What's the worstest car you've ever owned

[Pete-M]

Citroen CX

 

There is absolutely nothing whatsoever good to say about them and that includes the abysmally uncomfortable suspension

Ah. Finally. Someone else who doesn't fall for the Citroën suspension fallacy. It's clever stuff and occasionally is very comfy but it can't deal with transverse ruts and that's something plenty of roads have.

 

My experience of Citroën hyperactive suspension is a mixture of floaty smoothness and a total lack of wheel control over ruts. Xantias with switchable suspension were better, Activas are really clever but still don't ride as well as a P6b or Jag XJ*.

 

 

*which according to some folk don't ride as well as the suspension travel free Rover 800, so it is all subjective innit.

[Richard]

My first Citroen Xantia replaced a Renault Savanna and I have to say I didn't get the "magic carpet" thing at all. Maybe it's like when everybody tells you a film is great so it's almost certainly a disappointment when you see it. The Xantia's ride quality wasn't Usual Suspects bad but it was no better than the Renault's, and possibly less good.

[R9UKE]

Daewoo Lanos.

 

All the refinement of a wheelie bin, all the character of a fridge from the Argos Basics range and not a single, flickering redeeming feature. Mine had 40k miles, the oil light would always flicker no matter what the level was, the window winders sheered off numerous times, always with the window open, and the boot let in so much water that it doubled the scrap metal value when it came to bringing that bastard over the bridge.

[DSdriver]

Mechanically it had to be this

 

Brabham Viva HB SL90 by DSdriver, on Flickr

 

Loved the shape though.

[nisfan]

Porsche 924 hateful pile of turd, gutless, shit on fuel, starting issues, sunroof let in water like it was open. Mk3 NA diesel golf estate ties in first place, every journey something else would go wrong.

[Jikovron]

I've never owned a car that was intrinsically awful, I simply weeded out and exceeded the weakness's of each of them unwittingly.

Probably the most miserable car overall was the dolomite between 08 and 09, I simply couldn't ever refine its reliability into useability

That car assimilated over a year:

A freshly built spitfire engine that i spent ages doing all the jobs required on for it to smoke badly, and crack the block shortly after

1st and reverse gear lost teeth after a very slight hint of axle tramp

all the dampers went from working well to loosing literally all of their oil on a mile stretch of really undulation road

front and rear antiroll bars detached through fatigue of the mounts

The diff started whining really noisily so i fitted a replacement off an 1850 and it shortly after duffed up a halfshaft

the propshaft even was worn in every conceiveable way, knackered breakings and loose splines

the list goes on and on although since then all of that archaic crap was weighed in and replaced with yet more gear designed on the back of some ancient parchment by the aztecs and since then its been thumbs up

[HH-R]

Early 09 Fiat Panda. Bought in 2013 so just under 5 years old. Was great for about three months, then the interior fan started playing up, cutting out going round corners etc. Took the motor out, seemed fine, looked at the resistor pack and it had already failed in 4 years, so a previous owner had replaced it but just left it dangling next to the steering UJ/clutch pedal. Tried to fit it properly myself, but you can just feel the old one by shoving your hand up behind the dash and it's screwed on from behind. Balls. because it has been left dangling and not in the airflow from the fan, it has melted the socket on the wiring loom so it's intermittent at best anyway. Apparantly you have to take steering bits off to get it it to replace so balls to that, the fan just works on full tilt.

 

Thermostat was buggered so it didn't heat up properly. Had it replaced and took it to three different garages (and had 3 or 4 attempts myself) and it was still gurgling on start up, so I decided to ignore it, TBH I hate it so much that at the time I wish it would have just overheated and seized solid.

 

Very early into ownership the usual Panda uncurable misfire started, at first a bit of kangarooing at low speed when cold, quickly turned into an intermittent long crank, then into just out and out refusal to start. Every morning I get into it wondering if it's going to start or just flatten the battery, and which dash lights are on this morning (think it's such a pig to get going that it makes the battery voltage a bit low and the electrics like a nice clean 12v). Again had it into loads of different garages, wasted time off work, wasted money on sensors, tried reseating the ECU connectors and all that bollocks, it never gets any better. Loads of potential solutions online to these mysterious misfires (some people have replaced ECUs over and over), but I think the wiring is just cheap and nasty. Whenever it goes in to get looked at I get "can't find anything wrong with it mate", then the next morning for work the bastard won't start.

 

It clicks and clunks over bumps, pulls to the left and wanders like a drunk at anything above 50 MPH. Again, had it to garages to be checked, suspension bits replaced, tracking done, all 4 tyres replaced, never any better. Having said that, I was in a VW Up! the other day on the same roads which sounded worse and it only had 2000 miles on the clock!

 

Had an oil filter dump the oil out at high speed (not the car's fault), just sums up the luck I'd had with the damn thing.

