The most overestimated shite of all time

[D Spares & Tyres]

I liked junkmans topic so though we should have the opposite..

 

 

I shall just jump straight in and piss people off with my nomination

 

Land Rover 90/ Defender etc

 

Yes I know they are great for farmers and for their massive towing ability. Fantastic at what they do, I am not knocking them as a tool, but what on earth would possess someone to buy one if they do not need one?

 

Its like a Fergie TE20, wonderful piece of agriculture equipment but misery on the daily commute

[MarvinsMom]

anything german

[Shep Shepherd]

Anything to which 'scene tax' applies.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Not that I'm attempting to be controversial of course.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Methinks this may be a long thread...

[Junkman]

anything german

 

Even a 3.0 Si? I don't think so.

 

However, the most overhyped thing I ever owned was actually kind of German. A W126 560SEL in full Idi Amin spec. Allegedly the pinnacle of German automotive engineering at the time, and thus the world.

 

Don't believe a word of it.

 

It's merely kind of German, because the first shiny little box I spotted in the engine bay had "Made in Mexico" written on it.

That didn't annoy me, because personal experience taught me, that the Mexicans are hard working people doing orderly jobs.

Plus, the Mexican component evidently worked, so I didn't care. So did everything else, but is it only me, who thinks that I can expect this being the default in a car in this price segment?

 

If you expect that whenever The Junkman is in the driver's seat of a car with a big bloody V8, he first nails the throttle and then celebrates being launched into hyperspace, you are obviously right.

But if the big bloody V8 in question is a 560 SEL, then sadly only the first part of your expectation is met. The 560 just disappoints. It all looks so good on paper. Everything written about the car looks so good on paper. But that's only because nobody ever wrote the truth about it.

 

When you get into a car, that is hyped as being the top supercar that out-cars all other cars, do you want to be greeted by an instrument cluster lifted from a Mercedes lorry?

Do you want to grab a steering wheel lifted from a Berlin taxi?

Do you want to sit on a seat you are afraid of falling off of?

Do you expect the suspension system feeling like it's constantly overwhelmed by the car's underwhelming performance?

Do you expect the ride to be akin to that of a Mercedes 200D?

Well, I guarantee you, if you just stepped out of a mundane Chevy Caprice, you don't.

 

When my mother touched the switch for the rear window, it fell right into the door. So off came the door card and what I saw behind it finally pushed me over the edge.

Everything in there looks and feels like its botched together from rubbish that was on the clearance sale table at B&Q. I have seen better stuff in Fiat doors.

 

To this day, I'm unable to spot a single component in the car, that would justify its exorbitant purchase price when new.

It's a glorified taxi, nothing more. Just slightly bigger than a bloody taxi and slightly faster than a bloody taxi. But not much.

[Junkman]

Anything hydropneumatic is tremendously overhyped by people who never drove a car with a good suspension, good steering and good brakes.

It's also the answer to a question nobody asked and built by people who don't really give a shit about your survival.

[Noel Tidybeard]

mk1 & mk2 escrote- end of, i win

[Ghosty]

VAG stuff.

[Junkman]

mk1 & mk2 escrote- end of, i win

 

Thank you. Finally I'm not the only one who didn't forget what utter tosh they were.

[Junkman]

Anything Italian.

If the italians would just for once build what they initially had in mind, they'd lead the world.

[fred]

Lotus Cortina's - FFS seem to be more about now than was ever fucking made and all want a gajillion quid for em Bah

[fred]

Agreed on the E type too, ok looks fab, but try getting out of one, they are fecking tiny. Got stuck in one couple O years ago . And got it stuck in the Brake rollers of my Mates MOT station

Fuck trying to get in one again, have to be a anorexic Ronnie Corbett

[Bear]

Overestimated... Hmm.

Corsa/Nova. Both insanely popular and Sought After, both hideous to drive.

 

Toyota Supra.

 

Oh, of course. Impreza. Hateful things, really - when I went from 4Cam Turbo Legacy Estate to trying an Impreza 2000 Turbo, I expected more of the same but in a sharper, lithe body. Oh, how disappointing that was. Understeer, dull, not as aggressive. Even the second-gen Outback (big eyes, blow headgasket model) was faster through bends for me. Impreza is all noise and point & squirt but no manners or finesse.

