What's the worst car you've owned?

[Seeker]

I'll start and cheat immediately - I've owned two awful vehicles (so far), I'll let you decide which was worse.

The first was a VW Polo in the UK in the late 70s. I bought it secondhand with 19000 miles from a VW dealer. I didn't know that it had already had the cylinder head replaced twice until it needed replacing a third time because of leaking valve guides. It suffered badly from carburettor icing; VW UK said it wasn't a common problem although in Germany you could buy a fuel additive from VW to prevent it. The front struts were held in place by a rubber doughnut sandwiched between the wing and the strut - when the rubber compressed over time the strut was free to move up and down (MOT failure). Finally, the oil pump situated at the end of the crank decided it didn't want to spin with the crankshaft any more which had a somewhat disastrous effect on oil pressure (duh). VW said it was unusual (but they'd now changed the design of the crank and the oil pump). There was no temperature gauge and the electric fan switch was prone to failure...

The second nightmare was a secondhand Ford Aerostar minivan, 3 litre V6, auto, in the US, again bought secondhand, less than 20k miles, from a Ford dealer. It looked pretty which is the end of the good news. During the first week of ownership we (my now ex and I) decided to take the kids up Mount Baldy in CA to see the snow - we never made it, the water pump failed. This started years of its incontinence - every hose failed at least once, the heater core failed twice (and the dealer tried to tell me it was the a/c condenser - when he rechecked and got back to me, he agreed but said there was no freon in the a/c - he'd removed the condenser and lost the freon). A second water pump failure and then the radiator plugged up, the final straw was when we put it into gear and nothing happened - we traded it quickly after that.

[Chris_SVS]

2009 Ford Focus 1.6TDCI. No end of problems starting with a badly deleted DPF system leading to a replacement engine that also blew the inlet manifold taking the sensitive bits with it in a thick black cloud of smoke. £3k rebuild and another 1k easily on fault finding and diagnostics.Cost me £100+ for a gssket they couldn't be bothered with for the egr pipework

The software on the car was so badly edited there would have been no real way of fixing it

[Sir Trev]

1998 Rover 416. On paper it sounded good: economy of a 1.4 and the bhp/performance of a 1.8. All complete rubbish as you had to thrash it to get any get up and go with the inevitable impact on petrol depletion. It was a magnet for dents and scratches, door seals didn't, the thermostat failed, the clutch had to be replaced, the suspension squeaked, the stereo was tinny, and the head gasket leaked oil all over the engine bay. Kept it less than a year and gladly chopped it in for a Vauxhall Astra (which was an excellent car in every way).

[daveangel]

1993 Rover Metro 1.1 I made the mistake of buying new. The rear wheel arches rusted out within three years (fixed under warranty initially) and it began to show in other places. Used to blow the main fuse for the engine electrics once every six months or so in all the best places (heavy traffic, on roundabouts). Oil pump blew all the oil out once while I was on the M25, luckily I had come off onto an A road and when the oil light winked at me while changing gear I instantly went to neutral and switched engine off and coasted to a halt which saved it from making any expensive noises. It had early single-point injection which used to frequently play up and result in a kangaroo ride occasionally on three cylinders which the dealer never quite fixed.

Eventually the now long-gone dealer refused to honour the warranty with the rust etc. so after telling them it was a pile of sh1te and the last Rover I would own I took it to a nearby Arfur Daley with all the receipts for the bad stuff that happened with it removed and he said would £1995 be OK? I accepted while trying not to smile. With half the money I bought a replacement in a 1990 Ford Fiesta 1.1 as a cheap runaround - it never missed a beat over the 4 years I owned it and is still the best, most reliable car I've owned. I've had Fiesta's ever since.

[maviczap]

Thought this was a motorbike forum :p


I had 2, the one I really didn't like was a gutless 1.3 VW Golf, 4 speed. I bought it because I thought the Saab 900 I had at the time would be too expensive to run, as I'd changed job and I was commuting further. What a mistake, really horrible car, I never got on with it, especially after the Saab.

I also had a Talbot Solara, which cost me £50 from a work colleague, it was a horrible car, but it did me well for a year, never let me down, and because it only cost me £50, I never worried about it. Drove it like a loony in the heavy snow we had in 89, so taught me some good slippery road skills. I gave it to my local fire brigade for their RTA training, when I bought the Saab from my brother in law.

