I really wish I'd never bought...

[eddyramrod]

To start this thread off.... my 1978 Austin Maxi 1750HL, in the summer of 1986. What a bag of shit. Never again.

 

Your turn!

[lancashireclamper]

Skoda Octavia 1.9 TD, T515 SCK,

 

Bought it in 2006 with a full service history, told by everyone it would go forever etc etc, could never get comfortable in it, chronic backache whatever I did with the seat, passed MOT with no advisories then the waterpump split in half causing the recently replaced cambelt to come off and destroy the engine.

Cost me a fortune when I could least afford it, was taken off my hands and fixed up by my friendly mechanic with an engine out of a scrap Audi, then the gearbox packed up, apparently the bloke that bought it demanded money back and said friendly mechanic took a sledge hammer to it...............

SERVED THE BASTARD THING RIGHT

[tonedepear]

Easy fucking peasy*

 

1 by Tony Lloyd, on Flickr

 

*lemon squeezee

 

It was just SHIT, with a capital SHIT. Horrible.

[warren t claim]

Easy fucking peasy*

 

1 by Tony Lloyd, on Flickr

 

*lemon squeezee

 

It was just SHIT, with a capital SHIT. Horrible.

 

Agreed. Never again for me either. Sad really because I loved my mk3 Cav.

[Lord Sterling]

Astra Cesaro. Like this with similar wheels, but with a smoothed boot and it was a 3-door:

 

 

Reason: Young, stupid and desperate to own a car.

 

And this is seriously annoying me right now:

 

 

Reason: It doesnt wanna work.

[Negative Creep]

Mk2 Golf GTi. It can just fuck right off. I hope it ended up "improved" with a sticker bombed front wing, chopped springs and a bright yellow bonnet, just to teach it a lesson

[RoadworkUK]

 

And this is seriously annoying me right now:

 

 

Reason: It doesnt wanna work.

 

Do you tow that RAC Transit behind you? I'll bear that in mind for mine. Good idea.

[RoadworkUK]

I'm tempted to say my Audi.

 

Why? Because it's too damn good. It's been stupidly reliable, it's quite quick, economical enough and was dirt cheap. It's not interesting, either, but while it's being perfect there's no way I can justify chopping it in for something more shitely. Thank god I have the Rover.

[overheadvalve]

V***FUT The (in)famous satin silver 5 door gt tdi, Vag reliability was obviously an optional extra and not specified on this one, well it was nowhere to be seen anyway. The Golf diesel which when 1 month out of main dealer warranty decided to munch on it's little end bearings :pos: , ? No, not at all for me, so now i harbour an irrational hatred for everything modern and especially those with a Vag badge!

Still like aircooled tho'

 

 

can't we get a smilie for piece of shit ? :pos: and a pic of a semi modern shit heap?

[Cavcraft]

Passat TDi: laughable build 'quality' and rear footwell area that converted itself into an olympic swimming pool if it got cloudy forty miles away. Hateful piece of over-rated shit.

 

Chevette GLS saloon: might have been nice to go more than 200 yards before something broke or it conked out.

 

*Cheating here as I didn't buy it but I did get lumbered with it for a couple of months: Iveco Cargo 75E14. Yeah, the one with the spaccy 4 cylinder lump. 100% DEFINATELY the worse vehicle ever known. Hopelessly, pathetically, embarassingly excrutiatingly slow. Smoked like a hundred laboratory Beagles in a B&H factory, had a colossal drink problem, self igniting wiring, indicators that flashed on the dash but not outside, then the other way round, comedy electrics, absolutely NO discernible build quality whatsoever, bits fell off it all the time, the seats were made of some special material that tore itself to shreds if you looked at it the wrong way and it tried (but unfortunately failed) to set fire to itself on more than one occasion.

Oh and a main dealer who was pathetically f*cking useless and didn't care.

[cort16]

Renault 21 1.7TS. The horror. It was an H reg and I bought it in 1997 so it wasn't that old. Rotten subframe, and the ability to start itself back up were some of it's more positive attributes. I still shudder when I see one.

[Pete-M]

 

Simply because I like Rovers, I wanted to like this thing but it was bloody awful. I just didn't get along with it at all. Wasn't just one thing about it either, it just seemed so schizophrenic. Looked dull but accelerated reasonably briskly. Big fat tyres and 'sport' suspension but it didn't handle well and the ride was abysmal. V6 motor that went well if revved hard but was mated to a gearbox that didn't have a clue what gear it should be in no matter which mode it was in, the box would try to get to top as soon as possible and then kick down two gears at the slightest prod of the throttle. It didn't produce much more 'oomph' just sent the revcounter from 1500 to 4000 rpm when all that was required was a smidgen more power.. . Steering that was sharp enough on initial turn in but had weird weighting around the straight ahead position, I think that had something to do with that weird 'centre feel' thing they invented. Nice enough on the motorway, but even when the thing eventually settled into top gear at a 70ish mph cruise it was still pretty crap on fuel - no better than the XJR on a run, which is worrying.

