The most overestimated shite of all time

[D Spares & Tyres]

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

 

If so, I'm not playing.

Not at all, just seeing what people think are overrated.

 

Now Maseratis....... ☺

[HMC]

Classic Mini

 

Hear me out on this. I've had one, and liked it. Im not here to drivel on that they have poor secondary safety/rot prone/whatever. Simply that over time the hype and deity- like status means that much of what is spoken/written is one sided. All too easily quirks and shortcomings are brushed aside as we are again reminded its an " institution"

[dugong]

Yes.

 

Except for the Triumph Stag.

[Bear]

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

 

If so, I'm not playing.

 

I don't see it that way - because it's not about saying the car is crap, as such. Overestimated or underestimated is a relative position; I might rave about Mercedes A-classes and SLKs, but most people would probably drive one and go 'meh', they wouldn't have the same experience.

 

So when I mention the GSi 2000 etc - it's not that I think they're shit cars or people are idiots for liking them, it's just that I don't get it when I drive one. They're not to my taste.

 

And that's what is fun about a thread like this - particularly if people go into why they feel a car is over/under - you get to see how different the viewpoints of a bunch of people who fundamentally all like and understand cars can be.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I don't know about overestimated but maybe overhyped is a better way to describe my suggestions.

Jaguar Mk2 - like any red blooded English man brought up on old pictures of Hawthorn ( yes I know he was dead before the mk2 came out, but you know what I mean) Moss,Salvadori ,Hill and Stewart in all their b&w glory.

Plus a thousand car chases on the telly, a Mk2 was high on my dream car list, right up until I drove one.

It was a 3.4 manual in pretty much concours condition and I have never been so dissapointed in a car, cramped,noisy, heavy steering and worst of all not very fast. What made it worse was an ill fitting Webasto roof that sounded like a gazebo in a gale.

The crazy thing is that 10 years before I briefly drove a Daimler V8 250 auto and loved it.

 

Porsche 911- I've driven 3, an 85 3.0 , an 04 manual 4S and a nasty auto cabriolet . Each of them felt a bit like a Skoda Estelle rally car or VW Fastback- the only rear engined cars I'd ever driven before and probably not what they had in mind in Zuffenhausen. In fact I felt happier and covered the same route faster than tin the 4S in Mrs N's Jag S-Type. God knows what I'd feel about an old 2.4S or other proper* 911.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Every car is over rated by its fans and under rated by its haters.

 

Therefore a car with more fans will appear to be over rated in comparasion to the norm.

 

In the UK this includes many UK designed and built cars. In other parts of the world the list will be different.

 

Not sure that I have added anything useful to this thread but meh, you can't win em all.

[Junkman]

All cars are shit.

 

Nah, man. Only all Vauxhalls.

[Junkman]

I don't see it that way - because it's not about saying the car is crap, as such. Overestimated or underestimated is a relative position; I might rave about Mercedes A-classes and SLKs, but most people would probably drive one and go 'meh', they wouldn't have the same experience.

 

So when I mention the GSi 2000 etc - it's not that I think they're shit cars or people are idiots for liking them, it's just that I don't get it when I drive one. They're not to my taste.

 

And that's what is fun about a thread like this - particularly if people go into why they feel a car is over/under - you get to see how different the viewpoints of a bunch of people who fundamentally all like and understand cars can be.

 

^^

This

 

Whenever a car is hyped - and many undoubtedly are, for example when the entire motoring press raves about them, or when certain attributes of them are praised as outstandingly superior in common folklore, I have certain expectations. If such cars then fall short of my expectations, I find them overrated and this is what I'm writing in this thread.

 

GIGANTIC WARNING!

 

My posts may contain an opinion.

 

If you have issues with this, do NOT read them!

[John F]

Sloth in a bowl, on 30 Sept 2015 - 10:49 AM, said:Sloth in a bowl, on 30 Sept 2015 - 10:49 AM, said:Sloth in a bowl, on 30 Sept 2015 - 10:49 AM, said:

Every car is over rated by its fans and under rated by its haters.

 

Therefore a car with more fans will appear to be over rated in comparasion to the norm.

 

In the UK this includes many UK designed and built cars. In other parts of the world the list will be different.

 

Not sure that I have added anything useful to this thread but meh, you can't win em all.

 

That's a nice way of putting it. And ATEOTD it's all subjective - even supposedly objective criticisms will be seen by others as irrelevant, missing the point, etc. Besides, according to Neil from the Young Ones, criticism threads are bad for site karma. Man.

 

 

 

* unless they're slagging off Citroen fucking Xsara fucking Picassos, obv

 

So yeah, I'm not playing.

[dugong]

That's a massive cop out for someone so opinionated.

[John F]

dugong, on 30 Sept 2015 - 11:36 AM, said:

That's a massive cop out for someone so opinionated.

 

Yeah, I'm in a transient mood.

 

But we've already pretty much done this to death anyway...  we had "What shite do you hate?" a while ago, and that just ended up in a slagging match.

[dugong]

Yeah, I'm in a transient mood.

 

But we've already pretty much done this to death anyway...  we had "What shite do you hate?" a while ago, and that just ended up in a slagging match.

Verily, a valid opinion.

[Lacquer Peel]

Ford Focus Mk1 when they were new and now.

Hideous dashboard, over-rated ride and handling, maybe they're better to drive than a 306 at the limit but who drives at the limit more than 1% of the time?

The over wrought "new edge" styling hasn't aged well.

[Bear]

But, the Focus was a metric fucktonne better than the Escort before it. Admittedly, there are some virulent STDs that are preferable to a Mk 5/6/7 Escort depending on what level of carnerd you're talking to. We can skip the whole "mark whatever" by simply saying "The Escort that nearly ruined Ford Europe".

