The Worst Car you've ever owned

[Dylan Wright]

Hello Once Again!

 

My Question for you is today....
 

'What is the Worst Car you've ever owned and why?'

Looking forward for your answers,

Dylan

[plasticvandan]

1986 Fiat Panda

[Sham]

2004 Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0 HDi Desire*

It's only redeeming feature was practicality.

The only pleasure I ever got from driving it was to a pre arranged trade in against a Focus.

[robinmasters]

[Burnside]

H reg Peugeot 205 1.8 TD 5dr, paid £650.  Had it 2 weeks without any problems, then after that it was nothing but break downs and endless issues. 

Spent over a £1,000 trying to get it sorted myself and with various garages, but after a year I gave up and sold it on for a £100. Best decision I ever made! 

 

[ProgRocker]

My first car: a 15 year old V reg Mini 1000. I was naive and unprepared for the amount of attention it would need. 

[320touring]

this festering turd of a thing.

Bought as a stopgap from @dome. Entirely as described, so no reflection on him!

 

Most irritating thing was not about that particular car - more the half assedness of the execution of the a2 concept.

It could have been ace - it was so close on so many fronts.

But no, frustratingly short in many regards:(

 

 

[Shep Shepherd]

1988 Volvo 240 GL saloon; a falsely-described, terminally rotten and terminally neglected eBay purchase in late 2002. Good job I only paid £200 for it. Luckily, it didn't put me off Volvos.

[iainrcz]

Probably my Panda. Made of rust, constantly snapping clutch cables.

It was my first car, so still have a little fond memory of it.

Though at least it didn't cost me over a grand for a new timing chain like a certain Austrian built bubble roofed coupe did...

[Rod/b]

The worst car i’ve ever owned was a L reg Ford Orion 1.6 LX that was just an utterly hateful box of horse shit on every level.  To put it into perspective I had a Citroen BX that blew up 11 miles after I bought it, and I still hold that in higher regard to the Orion. 

[warch]

Lemme see.

I was going to say my Ford Orion Ghia (bought for 450 quid in 1999) stumbled through to 2001 when I offloaded it for 95 quid. Managed 3 engines in that time the original lasted two weeks, it's replacement lasted half an hour, so third time lucky, apart from the clatter and blown head gasket. Very rusty, leaky boot so always cold and damp inside. Should've bought the contemporary Vauxhall Astra instead, a much better car.

Not my absolute worst though, my 2005 Golf Tdi was absolutely shitsville. Bought for 5 grand when it was seven years old, it managed an ECU failure (£1200 quid) and a turbo (1200 quid). The brake calipers were prone to seizing, everything else underneath looked like it had been exposed to saltwater (the ABS rings literally crumbled away). The real problem was various electrical faults culminating in it not starting, because it would keep blowing the fuel pump relay. I temporarily fixed this by using a bit of card to hold the internal switch in the on position to use it although it would drain the battery if I left it like that so I had to remove the relay when it was parked up. The fuel relay was the harbinger of things to come though, I had most of the dashboard warning lights lit up by the time I got shot of it. German build quality my arse...

[montytom]

The worst car I would have to say was my old golf vr6 I had nothing but issues with it. Was glad to see the back of it to be honest

[Shite Ron]

 Without doubt a 1986 mk2 Cavalier 1.6 GL. It was 4 years old and quickly developed every fault known to them and more, I changed a leaking fuel pump, leaking sump gasket, noisy clutch bearing and many other issues. One day I was travelling back from Bristol and it lost all power on the slightest climb, downhill it would reach about 110 mph but uphill it would drop to 50 mph and I had to change down the gears worse than a diesel Orion. When I got home I took the plugs out and found one of the electrodes missing as if it had burnt out. They were brand new champion plugs as I had recently serviced it. I have never bought champion plugs since. I was still young and was brought up thinking it was good to have new cars, I loved Cortina’s and Sierra’s were too ugly and plasticky to consider, Cavaliers were very popular and it was not a bad looking car but nowhere near as nice to drive as a Cortina or anywhere near as comfortable. I was probably unlucky and have had mk3 Cavaliers which were very good but having driven rough and abused Cortina’s for many miles and experienced very few issues it did put me off Vauxhall’s. Well that mk2 Cavalier and the fact my Dad had a silver Viva with black vinyl seats for years did make me somewhat biased against Vauxhall’s.

