Ever bought a car then hated it?

[wuvvum]

I liked my first Rover P6, but the V8 made me blind to the horrendous sill rot than I later discovered.

Yeah, something similar happened to me not too long ago... The only car I've bought that I've genuinely hated was the Reliant Regal. An absolutely vile means of transportation in every possible way. One out of 320 ain't too bad I don't think...

[Guest]

I think 'hate' is too strong a term, but I'm not actually seeing eye to eye with my current XR2. It's one of the first mk2s, the original owner traded it in after 15 years and 36k miles for a Yaris, subsequent owner had it five years and evidently continued to take good care of it, in the five years since then its had an ever-increasing turnover of names on the logbook and consequent inversely proportionate effort on maintaining it. Hasn't suffered too badly from boy racer neglect although the last-but-one owner stuck a quantity of ICE in the back (which obv I ripped right out without even listening to it), chipped the Ford badges off, bodged a load of fibreglass in the rotten sunroof surround and only redeemed himself by incurring a seven hundred quid bill on a major service and brake overhaul this time last year.

 

Despite that expense it's tired, gearlever is pretty sloppy and isn't keen to let you have first/second gear. Autochoke's nadgered and there's multiple carb flat spots, the exhaust blows, it's leaking oil fairly alarmingly from at least one location and I've got plastic sheeting gaffa taped over that sunroof. The driver's door drops when you open it, the electrics (mainly lighting) are iffy and to cap it all the front wheel geometry is way out which has helped to nearly cause a couple of accidents in the wet. Maybe driving a nice modern Mundano for three years has dulled my abilities

 

It isn't the retro 80s awesomeness I hoped it would be and I'm torn between running it into the ground and hopefully still getting nearly my money back selling it for spares or repairs in a couple of years time, or throwing a bit of cash at the car and treating it as a rolling resto project that might sell for decent coin in the future. I might hawk it around a few local bodyshops soon to get quotes on sorting the roof out, but that I suspect would depress me further and make me want to buy a Focus or something.

 

I do hate the Peugeot 207 pool vehicles we have at work though. Truly awful devices representing everything that's wrong about modern cars.

[Pete-M]

MG BGT, bought it then realised I hated it, I went months without driving it then sold it.

I had an MGB GT and despised it with a passion. Truly fucking awful thing. Yellow with stripey brown interior. Rubber bumpers. Rostyles. Overdrive. Rust. Mota-Lita wheel. Absolutely the worst attempt at a car I've ever had the misfortune of acquiring. I stupidly swapped a black Mk2 Granada 2.8 Ghia for it thinking "Ooooh, an MGB, that'll be fun". How wrong could I be?I posted some of my experiences with the fucking awful lump of shite on the PC forum and caused uproar, had some very personal PM's from a few of the more militant wankers in there because of it.The final nail in the coffin for my MGB owning days was being overtaken by a seriously overloaded Peugeot 106 Diesel on the East Lancs Road. I was wringing the neck of the B to get 65-70 mph from it and this 106 came past at 85, maybe 90 mph. Uphill. The B was gone within the week. I've avoided them ever since, although I did have a go in a mates '69 BGT a few years ago. Hated it.

[Guest]

Oh fuck, where do I start?

 

I've never had a truely 'bad' car, but in terms of cars I dislike for no proper reason the C4 ranks the highest.

 

And it's the newest car I've ever owned, as it was new, and probably the last new car I will buy. Well, from PSA anyway.

 

People at work do not understand why it pisses me off so much.

 

Here's the thing: It's not actually a bad car, but I traded in my 306 TD to buy it and since then I can't justify how it's 13,000 times better than it.

 

Thing is though, my 306 was shagged, it was losing water (cue headgasket failure), the OS driveshaft had gone, things were falling off it, but I loved it to pieces, even though the rev counter never worked and the aerial graunched and rattled over a certain speed. And you could never put the window back up over a certain speed because the surround air pressure was too much for it.

 

What don't I like about the C4? Well, it's a bit OTT for me, I don't like flash stuff even though I've been into cars since I can remember.

 

A brand new car is a bit much for a single bloke who's a bit crap. Also, I bought it at a very weird time of my life when I wasn't well and Uni was going to shit. Like myself, it didn't live up to expectations.

 

The low speed ride is atrocious. The gearshift is inconsistent. Sometimes it's fine (if not as smooth as the 306's BE3), other times it will baulk and refuse to go into gear at low speeds even if the oil is warm. You have to force it into first.

 

The brakes. Oh, the fucking brakes. The fronts wore out completely at 20,000 miles. Then the rears warped. Three times. None of which Citroen would repair, because they claimed I'd ragged the shit out of the car.

