Worst cars to drive?

[Hertz]

Ford XR3I and Orion 1.6 Ghia, both pretty crap in my opinion to drive.

 

In recent years the worst car I have driven is a Peugeot 508 1.6 Diesel Auto with stop start. It drove me mad and I couldn't wait to give it back.

[dieselnutjob]

my parents had one of the these with 1.7 diesel engine

 

 

the driving position was horrible, and once it took me about 40 minutes of constant cranking (on thick jump leads) to make it start because it was a bit cold.

 

Considering that it was fairly new and low mileage at that point I wasn't impressed.

[stilo_active]

Worst stuff I've driven:

Piaggio Porter (Daihatsu Hijet by another name)

Most Volkswagens I've had the pleasure* of driving

Renault Clio Bill-a-mong special edition hateful shitty turd of a machine thing

Chrysler Peetee Loser

MGB

Hyundai Accident

Reliant Rialto

Porsche 911

Daewoo Matiz

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[rml2345]

The worst car? Taking into consideration age, price when new, condition, reliability, maintenance and all the other costs?
Easy. 

Chevrolet Spark. A box of bolts the insurance company lent me (when I stuffed the much missed Small Japanese Leyland) which had but one redeeming feature.
The dials lit up blue and I thought that was really cool. Apart from that it was comically slow, noisy, wouldn't go round corners, didn't ride properly, was poorly finished and filled me with a hatred for it that I think has got worse since it went back to the hire company. It also made a fearsome and ominous noise as "Pleasant Hire Company Girl" drove me home in it. She understood why I'd bought a Volvo as soon as was humanly possible. If there was an award for worst car ever encountered on any level then I'm afraid even the Chevroletwoo pales into insignificance compared to the Hyundai Accident "Coupe" which even made reliability a negative virtue as you had to travel in it rather than getting the bus. 
 

[catsinthewelder]

I always liked the HiJets we had at work but from any sane persons perspective they are dreadful little deathtraps.  I did once refuse to use one when I was asked to drive to Rockingham raceway to drop off a key (and come straight back so 230 miles).  I won the argument and got to use my own car,  unfortunately it was a Megane.

 

As I've been driving HiJets 5 days a week from the day after I passed my test until the Suzuki arrived last year I'm pretty tolerant of otherwise dreadful cars so my top trump worst car is the only 4x4 that I've ever driven regularly,  a Daihatsu F10.  This old heep was used to shunt 20 grand caravans around a dealers premises and to fetch heavier items like batteries from the shop up to the workshop.  In 1st or reverse it worked fine but any attempt to select 2nd would see you juddering to a halt in a cloud of black exhaust smoke.

 

It was a shame to see a Defender doing it's job a couple of years later though,  I imagine the LR also replaced the companys ancient Clio which was used for errands and maybe the Audi A6 they used for deliveries.

[Barry Cade]

Mahindra Indian Chief

 

Saab 9-3

 

Volvo 440

 

FSO 125P 1300

 

City Rover.

[anonymous user]

I have owned quite a few dreadful cars and driven many others, but I still can't think of one where I would prefer to walk or take the bus/train instead (although the Bond Bug came close).

[Junkman]

The worst car? Taking into consideration age, price when new, condition, reliability, maintenance and all the other costs?

 

 

Taking all this into consideration, I was more than underwhelmed by the 560SEL.

Expecting a world-beating luxury boudoir on wheels with supercar performance,

it turned out to be nothing more than a glorified taxicab.

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

ford escrote 1.8 dweezle- nasty seats, un-assisted steering, super smooth engine (not) but best of all was there was so much flex in the steering wheel you could sound the horn randomly just turning the wheel

 

ford ka(k)- no space for a human and they seemed to have not fitted brakes to them

 

vw polo slowmotion- lowered suspenders make ride rough and an uncanny ability to thump the front spoiler into the ground and the seats are not the most cosseting in the world! oh and out of 9 that our branch of the company run ALL have been back to dealers regularly with the eml on

 

daewoo matiz- you just know they were built to a price

[barefoot]

I replied to this earlier, but whilst walking the dog I remembered that I used to have a Trabant.

How I forgot about this eludes me, nonetheless, the steering didn't self centre, it intentionally had no fuel gauge, the front drum brakes required constant fettling & still snatched viciously from side to side with no apparent reason. A lack of trailing shoes (anywhere as I remember) meant that the brakes just didn't work at all when going backwards, the noise and vibration simply beggared belief, although the top speed was apparently 100 kmph, at just over 80, my ears started to bleed, it had a radio and a heated rear window, the upholstery was so thin, it was like sitting on a bench, the  non cancelling indicators were controlled by a stalk was the tactile quality of a biro refill, for handling purposes it was equipped with front & rear transverse cart springs and obviously held the road accordingly, it had a freewheel on top gear but could have done with one throughout the box because if you did anything other than give it full bollock all the time it would attempt to four stroke and bounce and pitch about like it was having a fucking eppy. Notwithstanding all of that and a meagre 595cc/26bhp it was hopelessly thirsty managing about 35mpg and costing a small fortune/taking an age to fill because of the need to add 2 stroke all the time. And it kept running out of fuel and I dropped the fuel dipstick into the tank and couldn't get it out. The bodywork as everyone knows was papier mache* and crashing the fellow would have been considerably worse for all occupants than being involved in a similar impact protected only by a damp cardboard box.

