The worst car you've ever driven

[Ratdat]

Either a mini automatic, or a B-reg Escort 1100. Both were just utterly awful to drive, unbelievable that people put up with these cars.

Funny you should mention Minis. After driving MikeD's one, which was the first time i had driven one for many years, I was amazed that anyone would buy a car like that in the 1990's. A single speed heater hung under the dash and the jiggly bouncy ride really seemed out of place on a car at that age. I still kind of have a soft spot for them even though I don't think I could run one daily. I had an outo one briefly which seemed okay but the AP autoboxes are pretty poor. Bernie had a Wolseley 1300 auto and that poor thing went through two boxes before i got fed up of it and punted it on.

[mouseflakes]

Ebro van. I think it was a poorly serviced example though!

 

 

I was going to mention a Seddon Atkinson automatic ash cart that had spent most of it's life in the Scottish Highlands and had been left a gutless slug as a result, but then I checked the thread title - counts even less as a 'car' than the Ebro does. Sorry.

[Ratdat]

Wow! i'd feel honored just to see an Ebro trade let alone drive one I can imagine they were pretty letharigic as they were the old Nissan LD20 non turbo engine. The Nissan caravan I have has the LD20 turbo and even that's not exactly lively. That's not as big as an Ebro either I shouldn't think.

[michiel]

Oh, forgot a Golf IV and a 1990 Transit Diesel, no PAS...

[mk2_craig]

I was going to suggest the Peugeot 107 as the worst thing you can currently buy since we have them as pool cars at work... but after a few miles behind the wheel I've kinda warmed to them seeing as they're so unpretentious. I'd imagine the Chevrolet Matiz to be pretty dismal but so far I've managed to dodge actually piloting one.A friend (who owns an MG Midget, which shouldn't cloud his judgement too much ) had a shot in a Maxus shortly after launch and considered it a pretty dreadful thing all round - somewhat appropriate that LDV sold out to the Russkies

[Dead_E23]

Either a mini automatic, or a B-reg Escort 1100. Both were just utterly awful to drive, unbelievable that people put up with these cars.

I can see a slight pattern emerging of one man's shite being another man's poison - or something...Driving Mini automatics always amuses me - they feel such a bad tempered little car because of the tremendously rough gearchanges, and I rather enjoy the notion that they begrudge being driven anywhere.My brother's MkIII Escort 1100 L was a bit on the slow side, but I didn't mind driving it and quite liked the austerity of the povvo spec interior. Good heater, iirc. I even adopted it for a few months...I'm also quite fond of my Mum's 3 cylinder Corsa B. Even though you have to rev the tits off it to make any kind of progress (and it has a crap heater), every so often I think up a reason to borrow it for a few days. Does that make me a shite masochist?

[ChinaTom]

Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 Life. Caning the nuts off it to keep up with traffic, and engine noise to drive you crazy at anything over 30mph.VW Santana 2000 & 3000 - effort wasted.Audi A8 3.0 LWB and Audi A6 3.0TDi. Disappointing, and extremely uncomfortable.TianJin XiaLi 6301 - good grief. Your worst driving experience to the power of 10. Drivers seat runners gave way as did the steering wheel after 10 km of stop start city driving while I used it to maintain my chosen seat position. Snapped off in my hands as I gripped it to stop the seat sliding back (no back stops, so the seat would literally slide off into the back seat well) while accelerating away from traffic lights. Gave up, dumped the car and walked.

[Marty]

This:

1.5 Diesel AX

 

Closely followed by this:

1.3 Maestro 4 speed with roof rack bolted THROUGH roof.

 

And then this...

 

Which had a habit of doing this every 5K miles...

[Rocket88]

worst; Mk4 Escort without power steering, biggest pile of shite Ford ever made [and they made a few] most dissapointing, Scimitar se5a, driving position from hell.

