The worst car you’ve ever owned

[Dyslexic Viking]

19 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

These experiences are probably why I have an aversion to large 'luxury' cars and would rather just have a sorted mid-size hatchback.

Proper luxury cars almost no longer exist in my opinion. For example, in the 1960s there was a big difference between a Beetle and even a base model Merc, compared to now, a Golf and a Merc are not that different.

[davehedgehog31]

A Skoda Superb "Edition 100", I still shudder thinking of the fucking thing. 

It was five metres of stretched B5 Pisshat shite. 

Very top spec, had EVERY toy you could imagine in circa 2004. Interior was a lovely place to be and the seats were very comfy, that's where the good news ends. 

It suffered from chronic water ingress which I was constantly chasing, seemed like I fixed one leak and it came in somewhere else. As a result the body electrics had a mind of their own. 

The rust was pretty dire for a reasonably young car at the time, the bootlid and front wings dissolved rapidly.

The front end suspension was a knockfest. After a few months I'd replaced absolutely everything including wheel bearings and it was fine for about two weeks, then it started again. It burst about 4 coil springs in the space of six months. 

The ungrateful cunt got some other works including some rear bushes. About six months after I bought it, it lunched it's reverse gear entirely, a forwards only motor from this point. 

I sold it to Arnold Clark, their thorough test drive consisted of one forwards lap round their car park. I bit their hand off for the sum offered, turned tail and got the fuck out of there. 

In hindsight I persevered with it far too long, I'd cut my losses far earlier now. 

It's fine though, the interior didn't rattle. VAG quality*. 

[SH1TE]

1 hour ago, catsinthewelder said:

I'm not sure if it was the 93 Renault Espace I won on eBay that had just run out of MOT or the fully working 01 Megane.

The Espace only removed £170 from my wallet as I scrapped it for £80 as soon as the MOT results were in.  Something of a win for a plastic car that had apparently dissolved underneath and struggled to reach 50mph.

I had the Megane for a couple of years and had to replace the engine twice and the head once due to bad luck and bad workmanship from me, a couple of garages and Renault themselves along with loads of other problems.  It caused a ban on Renault ownership in my house that I celebrated the end of by acquiring the Safrane.

Renault Megane auto 1.6 in an amazing blue.

Partner loved it until head gasket blew hot oil over exhaust on motorway. 

Head gasket replaced and brittle fuel pump connection broke on tank on a sunday drive months later. 

Sub 75k the autobox failed loss of drive. 

At which point partner believed it had a vendetta against us and sooner or later would kill us. 

Comfy seats,  weird infrared  remote and a decent boot. 

 

[Jazoli]

30 minutes ago, davehedgehog31 said:

A Skoda Superb "Edition 100", I still shudder thinking of the fucking thing. 

It was five metres of stretched B5 Pisshat shite. 

Very top spec, had EVERY toy you could imagine in circa 2004. Interior was a lovely place to be and the seats were very comfy, that's where the good news ends. 

It suffered from chronic water ingress which I was constantly chasing, seemed like I fixed one leak and it came in somewhere else. As a result the body electrics had a mind of their own. 

The rust was pretty dire for a reasonably young car at the time, the bootlid and front wings dissolved rapidly.

The front end suspension was a knockfest. After a few months I'd replaced absolutely everything including wheel bearings and it was fine for about two weeks, then it started again. It burst about 4 coil springs in the space of six months. 

The ungrateful cunt got some other works including some rear bushes. About six months after I bought it, it lunched it's reverse gear entirely, a forwards only motor from this point. 

I sold it to Arnold Clark, their thorough test drive consisted of one forwards lap round their car park. I bit their hand off for the sum offered, turned tail and got the fuck out of there. 

In hindsight I persevered with it far too long, I'd cut my losses far earlier now. 

It's fine though, the interior didn't rattle. VAG quality*. 

I had one of those too,  it wasn't rusty but it suffered similar issues. 

My worst is probably a 307 estate,  I'll never travel to view a car on the last train of the day with no way of getting home other than buying the car again. 

My recent V70 was a nail too,  but the 307 pips it. 

[motorpunk]

8 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

the worst car is defined by expectations not being met, something I thought would be really good which turned out to be anything but.

This is my take on it, too. Here's the worst I 'owned' (press fleet blag, admittedly)...