[Biker Biggles]

Austin Maxi.Quite a nice car back in the 1970s but it just kept stopping when you needed it to go.:mad:
Vauxhall vx 2300 estate.To be fair it was an old banger but dropping a valve on the old orbital road was a faux pas too far. I think the oil slick is still there.:smt004

[DomP]

2005 1.5dci grand scenic for me, did serve us well whole we were regularly treking out 4 kids about but it was dogged with issues towards the end before I finally lost patience when it dumped the clutch fluid into the bell housing and all over the clutch.

New dash under partial warranty, new epb, then another failure of the relay in the epb that I resoldered a new one in, continual egr problems leaving it gutless so I bypassed it. Probably more but I can't remember.

My best cars were my Renaultsport 172 and 182 just for balance.

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[Red ones]

Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 cdti Sri

Still got the thing

[shiftin_gear98]

Fiat Uno - my first car. Piece of ��.

[maviczap]

Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 cdti Sri

Still got the thing

Still got my Zafira too, had it for 13 years. Apart from the EGR valve, its been a good car. Bypassed the EGR, otherwise it was going to make the list of worst cars :p

[Red ones]

I take it back. It's been very good apart from the egr, dpf, alternator, suspension, wheel bearings, battery, exhaust, four sets of discs, the wiring to the electric windows, the stereo speakers that don't work, the drivers seat that fell apart, the recall, the second recall, the third recall to put right what was changed in the first recall...

[maviczap]

Obviously a Friday model.

Mind you that's nothing compared to our VW Crafter works van, on its 2nd engine after 80,000 miles, new steering pump, already rust on the bodywork, several windscreens

Glad I didn't pay the bills for that

[SV650rules]

Worst car ever, underpowered Vauxhall Viva, second worst (my wife's) Fiat Punto nice enough to drive when it was going but a money pit and unreliable.

Best cars have all been Honda, (presently a Civic and her indoors has a Jazz), they have all been refined and faultlessly reliable the lowest mileage 120k, the most 190k, non of them had anything but consumable parts like brake pads, batteries, the odd exhaust replaced, maybe a bit expensive to buy, but very cheap to run.

[dirtydog]

I've owned a fair few cars in my 20 years of driving but by far the worst was the 2004 Astra we had a couple of years ago. It was mostly ok but had a really annoying habit of randomly not starting. You'd go out in the morning and it would start no problem, drive to the shop come out of the shop and it would point blank refuse to start. There was no rhyme nor reason when it would happen. Sold it after about 6 months

All of our other cars have been mostly reliable and not caused any issues, one of the best was a beat up ford galaxy that I bought after my escort got written off. We had that car for years and it never wanted for anything other than normal maintenance

[Heorot]

Two cars I didn't own but had to drive as a company authorised driver.

First the Austin Princess. Wallowy suspension, vague steering and a gearbox that didn't want to change gear. I once was stopped at a junction and tried to select first; nope. Second; nope. And repeat, In the end, with cars behind tooting me, I managed to find third and pulled slowly away madly slipping the Clutch.

The other was also an Austin, the 1800. This wasn't as bad as the Princess but the problem was the gearbox again. Third and fifth in the gate were so close that you never knew which you would get then changing up. Embarrasing when trying for third, getting fifth and bogging down.

Awful cars.

[Talking Heads]

Landrover Freelander.
Just about everything broke bar the BMW TD4 engine.
Two clutches, one dual mass flywheel, several roll bar linkages, radiator, exhaust back box (twice), several window actuators (gave up on rear windows and wedged them shut with lengths of wood), alternator, passenger side door lock replaced twice, tailgate rusted through twice, CV joints (at least three), ABS sensors (at least four)
Despite all that really liked it and was sad to see it go. Very bizarre.
Replacement X-trail far better in just about every way apart from lacking that certain something...

Best car ever was a Citroen 2CV, just hilarious fun, four wheel equivalent of the Honda Cub.
Wish I'd had the chassis welded up and kept it, would now be worth around ten times what I payed for it back in the mid 80s.


Complete Land Rover buying guide:

Question 1: Does it have Land Rover badges on?

