Best/Worst....

[R9UKE]

Best? Renault Mégane II. Yes, really. Probably the defining statement in why I'm on this forum

There's something about this car that I just can't get enough of. There's three of them in this household, and they're all absolute gems. They key to buying a Meg is your instinct. They show up abuse very well and you know immediately what kind of a life they've had, and hence if they'll be a bastard to you. We've had them long enough now to know all the issues that hit them, as well as their causes and cures. The people who give them a bad name are the people who haven't got a fucking clue. All "common" issues are relatively easy and cheap to put right. The engine is a defining factor in how happy your Meg will be, hence why all three of ours are the 2.0 VVT Petrol (the least spoken of and hardest to find). 6 speed gearbox, better on fuel than the 1.6 and 1.4 and relatively problem free. Only downside is the £245 road tax. Packed with so many great features which ten years on have yet to wrong. I find myself comparing aspects of every other car to the Meg II and realising they're nowhere near it for what I want and rank as priority. I haven't driven one in 4 days (been exercising the Laguna V6) and I honestly CAN'T WAIT to get back into it.

 

Worst? Daewoo Lanos. What a hateful, HATEFUL bastard of a car. The front axle feels like it's been attached with sellotape and poundland superglue. Everything is nastily cheap, but not in the way that a Proton Persona is where you actually respect them for not trying to tart it up. Completely devoid of all character and likeability, and not even reliable which is where the Japanese make up for lack of the former. I'd happily torture one Jeremy Clarkson style.

[Spottedlaurel]

Best: As an all-rounder, either of the Camry estates I’ve had. If forced to choose let’s say the current K-reg one. I’d struggle to choose out of the Datsuns, probably the current Laurel based on what it cost me, its condition, looks and usability but the 160J SSS I had in the mid ‘90s runs it a close second.

 

Worst: Should be the Manta A, as I paid far too much for what was really a bit of a shed but its looks still enchant me. So it would be a tie between a 1983 Bluebird estate, which was just worn-out and something of a disappointment, and the Mini Clubman estate which suffered all sorts of overheating issues and couldn’t be driven above 55mph without generating a big cloud of smoke which then got sucked in through the back doors which didn’t close properly.

[seacow]

Best and worst in one - Alfa GTV 1996 - looked beautiful, drove amazing and sounded great - cool badge sewn into the leather. ah the little things. Everything went wrong including engine giving up the ghost and cost me a fortune - did use it to woo the wife though

 

Aside from that Best - Hummer H3 I had when living in US - totally impractical but just ace for driving over annoying yanks - worst - Corsa 1.2 Merit - just shite - vauxhall dull, no soul, no tape deck and just a chore all round!

[meshking]

Best : Citroen zx, bought by my dad as a company car, then purchased when he retired. I took it off his hands and ran it up to 130k. In my hands it did about 80k miles in four years, all with the na 1.9d xud lump. Moved it on when the heater matrix started leaking, next owner wrote it off about two months later.

 

Worst: Peugeot 407, bought when I decided I needed a newer car than my 1998 volvo v70. Opened my eyes to random French car electric faults. Although, all the citroens I have owned have never had at electrical faults.

[John F]

Best:

Hmmm... very, very difficult. I've liked loads of my old cars for different reasons. For the sake of giving an answer I'll go for either my 1994 Cav SRi or my 1982 VW LT 28 minibus, although there are plenty of other worthy contenders.

 

Worst:

Easy - my old 1993 1.4 Clio. I was given it for free, and after a couple of months of ownership I almost felt I'd been ripped off. It was gutless, cheaply made, uninspiring to drive or even look at, and generally unlovable. It didn't even have any amusing quirks. Truly awful.