My expectations were so high! The Aston was brand new, but had some weird brake/electrical issue, sounded good but didn't feel fast, was ungainly to drive, heavy, ridiculously ostentatious, stupidly expensive and just plain horrible to drive. I gave it back a day early as I felt like a twat driving it. I thought I'd feel like James Bond. 

And the best? My 299 quid Metro which I drove to Africa, as I expected it to be crap, but it was brilliant. 

 

 

 

[Ben_O]

Easy choice for me as every other car I have owned has been at the very least fine.

1998 Vauxhall Vectra 1.6...

At the time I got this horrible piece of shit, I owned a 1989 Mercedes 190E 2.0 and it was fantastic. My first Mercedes and I knew it was the car for me.

However after a year of ownership I fancied something newer and my uncle had this vectra in that champagne colour. It was clean and tidy and he offered to swap it for the Mercedes.

I accepted and the deal was done however after a few days of ownership, I realised that it was a lemon. Noisy tensioner so it made that horrible whine they all seemed to make, it was underpowered, miserable to drive and uncomfortable

The thing that made it even more sour was that my uncle sold the Mercedes for quite a lot more than the vectra was worth so there was no going back.

I ran the vectra for about 6 months with plenty of trouble and misery and eventually had to get out

I sold it to my mother in law as for some bizarre reason, she quite liked it but alas, she had nothing but trouble with it and ended up spending a tonne of money keeping it on the road before finally the radiator exploded during the emissions test on the mot

It ended up getting scrapped

I used the money from the vectra sale to buy a 1987 Mercedes 190E 2.6 manual and never looked back. That is probably the best car I have ever owned 

[rainagain]

I’ve mentioned this car before but mostly because I’m still bitter about it. A family member had given my OH £3,000 to buy a newer car. She was very excited about this having to previously spend all her time driving around in shitters. She had her heart set on a Megane convertible. I told her that’s fine as long as we didn’t get the diesel version as they were shit. 
 

I’ve only myself to blame as I found a diesel one just outside Dundee. I went to see it and bought it, it all looked ok. I should have picked up a warning when the seller said he had bought on behalf of someone else but they changed their mind. 
 

My OH had great fun driving around with the top down for a whole two weeks before the engine seized. I ended up having to pay £550 for a ‘low mileage’ engine which definitely wasn’t and more money when I found the clutch was almost to the rivets. I also changed the timing belt. 

The worse thing was finding I had been done up like a kipper as the saying goes as someone had swapped out the shells on the knackered big end to get it sold. The bolts holding on the sump hadn’t even been tightened properly. 
 

With the ‘new’ engine fitted I sold it for about £500 less than I paid for it, so it costs us well over a grand for a couple of weeks of top down motoring. It’s replacement a Hyundai Tucson was one of the best cars we’d owned. Only it’s thirst for fuel made us sell it three years later. 

 

[Tickman]

1.8 Vectra estate. Random running issues and with the eml light on even Vauxhall couldn't fine the codes that put it on. 

My wife got the tannoy message in IKEA Edinburgh that it had decided to roll out of its parking space into another car with the handbrake still on.

Got rid and bought the Morris minor.

At the same time I had a company van, it was an ex BT escort van 1.8 diesel and it was the biggest piece of shit I've ever had the misfortune to drive. This was the main reason I left the company after less than a year!

[High Jetter]

A Series V or VI Hillman Minx auto that was a bargain* at Shoreham auctions in my early 20s. It promptly lost all drive on Hove seafront so got towed back to said auctions and sold next time, for a (small) loss.

[Sham]

1987 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L in White. Bought when young and stupid in 1994 knowing it was a coming to the end of its life, but it was cheap - and I couldn't afford better.

Didn't know that the fresh MOT was obviously dodgy and it had just had a ton of body filler and a quick paint to disguise some catastrophic rust. It also burned almost as much oil as petrol, disguised by the seller with some snake oil. It also didn't like starting when warm. But I'd spent all I had, and couldn't sell it like that - so I kept it.

It was actually quite nice to drive, if you ignore the fact that no matter what I did I could never get the dashboard to sit right so it rattle horrendously. On the first long drive it was cold and very wet out, and the drains under the scuttle were so badly overwhelmed that when accelerating, braking or turning the water came past the fan onto the matrix and steamed up the car instantly. Fun on motorways and dual carraigeways. Easily sorted with a coathanger.