 

 

For promising the world and delivering nothing but pain and friendship with AA recovery drivers. Had a nice leather trim if nothing else. I've still got the original Blaupunkt dealer fit radio here somewhere. It's broken.

 

 

Never, EVER, buy a RHD Integrale. I know I put this in the 'cars I wish I'd never sold' type thread, but I don't have a picture of my LHD one, and if I'd kept this I'd have had to convert it to LHD. I wrote it off instead and it ended up in Ireland as a tarmac rally job.

 

 

This needed about £400 to put it back on the road. It was £400 I didn't have. I did take it for an MOT though, and I loved the thing. I can understand why these were "The best car in the world" when they were new. Even though this one was shagged it still had something about it. That feeling of complete over-engineering and immense strength. I'd love a really good 560 SEL and one day I'll have to scratch that itch. Unfortunately, they're absolutely shockingly bad on fuel. Bad enough to scare me off for now.

[ashmicro]

Without question DXI 2594, a 1983 Mini 1275 Sprite in orange, this type, obv not the 90s one:

 

 

What a turd. Front drums, so it wouldn't stop in the rain. A bollocksed carb, and even more bolloxed distributor (Ducellier), rot, it ate tie bar bushes for fun, leaked rain in and coolant and oil out from every orifice. I seriously comtemplated torching it. As luck would have it, a local lad fancied it, and swapped me his Samba 1.4GLS for it, as he thought the Samba was "uncool". I nearly broke his arm for it. Samba was on twin carbs and went like a rocket. By the time I'd lobbed a lumpy Pug cam in it, it was quicker than a Nova GTE.

[R9UKE]

 

I had so much hate for this car it's a miracle I didn't take a blowtorch to it. 2000 Daewoo Lanos with 59000 miles - all of them without a single service by the feel of it. Felt like the front axle was held on by elastic bands, the oil light never went off, it permanently smelt of coolant and the drivers window fell in to the door and was held up by masking tape towards the end. Oh and it would make hissing noises and expel a bit of smoke from under the bonnet after anything more than 3 miles. Vile, hateful car.

[eddyramrod]

Let's add this one...

Like the Maxi, it was just fubarred and I should never have touched it. Not without a Sherman tank round me, anyway.

[andrew e]

 

The above. It was jinxed. Bought from Motorhouse for £5799 (and a well loved Marea) with 16 miles on the clock in June 2005. Unbeknown to me it was built on the 29th March that year, by a feckless workforce who knew the end was nigh just days later. Quite posibly the worse transmission install ever (The IB5 equipped Escorts I had being Ford slick) and factory fit it transpires with streetwise springs!

It had a busy life clocking up 72,000 miles by its 1st MOT where it was treated too a new backbox because it had rusted out (on a 130 mile motorway commute...) Loads of powder coating was peeling off everything underneath. I think this picture sums it up perfectly! (Not the random engine check light that was jammed on from nearly new).

 

 

I also stuck a precautionary belt and tensioner kit on because the water pump was leaking... so anyway £400 sheets for some preventative maintenance and a years ticket went to the wind when 2 weeks later a continental trucker in a left lane of a 3 lane roundabout went right and drove over the front of it Then stopped, before pissing off

 

It looks alright above but the chassis leg had gone backward, and it had impact marks in the roof, both doors were pinned shut. Chewed the bonnet and gouged the rear bumper quarter. A few months later a private lady wrote to me asking for its service documents. Same person's mobile was selling several crash repairs on ebay in comic gill sans font... this was the last time I saw it, when I went to hand in the spare keys (even though the original were cable tied to the coloum). I had a 216 GTI that was absolutely hanging at the same time, and the Mrs would allways take it in preference.

 

 

If I still had it, I reckon it would be on nigh on 160,000 now - I wondered how it would have faired? I wanted to love it, but never could, an automotive ginger stepchild.

[ProgRocker]

1986 Escort 1.4 GL owned in the late 1990s. Was OK but it was just that. Need welding after the subsequent 2 MOTs - I think Ford used cheap russian steel circa 1986-7.

 

Looking back, wish I'd bought a Skoda 120 Estelle or Rapid or something else like that which was fun to drive but also cheap to run.

[dollywobbler]

Didn't we have a thread like this very recently? Seem to recall moaning about how crap my Isuzu Trooper Mk1 was.

 

Anyway, don't think I mentioned this Dyane last time. It was 'Free' but had been sitting in a council lock-up for about 17 years. Completely rotten, and didn't feel very 'free' after factoring in the trailer hire and fuel costs to go down to Reading and collect it. Mind you, did get a few useful bits off it (like the wheel and tyre that I temporarily fitted to the 2CV for 4000 miles, before it finally blew its rotten sidewall to bits).

