in the steering which operated on the teenage rebellion principle. It also had typical series landie brakes. IE hit the brakes about 4 miles before you want to stop and pray.

Oh well it was very cheap even with the maladies and the chassis and bulkhead really are nice (a testament to regular waxoyl) but it's taken me months to be able to look at it without wanting to go crazy and chop it to pieces with all the nice tools i have in the garage.. lol

EDIT: oh yes, i forgot to mention, there's like a half inch of what i hope is a combination of dirt and waxoyl all over the floor of the cab. its certainly evil stuff and 2 days of scraping has hardly left a dent
 
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Caporegime
Joined
8 Mar 2007
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37,146
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Surrey
Daewoo Matiz 0.9L. Enough said.

Small, rattled, no feel at all though the steering, and absolutely no power. That said, it is my mates and we have had over 100 indicated on the clock with me as a passenger, while out-dragging a chaved out clio. Was funny, if a little scary (yes i know 100 on the clock is not 100, but the cars top speed is meant to be something like 85 lol)

I had a 1.8 Sierra, it was awsome! Worked really well, rear wheel drive and loads of fun. Was my first car too!
 
Associate
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18 Oct 2002
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Niptons Ridge
"Old" Cortina 2.0ltr in rusy red colour:p I think it was on an X plate.
After many problems decided to get rid when the front wheel and hub came adrift whilst on my way home from work one summer's evening.

An old Fiat Panda in white that looked liked it had been painted in white hammerite. Didn't have much going for it, decided to give up the ghost on me miles away from home.

A D reg XR2 that I boought off someone on a farm, went to Wales in it 3 times and on 2 occasions the head gasket went.:eek: It was cheap and at the time I didn't have a pot to **** in, so it did. Eventually pasrt x'd it due to it smoking like Stephenson's rocket whenever you took the oil filler cap off.:D

No swearing
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
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25,812
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On the road....
Turbo'd version in my fiesta van, will hit 110 on the flat without a problem

On your speedo ,perhaps, certainly not in real terms.


Worst car I have owned would be a Peugeot 309, it was dire.

Worst car I have driven is an old G reg Jaguar XJ6 a few months back, unknown to me at the time, a rather major suspension component was broken, hence the "interesting" handling.......
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Dec 2004
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9,150
Location
Rugeley, Staffs
I've only owned 4 Cars..

First car was a .800 Fiat Cinquecento - That thing was a lovely little car!

Second was a 1.6 Daewoo Lanos - This car was retarded.. Electrics always going on it.. one night the dash lights just cut out in the middle of cannock chase..

Third, and Fourth was the Mini and the Focus, both again lovely cars.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2007
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16,316
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South East
First car was a .800 Fiat Cinquecento - That thing was a lovely little car!

Hehe me too :) Crap car technically, but it was fun, so I'm not sure I'd call it the worst. Never let me down!

I've only owned three - that, a 1.6 Megane and my Accord. They weren't really "crap", but I guess the Cinq is the crappest I've owned. The crappest I've driven was a Vauxhall Agila. *shudder*
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Dec 2004
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Location
Rugeley, Staffs
Hehe me too :) Crap car technically, but it was fun, so I'm not sure I'd call it the worst. Never let me down!

I had mine about a year, was an L reg, had to scrap it because of the gearbox going on me..

It didn't even have power steering, but it was hillarious, I installed a 12" Sub inside.. it was hillarious.
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Apr 2003
Posts
7,964
Daewoo Lanos (loan car) has to be the worst, the 1.6 whilst having poke could not handle at all, at 60 mph on Duel Carriageways etc it felt really out of shape and if there was a high speed gentle corner (even at 40-50 mph) it would try to push itself off the road with not just body roll but wobble and bounce.

The car drove straight, tracking was fine etc etc and had only done a few miles so guessing it is just cack engineering and design. I have never driven anything so bad
 
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