[mouseflakes]

1.3 Maestro 4 speed with roof rack bolted THROUGH roof.

[Pillock]

Without wishing to jump on the 'all new cars are crap' bandwagon, the one that springs to mind was a 2007 '57 Fiesta hire car that I was given.The horrid driving position, almost like a van. Lifeless steering and lethal brakes, they were worse than any 'retro' I've driven! And the 1.25 engine was rubbish, it only got 30mpg on a long motorway run because using 5th gear would lose speed on any incline at all hence 4th was usually in place.Whilst my older cars lack many of the 'features' the Fester had, they had more important ones..... like the ability to overtake traffic without needing a good clear mile, and to make progress without redlining it. And I don't need automatic headlamps and wipers, I don't need remote unlocking that doesn't unlock all the doors, follow me home headlamps grrr grrrr grrrrrrrr

[reallyloud]

Certain cars will never fulfill daily driving needs, but I suppose we have to forgive them as pog sez they have specific uses. I hacked around in a late 80's 4 door Mazda B1800/Ford Courier pick up. Utterly useless and lethargic for day to day driving, but very good for transporting fat relatives in complete discomfort.I also feel some hatred towards Suzuki SJ or more specifically the earlier LJ, again unless you live up a mountain range or a peat bog these things have next to no real use in the real world.

[Raffles]

My folks had a Mk4 Escort fitted with one of those clever 1.4 "Lean Burn" engines. It was gutless, heavy and the interior was almost entriely made of stiff plastic which creaked at even given opportunity. Oh, and it rusted like blazes (I recall that C, D and E were bad years for these with regard to tinworm).

[Mr Lobster]

On the subject of LDV vans, we have three 07 Maxus' at work, all have suffered catastophic turbo failure requiring extensive time in the workshop. They actually are ok to drive but the reliability / build quality is horrendous.

[Guest]

Without wishing to jump on the 'all new cars are crap' bandwagon, the one that springs to mind was a 2007 '57 Fiesta hire car that I was given.

I drove one of those and had mixed feelings about it. I agree about the van-like driving position. The example I used also had ludicrous rear headrests which nearly completely obscured back visibility. On the other hand, it seemed fairly torquey and would do hilarious wheelspins from junctions. Can't remember what engine it was, but it was an upper spec one, so probably a 1.4 or 1.6. I thought it was alright really.Worst car for me was my dad's old 407SW (Shite Wagon) for the driving experience alone. Very comfortable inside, had leather seats, climate control and a ludicrous full-length sunroof thing (which broke). But what a horror to drive - the 2.2 (?) diesel was loud and clattery with strange power delivery, I think the chassis was too heavy for it. You essentially had to have your foot completely to the floor when accelerating, but change up before it ran out of torque. The gearbox was a work of art - easily the most vague box I have ever used, it really was like poking a stick into a pile of dog shit. But to top it off, the design of the car made visibility dreadful. Huge swooping A-pillars and horizontal windscreen meant turning right was a real test of faith, the long swooping bonnet gave you no idea of how far you were sticking out on junctions, the rear window was near-useless and for some reason it was unfeasibly wide.I'm not usually the sort to moan about cars either, you could give me a Perodua Nippa and I'd probably think it was great. But I genuinely hated driving that car - what made it a kick in the teeth is that it replaced a 406, which was somehow a considerably nicer car all round.

[Pillock]

Without wishing to jump on the 'all new cars are crap' bandwagon, the one that springs to mind was a 2007 '57 Fiesta hire car that I was given.

I drove one of those and had mixed feelings about it. I agree about the van-like driving position. The example I used also had ludicrous rear headrests which nearly completely obscured back visibility. On the other hand, it seemed fairly torquey and would do hilarious wheelspins from junctions. Can't remember what engine it was, but it was an upper spec one, so probably a 1.4 or 1.6. I thought it was alright really.