 

This miniMetro HLS wasn't much cop. Thrashed by a mate, I 'saved' it only for it to reward me with a knackered slave cylinder, so the pedal would get stiffer and stiffer during a journey. Then it dropped a valve, though still managed to limp 10 noisy miles home with my wife at the wheel. That's the second Metro she's killed... (she once owned an MG but ran it out of oil).

 

I was very annoyed with the Metro. It was huge fun to drive and should have been a great car. Instead, it was a bit of a disaster.

[scooters]

cars I wish I had never bought:

 

- 1954 Morris Minor - I swapped a Daf 55 Maraton for it and n the way home the gearbox ate itself and the coil died - when it was being towed onto the flatbed resuce the rotten nearside wing fell off - spent £1400 getting it up to scratch

 

- 1989 Saab 90 16v Turbo...thought I would love it - actutually hated it and was even more bitter about it as I had sold the best car I ever owned to buy it - the 1997 Volvo 940 Sport Estate...IMHO the best 4 pot RWD EVA made by Volvo

 

1973 Daf 55 Marathon - whated this car very badly and it was great fun but I paid though the nose for it without checking how much it would be to fix the Webasto roof - Had to get Peter Hervey to do it and it cost £400 to sort!

 

1968 Morris Minor - drove it 100 miles and the engine died - sold as a spares or repair as I had no way of changing the engine myself at the time

[ashmicro]

I think Ford used cheap russian steel circa 1986-7.

 

I recall something about a major shortage of coke for some years after the miners' strike. My 1987 Escort was a disgrace with rust.

[Rod/b]

I was told that the 86/87 Fords were shite for rust as there was a strike that meant the cars were painted without being properly prepared first. Can't remember where I heard that mind.

 

Speaking of Fords, the car I wish I never bought was my 94 Orion 1.6 LX. It was shite in every respect: underpowered, poor handling, suicide-inducingly dull interior, shockingly poor build quality. I hated that car and treated it like shite, and then sold it to some Australian bloke who was planning on travelling around Europe in it for a year. If he got to the ferry without topping himself he did well.

[ProgRocker]

I think Ford used cheap russian steel circa 1986-7.

 

I recall something about a major shortage of coke for some years after the miners' strike. My 1987 Escort was a disgrace with rust.

 

I was told that the 86/87 Fords were shite for rust as there was a strike that meant the cars were painted without being properly prepared first. Can't remember where I heard that mind.

 

Ah interesting, thanks.

[tonedepear]

I think Ford used cheap russian steel circa 1986-7.

 

I recall something about a major shortage of coke for some years after the miners' strike. My 1987 Escort was a disgrace with rust.

 

I was told that the 86/87 Fords were shite for rust as there was a strike that meant the cars were painted without being properly prepared first. Can't remember where I heard that mind.

 

Ah interesting, thanks.

 

What was their excuse from 1988-present?

[trigger]

I was told that the 86/87 Fords were shite for rust as there was a strike that meant the cars were painted without being properly prepared first. Can't remember where I heard that mind.

 

I got told the same story years ago of a old work mate, They must be some truth in it then.

 

I'm recently starting to think that my current Mondeo was a bit of a mistake.

 

 

I spend £5800 buying it back in April which was a bit silly really, I've always fancied one so decided to go out and get one thinking it would be ideal, but it's not, It's awful on diesel, I'm lucky to get anymore then 35mpg on it, the ride is so hard i get back ache driving it, It's not as quick as i was suspecting, (I think my last Bora TDi 130 was quicker) and I've got it in my head that the DMF is about to pack up.

 

In fact I've hardly driven it since we got the Golf Cabrio so I'm now on ebay looking at old Passat and Audi A4 TDi Estate's!

[Pete-M]

1989 Saab 90 16v Turbo...thought I would love it - actutually hated it.

 

It's not just me then? A chap I know sang the praises of 900 T16s at me for years, kept telling me how brilliant they are and how they're "Really quick", handle brilliantly and are full of character. He went mental on them, eventually ending up with about three. None of which ever seemed to actually work properly. Eventually he phoned me up and said "I've got my silver turbo for sale, would you be interested? It's now perfect" so I trundled up to have a go in it.

 

Looked great, it was a mega early 16v Turbo job on an A or B plate. He'd had it chipped and dynoed and all the suspension sorted so it was "on rails, unbelievably good". I trundled up in an old XR4x4 2.8i and was completely and utterly underwhelmed by the Saab. It wasn't fast, it didn't handle and the gearchange was just nasty. I hated it.

[scooters]

I bought it on the strength of having driven a normal 900 8v non turbo auto from Cumbria to Edinburgh up the A7 - this car was a delight to drive - well balance, great steering - power when you needed it...so I bought the turbo thinking it would be the same - hated it - didn't like the turbo delay and really didn't like the pish gear change - felt like it was stuck between being a hot hatch like a Gti and a long lunged GTE like a Scimitar without really doing either very well....happy to see it go - took a bath on it as well - paid £1250 sold for £950 3 weeks later