 

And I'd still have a cheap convertible one, because car.

[dugong]

Never minded the MkI Focii. True, it showed Ford off to be a lazy, cynical manufacturer that traded off marque loyalty and past glories (see also: Volkswagen). It could and should have had a car the calibre of the Focus out years before.

 

There's a certain irony that RPJ benchmarked the 205 GTI for inspiration during the Focus' development, which was signed off in the late 'Seventies. And belonged to a model range that saved Peugeot.

Oh. Seems like everyone was at it. Especially the French.

 

It had the knock on effect on VW, too - having spoken to several Ford engineers who evaluated the MkIV and MkV Golfs, the Focus clearly put the wind up Wolfsburg. The latter Golf was a far better car to drive as a result.

[Junkman]

Those Mk 5/6/7 Escorts weren't that bad.

[vulgalour]

The key is to set your expectations nice and low, whatever you go for.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

[dugong]

Some stuff I've tried lived up to the hype. Fancy that.

[Bear]

The key is to set your expectations nice and low, whatever you go for.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

Advice for life, surely.

[martc]

Harley Davidsons

 

And if they made cars they would be over rated as well.

[Junkman]

I don't know about overestimated but maybe overhyped is a better way to describe my suggestions.

Jaguar Mk2 - like any red blooded English man brought up on old pictures of Hawthorn ( yes I know he was dead before the mk2 came out, but you know what I mean) Moss,Salvadori ,Hill and Stewart in all their b&w glory.

Plus a thousand car chases on the telly, a Mk2 was high on my dream car list, right up until I drove one.

It was a 3.4 manual in pretty much concours condition and I have never been so dissapointed in a car, cramped,noisy, heavy steering and worst of all not very fast. What made it worse was an ill fitting Webasto roof that sounded like a gazebo in a gale.

The crazy thing is that 10 years before I briefly drove a Daimler V8 250 auto and loved it.

 

I had the exact same experience. I was always fond of the MKII and made the mistake of meeting my childhood hero in form of a 3.8.

I wouldn't call it slow, but not as fast as expected and the steering left a lot to be desired. Later I drove a Daimler 250 and despite the outward similarity, it was a completely different car.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Yeah, I'm in a transient mood.

 

But we've already pretty much done this to death anyway... we had "What shite do you hate?" a while ago, and that just ended up in a slagging match.

Yes it does seem to be that if you don't agree with a comment then that gives you a right to insult that person personally......

 

I think the comments are interesting. I love my xantia just because I do but would totally agree that the fluid suspension is pointless, i have had more comfortable cars on conventional springs

 

As for luxury mercedes? I have owned several 70's and 80' mercs. Lovely cars, but not exactly the most luxurious places to sit..

 

My Escort van which i have had for years is totally reliable but so slow. I would welcome anyone on here to drive it,you would be amazed at its lack of power

[Barry Cade]

 

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.

 

 

Ouch. I remember working on a Ferrari 360 Spider, which had door handle issues. Never been so dissapointed when I removed the beautifully finished hand stitched door panel to find this...

 

[alf892]

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.

 

 

Always makes me laugh when this one gets trotted out!

 

Did the bloke in the pub have anything else to say?

[AlabamaShrimp]

 

 

Ouch. I remember working on a Ferrari 360 Spider, which had door handle issues. Never been so dissapointed when I removed the beautifully finished hand stitched door panel to find this...

 

What the inside of a door? Where you hoping Narnia was there or something?

[Bone]

Always makes me laugh when this one gets trotted out!

 

Did the bloke in the pub have anything else to say?

The car came from Adshead's on Manchester Rd in Bolton, it was owned by Don Buxton (Dad's mate), it was maroon. The garage it was taken to, which was a corrugated type place, with a manually operated petrol pump, on what looked like a bomb site off Chorley New Road opposite Bolton School was owned by Bill Shaw. Its possible that it wasn't the only one that escaped the oven pre fucked by a militant disgruntled workforce. I was 10 at the time, 6 yrs later I came across the same mindset in an engineering works, basically if you can fuck it up and get away with it then you've won....tossers.

 

Bloke in the pub my arse.

 

My post isn't a personal attack on anyone, but what I believe to be a fair assessment of the car based on the three I owned. If you or anyone you know owns one then fair play to you, I hope you enjoy it.  

[Taff]

Yeah, I'm in a transient mood.

 

But we've already pretty much done this to death anyway...  we had "What shite do you hate?" a while ago, and that just ended up in a slagging match.

 

which I won...

[Bear]

To be fair, i reckon the Ferrari F40 has to be up there as most overrated. Shit panel gaps, crap equipment, awful trim, difficult to get into. Don't understand the love for them

[anonymous user]

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

I disagree, my Land Rover has cheered me up no end, to put it in context I learned to drive on a Fergie TE20.

 

There are many cars I would like to drive, which might disappoint in some way, there are many I have driven that I have not enjoyed that much; however so far there hasn't been anything where I would rather have walked or taken the bus. (Although the Bond Bug came close, but I think that's more because I left it too late before buying one, I would probably have enjoyed it if I was younger.)

 

There are also many cars, by reason of fashion, that I would not buy, but that is usually because I can't afford them, or refuse to pay what I see as an inflated price. To put it another way it's all just transportation, some you like, some you don't like as much. I prefer to make up my own mind based on experience rather than on what is learned from third parties. Some cars I have liked for obscure reasons which would drive other people up the wall.

[Junkman]

What the inside of a door? Where you hoping Narnia was there or something?

 

No, but inside the door of a car costing more than a house, I'd expect at least Peugeot quality, not bicycle cables.

Apparently that's only me, though.