Cars you just couldn’t get on with for various reasons?

Caporegime
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I love driving my 428i Gran Coupe very much, I think it looks amazing, is fast enough for me but still can be frugal enough if you’re gentle and on a run, but I’m thinking it may have to go soon. I didn’t notice it at first but the accelerator and other pedals are ever so slightly offset from the drivers seat. So far this is causing a great deal of pain in my right ankle, especially the tendons on the right hand side. Unless I find a way to stop this it may have to go. :(

So, has anyone else had a car that they’ve had to get rid of a reason like this? Uncomfortable seats, poor layout, offset pedals etc?
 
Soldato
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29 Jul 2013
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8,565
Really liked my Alfa GTV but the seats and driving position were appalling for me. It wasn't the sole reason for getting rid but it did contribute. The MX5 which replaced it was miles ahead in that department.
 
Caporegime
OP
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Really liked my Alfa GTV but the seats and driving position were appalling for me. It wasn't the sole reason for getting rid but it did contribute. The MX5 which replaced it was miles ahead in that department.
Typical Alfa driving position, made for short Italians? They used to be terrible for it!
 
Man of Honour
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17 Oct 2002
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159,534
10 years ago I bought a 2 year old 335i M Sport. On paper, it was everything I wanted - nice spec, decent looking interior and one of the best engines BMW have ever made. I took a 20 minute test drive and it was absolutely perfect. What a car.

It was 200 miles home and that's all it took to realise it was a huge mistake. The interior looked nice but really, was quite cheap and flimsy, it wasn't very refined, the ride was absolutely horrendous - really, it was a poor car with a fantastic engine. I tried to get on with it but couldn't and sold it 3 months later.

Shortest I've ever owned a car.
 
Soldato
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10 Oct 2006
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F10 M5 was great until it rained which happens a lot in Scotland. The lack of traction was comical I think it was a combination of the engagement of 1st gear from the dual clutch gearbox and overly sensitive traction control meant moving onto roundabouts/out of junctions even at normal pace resulted in the traction control light really being a rain light and cutting power to almost zero. Turn it off and you were power sliding out of every junction I can see why they moved to 4WD in the current gen M5.
 
Soldato
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13 Apr 2013
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La France
One of those FIAT built Jeep Renegades. Had it as a hire car in Italy for a week and I hated it.

The electronic handbrake never seemed to do the same thing twice, rear visibility was horrible and the door mirrors blurred at the one engine rpm band were it made any power to speak of. The 6 speed box felt like you were stirring porridge and I was never sure what gear I was going to get next - 4th and 6th seemed to be 1mm apart in the gate one shift and 50mm apart on the next.
 
Soldato
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24 Oct 2002
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Bucks and Edinburgh
BMW 640d M Sport GC. Watched and read many reviews saying it was a great car, had a test drive and thought it was great. After owning it for a while, "features" it had started getting on my nerves, like auto features that arent auto if you have to keep turning them on every time you get in the car. You couldnt seemingly leave the blind on the panoramic roof open as every time you locked the car, it would shut the ******* thing. The center arm rest would dig into my arm when using it as an arm rest as it has this cut out just where you would put your arm. The seats on a car that costs a fortune new didnt even have the most basic level of lumbar control. I always thought the car was under braked, either that or the brake pads were cack but it only had 15k on the clock so I would have thought they were standard pads. Dont know if it was the run flats but the wheels kept feeling out of balance even though I repeatedly got them balanced, very minor vibration at around 70mph

It had a great engine and gearbox but there were enough annoyances to put me off BMWs for good.
 
Man of Honour
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there were enough annoyances to put me off BMWs for good

The auto thing is fixed with the G series by the way, at least with regards to the auto hold. Auto wipers you never need to switch on are the worst thing ever, hate it when I am driving a Mercedes or something and a brief splash of water turns the wipers on and smears all the bugs all over the screen. Really useful :(
 
Don
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Wargrave, UK
730d. Loved it on the test drive. Loads of torque and very refined.
Once I had it home I started to die a little inside every time I heard the engine with the door or window open. Chopped it in against a 750i after a couple of months.
 
Soldato
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Bucks and Edinburgh
Auto wipers you never need to switch on are the worst thing ever, hate it when I am driving a Mercedes or something and a brief splash of water turns the wipers on and smears all the bugs all over the screen. Really useful :(

Im slightly obsessive about having a clean screen so clean it if it has bug splats on it. Im the same with my glasses now Im a speccy, I cant stand the slightest smudge or bit of dust on it so am constantly cleaning them. I guess its what you get used to as my Jaguars and Mercedes both had auto wipers on all the time, whereas the BMW was the only standout one Ive had which didnt.
 
Soldato
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I quite like driving the wife's Mini, it handles like a go-kart and is relatively nippy. However I hate the pedal layout, I constantly catch my left foot on the footrest when changing gear. It's definitely not set-up for size 12 clodhoppers!
 
Man of Honour
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Im slightly obsessive about having a clean screen so clean it if it has bug splats on it.

I agree with this but the windscreen wipers are rarely an effective way to do this. Just ends up even worse. I wish we had those buckets and sponges they have in basically every other country.
 

DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
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My F06 640d Gran Coupe - I thought it would be like my 535d but better in every way, which it was except for the inward tilt of the doors and the shallow slope of the windscreen leading to quite a low roofline. It felt cramped inside and I found myself resenting it more every day.

In contrast to @Bear above, I had the top spec seats which did have lumbar support and they were very very good.

I don't tend to keep cars particularly long but this one went very quickly even by my standards, well under 6 months.
 
Man of Honour
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My F06 640d Gran Coupe - I thought it would be like my 535d but better in every way, which it was except for the inward tilt of the doors and the shallow slope of the windscreen leading to quite a low roofline. It felt cramped inside and I found myself resenting it more every day.

This is really interesting as I always wanted one and still wonder sometimes whether I did the right thing picking a year old F10 over a similarly priced 3 year old F06...

I've never driven one but in my head it's just a better more luxurious F10?
 

DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
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This is really interesting as I always wanted one and still wonder sometimes whether I did the right thing picking a year old F10 over a similarly priced 3 year old F06...

I've never driven one but in my head it's just a better more luxurious F10?

It is, except for the change in shape. It was a truly amazing car in just about every way bar the shape. The F10 is notably roomier inside and for me has a much nicer cabin feel as a result. If the 6 series was supposed to be an Elise or whatever then it wouldn't even have entered my head I suppose...
 
Soldato
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In contrast to @Bear above, I had the top spec seats which did have lumbar support and they were very very good.

That was another thing that was odd about my 640d, it had the low spec seats but they spent money on pointless things like soft close doors or whatever it’s called. Give me better seats every time.
 

DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
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That was another thing that was odd about my 640d, it had the low spec seats but they spent money on pointless things like soft close doors or whatever it’s called. Give me better seats every time.

I think I was extremely lucky with the spec of mine as it had all the really good/important things. It was an M Sport Plus car with a few more options so it had HK, top spec seats, surround view, adaptive lights, HUD etc without much of the pointless stuff although I did have soft close I think... I really wish I'd liked it more as it was such a good car in every other respect.
 
Underboss
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Guildford
My old 106 Rallye, loved it but the pedals were almost touching and for me with my big size 11 boots it just wasn't going to work.

My gf at the time suggested barefoot but...nah, her like the car were gotten rid of soon after.
 
Soldato
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21 Jan 2010
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Couldn't fold the rear seats of my XE. Totally unusable in situations that only crop once in a blue moon but was enough to accelerate my decision to get rid of it. Otherwise the 25t was a fantastic car, lots of fun to throw around.
 
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