But the oil consumption... oh my.

And the rust, I stayed on top of it mostly but it was a constant battle of fixing one bit before another bit came through.

I ran it until the dodgy MOT ran out and knowing it had no hope in hell of ever seeing another, I traded it in against a Proton 1.5 SE Saloon - my first of 2 Protons and both were among the best cars I've ever owned. 

[Talbot]

Unquestionably the worst car I have ever owned was an mid-'80s Renault 9 diesel in the mid-late-'90s.  It was monumentally shit in every concievable way.  Cheap, tinny, poor quality materials, underpowered, smokey, poor economy, awful wiring, useless headlamps, appaling heater, miserable interior that was turning to powder, hopeless handling etc.etc.etc.  I hated it with a passion.

When I went to sell it for a loss, the bastard refused to run for more than about 2 minutes before cutting out.  Eventually traced to a leaf(!) in the fuel line, which had managed to get all the way up to the fuel filter, and blocked the hole in the banjo bolt.  Seriously?  No in-tank strainer?  or had that fallen to bits too?

I would have gladly set that car on fire and walked away.  Insted, some bellend pulled out stupidly close in front of me and I ended up stoving in a wing, headlamp and bonnet leading edge.  Sold for scrap.  Pile of shit that it was.  Never had a Renner since.

Given some of the utter detritus I have owned over the years, for this to stand out so much speaks volumes.

[big_al_granvia]

97 proton persona, having had a mega reliable saga i thought i'd upgrade.... ha bloody ha.... door locks kept breaking thanks to a spring from a bic pen that broke, ate radiators, head gasket went, when cold it took power, at workin temp fine, that bit warrmin up itt would misfire like fuck, new leads, coil, plugs. no fault codes...... was fun on hill starts on 2 or 3 cylinders.... got shot after 5 years and bought the almera

[Dick Cheeseburger]

1998 plate Folksfarken Polo 1.9d. Non turbot. 

I bought it from the mechanic of a recently deceased lady who'd owned it for years. On paper, it could have been a great little car.

In reality, it was a steaming bag of shit. Flat as a witches whatsits, central locking which had a mind of its own, water leaks into the cabin left, right and centre, galloping rot in every corner I looked, massive starting problems when warm, dodgy ignition, stinking interior due to the damp and the chain-smoking of the previous owner - the list goes on. It was only 11 years old at the time. Looking up the registration, it appears the hateful bastard lived for one more year after I sold it, prior to becoming bean tins in 2010. R28 XOF - I wish I'd been driving the hiab myself. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

 montego gsi F176AOA

drank oil, ticking fannymold, probably a dodgy mot, used to get fuel starvation at ½ tank

went to wales though for holibobs and was quite posh

[JakeT]

Mk4 Golf GTi (turdo). I think this was 2013, and it was a 2000 on a V.

 

one private owner from new, and very wealthy they were, too. The garage they took it to were quite nasty it seemed.

 

Front bumper replaced with one that didn’t have headlight washers, and a headlamp without a fog light in it.

Drivers side heated seat didn’t work

It had an awful misfire when coming off of the throttle. Meaning it would stall when changing down a gear for bends and roundabouts. Throttle body and fresh plugs cured it.

A/C compressor made a howling noise at idle

Timing belt had been replaced, but not the waterpump. Waterpump failed and the whole lot was done again

the final straw that broke the camels back, the steering rack seals failed suddenly and overnight. I elected to not fix this, and instead sold it on eBay. A chap came and took it away, and even gave me some money. He fixed it, and ran it for another year until it also broke more it seemed.

 

This car did start me on doing all of my own work on cars, as the labour fixing bits really stung. I kept my previous 1.25 fiesta and put it in the garage. When the golf went, I got back in the fiesta and laughed at how much better it drove. 

[wuvvum]

11 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Jeep Cherokee Classic 2.5 diesel 

Terrible engine, “agricultural” is being polite but it was especially noisy on tick over, sounded like a helicopter was about 10ft above the roof.

VM four-headed monster.  Actually a bloody good engine but refinement is not its strong suit.  It was even more incongruous in the luxurious* surroundings of the Grand Cherokee I once owned.

[danthecapriman]

It’s a toss up between two for me.

