Good cars ruined by bad design.

[ShiteRider]

Kinda of following on from the dashboard thread started by Junkman ( http://autoshite.com/topic/14764-dire-dashboard-disasters/?hl=bad+design )

What have you found in the cars you've owned or used that have let down what could have been a good car?

For me my Lupo is a cracking car in so many ways, and to me at least has been the last really well built Volkswagen.......but i hate the fuckng pedals! they have next to no travel, the throttle has about three inches and the clutch maybe four. I know it's a small thing really, but it ruins the car when i feel like i'm pressing switches not pedals.

A place i used to work at had an M-reg mini clubman as a runabout, it was an auto, and was easily the worst automatic i've ever used. It was so bad if two needed to nip out we'd "baggs not taking the mini".

The vv carb fitted to pretty much anything is such a badly executed lump of poo it can ruin any journey.

 

[Micrashed]

Anything fitted with the Rover Kettle.

 

Could have been a good engine, but wasnt and too many nice cars have been put to early death because of it

[fordperv]

the angled steering column and offset pedals in novas, ke jetronic fuel injection on the escort rs turbos, the clutch pedal pawl mechanisms that plague sierras and escorts, pierburg carbs on 1.6 and 1.8 vws

[Shep Shepherd]

The abysmal instrument panels and headlinings in Volvo 700s

[rml2345]

^ That and the bewildering range of brake components they used. 6 types of front calipers FFS!

Edited to add; The VW gearbox in Maestros. Abysmal.

[Angrydicky]

VW ruined the Maestro with that gearbox.

[dollywobbler]

The complete lack of suspension and the over-assisted steering of the Sirion. It would be wonderful otherwise. Driving it in gales last weekend was proper 'touching cloth' stuff as it's very, very easy to over-correct. People must have assumed I was drunk.

[solid61]

The useless AED cold start unit fitted on quite  a few jags and rovers killed many a good car back in the day , some of the manual cold start kits used to replace the AED set fire and destroyed good cars aswell.

[skattrd]

The complete lack of suspension and the over-assisted steering of the Sirion. It would be wonderful otherwise. Driving it in gales last weekend was proper 'touching cloth' stuff as it's very, very easy to over-correct. People must have assumed I was drunk.

 

If you're ever near Lincoln DW give me a shout as I think you need to have a go in my Storia. The suspension is probably worse than on your Sirion (stiffer/lower springs) but the steering is ace. I think it may be same speed variable system as in the Avanzato's.

 

The worst power steering I had was on a BMW Z3, I was constantly correcting when going round corners, it was horrendous.

[Guest Tony Hayers]

Ford VV carb. Spoilt what was a fairly good engine (back in the day)

[HMC]

The gearbox on classic saab 900s. Wonderful cars, ive had several (sold my last a 900t16 on the forum last year) But the gearbox, both in its robustness and often the change quality, was disappointing. Obviously age and wear and tear have some part to play, but even in period more than one motoring writer frustratedly laid into it. Just not as durable as everything else attached to it, especially in t16s

[cyruspower]

My series 1(!) 345GL was awesome apart from the Variomatic, except in the snow, where the linearity of the gearbox was utterly awesome. I'd defo have a manual one....

 

Mine was exactly the same as this:

 

 

With this interior:

 

[HillmanImp]

Non opening rear windows on coupe Imps.

[HillmanImp]

On a similar note, saloon cars that don't have folding rear seats. Alfa 156, i am looking at you.

[derskine]

mk1/mk2/mk3 polos use ancient front suspension setups which make it understeer like nothing else, otherwise excellent cars

[spike60]

I think lack of folding seats is to do with shell stiffness, it would need a lot of stiffeners to replace the backrest. I think!

[Asimo]

Seats are for sitting on and not folding / split folding. hatchbacks are the devils work.

[srad34]

Any car with a DMF, what fuckwit thought they could ever be a good clutch design? Jeez

[spike60]

2.8 Z3 crap gearchange into 1 and 2, awful. No wonder so many are auto's.

[twosmoke300]

On a similar note, saloon cars that don't have folding rear seats. Alfa 156, i am looking at you.

My h reg audi 80 was like that cos the fuel tank was across the front of the boot . Great car apart from that though

[HillmanImp]

I think lack of folding seats is to do with shell stiffness, it would need a lot of stiffeners to replace the backrest. I think!

