The Worst Car you've ever owned

[Fumbler]

13 minutes ago, sierraman said:

To top it all it was red like all the pizza delivery cars. 

I'm surprised yours didn't go dog dick pink like ours.

 

Strictly speaking, I'm still on my first car, however my brother's P38 was the most hateful and ungrateful shitheap I've had the displeasure to work on. It didn't like the heat of summer, the cold of winter, and was only content with itself when it wasn't running. The electrics would do weird stuff and generally not work properly, replacement parts were £££ to get, it had a hissy fit in Morrisons' carpark one summer and the engine oil pressure switch decided to piss oil everywhere. The only good thing going for it was the fact that the chassis was pristine and it had 55000 miles when he sacked it off to a sketchy dealer bloke. Made a monumental loss when sold too. Never again.

[bunglebus]

21 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Micra 1.0

Which shape? I used a K10 for a while and thought it was great, I'd have one. Not that horrid frog faced K12 though

[Three Speed]

My K reg Scimitar SE5 /5a was my worst. I wanted a car for lengthy commuting as we lived in Southend and I was hoping to find a job that would get us back to Surrey/ Sussex. I had sold my 2CV so a Scimitar fitted with a 2.1 litre diesel from a Peugeot 504 pickup seemed the obvious choice.  Especially as it was some hideous magenta/purple colour with a tan vinyl interior (cracked of course) and a poorly repaired front corner. I may have a photo somewhere but you don’t want to see it. It was horrible. Just the thing to turn up for job interviews in. 

The first journey of any note was from Southend to Worcester. We arrived late due to the engine seizing. In the time we waited for the AA/RAC the engine cooled off and I identified the thermostat as the culprit. That went into the hedge and we carried on our way. Thereafter the engine would need a 20 minute cooling off period before it would start again. Much fun in petrol stations- people din not know whether to shout at me for filling up with the engine running or for putting diesel in a Scimitar. Princess Anne never had that trouble. 

And so I did get a job in Sussex which coincided with a house price slump for some reason. So we could not sell our house and I spent a year commuting 76 miles in each direction, watching the bridge being built as I queued for the tunnel. 

The back axle ratio was the original so 80 mph was about the maximum I could get this thing to do - and it was seriously noisy at 4000 rpm.
The clutch release arm broke twice. Designed for a Ford clutch but operating a diesel one was too much for it. It’s not easy getting the gearbox out of a car when it’s mounted further back than the chassis designer intended. I had to  do it twice.  The second time I had it seriously beefed up.
I got recovered from Crawley to Southend one evening when the front engine mount bolts came out. That explained the unpleasant noises coming from the front when I braked hard - that had developed the previous weekend in Paris. It was the sound of the water pump pulley hitting the chassis.

One warm Sunday evening my wife and I were in a long  queue for the Dartford tunnel and the engine got a bit hot. As we finally exited the tunnel and picked up some speed the engine decided it had had enough and there was a lot of oil flying out of the breather  but no power. It would not restart however long I waited. Another recovery to Southend. It turned out the #4 piston had properly seized. No other damage though.

A disadvantage of having a longer engine than the body is designed for is that removal cannot be done from the top without taking the body off. And as a Scimitar has a separate chassis it can’t come out from underneath either. It seemed it had been fitted with the body off but I was not going down that road. I had heard of people who could do a rebore with the engine in-situ but when I wanted one I could not find anyone who offered that service. It took some time but I did at least find someone who would sell me one piston.
 

And so I ...

(those of a squeamish nature look away now)

... cleaned up the #4 bore with a flap wheel and fitted my new piston.

 Well it ran. It was quite smoky. And it was not very powerful. If it wasn’t my worst ever car before this it certainly was now. 
Amazingly I was able to sell it, having fully disclosed all of the above. It cost me £450 in 1990 and I sold it for the same in 1991.

Meanwhile I had bought a 1965 MK1 Triumph 2000 to pick up the commuting duties, which it did very nicely.

[dozeydustman]

The Focus I had for about 3 weeks not long after I joined this Forum.

Asthmatic 1.6 engine, revs took ages to drop after releasing the throttle, felt dull and lifeless compared to other Focuses I’d driven. Improved by new tyres but the biggest bugbears were the dreadful wiper pattern leaving the triangle of doom right in my eyeline, and couldn’t get a comfy position without squeezing my bollocks when pushing the clutch pedal.

Gave it to my brother, he spent around a grand on it getting it up to something decent as it needed new suspension bushes, callipers, dampers and alternator within 3 months of giving it to him.