 

It has been a mix of a crappy car, frustrating garage visits and previous owner bodge, but if it had fingers to stick up at me it would be. I know how much of a bastard the thing is to do anything with. If anything can go wrong, it will do. Sick to death of it, but I don't care about it any more. It's getting run into the ground then weighed in. A shame, as on the few occasions when it's not kangarooing and running OK, it's a fun little thing to drive. Out of all the cheap/old (usually Rover) chod I've owned, I've never had a car that I didn't trust, or had so many faults. Anything that needs doing on my cars I usually get fixed ASAP because I find it annoying, but this thing just can't be fixed.
 

My 2005 one was a piece of shit too, though nowhere near as bad, just had the extremely expensive boot handle fail, wiper arm snap (they're poor quality and £40+ to replace), wiper motor go on the blink and again the lovely misfire, but at least it started.

[twosmoke300]

Citroen zx 1.9 d . Bought to replace a 1.6d escort so was expecting great improvements . Wrong ! Slower than moses's dog and shit on fuel in comparison . Brakes went out of adjustment on an almost daily basis . Omghgf the day before we were due to go on holiday .

Sold to buy a engagement ring and replaced by a 300 quid Audi 80 petrol which was a better car is every respect. Nearly as good on fuel too.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Am suprised to see a Citroen ZX on this thread, I would of said one of best cars I`ve had, reliability and handling wise! Not a bird puller though..

 

I have had several dreadful cars, mostly not the car`s fault, just due to neglect

 

I was going to nominate my the Nissan Stanza I had briefly, just as it was so dull but it was a worthy old wannabe minicab so I shall just have to name and shame my.........CITROEN XM !!

 

Awful in so many ways yet should of been great. I still love the shape and look at diesel ones on ebay regularly and one day may have another as it wouldn`t be a daily car anymore.

 

I bought mine in 1999 when it was only 9 years old with only 60,000 miles on at and it was near immaculate and drove really well mostly. It was a 2.0 automatic.  The suspension wasn`t the best, it handled great but used to feel a bit like a boat on the motorway, it didn`t `waft` like a xantia it would pitch back and forth. The heater was never quite right and I only owned it in the winter so was mostly frozen.  The main fault is it would cut out whenever it felt like it, sometimes start again or in ten mins or an hour. It spent quite a bit of time in an independent Citroen specialist ( did hundreds of miles in their AX courtesy car, that drove lovely) but they could never find a fault with it. Nor the AA, because by the time they arrived it would start first flick of the key.

 

It was so untrustworthy I bought a Mk2 Fiesta to get to work in.

 

It was so frustrating to own I just cut my losses and put it in the auction, just glad to see the back of it but I saw it again a few months later, in the lanes near Leominster there was a big house with several XMs in the driveway. All broken I would assume....

 

One thing I remember is my uncle visiting from Australia thinking I was quite wealthy as apparantly they cost a fortune over there!!

[D Spares & Tyres]

I forgot to mention the towbar that would bottom out if you went over the Leominster level crossing too fast......

 

bastards, I was trying to erase that poxy car from my memory.........

[Alusilber]

Daewoo Lanos.

 

All the refinement of a wheelie bin, all the character of a fridge from the Argos Basics range and not a single, flickering redeeming feature. Mine had 40k miles, the oil light would always flicker no matter what the level was, the window winders sheered off numerous times, always with the window open, and the boot let in so much water that it doubled the scrap metal value when it came to bringing that bastard over the bridge.

Mate of mine bought one new. Cambelt went when it was still under warranty. Daewoo dealer didn't bother replacing tensioner when they sorted it out, so it later disintegrated - after warranty expired. Got local greasemonkey to sort it out again, then the heater matrix started leaking. Probably other things went wrong too. Eventually sold it for £100 spares or repairs at 7 years old or thereabouts I think.

[RayMK]

Ginetta G26.  It's the big, vaguely De Lorean shaped thing, loosely heaped on to some girders, ageing MK 3/4 Cortina suspension bits and usually a clapped out Pinto engine. MK 1 Fiesta doors were also included, just to ensure that the fibreglass bodywork did not remain pristine for long.  Mine had a clapped out V6 and slushbox, fitted by a previous owner who wanted to prove that it could be done.  The end result was a nose heavy kit car with inadequate ground clearance, underdamped suspension, rusty doors, a leaking glass sunroof which would not open because all the fittings were rusty, no speedo (the V6 required a pulse counter/electronic set-up but the dash had a standard cable Cortina gauge) and a perilous mix of wiring harnesses to coax the fuel injected, ECU controlled engine to talk to the mainly Cortina loom.  Two observations come to mind: 1/  I saw it and bought it (what was I thinking???), and 2/  It was so ridiculously full of worseitude, yet I sort of liked it.    It sometimes managed to work for a whole week with only one or two major problems e.g. a manic ECU which randomly preferred a 2,500rpm tickover.....being an automatic, this was interesting......and a battery which would go flat overnight, caused by the all-out electrical war that continued after switching off. 

 

It got sold.  After a while, my demented grin subsided.

[cros]

Picture needed!

[martc]

......and a battery which would go flat overnight, caused by the all-out electrical war that continued after switching off. 

 

 

 

That's brilliant - it's joined my lexicon of phrases.