[artdjones]

1972 Cortina L 1.6 in bronze with red fibreglass front wings and with the top of the inner wings replaced by riveted aluminium sheet. It did 12mpg around town. The clutch went, which could happen to any car, but when replacing it I noticed that the bolts for the rear gearbox cross member felt a bit strange. I did them up as tight as I dared, put everything else back together and took the car for a test drive. The clutch felt great, but a quarter mile down the road the gear lever dropped until there was about 2inches of it visible. So the next morning was spent taking up the carpet and chiselling holes through the floor into the gearbox mounts so I could push longer bolts up from beneath and put nuts on them. Strangely, I made a nominal profit on the car.Bought for £80, sold for 120. But as most of my motoring was around town it was ruinously expensive to run.  And was a terrible driving experience. Sloppy, wallowing, loose. It put me off any of the Cortinas with wishbone suspension forever

[bunglebus]

Hmm. Definitely a Ford, although that's a little unfair as most of my cars have had a blue oval on them. 

Most unreliable was my MK1 Sierra 3 door, mostly due to a lack of maintenance by previous owners. Seem to recall it needing a battery as it wouldn't charge after I ran it flat by accident, the cambelt had chunks missing and I tore it in half easily after I replaced it, the engine was always tappety no matter what I did even after fitting a different cylinder head, it always pinked, often overheated, burst a core plug, was running on three when purchased as the plugs were coated in black death, the clutch failed and I had to change it in the rain, in a gravel car park, on my own...I'm sure the list goes on. I still liked it as it was very clean and being a three-door I was always getting asked to sell it.

Worst was an Orion, MK5 Escort shape. Went well thanks to the 1.8 Zetec, wasn't uncomfortable inside thanks to being a Ghia, and never actually went wrong enough to leave me stranded. But it was shit, constant niggling electrical defects, every nut and bolt looked like it was off the Titanic so snapped when you tried to do anything. Had the usual lower arms and wheel bearings changed, new cambelt etc. I snapped the front anti-roll bar being a knob doing reverse flick turns and had a slow puncture. Someone pinched the N/S mirror glass when my dad was using it. I just never liked it, sold it to my ex and took it to the crusher when it failed its MoT. Good riddance.

[moosemansjukebox]

Worst for me was a Vectra B. I liked the car, but I had nothing but problems with it and sold it after a few months.

Within a day of buying it, the rear brakes had disintegrated, in fact, the brakes overall were about as effective as a chocolate teapot. The seats were hard and uncomfortable, the exhaust was rusted to pieces, the fuel tank leaked, the power steering line from the pump split one day leaking fluid all over work's car park, the rear doors didn't unlock or open, it burnt about a litre of oil every 2 weeks and it was a pain to park as the rear visibility is shocking. 

 

[TataBobu]

My current Dacia. Flintstones floor, crooked rear axle (as in 4 tire marks), and flooding the sparkplugs for cylinders 2 and 3. Should I aso mention rusting everything else?

[RayMK]

A familiar thread title.....

This is how I replied last time.

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

This. A 2011 Mercedes e250cdi, I’ve had more unreliable cars, I’ve had cars that cost me more in repairs, hell I’ve even owned a Mk4 Espace that ticked all those boxes and more.

But this hateful piece of shit, just rubbed me up the wrong way. Got rid after about 4 months ownership. Put me off Mercs for a little while (4 years or so) I’ve now got a similar, albeit facelift , e220 cdi that’s not as fast, not as well specc’d and in a boring colour with black vinyl seats instead of cream Nappa , and you know what? I love it ! 

[strangeangel]

SIII Land Rover.