My dear old ma has the same model, but a year older and with the 1.4 motor instead of the 1.2. That is a much better engine and lacks some of the stupid gadgets (hence if I had to, I'd buy that over the newer gadgetier one) but still the driving position and feeback bugs me. Oh and I remembered as soon as you mentioned the headrests that I just abandoned using the rear view mirror, was akin to driving a rear engined supercar! What made it worse is that in the 5" tall slot I could see through, the hire company had stuck a sticker cutting it down to a couple of inches at best!Oh and although Ford build quality is meant to be getting close to BMW/Audi standards, I can only imagine they let the work experience kids loose on the Fiestas! Both the hire one and my mum's had rattlye trim and loose bits, and my mum's has had two recalls in the first year of ownership.Overall though I don't mind new cars, and would certainly not turn one down if given one! Just this particular one was so hateful....

[Cheggers]

Hyundai Getz - Absolute, utter rubbish...

[wuvvum]

1967 Reliant Regal 3/25. Completely gutless, deafeningly noisy, bone-jarringly uncomfortable ride, crap seats, crap brakes, crap turning circle, hopelessly unstable. Plus people take the piss out of you wherever you go. Absolutely nothing I can say in its favour, apart perhaps from the amusing indicator stalk arrangement. I think the Lada Samara would have to come in a close second, and that LDV 350 recovery truck with the Land Rover diesel was pretty dire too.

[Ratdat]

I had 85mph out of my Regal. It was curiously stable when taking sweeping bends at speed but would tip over negotiating a junction at 5mph. Not a very useful machine but it did provide a lot of amusement, especially trying to balance it on two wheels.

[Volksy]

Chevrolet (read daewoo) Gave me a brand spanker of a Lettuce when they were released, i found nothing at all appealing about this car, massive rear pillars made it like driving a panel van with the rear 3/4 blind spot, it was a 1.6SX which seemed very thirsty, it seemed very low rent inside, and was impossible to get the drivers seat to adjust to a comfortable position.In the end I passed it for the remaining term of the free lease to my dad, who hated it as well. It ended up left on the drive with my old man using his aged 106 instead....It also came supplied with the headlights adjusted so low that you couldnt see anything at night and numerous squeeks and rattles as standard.My Saab 9-3 rates pretty high on the annoyance level too, I'd hate it if it wasn't so bloody reliable. Main bugbears are a front seats that dont return to where you had them after you've let someone in the back, more bings and bongs than a yank mobile, iffy handling on lumpy bends (although much better than on a convertable one i had years ago that seemed to be made from recycled trifle).

[pogweasel]

Well if we are going to go in for a bit of 'modern toss bashing...

 

 

BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD VICIOUS BASTARD!

 

(broken, suspect terminal)

[pogweasel]

and that LDV 350 recovery truck with the Land Rover diesel was pretty dire too.

Was that the grey one you flogged to my neighbours (got hiabbed by the council in the end).

[wuvvum]

and that LDV 350 recovery truck with the Land Rover diesel was pretty dire too.

Was that the grey one you flogged to my neighbours (got hiabbed by the council in the end).

Yup, that's the one. Being hiabed was probably the best thing for it - it was pretty dire. They had another Leyland Daf off me too - a 400-series fitted with a 2-litre Perkins Prima from a Sherpa. Probably even slower than the spec lift.

[shite_meister]

Renault Modus Automatic followed by a Clio Automatic, how cool do you look driving at 30mph in second gear praying to god that the piece of French crap will change down if only just into third gear. Nothing quite like changing down a gear as you're slowing down to a junction.I'd rather have my eye-lids nailed open and be forced to watch a Russell Brand TV show than drive one of those god-awfull shit-boxes. NASTY NASTY NASTY**even the though of this has made me angryAlways wondered if the Triumph Acclaim was actually an alright car sadly and wrongly berrated by bearded real-ale drinkers who like hanging around with other beared men talking about frothy piss-like real-ale.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

My answer would be 'anything with a 1.2 engine or smaller'. My day-to-day car is a (recent) 1.4 Polo which is great & will happily whizz up & down the Motorway with the best of them. When it goes for servicing VW lend a 1.2 which LOOKS similar, but is a complete nightmare to drive. Maybe it's me, but it seems to have poor handling even at low speeds and you can hear the 2 cylinder engine labouring at every traffic light while the wheels are busy deciding which direction to skid off in. Might be OK for short shopping runs, but I wouldn't dare take such a car any real distance. And that's Volkswagen, so God knows what other makes' equivalents are like!

