What's the slowest car you've owned?

[vulgalour]

The mention of the 1043cc Polo made me realise just how slow the Ledbury was.  My 1043cc Polo breadvan was quicker than the Ledbury.  It didn't just feel like it accelerated faster, it actually did, and could achieve a greater top speed.  There was definitely something wrong with that Ledbury because the little Polo was not a fast car, especially when you were more than 3 adults up.

[timolloyd]

My 850cc Mini was ‘nippy’ like everyone says about Minis, but realistically, with a passenger or 2, was painful on an incline. Probably the slowest car I’ve experienced though, and that includes a diesel series 3 Landy

[I_am_Diesel]

I once hired a LDV Convoy Luton van with the Transit diesel in. I took it from Basingstoke to Scunthorpe and back in what seemed like one of the longest days of my life ever! The only 'entertainment' as I battled to maintain 50mph was watching the speed at which the fuel gauge needle made it's journey across to the E position.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Slowest vehicle owned was my 1.7 diesel (non-turbo) VW T25 van. But it was only really slow because it had the potential to overheat when driven hard - was painful on inclines, and I never stopped looking at the temperature guage. Bad idea putting the engine in the back and the radiator at the front.

 

Generally speaking I don't mind "slow" cars. All cars are plenty fast enough really, the less powerful ones just need thrashing harder.

[primeradoner]

The slowest car I've ever had was a 1.6 emax sierra 

I can agree with that. Luckily mine got a lot faster when someone in a Mk3 Cavalier picked me up halfway down the straight at Barford and dumped me into the armco. Performance wasnt an issue after that.

[ProgRocker]

I'd need to test them altogether to give a definitive answer. However, I'm on my 7th car and the 6 I have previously owned no longer exist and were near or at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of performance and power.

 

The 1.4 60 bhp MPI Volkswagen engine had a reputation for being a bit sluggish. That's the unit I had in my 1999 SEAT Ibiza. However, it was relatively modern during my ownership and kept well serviced.

 

I would say that the slowest I owned were the 4 door saloons that I owned. The 1990 Fiat Tempra 1.4 (pictured after I crashed the bloody thing in Apr 2001 ) was pretty slow as I found it that it ran on 3 cylinders. Very 'un-Fiat' like. I tried replacing the spark plugs but one of the buggers was stuck in there tight. I assume it was the issue blunting the performance rather than a 1.4 carb engine that at one time produced 78 bhp had to haul around a fairly bulky mass.

 

My last car, the suprisingly good (for £250 + VED) ex-Essex Plod 1994 Escort 1.8 L diesel saloon. Not an Orion. The accelerator pedal was merely a 'go forward' switch. Damn economical though rarely had to refuel the faithful steed.

 

[Wack]

Honda Civic 1.4 with a Honda robotised gearbox , it was awful , tried to kill me , you'd be approaching a junction , it'd drop to second , you'd look and think , yes I've got time to get out in front of that 44 tonnes of death so you'd go but then it'd decide to change into first which almost bought the car to a stop it was that slow

 

It lasted about 2 months , final straw was a holiday to Cornwall, 4 up with luggage , 40mph up some of those hills , it went a week later

[twosmoke300]

A spaceship I-shit ? With the jazz engine ? Just terrible !

 

How did a company like Honda ever sign that off as ok . Did the test drivers honestly step out of them and say “ thats ok that “

[rickvw72]

I’ve had and driven almost all types of VW transporter, and some are slow but somehow never feel it. My T25 at the minute, a 1.9 water cooled petrol, will cruise at 75 all day, and no slower than a 1.8 D escort van or similar.

 

Sarah’s old Yaris, a 1.3 16v, was lifeless, despite claims of nearly 90 horses. Didn’t want to rev, absolutely no torque, quite a disappointment really.

 

There is only car I drove that I have stopped to check for brakes stuck on was a Nissan Almera, 1.4. Dear god it was awful.

 

I used to work for a Triumph Stag specialist, none of them ever felt very quick for v8s. But I did have a pug 205 1.9 GTI at the time. They are still very quick indeed.

[djoptix]

Owned - my first car. A Renault 4 in poo brown. 845cc of teenage hormone-fuelled power.

 

"Owned" -

 

Back in the day I worked for a music charity. I drove all over the country with a band doing gigs. We were down on our luck at one point and the director negotiated a deal - a local business let us have one of their old work vans, on condition that we didn't remove the signwriting, and they would get some free advertising. This is how I ended up driving all over the country doing crap gigs, in an Iveco Turbodaily LWB with "Outdoor World" written all over it along with pictures of a garden gnome in hiking gear.

