What's the worst car you could drive long distance?

[Felly Magic]

AEC Routemaster with an Iveco engine. Top whack 38 mph, steering shaking alarmingly, engine roaring just inches from your left leg. I hated it, and it's why I now hate them on a cellular level, and Lada Riva 1200L, at 70 you are going almost flat out, thanks to them weighing a boatload, and have the aerodynamics of a block of flats, plus dreadful steering that is set in what feels like concrete

[UltraWomble]

I drove from Preston to Edinburgh then to Swindon then to Bristol and back to Preston in the Micrashed Mk2 in one (loooong) day.

I had a stiff right knee by the end of that day as the drives seat never did go far enough back for me. It would have been lovely had I taken the C8

[catsinthewelder]

My VW type 2 could often leave me oily, half deaf and dead bottomed after a long run but I would have taken it over the HiJet pickup I was using at the time.

 

I generally do what my bosses tell me but Ludlow to Rockingham raceway and straight back (due to a teacher loosing the minibus key) was too much. The boss backed down and let me take my own car.

 

It was a great little thing to blez round town in but long runs killed my back and drained my sanity.

[djimbob]

Worst vehicle for long distance is an ill fitting, really broken one.

 

Or an old Mini

[chodweaver]

I drove from Preston to Edinburgh then to Swindon then to Bristol and back to Preston in the Micrashed Mk2 in one (loooong) day.

 

F*********ck!

 

Sent from my GT-S5830i using Tapatalk 2

[chodweaver]

I feel I should defend Mr2s, or at least the Mk1. Having used one for work and covering 150k over an 8 year period, of mostly long journeys and including a grand* tour of Scotland (up the left side, round Skye, across the top and down the right side), lots of commutes down the M6 and M40 or M5, and Stoke to Brussels and back over two days, I think the only thing I'd change about them is a higher 5th gear (which, it turns out can be done if you're willing to sacrifice a Carina E, which I am). I am however a weird shape and known for being bit of a martyr.

 

Sent from my GT-S5830i using Tapatalk 2

[fred]

Bloody A class Merc - seats are like Church Pews . Took my folks 200 miles to Pendine sands in one. Then had to drive back. Fucksticks I ached in every single body department for days

[Jerzy Woking]

If I may, I offer you motorbikes. The Honda CBF1000 gives me severe lower back ache after 20 minutes or so.

 

My Guzzi Sport is fantastically comfy for 500 mile days, likewise my old 1996 Fireblade took me on a few 750 mile days with no aches and no pains.

[xkjagnz]

I had a Ginetta G26 (Cortina based kit) which I bravely drove from Andover to Rosyth. Well I say that but a Lockerbie the propshaft snapped and came through the floor at such volume and violence that the locals must have thought another Jumbo was visiting! Finished trip on the back of a recovery truck. Rebuilt the car and sold it to some poor unsuspecting w****r!

[xkjagnz]

That said it was still a better drive than my mate who did Bournemouth to Rosyth in his Series 1 landrover (at a max speed of 55mph on those seats!!!. To keep things interesting he drove some of it while sitting in the passenger seat

[cros]

For me it would be a 4 door mini and the long distance would be one inch.

[Ghosty]

Transit minibuses. With solid seasts and typical basketball Ford rear suspension they're unbearable.

 

Manchester-London with 3 people and a weeks worth of stuff (all in binbags as opposed to suitcases because of my mum's OCD)  in a sad face Fiesta 1.25 CVT with a borked thermostat. Got as far as the East Midlands and turned back, crawling along repeatedly stopping to fill it with water. POS. Oh, and it was Christmas.

 

Polo 9N 1.4 auto. 70 on the motorway is 3500rpm, and it can't get up hills at all.

 

2003 Fiesta, well sitting in the back anyway. No head space, and destroyed my lower back.

 

Weirdly, Old Man's old 2000 Civic 1.4 auto was a capable long-distance car. In fairness though it worked best 2 up with one person in the front and one in the back, and you couldn't overtake anything. 

Manual one was shit, though.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

My old Sammy/413. Straight after buying it, I drove it around 60 miles home. It was sat on home-made raised shackles, the tracking was at least three miles out, and the steering box had more play than BA's van. Oh, and the exhaust was blowing and the fumes were finding their way into the cabin through the holes in the floor, I assume. I've driven some shite over the years, but this one was the worst by far. Anything over 30 mph and it felt like the back end was going to overtake the front. 

I sold it on ebay for a small profit, and it went to Germany for off-road trials! 

 

[daveb47]

Opal Monza 3.0 from london to canterbury,steering started wandering & gradually got more dificult to keep in straight line.

Then started slowing down finally coming to rest on hard shoulder,found ignition timing was out so reset it.

Wsa fine for 10 mile then did it again,retimed it again & once again drove off.

Kept doing this until i found that distributer wouldnt advance any more.

Managed to get to services where while waiting for aa discovered that bolt had gone from crank pulley and as pulley moved forwards it retarded ignition as it has helix drive to dist on it.

Aa arrived and as it was dragged on to flatbed there was an almity crash as both front suspension leg tunnels let go and legs tried to meet at top.

That accounted for the wandering steering then......

Turrets had been repaired with tin,pop rivets & filler.

[AnthonyG]

Minis (proper ones) are bloody noisy on motorways. Alright for 10 minutes on the M50 between Ross and Ledbury/Gloucester exit but much longer and I suspect I would have lost my hearing. 

 

Of all the cars I driven, the one I disliked the most was a Nissan Serena diesel. Overtaking things just impossible, I suspect if I'd just relaxed and drove it from Aberystwyth to Haverfordwest at the 42 mph it seemed happiest at I would have had a much better journey.

 

A Ford Contour (Mondeo Mk1) I drove as a rental from New Haven, Connecticut to Newark airport was bloody annoying as it seemed to want to shift gears at around 55mph. If they were all like that no wonder the model didn't sell well in the States.

 

I assume it was a 2.5 V6, certainly went quite well at Crown Vic-attracting speeds.