Heater was good.

[Charlie Croker]

Mk2 Ford Escort..............allways felt like I was sat on the floor but my head was still scraping the roof and had a stupid steering wheel angle too. Had loads though coz they were cheap in the mid-late 80s.

Any Mk567 Escort....just shit. Mk3 I could drive all day though...........strange.

I once borrowed a B reg Sierra...........a nice 2.3 GL petrol which was 2 years old at the time and it felt just the same as my Mk4 Cortina Ghia i:e ancient!

[HMC]

A while back I did 10k miles in a year in my morris minor, then bought a mk2 cavalier to take the pressure off it. One day I got back into the mog and was shocked how the brakes were pulling, synchros weak, front shocks tired etc,  but as I had no reference point I'd been happily driving about unconsciously accommodating the various niggles.

[ProgRocker]

When my sister separated from her husband she was given the H reg Yugo 45a that he was using as a 'get to work' car while he kept the family car (J Fiat Tempra 1.6 SX). She put the Yugo up for sale as she didn't get on with it. I took it for a spin around the block and it just didn't feel particularly nice to drive (couldn't put my finger on why it wasn't nice).

[the judge]

Early 80's polo "formel e". 65 mph in second gear,68 in third. Then onto worlds tallest 4th gear with no torque. 60 and screaming or nothing. And brakes made from wood chippings. Actually it was a laugh to drive thinking about it now........and a stop start in 1983!!! Mk5 escorts really were the pits without power steering

[Timewaster]

A 2011 diesel Focus being used as a pool car by my employer. No idea what size engine is under the bonnet but the total lack of power when pulling away followed by a sudden and abrubt surge when the turbo kicks in at about 2000RPM leads me to assume it's some sort of cement mixer engine wrapped in 1000 cubic feet of soundproofing with a lorry turbo attached. The dreadful visibility and gopping face top it off

Bugger. I've just ordered one of those.

Oh well. I've only got to drive it for 5 years.

[Cavcraft]

Another one I've remembered:

 

Carlton Mk2 2.3 diesel. Now, the one I briefly owned had done 178,000 odd bloody hard miles under it's belt, but I reckon they must have all been the same: absolutely shit. Comically, appallingly slow/wheezy and so agricultural Massey Ferguson must have been shitting themselves every time they heard one go by.   

[phil_lihp]

Bugger. I've just ordered one of those.

Oh well. I've only got to drive it for 5 years.

 

In fairness we have a small fleet of them, this one is the oldest on an 11 plate, I also took a brand spanking new 63 plate one on a 9 hour, 450 mile trip a few weeks back and it was much better to drive, I assume it has a different engine or something, no idea to be honest but it was a much more pleasant drive.  Comfort wise they're superb, couldn't fault it, it's just the gutless, laggy engine in the older one would drive me mad if it was mine.  Both have an utterly confusing and distracting mass of buttons, lights and brightly lit colour displays festooning the dashboard as well but that's probably just me being easily confused and distracted.

[scruff]

A while back I did 10k miles in a year in my morris minor, then bought a mk2 cavalier to take the pressure off it. One day I got back into the mog and was shocked how the brakes were pulling, synchros weak, front shocks tired etc,  but as I had no reference point I'd been happily driving about unconsciously accommodating the various niggles.

 

Yep, every time I get in my Series 1 Landy it feels terrible, then after a few miles it's fine. Though to be fair a 80" LR is more like a four wheel drive Austin 7 than any other Solihull product. 

[Forty-two]

I can with confidence nominate the Vauxhall Astra 1.6 SE with auto box.

 

I have just endured the pain of what I thought would be the sensible choice when faced with a drive to London from Gloucester and back on two consecutive days.

 

The car was delivered on Wednesday and after a twenty minute drive home I was already considering not using it and taking my freelander instead.

 

Never in all my years of driving have I encounter a car that can't keep up with the flow of motorway traffic unless it changes down at least one gear, often two. It made gears changes more often than Vin Diesel competing in a drag race in a fast and furious film.

 

It is now tucked up in a corner at work never to be driven by me again. Hateful car.

[Squire_Dawson]

Here's another vote for the Morris Minor (the early ones at least).

 

Mine had the first version of the A-Series engine, 803cc, which looks almost the same as later engines but is actually a very different kettle of fish. No power, terrible gearing, white metal bearings, by-pass oil filter as opposed to full flow, big ends went, used to leave an oil slick everywhere I parked despite renewing the gaskets and later rebuilding the engine, leaked water inside, small boot space (though rear set folded down), generally unreliable, slow and noisy. It constantly gave trouble, every other week threw up a new problem.