A 1990 H reg Ford Orion 1.4glx (first year of the new shape Escort/Orion). This thing was an absolute shit pile on wheels. Everything in it had a mind of its own and either worked or randomly didn’t next time it was used, engine was a gutless turd that would never stay running for the duration of any journey, electrical faults and random smoke/burning smells, drive in rain or any damp would turn the headlights off permanently until dry. It leaked badly too, used to get incredible amounts of condensation on the inside. It was an absolute dog. Couldn’t sell it (nobody stupid enough to buy it!) so scrapped it… imagine my surprise and disgust when, a few years later, I spotted it parked outside shops not far from home! It’s definitely dead now though.

or

A 1991 J reg BMW 316 E36. I hated this thing. It was utterly worn out everywhere and was falling to bits. It was the car that turned me against BMW’s, the previous E30 was a brilliant car imho but this replacement model was utter shit. A real disappointment. It was uncomfortable, cheaply made and felt cheap and tinny. The engine was rattling its tits off too. Rear brake lines had rusted through and were a pain to sort. It stank inside because of mould, which was there because it leaked like a sieve. Sold it for a big profit believe it or not! And probably could have sold it a few times over given the interest I had in it. Don’t know why? But it sold to a pair of chavs who turned up in a modified Saxo which probably says it all. I can’t imagine it lived much longer tbh given the state of the Saxo and how they drove away.

 

Id say the BMW probably takes the title. Just! 
I’ve got absolutely no desire to have another (but an E30 would be a different matter) yet, strangely, I’d probably have another Orion. Just one with a bigger engine.
 

 

[Back_For_More]

My 2nd ever car for me.... BGT from a village garage. The fact their 'stock' was out back in what was basically a farmyard under trees should've been the flag I picked up on but rose tinted n all that. 

It had been left on 'display' for ages - so rear crank oil seal was dried out. I jumped in and headed off ooop North.... It was a revving madly going fucking nowhere screaming pile of vengeance by the time I got to Sunderland. 

Local garage there ripped it apart and sorted the clutch but 'sold as seen' meant I lost out. 

Back down south I found the usual pag facket cardboard and chicken wire bodgery in sill ends, underneath and inner wing tops. A mate took pity on me and welded it up.... Then the lever arms showed me thery were shot. Rear spring hangers were goners and the boot floor was hanging by thick underseal and hope.  Engine then shat itself all over cars I was passing and that was it...... Donated to fire dept on camp and blown up/chopped to bits for training/entertainment on open day. 

I went back to the village garage as I'd seen earlier they left the keys in the 'stock' out back. With a mate we blocked the forecourt, locked everything we could find keys in and fucked off with the keys to bury/jettison in a random field. Fuck 'em..... 

Other shite I've had I've not expected much - but they've almost all performed admirably. 

[colino]

Zastava Yugo 511, I think about 5 years old.  Bought as Fiat 128s were very profitable sellers at the time.  I soon realised they were mere imitations, made of fag paper and made Polski Fiats and Hillman Hunters  look well made and of high quality.  Good thing I could weld a bit then and knew how to take out the outrageously bright old pressure warning bulb.

[WillCarter]

Volvo 940 Turbo. Was told about by someone I know, ended up striking up a deal and my ex-father in law drove me to get it. What should have been an hour and half journey ended up being over three and by the time we got there and were faced with one of the most down at heel 940's I've ever witnessed I felt too bad about the inconvenience of it all that I just bought it.

I ended up owning it for about eight or nine months and think I ended up driving it about about eight or nine times, which wasn't the best hit rate when you consider it was bought as a daily. Never worked properly, needed an endless succession of parts and when I chucked in the towel and took a loss on it to a friend of a friend I was happy to see the back of it.

Typically he owns it until this very day and has had nothing but pleasure from it. Funny how these things work.

[Zelandeth]

Probably this one.

Paid well over the odds for it, though I was willing to let that slide a little at the time as it was relatively local, and I was based in Aberdeen at the time so not having to make a 1000 mile round trip was worth a couple of hundred quid.

It was just an utterly ungrateful bastard of a thing and I could count on one hand the number of trips I made out in it where something didn't go wrong.

Basically the biggest issue it had was that the previous previous owner had allegedly "professionally recommissioned" the car.  That turned out to mean "replaced one bit of fuel hose and a couple of brake calipers." The fact it still had the original tyres fitted when I collected it should have been a warning.