Clearly not wanting repeat business then. I ended up using Brembos because the OEM rotors were the biggest pile of shit ever envisioned. And, just to piss on the bonfire even more, despite sharing the running gear with the 307, it has larger discs on the back than the equivalent Pug which happen to be 3 times more expensive.

 

The clutch has an intermittent judder. The glove box broke. The centre console flap broke. The panel fit is crap and the window strips don't sit right on the car and bow upwards if the door is slammed, looking as if the doors don't fit right. They don't, but why make it a design feature at the shoulder of the car if you can't put doors on right?

 

The door speaker rattles as well.

 

But no, the most irritating thing about it is the steering judder over 70. Nobody (and I mean nobody) can tell me why it does this. The steering gets nervous and patters away over 75, despite the balancing and tracking of the wheels being repeatedly checked. It varies depending on what motorway I'm on but it doesn't half get fucking wearing over a long distance. I am pissed off that no one can tell me what's wrong 'because there's nothing wrong with it'.

 

Speaks volumes really that when I had my accident, part of me wished the insurance would write it off so I could go and buy something else.

 

The Volvo is wearing me out a bit at the moment also, mainly because the paint has cracked on the OS side valance and the arches are going at the back with rust forming.

 

Fatha wat says I can't expect perfection but new metal, that's been very expensively restored and protected, and driven in the wet twice in 8 months, and garaged, should not do this. I'm torn between sorting it myself and having a quiet word with the bloke who did it. Part of me is worried that he'll just think I'm a whinging tosser, but I paid a hell of a lot of money so that the job was done properly. Bollocks.

[Mr Lobster]

Again, hate is a bit strong but I'm not entirely in love with my R11 at the moment.I'd really be happy with it if it was up and running and didn't have a million small issues, none of which are massive but all of which are hassle. Half the problem is I'm trying to move house and its in the way a bit plus because I spend three and a half hours a day travelling to / from work I have neither the time nor energy at the moment to do much with it and I'm really not sure when that will change.... Thing is, I'd really like a nice, sorted, up and running R11. But it might take me forever before this happens at this rate so I'm all a bit meh about it really.I did buy a lovingly restored '83 R4 TL about ten years ago. This girl had spent fortunes on it, everything welded and a nice repaint, had a lovely interior and should have been a nice thing. Just needed MOTing.Well, obviously it failed. I still have the fail sheet somewhere as it was fucking horrendous. The welding was in general awful, it pissed petrol everywhere, brakes didn't work, oil leaking from every possible source oil could leak from and it was just a nightmare. So it languished on my parents drive for six months before being sold at a fairly considerable loss. Still, it looked nice though.

[carlo]

Well, I've had two identical cars, one of which I loved and one I hate!Had a wonderful 405 auto for three years; it leaked, the radio didn't work properly but it was such a wonderful thing to drive I forgave it anything and loved it to pieces. Replaced it with the same car that had done 80,000 miles fewer, and I hate the damn thing. Everything that could be worse is worse but mainly it rides like an old Vauxhall. I strongly suspect it's had a whack at some stage. And I never realised how much colour can influence your reaction to a car - I don't like metallic red and it seems to make it worse.In fact I've got so fed up with it I've just bought a 406 auto which I'm picking up today - fingers crossed!

[Negative Creep]

Volvo 740. Bought it for a laugh but the handling, performance and 15mpg around town were anything but funny.

[RENOMAD]

Yeah,,last year I bought a Mercedes E200--W211 MODEL. I was a 2004 model...I use the word was,because I do not have it any longer.I actually had doubts about it on the way home,and hated it bout a week later. I said nothing until my wife actually said that she didn't like it about 2 months later----YES ,I had my excuse to move it on

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I buy shite, and expect it to be shite, so am rarely disappointed. The onl;y car i've ever had that i've really despised with a passion is a B-reg escort 1100 popular, what an utterly dire vehicle that was. Absolutely rotten as a pear at 8 years old and unspeakably dismal to drive, just an awful vehicle all round. Oh I hate mini automatics as well, how on earth people can put up with looking like theyre sitting in a bucket, being shaken to death and deafened at 45mph is beyone me. GET A REAL CAR LADY!

[madwelshman]

Well heres my pennies worth.Avenger - I love them! Had 12 so far Don't get me wrong, some were definately friday afternnon cars and hadn't been put together with the same love, care and attention as others earlier in the week. Ok, slight exageration with the love, care an attention bit, but you understand what I'm on about.Saabs - MARMITE car! You either love them or hate them. Again, Ilove them. Got 5 at the moment, mostly 99's. I love the older ones as well though.The morral of the story is I suppose, The world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same things, cars included.Will, The MadwelshmanP.s, I can put you in touch with some people within the A.S.O.C, if you are looking to sell the avenger. Someone there would definately be interested I would say.