[panhard65]

Had loads of bests the maserati spyder or the silver shadow but probably my fav was the jensen 541 I restored. For ordinary shite it must of been the 35 quid passat I had, a '93 1.6td 100% reliable sold to a bunch of guys doing a banger rally when it was on 265000 miles they went to madrid and back in it and didnt use a drop of oil

As for worst that is easy the poxy chrysler le baron convertible a hateful car that just swallowed cash and was still worthless. Closely followed by one of my poxy renault megane 2's 2 and a half grand chucked at it and so far its done 600 miles in 2 years and has packed up again

[pandarus]

My best car is a tie...I adored my pristine Panda 750 Mania and rue the day I sold it.. My current MX5 is surely the sexiest shite I have owned to date.

 

Worst car? Mmmm, so many to choose from but probably my X reg Ital which needed topping up with oil before every trip.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Best:

 

Any of the many, many cheap old BMW's I've run over the years. Given maintenance they just do the job with minimum fuss. I have done hundreds of thousands of miles without major breakdown so far. There will always be a first time of course but so far I've had two AA callouts: a failed clutch on a 323i E21 (relayed home), a split coolant hose on an old E28 (heater hose cut short and refitted) and that's it since 1997. A failed slave cylinder on an E34 at least got me home.

 

Alfas have generally been good too. I had lots of Alfasuds, 33's, Giulietta and 75's as well as 164's (and an Arna) and they were all robust and good fun even if some of the Suds were bodily challenged. Not as tough as a BMW but not that far off. I don't think I had a single nasty electrical fault in around 10-12 Alfas I ran over 5-6 years. Not a single breakdown.

 

 

Worst:

 

1998 Vectra. These were fucking rubbish when new, a dismal wallowing heap of rattling shit and looseley assembled trim parts. But this thing was bubonic. 100'000 miles and it was just KNACKERED. Shocks were worn out, the thing misted up like a whorehouse window and to cap it all, the oil pump failed. I should have taken the CD player out (the reason I bought it) and fired it straight across the bridge. Alas it was 7/8 years old and I didn't know any better.

 

Fiat Uno. Poor quality junk.

[flat4alfa]

Which of my cars do I remember most fondly

Rover 418 GSD affectionately known as Chugger. Went everywhere, like a dependable old Moggie Minor. Chopped-in against a 156 JTD smoker; daft thing to do.

 

most wish I hadn't sold

Maxi 1750 in Limeflower, near concours, exempt of the Osbourne; sold cheap in wintry moment of need

 

which was the big disappointment

Alfa 6. With the autobox and rollypollyness; it just didn't fulfill the comfy barge ideal

 

I was glad to be rid of

Lancia Trevi. Had another two Beta saloons; after a while they gather and taunt you.

[very tall brad]

Best: Renault Avantime. Cool car, great to drive, fast, reliable. Got me into conversations with people I would not normally have met. I sold it because I was so ill and thought I would never be able to drive again. Here I am a year later...looking for another.

 

Worst: Renault Vel Satis. The word "unreliable" takes on a new meaning when you drive a lot of recent French cars. The first one was new. It lasted a few months and Renault replaced it with Number 2. That lasted 68000 miles - 2 new engines (and a third needed) fitted under warranty, a transmission change at 48000 miles and lots of gremlins along the way. Renault UK bought it back at two years old and paid off my finance. Unfortunately. I am stupid and love the Vel Satis in so many ways - looks, the way it drives, the smell. So I bought a third 18 months ago. Sometimes you never learn. Like getting married three times. Third car now gone, too.

 

Great car, so badly unreliable. And crap dealers/Renault UK support. Still want another...

[R9UKE]

That's why I love the Vel Satis. Unpredictability at it's finest. Of course it's a different story when you've shelled out £28k new, but at the prices they are at the moment, they're a great laugh. In saying that, our 3.0 dV6 is not at 112k without any major faults along the way.