Nearly every bit of rubber on the car, including the huge rear suspension arm bushes, was rotten.  Plus because they hadn't replaced the header tank cap the thing would boil and air lock the water pump if you tried to go above 50...which of course took out the head gasket.

I then discovered that underneath the underseal that the offside of the underbody was nowhere near as rust free as it had been claimed (though the nearside oddly was spotless).  

It was bought trying to recapture what I had with my first Estelle, a 130GL which was an absolute joy to drive and was sadly written off by a careless driver in a diesel tanker.  The 135 Rapid I bought a few years previously to the 120 above was also a complete dog - though that at least was cheap so I was willing to just forget about that one.

Sadly have just had to admit I'm never going to have the chance at another really decent Estelle, good ones are silly money now.

Wasn't all bad though, ended up swapping the 120 (having made clear it's shortcomings) for the Xantia Activa I had, which in contrast was without doubt one of the very best and most overwhelmingly competent cars I've ever owned.

[jmsguzzi]

Worst car I've owned was probably the stop gap Volvo S40 I bought for £400 after writing off my first car, weird notchy steering, incredibly slow, would gradually lose power until eventually coming to a complete stop, nice seats though.

Most disappointing car was the Rover 620ti, sold my 523i E39 to buy it which was probably the best car I've owned. Rover drove terribly, quality was awful, felt like a bean tin. Worst of all was the smell of wet dog which I just couldn't shift, only lasted a week, only lost £50 and replaced it with a SAAB 9-5 2.3T SE of similar age which was better in every single way. Pretty much had the same experience with the Jag XJR I had at the beginning of this year, body may of been solid on it but everything else was very disappointing, think that's me done with British cars.

Also disappointed with the 205 I had off Loserone, nowhere near as fun to drive as the Inca Diesel I had, even when the carb was behaving itself.

[juular]

Boring answer. I've hardly owned any cars, and I've been pretty happy with the majority of them. Working in IT has made my expectations of anything working at all extremely low!  Most cars I've bought for significantly less than they're actually worth and in fairly shit condition, so it's no surprise when they need stuff flung at them. When you see everything as a project it's easier to justify things breaking all the time.

The only vehicle I've been extremely glad to see the back of was the 2016 Trafic I briefly owned to replace my 2004 one. I thought sinking a high 4 figure sum into a 2 year old van was going to provide an easy life. The thing was absolute dogshit and I missed my old van almost immediately. The plastics were crap and almost everything in the cab was loose or had already fallen off. The driver's seat squeaked constantly, the mirrors were crap, there was an endless array of electronic aids of the type that need to get in the sea, the driving position was awful, and the 1.6 twin turbo engine was thrashy, thirsty and just plain unpleasant.  I had it 3 weeks before it shit its piston rings and I got my money back from the dealer, feeling like I'd escaped a sentence.

A good life lesson that new stuff is never an easy way out.

[sdkrc]

Worst car I've owned was a toss up between a mk3 and a mk4 golf. Mainly caused they were so absolutely and utterly fucked that the £350 I paid was far too much. When you have a nice example and then step into a fucked one it makes a world of difference. I would definitely have another but only a nice example. 

Worst car I've ever driven was a 17 plate Mégane hire car. 

Worst car I've ever sat in was a 15 plate Corsa.

Worst car I've ever looked at was that hire car Mégane again. 

Car that has exceeded expectations the most in every possible way is the Insight. I will marry that car. 

[Mrcento]

There's probably 2 ways of looking at this for me.

1 is the WORST car. Which is undoubtedly a Fiat Punto Mk2 HGT. 1.8 engine from a Barchetta in it. Sprint blue, lovely looking thing. It was an absolute fucking DOG. When it was working, it was quite enjoyable and that 1.8 in something that light was seriously quick... but it had all sorts of issues, Clutch slave cylinder was weak, gearshift was horrible, it'd run lumpy at random intervals, cut out at low speed then not be able to be restarted for half an hour,  drank fuel, the suspension geometry was all over the place.... i ended up trading it, was totally honest as i could be to the guy with all the issues and he wasn't put off. He drove it all the way back to England, it managed to jam a brake on going home. Once he got back, he sent it into a specialist, spent about £800 on it replacing various sensors and it sorted loads of the issues on that side, got the suspension geometry sorted, then put it back into the specialist for the clutch issue.... They noted when looking around there was a small patch of rust needing addressed on the floor. Barely noticeable but would become an issue if left. Guy agreed to get that sorted properly. When they took the interior out and lifted the carpet to do the work, they quickly found the entire fucking floor was barely attached, was beyond any economic repair and scrapped. Felt genuinely bad for the guy who bought it.