I dodged a massive bullet there.

[Frogchod]

Not owned any cars that I've hated except for a mk1 fiesta. Bought that purely to flip. Hateful thing, nothing wrong with it apart from being terminally dull. Bought for peanuts gave it a polish and sold it for many beer tokens.  Still don't understand why the phone didn't stop ringing. 

Hatefull company cars were Sierras, astras and vectras. Lord knows how they sold any of them. Sierras were at least comfortable, but driving wise it was a cortina in a shit frock. The vauxhalls were all just hideously uncomfortable and washing machine dull. 

[Ian_Fearn]

Jeep Commander 5.7.

Engine was amazing, build quality atrocious, extremely poor design I.e piss poor interior space for a massive vehicle. My foot got cramp as there was nowhere to put your left foot. Maintenance was a nightmare and parts were incredibly expensive. 

Handling was shocking. MPG was even worse than anticipated. Like 15mpg on a gentle run. 

MDS system was a constant worry.

This is where it spent most of its time despite being a properly maintained car.

Swapped for a 1.2 Fiat Panda which is the best car I’ve ever owned.

[Rocket88]

3 hours ago, warch said:

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...

Wonder if it had been in a flood.....

[warch]

6 minutes ago, colc said:

Wonder if it had been in a flood.....

The Golf? I wonder if it had been washed out to sea? 

[jonathan_dyane]

There are only three cars I have regretted buying. VW Transporter T3, Audi 80 TDI and Vectra C 2.0 DTI.

The Transporter I bought as a doer upper. It was more fucked than I anticipated which wasn’t its fault but I found the engineering and design of the thing quite underwhelming. It drove better than a Sherpa mind.

The Audi I found very uncomfortable and less economical than I would have expected although I think they’re very sensitive to timing so maybe that was it. It also had an annoying knock on the front suspension I could never locate.

The Vectra was a reliable steer but boring. If it had been an actual colour and had more power I might have liked it.

[Keymaster]

Objectively: 89 Citroen AX 14TZS that I had for a couple of months which found new and exciting ways to constantly leak coolant every day, had numerous electrical issues, pogweasel paint and ultimately threw a rod in the middle of the mersey tunnel.

Subjectively: 94 Golf 1.4 base which was a lovely original example of a car, ruined by it being a 94 Golf 1.4 base.

[Inspiral_Mondays]

TVR Griffith 500, bought at 2 years old in a moment of madness in 1996. On a warm, dry Summer morning with the top down and the 5.0 litre V8 burbling away in front, a dream come true. On the other 364 days in the year a total nightmare. Bits regularly fell off, including a driving light, the rear number plate and the entire exhaust system. Oh, and the speedometer once fell out of the dashboard.

Plagued with starting difficulties and overheated if stood in traffic more than 5 minutes, when the gear lever became almost too hot to touch and the typical fibreglass pee smell got even stronger. Main dealer could not cure any of the myriad electrical problems because apparently the factory didn’t follow wiring diagrams and just used whatever colour cable was lying around to make up the looms. Indies in my vicinity told me they wouldn‘t touch it. Fuel consumption regularly in single figures and nerve racking to drive on anything but perfectly dry roads it spent most of its tenure with me either being repaired or in my garage.

I was so happy when another dreamer got drawn in by its siren like charms and took it off my hands.

[eddyramrod]

I don't think I can contribute to this thread because I've never owned a VAG product.

On the other hand I did have an Austin Maxi for a few months in 1986, and will absolutely never be repeating the experience!  And not just because even unrestorable scrap is apparently worth several arms and legs, such is the madness that is the classic-car market.

[jonathan_dyane]

2 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

I don't think I can contribute to this thread because I've never owned a VAG product.

On the other hand I did have an Austin Maxi for a few months in 1986, and will absolutely never be repeating the experience!  And not just because even unrestorable scrap is apparently worth several arms and legs, such is the madness that is the classic-car market.

I’ve always fancied a Maxi. I don’t think I’ll buy any more VAG stuff I need to realise they aren’t for me. I do sometimes think a Skoda might be acceptable but in my heart of hearts I know it would be no good (for me). Obviously if it had the engine in the boot it would be fine mind.

[eddyramrod]

The Maxi does have a strong following, just not wherever I am!  Mind, so does VAG.  So do many other cars that I wouldn't touch.  Good Luck!

[Rod/b]

36 minutes ago, Ian_Fearn said:

Jeep Commander 5.7.