[Richard]

A couple of people have mentioned the 1.4 Mk4 Escort. My wife had one when it was relatively new and I have to concur, it was a deeply unpleasant car to drive. It was at its worst in town, lots of clutch work and gear changing to keep it moving at low speeds and incredibly heavy steering.I was also taken aback by some of the things it didn't have. The radio didn't have FM, although I bet it cost more to make them without FM than with. There was no mirror on the passenger sunvisor, which surprised me a bit, and there was no boot light. Ford spend more money researching what bits they can get away with omitting than they would on just fitting the bits.Worst of all, of course, was something it did have- rust. There was nothing showing outside but underneath there was some corrosion that was going to make big bits fall off very soon.

[r.welfare]

My answer would be 'anything with a 1.2 engine or smaller'. My day-to-day car is a (recent) 1.4 Polo which is great & will happily whizz up & down the Motorway with the best of them.

Is this the 16v version? If so, do you not find it needs at least 4000rpm on the clock not to stall when pulling away? Mightily economical for a petrol lump, mind.Mk4 Escorts I have no direct experience of. However, a mate of mine had a 1.3 (OHV) L 3-dr on a C-plate back in 1999. Even though his nan had owned it from new and garaged it every night (it had something silly like 30k on the clock), every panel was rusted through - INCLUDING THE ROOF (seeing Carlo's 305 brought the memories back). Pretty impressive given it didn't have a sunroof.

[pogweasel]

You know, the Mk4 Escort I had wasn't such a bad old bus. Sure it was ropey with rust-blebs a-plenty (plus it was white, so they showed), and the 1300 HCS rattled like a bastard and the 4-speed box was deafening on the motorway, oh and it was of course deeply unfashionable to be seen in a mildly barried povo escort, but it did me a good turn, never let me down (once you got it going of a morning) and wasn't so horrible. I used to blezz it up and down the country with all my work kit in, it used naff all petrol and never needed oil or water or anything. 6 months of ownership cost me £40 in 'depreciation', mostly 'cos some scummer nicked the CD player.

[wilko]

Always wondered if the Triumph Acclaim was actually an alright car sadly and wrongly berrated by bearded real-ale drinkers who like hanging around with other beared men talking about frothy piss-like real-ale.

I think most of the Acclaim-hate came from the fact it was a jap car wearing a brit badge?Mate has got one, it's great to drive... I bet pensioners who loved their asthmatic 70's BMC bilge were disappointed when they bought them though as the suspension is sportingly stiff and it goes like the clappers!Personally I had muchos hate for the brand new 1.4 SXi Corsa I rented last week - yuck, yuck and thrice yuck... I can only imagine how terrible it would be with a 3-pot... It was built like a brick & probably bigger and heavier than an 80's Astra, so I doubt the 1.0 could pull the skin off a rice pudding!The worst car I've driven remains a 1992 Metro non-turbo diesel - possibly the slowest car built in the 90's? It was already rusting at 6 years old as well!

[mk2_craig]

Rumours abound of Ford taking a batch of duff steel circa 1986 hence why some of their output corroded away alarmingly. I wonder if it was limited to Dagenham stuff only as opposed to German/Spanish-built motors, the UK-built Fiesta manufactured April 86 that's sitting on my driveway has all the signs of being garaged by its presumably aged first owner (paintwork very good) but a few years of outside storage is definitely turning the car brown around the edges at a worrying rate.