[Guest]

I have a love/hate relationship with the Stanza, some days I can barely bear to look at the sodding thing, just the sight of it fills me with dread.

 

 

And other days I sit there sanding it for hours and hours. I'll never learn.

[Spottedlaurel]

Only really one, a Y-reg Bluebird estate that was high mileage and had lots of bodges by previous owners.Didn’t really gel with a 1978 180B I had, but fitting NOS alloys and a 5-speed ‘box to it helped – it had a hard act to follow as I’d enjoyed over two years in my lovely 160J SSS.More often I’m pleasantly surprised by what I buy, when I’ve agreed to buy them unseen or without a test drive – the Accords, Starlet, 323 and Bluebird were all crackers. Sometimes all it takes is a pair of decent tyres, tracking and balancing to transform their feel and bring them back to what the maker intended. As my preference is for well-engineered, decently-equipped cars of ample engine size owned by people of a certain age then I rarely get disappointed by spartan, wheezy and underpowered devices.Should have disliked the Manta A I had, as I paid far too much for it given its condition but I can still forgive it for the way it looked.

[Father Ted]

Not a car, but a Suzuki Marauder 250 - eBay purchase, slow, leapt alarmingly to the side if the back wheel went over a slight undulation in the road ( turned out to be the frame was twisted) and drank oil at the rate of one litre every 60 miles.Sold after just 3 weeks ( as soon as the log book arrived) and thankfully i got my money back.Car wise the only thing I truly hated was a 1995 Mk 3 Fiesta owned from new and caught up in a crippling finance agreement, unreliable and thirsty - I took to leaving it unlocked all the time in the hope someone would steal it, they never did.Sold the moment I finished paying for it, it did another 12 months before being scrapped at just 6 years old.

[Station]

My Proton MPi was horrid. 10 years out of date. The interior sagged, it felt like it was made of tin cans, the sills had been repaired by welding over rust with mild steel which rusted (as well as the welds). The gear change was sloppy and the engine had no torque whatsoever. The handling was awful, the back end was slippery in the dry and you couldn't counter it. The carb also spluttered and it felt like you were headbanging accelarating. Not sure why people like these, there's not much good about them.The Corolla I had last just didn't satisfy me at all, even though there was nothing wrong with it and I just wanted a beige interior that did 50mpg. :)On top of that, all the runaround cars I have owned (Astra mk3 1.4LSi, Cavalier mk3 1.6LS, 80's Rover 213's) have been great, esp the Astra.

[155V6]

Marina 1800,this was over 20 years ago when I used to buy cars with a bit of MOT & run them into the ground.I couldn't find a Cortina so bought a Marina for £50,I couldn't believe how tinny it was.I managed to break both rear leaf springs ,fixed those & the head gasket went.I fixed that ,but it had over-heated & the big ends went.I've never been so glad to see the back of a car,it was replaced with a £30 Mk 2 Capri which was almost indestructible

[reallyloud]

I had experiences with 2 examples of the same make and model but with different engines and bodystyles. The 1982 Datsun Sunny fastback I had drove really nicely, the 1500cc engine pulled well, drove smoothly and was ultra reliable - the whole car felt right and dependable. I drove the car with confidence despite its unroadworthy appearance. The last sunny I owned, a 1200cc 1980 model was really horrible to drive. It let me down a few times (admittedly due to the previous owners addition of a electronic ignition) and I felt no emotion when I sold it to an exporter.I also found it difficult to bond with a 1981 Datsun Bluebird 1600, but admittedly that had been bought off pogweasel, so it was almost to be expected.

[gallondrunk]

.

[IanF]

Not technically a buy, but after twatting a Capri for the second time (accidentally taking an uninsured Mk2 Astra at the same time), I desperately needed some wheels so an acquaintance offered we a straight swap for an B-plate Orion Ghia 1.6i which seemed like a good idea at the time...Despite it being owned by the guys grandad from new it was an utter dog. Typical CVH problems with the valve stem oil seals and an inability to rev over 4.5k without sounding like it was going to was going to shat itself out of the bottom of the sump. The handling was dire (not helped by a slow puncture which my hatred of the car meant I never got around to fixing), and a change in the amount of fuel in the tank seemed to make the back end swing around on a whim. Special note must got to the steering which half way round would fall over it self).Anyway, after using it for three months while I sought out something better it finally decided to die on the way to Coventry (how appropriate) as I braked sharply for a roundabout. Thought one of the tyres had given way as I slid round but after parking up on the other side it became quite apparent that one of the arms had come away from the floor pan as the wheel was at a 30 degree angle.Quickly replaced with a Mk2 Golf 16v GTi which if a tad fecked was an awesome car in comparison