 

The first weekend we got it, I had to drive over to somewhere near Leeds (we were based in Manchester) and it promptly overheated at the top of the M62. I stopped to let it cool down and checked the coolant. There wasn't any. I checked the oil. There wasn't any of that either. I drove on and put both in at a service station. There was no noticeable change.

 

Also, it only had a four speed box and first was way too tall. I was having to feather the clutch a lot to pull away, especially outside Wigwam Acoustics that same weekend, when loaded with probably 2 tons of audio gear on a steep incline. It smelled very clutchy. Anyway, a few days later I missed second and the revs went through the roof. I shit you not, it had a dogleg gearbox!!!! For racing, no doubt.

 

Many good* times were had in that van, including one winter evening doing some accidental DRIFTIN YO in the car park at Sedgemoor Services. Squeaky bum time...

[AnthonyG]

My first car was a 1300 Cortina Mk4, mainly that was slow because everybody told me it would be, and my dad was delighted because it was more or less the biggest car/smallest engine combo an 18 year old was going to get in 1990, which he computed as ‘safe’.

 

The Cortina didn’t feel that slow as I didn’t really have any comparisons, but I admit the driving instructor’s 205 1.9 diesel did feel considerably quicker!

 

The slowest thing I really remember driving, as in being a real pain to drive and useless at overtaking, was a Nissan Serena 2.3 diesel people carrier used as a run-around by a dealer I worked for. Rob T’s Metro would have blown its doors off!

[stormee]

My Polo 'Fox' breadvan was achingly slow above 30. 1043cc and 45bhp of misery. To make it worse they don't come fitted with a stereo.

 

I also had a 1.3 version which despite only 10bhp more was completely different.

The 1,3 must have been the famous NZ, also used in the Golf Mk2 which also wasn't underpowered with this engine.

[wuvvum]

Actually I've just remembered that in about 2002 I briefly owned a 1043cc Mk2 Golf - it was in the Freeads as free to good home as it was only running on two cylinders.  That was actually slower to 30 than the diesel Ligier, although it would eventually wind up to 50.

 

Once it was running on all four it wasn't actually too bad - certainly nippier than a 1.3 Mk2 - although that was largely down to comedy low gearing which meant 70 in 4th was about 5,000 rpm.

[Marm Toastsmith]

I’ve had and driven almost all types of VW transporter, and some are slow but somehow never feel it. My T25 at the minute, a 1.9 water cooled petrol, will cruise at 75 all day, and no slower than a 1.8 D escort van or similar.

 

Same. I used to borrow my Dad's wasserboxer T25 and it was pretty rapid really for what it was. In the end it blew up because nobody checked the oil... Also had a couple of 1.6 aircooled T2s which were fine. People complain about how slow they are but I think they go pretty well all things considered... My non-turbo diesel T25 was pretty painful though! A bit of a dog but it always made it in the end.

[Wack]

A spaceship I-shit ? With the jazz engine ? Just terrible !

How did a company like Honda ever sign that off as ok . Did the test drivers honestly step out of them and say “ thats ok that “

It was cheap and very modern , I bought it on eBay and didn't drive it until I'd handed the money over , driving it home was a proper "what the fuck have I bought" moment

 

It was a 4 year old Honda Civic for peanuts , how could it possibly be shit , If I close my eyes I can still hear it screaming its tits off on those Cornish hills

[Felly Magic]

Nissan Sunny 1.7D van was a work hack (cube shape) Morrison bodied Bedford CF diesel was slower than a glacier, otherwise over the years most of my cars have been able to get close to or over the ton, even my 954cc Samba was quick for what it was, my 957cc Fiesta could shift when it wanted to, but that wasn't exactly stock, after spending money with Burton Racing on tuning goodies

[Bradders59]

My slowest car was my first. A HB Viva. Next was probably its successor, a 1500DL Avenger. Next up has to be my current Merc 190 2.5D manual.

From a standtsill, the accelleration is slow enough to be bordering on dangerous in modern traffic. Its not too bad once over 40mph, but overtaking on single lane roads is nigh on impossible, unless there is a very long straight, and a very slow driver in front.

[bunglebus]

Slowest thing I've owned by a country mile though was a VW T25

Me too, but it was a 2.0 air cooled panel van. Not too bad in terms of acceleration in the lower gears but slightly disconcerting when you build up enough steam to overtake a lorry on the motorway, only to be pushed back by the air coming around the cab as you draw level! Still, a great van and always made me smile to drive it no matter how shit a day I'd had

 

BungleandCedric by RS, on Flickr

 

The red one, although the 2.1 auto was mine too.