 

2 is the least enjoyable car to own. And that for me is probably the Civic. It's so close to being a fucking brilliant car. Engine is a peach, mega practical, like how it looks, love the interior, i like the gearshift. And yet it's totally and utterly ruined by 2 or 3 things. The big one is the ride. Man, that ride. Jiggles everywhere. You get in any other car, drive down roads you thought were a mess and find it's as smooth as a snooker table.  You then spend the next 2 weeks totally aware how shit it is. You get used to it, then get in another car again, and you're back to square 1. Unbearable. Then there's maintenance. It's just a horrid car to work on, too many parts unobtainium other than via Honda, where things like a headlight levelling sensor is more expensive than the same item for a Bugatti.  Electrics are batshit on mine, undoubted water ingress somewhere means you never have confidence it'll start because it could have decided today was the day to empty the battery. (It's sat for a month now and started 1st time yesterday, showing how random and sudden the drain is). And i also don't quite like the seating position. It's already quite a wide car for something that size, but the seating position somehow makes car feels extra PHAT to drive... makes town driving quite unpleasant.

If that car had a soft ride though,  all the rest could be forgiven.

[Macscrooge]

Not owned, but I had an '89 Escrot 1.3 Poverty Plus as a company car in 1990 (cheers Norwich Union).  Good points: a nice flexible and surprisingly willing engine.  Bad points:  the main one is that it took every opportunity to try and kill me.  On motorway cloverleafs the back was desperate to get there before the front. It generally felt cheap and mean, while the Maestro 1.3 Shitty X which preceded it felt like a proper car.  Slower yes but no nasty handling surprises.  Fabulous on snow too, as I recall.

[chris667]

My last Vauxhall Corsa was just so unlovely and unlikable in every single way.

It was a good car. But I just hated it.

I suppose the worst condition one was my beige Mini 1000 auto. I knew the original owner and wanted it for years. He died, and I managed to acquire it from his daughter.

It had only done 30,000 miles, and had been immaculately cared for, with no rust. I cherished it. I sold it to my brother in law for £100 because I was really, really skint one week. He wrecked it in one winter of commuting to Slough on the M4.

He sold it back to me knackered a year later for £100. I've never quite forgiven him for it.

[motorpunk]

21 minutes ago, chris667 said:

My last Vauxhall Corsa was just so unlovely and unlikable in every single way.

It was a good car. But I just hated it.

The Corsa feels like everyone who worked on it, from design to production, absolutely hated their life and hated their product. 

[AnnoyingPentium]

9 hours ago, davehedgehog31 said:

A Skoda Superb "Edition 100", I still shudder thinking of the fucking thing. 

It was five metres of stretched B5 Pisshat shite. 

Very top spec, had EVERY toy you could imagine in circa 2004. Interior was a lovely place to be and the seats were very comfy, that's where the good news ends. 

It suffered from chronic water ingress which I was constantly chasing, seemed like I fixed one leak and it came in somewhere else. As a result the body electrics had a mind of their own. 

The rust was pretty dire for a reasonably young car at the time, the bootlid and front wings dissolved rapidly.

The front end suspension was a knockfest. After a few months I'd replaced absolutely everything including wheel bearings and it was fine for about two weeks, then it started again. It burst about 4 coil springs in the space of six months. 

The ungrateful cunt got some other works including some rear bushes. About six months after I bought it, it lunched it's reverse gear entirely, a forwards only motor from this point. 

I sold it to Arnold Clark, their thorough test drive consisted of one forwards lap round their car park. I bit their hand off for the sum offered, turned tail and got the fuck out of there. 

In hindsight I persevered with it far too long, I'd cut my losses far earlier now. 

It's fine though, the interior didn't rattle. VAG quality*. 

Skoda... more rattles than mothercare. 

[Sham]

Is that common then? Mine is silent on the road. The 3 year and 30k mile Suzuki has more rattles, creaks and groans than the 125k and 12 year old Skoda.