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I bought a BMW 318Ti Compact once. The interior boasted the build quality of a 50p plastic lighter, harsh and noisy and didn't even go that well. It was okayish and a couple of times I talked myself into thinking it was okay. It handled nicely etc but I never really got to grips with it. Certainly not cut from the BMW cloth of old.Vauxhall Vectra 2.0GLS. Well, it was a 90's GM product and thus garbage. I recalled how awful they were even when new and nothing had changed. Who the hell bought these shitters new? Mine was £150. Was I robbed?I loved my Cortinas (IV and V) but hated a 2.0GL Capri with a venom. It was an absolutely mint example of a f*cking awful car. Harsh, slow, thirsty, zero grip and I found the much vaunted driving position horrid. SMG813Y is still going somewhere, 12 years after I sold it and made a grand..........berfore getting into a Y plate Sierra which was a vastly better car in every respect.Most regretted act: getting given a very tidy two owner Viva E Coupe in 1988 and driving it straight to the scrapyard to claim my 40 quid. Twat.

[r.welfare]

I've just scrapped the white 405 this morning due to a massive oil leak through the headgasket which is just totally uneconomic to fix, so put that down to the "hate" column; I guess it's because I've spent a lot on it in the last 3 years and 25k miles that I feel ambivalent about it dying rather than regretful - I'd kind of hoped for more, although it was reliable up until the middle of last week when it started gushing oil like the Exxon Valdez. Any others? Hmm - the '78 Fiesta I had in 2002 was a hateful vehicle in a lot of ways but it's age (24 years) and price (£102) made up for a lot. I suppose the '92 Rover 214 that snapped it's cambelt within 20 miles of purchase is another; I had it fixed but never gelled with it, and in fact it put me off old crud for 12 months as I signed up for HP on a 2-year-old Civic soon after.

[AnthonyG]

Easy - a 1992 K plate Montego 1.6 which I bought in 1995 as a three year ex-repmobile from the legendary Empress Car Sales in South Wales - (anybody from there will know the score!).Already going rusty on the arches and door bottoms (I suspect it was built much earlier than 1992). First bad sign was finding a lot of gravel in the spare wheel well. Interior fell apart regularly, and there was an incredibly annoying vibration/noise from the gearbox. I actually got so sick of it I laid up it up for 4 months and tooled around in a £300 Mk2 Granada 2.0L which was much nicer.In fairness it only let me down once when the radiator fan thermostat gave up.. I swapped it at Empress a year later for a G reg Tipo with slipping clutch (they really did see me coming ) and I was still happy - thats how much I disliked it . The Tipo felt like a Mercedes in terms of improved build quality. I loved that Tipo actually, even though I was royally screwed in the deal.

[Cavcraft]

Oh yes. Namely two Marinas (still despise them after a long, long time), a Mk4 Cortina (rusty, hopeless unreliable), a Chevette saloon (ate alternators for breakfast, dinner and tea), a Peugeot 405 (shockingly unreliable) and probably a few others too.

[Dukestar25]

Ever regret buying A particular car???

Yes... that slow, underpowered, insipid little blue turd known as the Daewoo Matiz mine is sitting in my garage at present (hopefully rotting.. )

[Volksy]

When I returned from NZ, my girfriends father bought us a Maestro 1.3L, not to sound ungreatful, as it was free, and a 12k one owner job..However.What a truely dire vehicle, gutless, heavy, unwieldy and hopelessly depressing to drive...The Chrysler Neon I recently had, didn't really impress, to drive it was ok, reasonably quick but just 'average' everywhere else. The low rent cabin squeeked from every place where plastic touched plastic - which was a lot. It then instantly shat its headgasket and spewed oil and water from everywhere. Still ran though!Sold for thankfully pretty much what I paid for it.

[Gompo]

Clio Williams.. I was an idiot, bought without driving it, and it didnt have any service history... Bodywork, particularly arches, can be a problem on them. These were in perfect nick along with the rest of the bodywork.Did a bit of reading up on them after I'd got it - found a link to the advert I bought it from, with a comment saying it'd been clocked - had been on 144k (I bought it with 80 something on the clock). Somebody commented about it having the wrong boot - Looked on the inside of the boot and there seemed to be some potential welding done as if it could have been rear-ended.Oops. Not only this, but 2nd gear synchro was going too. Oops again....Sold it within a month, lost a fair whack although not as much as I could have - fortunately I didnt pay that much in the first place.

[hennabm]

The old boy bought a Renault 21TS when new on an E plate and regretted it .Nothing but trouble..

[Justin Case]

Mrs A once bought a Metro from someone I worked with, it had been his aunt's and she had died. At three years old and 8,000 genuine miles it should have been a dream but it was a nightmare It wouldn't do more than 60 without overheating and just about everything that could go wrong did She is now a confirmed Nissan fan