Engine was amazing, build quality atrocious, extremely poor design I.e piss poor interior space for a massive vehicle. My foot got cramp as there was nowhere to put your left foot. Maintenance was a nightmare and parts were incredibly expensive. 

Handling was shocking. MPG was even worse than anticipated. Like 15mpg on a gentle run. 

MDS system was a constant worry.

This is where it spent most of its time despite being a properly maintained car.

Swapped for a 1.2 Fiat Panda which is the best car I’ve ever owned.

The one old Sergio described as “unfit for human consumption” and said “we sold some, but i don’t know why anyone bought one”.

I test drove one because it was cheap and was very close to home. I did not, however, do a buy. 

[DoctorRetro]

Oh I've owned some shit cars alright... 

(1.6 cvh) 

 

But the glory of the absolute worst has to go to this - a Ford Fiesta I bought from a neighbour. Horrid to drive, uncomfortable, leaked power steering fluid like a seive and I just hated it. 

 

 

[loserone]

 

Or

 

 

 

[JJ0063]

The actual car was a decent one, it was my particular one that was dreadful.

air suspension was absolutely terrible for comfort, I hated it within about 15 minutes of driving the car. Jesus Christ, with enough PSI in the bags for it to be a drivable height it was so bouncy it’s ridiculous, soft enough to be comfy it scraped everything.

had a starting problem that no-one could get to the bottom of, it just sometimes absolutely would not start for ages. 

The worst car I ever had in terms of just having to have a car at the time was a P reg Cinquecento, wow. Awful. 

[Liggle]

Ford Puma 1.7

It was actually a fun car but had lots of hidden horrors so lasted all of 3 weeks before I got shot.

I nearly typed my Astra G 2.0 SRi I bought to fix and flip but once I’d actually rectified the faults it was quite nice to drive despite the asthmatic ecotec lump.

[wesacosa]

30 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

Oh I've owned some shit cars alright... 

 

 

(1.6 cvh)

I adored my Sierra CVH which I had as a daily for about 4 years and kept for a few years longer as a back up car, although admittedly it was a 1.8 not 1.6. my only issue was it wasn't the Sapphire 

[FakeConcern]

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve liked all the cars I’ve owned and the worst one I only had for a couple of months. This was a P reg Allegro Estate in Tahiti blue, one owner and about 50k miles with a 1275 A series and 4 speed box. I bought it in 1985 as a stop gap when my 1275gt was nicked and only kept it until I bought an XR3i.

Having seen the ad in E&M I met a fly by night car dealer in a petrol station at night in the rain. The car was actually immaculate with matching blue vinyl seats and a round steering wheel, no rust I could find anywhere. I loved the look of the 3 three door estate (still do) but the engine was fucked, would only do about 50mph max, trailing a plume of blue smoke, used up huge amounts of oil and regularly put the low oil pressure light on while going along. To make it worse the gearing was stupidly low. I sold it for what I paid and didn’t feel too bad about it as the new owner wanted it to put a forged Cooper S 1293 in!

I actually really liked it, but was very glad to get rid!

[motorpunk]

My ex wife swapped a perfect Golf GTi for a nearly new Renault Scenic. It had endless problems, Renault didn’t give a shit, and it eventually caught fire with my kids inside. Fuck you, Renault.

[AndyIggs]

2007 BMW 520d with the lovely N47 engine

Sensor replacements left, right and sensor. A clogged DPF as if you didn't keep an eye on any sensor errors thrown up on the diagnostics the DPF wouldn't regen left me stuck a few times. Ended up chopping it in at the start of 2016 and it ran for another year before probably being scrapped!  

[TrabbieRonnie]

We thought we needed a people carrier after losing my old Liteace to oil pump failure (at 300,000 miles... Still hurts).  Bought a 2005 Fiat Ulysses from a guy in Aberdeen... surprised me with it's excellent bodywork condition. 

It was petrol, so immune to a lot of engine problems that seem to plague the derv drinkers, and had really good interior.  Like others have said, there was nothing really wrong with it as a people transporter, it was just so rubbish to drive I never got to like it.

I was asking too much I suppose, but a car without any soul is just not worth bothering with for me, they have to have something.

I'm a bit VAG'd up at the minute, with two Audi's, but they're both old school V6/V8 flavoured, which counts for a lot.  

So yeah, the Ulysses is the worst (and bear in mind, I also own two Trabants!)

[timolloyd]

I bought an E36 328i in a hurry, in the rain.