 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

A 2015 Ford kuga. While not unreliable it had abysmal fuel economy - I once got 33mpg out of with extreme babying and cosseting and over its 3 years and 17k averaged 25 mpg (1.6 EcoBoost allegedly frugal and green eco engine) 1st gear  in its poweshit gearbox was horrendously low and it would hold it forever. The interior was  made of cheap scratchy plastic and pretty poorly nailed together despite being a titanium X. Dissapointing allround, not my  choice of car but I had to endure it. Proof modern isn't better. By comparison  even my crap had  more redeeming features and enjoyment and less frustrating  ownership.

[Cavcraft]

How many answers are we allowed?

[Matty]

The only thing I've ever had that I didnt like was a c3.  Even that wasn't a bad car, just the only thing I've ever bought cos I had to rather than wanting it. Annoyingly it was good, just not likable. Maybe I've been lucky?

[DVee8]

A 1986 Ford Sierra 2.0Is. That I bought at 3ish years old

A hatefull piece of shit that would have  every conceivable way of fucking one over, more bubbles under the paint than in a Aldi blow up hot tub.

A fast Ford pah. I haven't had a Ford since

But it did have strippy seats and the arse end would kick out around any moist corner making one look like a driving god or a hopeless  fool..

[Tamworthbay]

Mk1 Astra, what a pile of shite that was, bought off a family friend despite my better judgement. Eventually traded for a mk3 Escort that I ran for 3 years and 120000 miles including a year living abroad without so much as a single problem. Close 2nd was a Mazda 3, never had one issue and was a ‘perfect’ car, except that is was so uncomfortable that it convinced me my arthritis was getting the better of me as I was in agony after 30 minutes in it.

[strangeangel]

Hey, if we can have more than one nomination then I shall throw in the Mini 1000 Automatic too. A car that had it all: rust, unreliability, rust, piss poor autobox that ran in sump oil so it was a case of when it failed rather than if, rust, appalling brakes, dreadful driving position for anyone taller than 5', rust, asthmatic performance and rust. The worst £50 I ever spent.

 

[ETCHY]

X reg Austin Mini Metro 1.3 HLS, I bought it in the rain with my eyes shut & brain in neutral in 1990.

It used more oil than petrol (I carried big cans of the stuff everywhere), the engine smoked like crazy, it leaked water into the boot terribly & would occasionally put out small plumes of smoke from the dashboard but not actually burst into flames. It was also a bit rusty.

The suspension also squeaked like mad & it would sometimes do a mad & rather scary shudder if it went over 50mph.

Oddly i'm now quite affectionate towards Metro's, god know why.

[sierraman]

I put a lot of thought into what car to buy, for that reason I’ve driven Focuses/Mondeos for the last 15 years. Anyway for the (now wife’s first car) we ended up for reasons I can’t off hand remember having a Micra 1.0. I hated it quite frankly, I felt like right steaming dick going anywhere in it, it was foul inside and taking it on a motorway was a no go. The wife like it but fortunately the opportunity to sack the little red twat as it became known arose in that a foot long piece of sill fell off. Explained to her it was a death trap and bought her a Mk4 Fiesta which was infinitely better. Araldited the bit of tin back on the sill, gave it six coats of underseal and sold it to some chap that bought it from an ad placed in the paper. Sadly it lived on for a few years. 

Can’t really put it into words how much I disliked that car, I don’t think it was a hatred based on its technical ability, it was just that you felt such an absolute fool driving it, you just looked bloody incompetent. It couldn’t have made you look any more stupid if it had a sign on the top saying ‘I’ve a really small willy’. To top it all it was red like all the pizza delivery cars. 

[Schaefft]

Worst I actually owned and drove? Ignoring the condition of the car, 1997 Mazda 626 estate with the 90hp engine. Incredibly underpowered.

Condition wise: The avus silver 2002 Audi S8 Final Edition. That car was just tired and neglected, gearbox issues, power steering issues, straight piped so incredibly annoying, needed work all around. Sold it for a decent profit to an enthusiast in Germany who's completely restoring it atm.

Worst car I owned and haven't driven: my 1st Olds Aurora. Still hasn't ran for more than a second since I got it 4 years ago. I blame me neglecting it though.

[St.Jude]

2010 Peugeot 3008.

Fucking horrible car. And I part ex'ed my Dad's CR-V for it a year after he died. Wasn't thinking straight obviously.

Awful awful awful car.