 

And yet, it only ever let me down once, and a considerable degree of responsibility lay with me. It wasn't a car built for motorways (no indicators or seatbelts or reserve power), but it was on there anyway, it being my only car at the time. I was going along when I began to hear a knocking noise getting steadily louder and worse, it eventually turned into a hammering which can only be described as Thor striking a giant anvil. I watched in horror as the oil pressure lamp came on bright, yet there was nowhere to go as the bastard roadworks meant the hard shoulder was completely cordoned off. I had to get to the next exit, which fortunately wasn't far away, with no oil pressure and the speed falling all the time.

 

A couple of months later I had rebuilt the engine, with an important modification to the lubrication system, and in all fairness the engine gave no trouble after that and was 'as sweet as a nut'.

 

I learnt my lesson well and truly, but still would never have an other.

[TRW]

Hyundai Sonata, the late 80's one that looked like a Sierra/Granada hybrid.

 

Just no.

[Bucketeer]

Muchly apologiness for reposting from AS Room 101 last year but I really don't think my body could handle the masses of anger and despair that will surge through it if I have to compose another rant about the E30 BMW I had.

It's giving me palpitations just thinking about it.

 

 Contentious maybe but for me it's the E30 3 series. I've owned tons of old toss over the years but I despised my E30 and would have happily exhaust-raped it with a tank cannon.
 I'd rather have a wank with a handful of broken glass than ever again drive the astro-jizzing-normously overrated barrel of bile with its retarded upside down hinged accelerator pedal, inoperable with my clown feet, and its arse decimating seats and hysterical unreliability and brakes made using Jaffa Cakes and belly-button fluff and the general arrogance the fetid little turdbox showed me throughout the whole period of ownership/torture.

 If that was the 'Ultimate Driving Machine' then the BX diesel estate I replaced it with was Thrust SSC, the Batmobile, the Powell Motors' Homer, KITT, Peter Perfects' Turbo Terrific, Concord and the bastard Space Shuttle all rolled into one by comparison.



Maybe it was just mine though.

[Louise2cv]

Hmmm. Prob my sister's H reg Rover Metro. I imagine one armed cyclists feel less prone and more secure on the highway than I did driving that delightful combination of paper thin tin and plastic.

 

Otherwise, the Astra has got to be up there, but that is unfair because I don't think it has had a happy past and prob one with a less bent steering column would be okay.

 

OH no wait! Toyota Prius. Need I say more? Ak. Horrible

 

These things are all relative though, I spent most of my driving career in 2cvs so I thought the Allegro was rather refined, smooth and very very fast.

[JohnDeere]

Ford Explorer (a.k.a. Mercury Moutaineer), early 2000s vintage, brand new rental car.  Nicknamed the jelly mould on a road trip Las Vegas to San Francisco due to its interesting handling.  Hateful 3-speed auto which changed at the worst time every time.  "Overdrive" switch which made no difference.  8 mpg or thereabouts driving up the Rocky Mountains.  Check Engine light came on on the first day (as with all Yank Fords of that era).

 

Maruti 800 in India (a.k.a Suzuki Alto) 1989 model.  No seatbelts.  I accidentally drove into the kerb in the dark and bent the front suspension.

 

Tata Sierra in India.  Similar vintage.  Not a model you'll know here, but a two-door SUV-lookalike version of the Loadbeta pickup.  Asthmatic antique Pug diesel engine and dogleg box. It did have electric windows though, which was quite a think in India in the early 90s.

 

(Most normal people do not attempt to drive in India when visitng).

 

And Peugeot 309s.  All of them.  Especially the ones with automatic choke that won't restart warm after stalling, especially when you're stuck in the middle of a busy traffic junction in a liveried BBC version.

[wuvvum]

Here's another vote for the Morris Minor (the early ones at least).

 

Actually, the first Moggy I drove was one of the first 948cc versions, and I thought it was dreadful.  Gutless engine, hopeless brakes and, as you say, the gearing was all over the shop.  The two I've owned were both late 1098cc cars and have both been rather enjoyable to hoon around in.

 

There's an old boy in my village who has one of the first high-light MMs, still with its original 918cc sidevalve.  By the look of him he probably bought it new.  I always get a feeling of dismay when I end up sat behind him waiting to pull out onto the bypass, as I know I'm in for a long wait - not that he's a hesitant driver, but the thing is so chronically slow that it needs half a mile of clear road in either direction in order to pull out safely.

[Ghosty]

Mum's old sad face Fiesta Mk4 1.25 auto, that I mention a lot in relation to 'shit car' threads.

Only auto I've ever been in that's managed to stall.

[saucedoctor]

For me, it's any Vauxhall Nova. Hoppy, understeery shit-braked, rear axle-mount rotting out little turds. And I hate that injection-moulded shitpiece of a dashboard. I usually find it impossible to say anything unkind about small cars, but I make an exception in this case.

 

<breathe>

 

Loads of people love them, though, so I might be wrong.