Cheap, but not cheap enough. No service history, and in hindsight I think that was because it had had little or no attention for years.

A top end rebuild that cost as much as the car again, a fuel pump, new brakes, battery...and that was just to get it reliable.

I totally lost confidence in it and cut my losses. Someone probably got a bargain!

[Justwatching]

Tie between Jaguar XJS and Fiat X1/9. Both looked and drove great, but very poor reliability. Neither could stay fixed more than a couple of weeks. 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, dozeydustman said:

The Focus I had for about 3 weeks not long after I joined this Forum.

Asthmatic 1.6 engine, revs took ages to drop after releasing the throttle, felt dull and lifeless compared to other Focuses I’d driven. Improved by new tyres but the biggest bugbears were the dreadful wiper pattern leaving the triangle of doom right in my eyeline, and couldn’t get a comfy position without squeezing my bollocks when pushing the clutch pedal.

Gave it to my brother, he spent around a grand on it getting it up to something decent as it needed new suspension bushes, callipers, dampers and alternator within 3 months of giving it to him.

I dodged a massive bullet there.

Ours does that with the revs, not sure if it’s the pedal potentiometer or the throttle body. Over past 3 years it’s never got bad enough for me to be arsed looking into it. 

[Datsuncog]

2004 Alfa Romeo 156 Veloce, in Italian racing red.

Gorgeous looking facelift model, saddled with a gutless lump of a 1.9 JTD unit which would only pull in second gear (turbo issues were suspected but couldn't be traced).

Only seven years old when I bought it, but came with a panoply of bizarre electrical faults, assorted leaks, and rust starting everywhere.

The seats were impossible to get comfortable in, and the turning circle felt more like a cross-channel ferry than a sporting saloon. Ventilation and rear view vision were poor, and the car constantly smelt damp inside and steamed up, even in summer. No, of course the rear screen demist had stopped working...

The doorhandle broke off, and the fuel tank straps rusted through, causing the tank to half fall out on the M5.

You can see one of the straps swinging free above.

On a trip to Dublin, the radiator blew out all its coolant on the motorway down, and I didn't realise until the temp gauge was way into the red. After refilling with Radweld and bottled water at services, the brake pedal went to the floor. Yup, one of the brakepipes had rotted through, and pressing the pedal just squirted out a jet of DOT 4. After nursing it home at a crawl, investigation revealed the entire braking system and suspension was so corroded that a mechanic concluded it must have been parked in the sea for quite some time.

Soon after, the gearbox shat itself so it took two hands to change gear, and large quantities of oil started seeping from around the block (possibly related to the overheating a few months before) so, in despair and with an MOT looming, I took it off the road.

I couldn't even find a scrapyard who wanted to take it for parts (sample quote: "naaah... there's more of them being scrapped than people who want bits off them...") and WBAC only offered me £120 - less than a tenth of what I'd paid for it a few months earlier, and which no doubt they would have chiselled down further on delivery - so it sat down the side of the house turning green for another year or so, before I eventually got shot of it in a trade for a decrepit Laguna...

Despite being the most problematic and least enjoyable car I ever owned, and the one I lost the most money on, I was horrified to recently realise that it still exists on SORN. It's therefore the only ex-Datsuncog vehicle that hasn't been scrapped, despite being the car that I reckon least deserved to live...

[stuboy]

a peougshite 309 glx 1.6 auto, broke down 22 times on the 2.5 miles home... took it back next day.. same as picture

[Mrcento]

Define 'Worst'? 😂

My Mk3 Mondeo TDDI was a car i really liked, but it got the nickname of 'clown car' because of the way it spectacularly disintegrated over a period of 3 weeks where virtually every major component seemed to develop faults all at once and i just scrapped it.

Still think though the Punto HGT just shaded it. Was a real jekyll and hyde car. Looked nice, was absolutely rapid (when the VVT system decided to work on any given day) but that was about it. It was a horror show. Had all manner of suspension problems, would drink oil, about put me through the windscreen on 2 occasions when it'd stall at 15mph. When it did that, it'd not restart for half an hour. Think it broke down well over a dozen times for no apparent reason. Had ever sensor etc swapped to try and sort it but nothing worked. Brakes were horrible, clutch was horrible, gearshift was bad, steering was rubbish, electrics were poor.... ended up part ex/ing the thing. Boy i 'sold' it to ended up taking it to restore and rebuild, ripped up the carpet and found the floor was gone in places you couldn't see up on a lift and scrapped the fucking thing.  Just an utter dog.