[Rave]

The only car I've ever got rid of because it was too slow was my Mk1 Mondeo 1.8TD. It was OK once moving but pulling onto roundabouts etc. it was shite. It might have been because it came with a Haynes manual and in a bout of tinkering enthusiasm when I first got it I'd adjusted the fuel pump to bring the idle speed down from about 1000rpm to nearer the 700 that the HBOL reckoned was correct. I once wound it up to an indicated 110 on the M1 leaving a large plume of clag behind me.

 

I never found our old 2CV slow, and I don't think my 1.5D 106 is bad at all, though you do sometimes have to change down to maintain a sensible speed up steeper hills. The 1.1 petrol I bought a few weeks ago is clearly a lot faster, mind, despite its claimed 60bhp only being 2 more than the diesel's claimed 58. To me, a light car with a small engine that gets off the line quickly but then runs out of puff is greatly preferable to a heavy one that can't nip out into gaps, because most of my driving is in town, and I'm almost never in a tearing hurry on longer trips.

[Angrydicky]

Funny all these people saying 1.6 pinto Sierras are slow. The AS base was quite quick I always thought.

Slowest car I've ever owned must be the Standard, but I still haven't driven it on the road yet...

[catsinthewelder]

I've not really found any of my cars to be too slow but a few have lacked the power required to cope with hills.

 

The T2 was alright with its 1800cc air-cooled lump. It didn't cope too well with the hill I now live on which lead to diversions. In a fit of stupidity I used it to collect 30 paving slabs I won on eBay from Malvern. What is Malvern known for? Hills. I was down to first gear leaving town on the main road towards Ledbury and even when I got onto flat roads I didn't dare overtake tractors.

[Steve79]

Slowest I had was a '95 Renault Clio 1.9D RL Prima. Bouncing off the Limiter at an indicated 95mph going over the Severn bridge in Wales on my way back to bristol but probably doing around 85mph on the m4 back in the early 2000's.

 

Took an age to get there as well as I probably started accelerating somewhere in Newport!

[RoadworkUK]

I can't come near to claiming the slow car bragging rights of you lot. But the most surprisingly slow car I've ever owned was:

 

 

Saab 9000 CSE, 2.0, non-turbo automatic. I think SAAB quoted 0-62 as 13.0 seconds, which seems like an eternity by 1993 standards — and felt like it.

 

I really didn't mind, though. The ZF box made a noise that reminded me of travelling on MCW Metrobuses, and the thing was so outrageously comfortable that spending extra time behind the wheel was no hardship at all.

 

I gave it a writeup here if anybody's a fan of hopeless sentimentality
 

[primeradoner]

Funny all these people saying 1.6 pinto Sierras are slow. The AS base was quite quick I always thought.

Slowest car I've ever owned must be the Standard, but I still haven't driven it on the road yet...

The problem with the Emax was that it had the longstroke 165 engine together with a 3.6 diff This made it overgeared and glacial off the line. It could be made much better by either fitting a 3,9 diff or using a P100 gearbox. The earlier oversquare 1.6 engine first used in the cortina was a much better engine.

[Lacquer Peel]

What's the definition of a slow car?

 

Some cars aren't that slow but feel slow, others are slow by the standards of the time but are willing or torquey enough to punch above their bare figures.

 

A 2CV is objectively slow but not many owners complain about their slowness because they have a sweet, willing engine.

An Escort NA diesel is quicker than a 2CV but its dour, unwilling engine makes it feel much slower.

[MorrisItalSLX]

My slowest car was probably my 1982 Hilux, 1.8 petrol 4WD with a fucked rear diff so it was actually front wheel drive! The gearbox was also shagged so top gear was unobtainable. It also probably didn't help that it was only driven in fields, the tray was full of crap and the body was full of rust.

[sierraman]

What's the definition of a slow car?

 

Some cars aren't that slow but feel slow, others are slow by the standards of the time but are willing or torquey enough to punch above their bare figures.

 

A 2CV is objectively slow but not many owners complain about their slowness because they have a sweet, willing engine.

An Escort NA diesel is quicker than a 2CV but its dour, unwilling engine makes it feel much slower.

And how fast do you want/need to go with traffic being the way it is.

[bramz7]

My old facelift carb engined AX with the 954cc lump was slow. Even slower when I decided to use it to move house one day. Never. Again.

 

 

I've had three other AXs but this one just felt slower than all of them. The 1.1 is the best.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Funny all these people saying 1.6 pinto Sierras are slow.

Yeah right. My mate used to drive his mum's one when we were 17. Compared to the standard Metros, Fiestas etc. that the rest of us had the Sierra went like shit off a shovel.

[Marm Toastsmith]

And how fast do you want/need to go with traffic being the way it is.

 

Yeah, but no. 2cvs don't feel slow at all. And besides, driving slow is fine once you get used to it, it's just not as easy as sitting on someone's arse at 90 in the fast lane.