Answer: Yes> Run away, and quick!

[garynortheast]

Early 70s long wheel base Landrover.

Ex army with a 2.5 litre landrover diesel engine dropped into it. Overweight and under powered, wouldn't go up some of the hills around here unless it was in low ratio. Struggled to do any more than 55mph, despite being fitted with Fairey overdrive and freewheeling hubs.

Nightmare to start, heater plugs were rubbish and the device which shot flame down the inlet manifold in an attempt to preheat it made little or no difference. If it didn't start on the first few turns that was it.

It used to snap rear half shafts like carrots, the heater was a circular drum with an element and a fan bolted to the underside of the front fascia and made lots of noise but no real heat, the screen wipers didn't, the steering was er...vague, and the gear change felt more like stirring a bowl of porridge, with the added interest of no synchro in first gear.

Never again!

[timwilky]

1968 vauxhall viva HB. My first car, cost me £25 (stolen/recovered). God the rust for wings, written off by the police car that hit it from behind whilst it was embedded in the front of a cattle truck.

Then the Morris Marina that replaced it £75 (Stolen/recovered), sold for £200 to my brother who wrapped it round a lamp post for £250 with a bent side.

Then the Vauxhall shovit that replaced that for £200 at 3 months old after it had suffered an engine fire. 4 replacement engines in my 150,000 miles. that 1256cc 3 bearing crank was a crock. middle of nowhere when it throws a con rod through the block, snapped woodroof key in the cam chain causing a valve/piston incident etc. Never owned a Vauxhall since. Or bought write offs.

[NTECUK]

J11 qashai.
Poor pannle fit.
Rattles from the interior trims
Grinding front suspension top mounts.
Creaking lower column bush.
And the stop/Start system destroyed the battery.

[BanannaMan]

I had a mid 70's white Ford van that I believe may have been built on Friday the 13th.
Had two motors put in as well as countless other repairs the worse part being electrical problems that saw something going bad nearly on a weekly basis.
It was so bad all the employees at the local car parts store already knew the model and engine, etc. when I came in and I would carry spare parts around just in case.

[andrewsmith]

2011 skoda superb
250000 miles. Had an engine rebuild before I drove it. Ran the motor in and wound it up on a motorway to clear the dfp out and it spat oil out all over the engine bay and any road it drove on.

Then the brakes, needed pads discs and calipers after the boss drove it after I complained about the brakes under heavy load (glowing in emergency stops)



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[andrewsmith]

J11 qashai.
Poor pannle fit.
Rattles from the interior trims
Grinding front suspension top mounts.
Creaking lower column bush.
And the stop/Start system destroyed the battery.Sounds like it's the same stop start service that Renault commercial are now using (dodgy brake sensor causes it) and suspension supplier

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[punyXpress]

Then the Vauxhall shovit that replaced that for £200 at 3 months old after it had suffered an engine fire. 4 replacement engines in my 150,000 miles. that 1256cc 3 bearing crank was a crock. middle of nowhere when it throws a con rod through the block, snapped woodroof key in the cam chain causing a valve/piston incident etc. Never owned a Vauxhall since. Or bought write offs.
Not the worst by any means:
1930 Austin 7, 750cc, 2 bearing crank.
While testing the rev limit and finding it would do a squillion in third, it was time for top.
BANG!Shrapnel everywhere ( and oil! )
Pressing the clutch pedal meant it increased the 'whirling' of the crank. The two middle pistons made a break for freedom and the rings came out the top of the bore. The rods were wrapped round the camshaft and the starter motor was broken off.
12 miles from home, so what to do?
Apply starting handle and drive home on 2 pots ( after all that's what an SV has ) Bought replacement engine for less than a fiver.
Happy daze - I loved that car!

[atassiedevil]

Triumph Dolomite.
Bought it, clutch was always slipping, even with a new clutch, it broke down one day and wouldn't start. Then somoene ran into it in the middle of the night in the fog, tore off the door and wing and probably did me a favour.
I don't miss it. At all.

[Littlepeahead]

Not the worst car in some ways because at the time I had no car and it was given to me free, but I had a black Chevette estate. No style whatsoever. My friends called it the Hobbit Hearse.

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[Red ones]

I forgot the clutch on the Zafira