 

As a normal member of the motoring public I am more likely to me moving a 6ft piece of wood than I am going touring car racing so would prefer a folding rear seat than F1 handling. 

 

I suppose you could say that if you wanted to move a 6ft piece of wood you should buy an estate but I think you should be able to have both. 

 

I honestly would say, I would not buy a saloon without a folding rear seat with the possible exception of an XJ6 (assuming theirs don't fold) as you can fit a 6ft bit of wood sideways in those fuckers..... probably

[Captain Slow]

VW ruined the Maestro with that gearbox.

 

Erm... sorry but they didn't. The box itself is fine - it's a MK1 Golf box, nothing special but not the recalcitrant pig of a box that it is in Maestros.

 

It's the utterly cackhanded ARG linkage. This from an ARG fan and Maestroholic, so no anti AR bias here!

[spike60]

I think Alfa sold hatchbacks alongside the saloons, 147's etc, the choice was up to buyer.

[twosmoke300]

Saab 9-3 and 9-5 with the engine sludging problem and pcv issues. Must have killed off thousands of them early

[Richard]

The gearbox on classic saab 900s. Wonderful cars, ive had several (sold my last a 900t16 on the forum last year) But the gearbox, both in its robustness and often the change quality, was disappointing. Obviously age and wear and tear have some part to play, but even in period more than one motoring writer frustratedly laid into it. Just not as durable as everything else attached to it, especially in t16s

 

My friend got one of those in his garage today- hideous noises after a puncture. It lost drive altogether when he was trying to take it off the hoist and we had to push it back into the parking space with another 900- at least the bumpers are good on them.

[willswitchengage]

Citroen BX - it's a fun guessing game putting down either foot to see which pedal you will actually press. Why did they put up the accelerator so high? It's so close to the dash that I can't get my foot on it in boots!

 

All PSA accelerator pedals tbh. Metal cable ones have as much sideways play as they hinge, modern plastic ones feel as robust and sturdy as recycled Barbie dolls

[Barry Cade]

My friend got one of those in his garage today- hideous noises after a puncture. It lost drive altogether when he was trying to take it off the hoist and we had to push it back into the parking space with another 900- at least the bumpers are good on them.

That would have been me that towed it in, sounded horrible! Over 200k on the clock though, so no shame.

[Parky]

Renault 5 clutch cables. The conversion from LHD to the correct side seemed to mean the cable had a long tortuous run from pedal to mechanism with associated problems.

 

BINI Power steering pumps and gearboxes. The PS pumps in particular fail regularly on early models.

 

Rust on pretty much anything pre 1990!

[Spiny Norman]

Foot operated parking brakes with that awful hand operated release catch thing. I'm looking at YOU Mercedes. I know big BMWs and some Lexii use the same type of device too, and I'm also aware that any kind of mechanically operated parking brake is a zillion times better than the electronic shizz in some new cars, but the one I've grown to hate is in a Merc so that's who I'm pissed off at.
Who thought that was A Good Thing?

 

To anyone brought up in Europe who is used to the near universal central lever it needs concentration to use because unless you hold the pedal as you release the catch it makes the most god-awful un-executive KRAAANGG! as the spring pulls off. Also it needs re-engineering for LHD/RHD.

 

And I don't even want to think about how shite it is with a manual gearbox when you have 4 pedals to contend with. These days, I'm near my limit with two.

[Negative Creep]

Foot operated parking brakes with that awful hand operated release catch thing. I'm looking at YOU Mercedes. I know big BMWs and some Lexii use the same type of device too, and I'm also aware that any kind of mechanically operated parking brake is a zillion times better than the electronic shizz in some new cars, but the one I've grown to hate is in a Merc so that's who I'm pissed off at.

Who thought that was A Good Thing?

 

To anyone brought up in Europe who is used to the near universal central lever it needs concentration to use because unless you hold the pedal as you release the catch it makes the most god-awful un-executive KRAAANGG! as the spring pulls off. Also it needs re-engineering for LHD/RHD.

 

And I don't even want to think about how shite it is with a manual gearbox when you have 4 pedals to contend with. These days, I'm near my limit with two.

 

 

I never had a  problem with it, and liked the way it freed up the centre console