 

Cavalier SRi 130 and GSi 2000. The SRi 130 was almost legendary when I was 'growing up', to the extent that I nearly bought a very clean blue saloon as my second car. Just... no. Obviously it was quicker than my Chevette, but I also drove a Golf GTi and Peugeot 405GLx4 at the time, it was no match for the 405. Owner claimed it did 147mph. As for the GSi 2000 - never understood the appeal. Like Nova GSi. Only GSi I understood was the Carlton.

[Noel Tidybeard]

bmw e21- escrote sized car, cortina sized price tag

[garethj]

I can answer the bit about Land Rovers, they've got simplicity and integrity, and you can feel it even when you drive on normal roads.  Nothing on there that doesn't have to be there is very refreshing.

 

Obviously there are downsides too which is why it's not always overestimated, in fact it's one of those cars where the haterz are about as vocal as the fans.

[320touring]

what is overrated is the belief that things can be over or underrated.

 

I like some cars, you like some cars, some we both like. This is ok.

 

People like different things and look for different things from their cars. The trick is an open (ish) mind.

 

buy what you want, and never mind about anyone else's opinion:)

[the judge]

How dare anyone mention GSI2000 in these terms!!!!

Well,looking back,they looked the bollocks,but were stodgy wank to drive. 1.8 GL versions were more satisfying,they knew what they were.

My dad always said mk2 escorts were pants

[Split_Pin]

All cars are shit.

[sierraman]

Astra H. If I'd expected nothing at all I'd have been disappointed.

[michael1703]

VW Beetles and campers

 

They sound shit,they look shit,they are clunky 45bhp and they cost more than a decent car.

 

£27k for a split screen?

 

I'd buy a decent car for the money

[derskine]

Yeah I agree on Beetles certainly having owned one recently.

Simpler to work on but that's all they've got going for them.

[Bren]

Anything auto express raves about - especially if it is German.

[Taff]

VW Beetles and campers

 

They sound shit,they look shit,they are clunky 45bhp and they cost more than a decent car.

 

£27k for a split screen?

 

I'd buy a decent car for the money

 

The bold bit is mantra, really. My son looks at his mates' dads vantage and asks why I don't like it? I tell him, it's not that I don't like it, but if I had that much money set aside for my hobby, I would like a stovebolt 6 powered 27 Model T sedan hotrod a whole lot more

[mercrocker]

Profound-ness always reaches a crescendo with me at quarter to nine, just before the dayshift beat me back down again....

 

So, in this temporary state of lucidity and ying-yang equilibrium I would also like to state that there are no shit cars and no fabulous cars.

 

It is our expectations that are elastic.   In other words, don't listen to any twat and find out what it is you like the hard way.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I would also nominate the vectra c. I got given a brand new one to drive on a 52 plate I think it was. Couldn't believe how shit it was, so underpowered. Crap interior, infuriating stereo system.Probably the worst car I ever drove. It was only a 1.8 but felt like a 1.1.

[fordperv]

Anything to which 'scene tax' applies.

Couldn't agree more, just because they are expensive doesn't make them any less shit, i mean look at vw campers, fucking dreadful but you need to sell your kidneys to get a good one, a lot of sporting ford's they still rot like a base model

[John F]

Is this thread just a thinly-veiled excuse to slag off other people's preferred shite?

 

If so, I'm not playing.

[Bone]

Marina/Ital. They're overestimated these days with people seeing them through rosy goggles.

 

When launched they were an outdated update of a Moggie thou, very poorly assembled and laughably pitched as competition for the Cortina. The first new car I sat in was a 1.8 saloon that the old man's mate bought....get this...as he drove it away from the dealers it was pulling to the right when braking so he turned round and went back. He was told it was just bedding in and would be ok after a few miles. It wasn't. That evening he came round with it and took Dad & me to their mate's garage to have a look, he was having to steer left when braking. Once up on the ramp the problem was obvious, the car had been assembled with an o/s front disc & caliper and a n/s front drum brake. There's shit, right there, straight from the factory.

 

Years later I owned a Marina van, a 1.7 HLS and a 1.3 Ital, mostly because at the time I was very skint and they were very cheap. And shit. Trying to make progress down any road with bends is like trying to run downstairs with a double mattress.

 

Fuck 'em, they're a bag o' shite.

[mercrocker]

Profound-ness levels have dropped already.....Now I am just the misguided owner of a hyped German camper, an anachronistic pair of rubbish British cars and an over-rated German taxi.   I think I will sell them all for mega-bucks and go and buy a Hyundai Lantra.