 

I actually prefer the Vel overall to the Avantime

[Woody]

Best: Has to be my mk1 Punto 1.2 Sporting - loved that car 5th gear was so low that 70mph commuting was conducted at a buzzy 4000rpm, and it was the fabulous Rialto Blue. I really looked after that car, washed and polished it weekly, and was sad enough to try to get the mileage exactly on the service interval figure when it went into the garage (and often managed it too!). The colour was also it's downfall - no fecker could see it It was walloped up the back at a roundabout by some daft bint lighting a fag at the wheel of her (metal) bullbar equipped 4x4. Then the day it came back from repair, one of the secretaries at work reversed into it in the car park. Was never the same after that, so it got chopped in for a brand spanking Skoda Felicia...

 

Worst car: One of two: the aforementioned Felicia, a 1.3 GLi hatch - which dumped all it's water and boiled dry at less than 1000 miles old, but remarkably did no damage as verified by the garage taking the head off at my insistence. I knew from the start it had been a mistake, and chopped it in after less than a year for a Mk2 Punto. But it's probably the Renault Scenic that takes the crown. I bought it at 18 months old, and it's still the most expensive car I've purchased. After three breakdowns in three months, it had to go. The most memorable was hearing a pop as I accelerated down the slip road from the A12 to the A14 and feeling a sudden loss of power. Limped it into the nearby Morrisons car park and called the fourth emergency service, thinking a turbo hose had blown off but I couldn't get to it on the roadside to check. According to the recovery agent who attended, the car didn't have a turbo (it was a 1.9 DCi), and he couldn't diagnose the problem. So he dragged the car off to his garage and loaned us a car for the day while he fixed it, on collecting it that evening I drove less than 100 yards from one entrance of the garage to the other and pulled back in to tell him it was exactly the same as when they had picked it up. Only for the recovery agent to conveniently run out of driving hours leaving me to hassle the operator to get another recovery truck out to get us home. So it went, and I lost £3500 in three months on it. Never again.

 

The Scenic didn't put me off Renault though - I've had a Megane and three Trafics, and the wife has had a Master and a Trafic since. Oh, and we've had a couple more Felicias too, both bought cheaply secondhand though! I don't learn...

[catsinthewelder]

I have 5 candidates for best and four of them are also candidates for worst

 

2001 Renault Megane 1.4 16v sport, My dad gave me this not long after I'd passed my test (long story), I was more than a little unsure of running something as new as it but soon fell into the cycle of polishing it and really doing my best to keep it nice. Luck wasn't kind to it though, in the 2 years that I ran it 5 people drove into it and it had 2 new engines and one top end rebuild. For a free car it cost me far more than any of the others, it was a peach to drive though and I miss it now but not then.

 

1989 Fiat Tipo 1.4, £325 off a dodgy used car lot behind a derilict pub in Hereford with 2 former keepers and FSH. The first car I bought to use (before I passed my test). Absolutely fantastic car, reasonably quick, spacious, reliable and great to drive but absolutely knackered after a year of abuse. Wish I'd kept and fixed it.

 

1974 VW T2 1.8 Bought for £500 from a traveller campsite and driven home. I love and hate it in equal measure, it's a maze of past bodges so is a right twat to work on but when it is running right it is far more fun to drive than a 40 year old minibus with a leaky fibreglass hat has any right to be.

 

1972 Austin 1100 Bought for the Mrs last year, it oozes charm and is great fun to drive but disolves in contact with water and has repeated oil pressure issues.

 

1992 Citroen BX Won the Autoshite' how many things don't work on your car' thread last year and caused many mechanical headaches but was such a nice car you felt like giving it a hug afterwards. Felt dreadful when I scrapped it earlier this year but I couldn't face a repeat of the Meganes repeated repair bills

[woolleyiain]

Best: Either the Dakota I have now, which gets abused daily, but refuses to break, or the Yugo 45 that I had in college.

 

Worst: A 98 Chrysler Sebring I had a couple of years ago. just an awful creaky heap. It's engine imploded on the freeway and left me stranded. In Chicago. In January. At 2am.