Worse cars you've ever owned.

[gibbsy]

I've been replying to the Ford specification thread and released I've owned some really crap cars. I don't just mean the bare bones basic cars, I've had my fair share of those, Hillman Imp, Morris 1100, Renault 16 to name but a few. It's when I've paid more for cars that they seem to rile me more. So here are my five worse cars in order:

1 Vauxhall Astra GSi*
2 Ford Escort XR3i
3 Ford Cortina MkIV GT
4 Rover 200 Vi*
5 Ford Focus Zetec*

*New and leased for my wife's business. She picked the Rover, honest.

 

[FZR400RRSP]

Worst car at the top

1. Audi A3 Sportback 2.0tdi 140bhp DSG
2. VW Golf 1.4 petrol SE
3. Peugeot 305 non-turbo diesel estate
4. Vauxhall Cavalier Sri
5. Rover 220Gti

The thing is, some of them had redeeming features.
Like the Rover 220Gti, which is one of the best handling cars I've driven.
But umpteen electrical problems that often left me stranded.

 

[Prowse]

Ford Escort 1.6 LX (MK3 like the XR3 above).

Absolute rust bucket which we didn't find out until I'd peeled back the carpets.
Auto-choke used to play up something rotten in the Winter.
I remember it being pretty nippy once it had been tuned though (which lasted about 2 months and then it would slip back to normal settings on the carbs).

 

[un1eash]

Not a car ive ever owned but a hire car, a Kia Picanto Jazz+ thing. It was a death trap on wheels. The worse handling car ive ever driven, very very slow, brakes were shocking and in the wet i felt like i was going to die everytime i took a corner at more then 10mph.

 

[Ed Selley]

I've owned very few cars- my five worst would have to be the five best. However;

1) Audi A3 1.8TFSI Sportback- A great engine trapped in a hopeless pudding of a car
2) Nissan 200SX. Not a bad car as such but it would have been easier and less mentally traumatic to burn £2k in the garden. Appalling interior too.

 

[Greg Hook]

Like Ed I've owned very few cars.

I'm on my 5th car now. Probably the worst, although the one I look back on most fondly was my first car.

A D Reg Ford Orion 1.4L. Total rust bucket and I remembering trading in sorting a guy at works PC out for a few hours whilst he welded loads of patches to the car so it could pass its MOT.

 

[gibbsy]

Worst car at the top

1. Audi A3 Sportback 2.0tdi 140bhp DSG
2. VW Golf 1.4 petrol SE
3. Peugeot 305 non-turbo diesel estate
4. Vauxhall Cavalier Sri
5. Rover 220Gti

The thing is, some of them had redeeming features.
Like the Rover 220Gti, which is one of the best handling cars I've driven.
But umpteen electrical problems that often left me stranded.

Somehow I knew the DSG would be top of your list.

You mentioned the Rover as one of the best handling cars. We had a Honda Civic VTi prior to the Rover 200 Vi. I took a favourite bend in the Rover at well under what I could achieve with the Honda and came very very close to spinning out. Never drove the thing again unless I was forced into it, although it was on a 3 year lease it went back after 14 months because of countless problems, especially electrical and leaked like a sieve and had more rattles than a branch of Mothercare.

 

[christam]

1. Austin Allegro 1750. Yes, I admit it But I kept it from new for 7 years, by which time the red bonnet was orange and bits were falling off, then got £1000 p/x against a new Mazda. Think the dealer must have been desperate to make a sale
2. Astra GSi. Seriously quick and seriously dangerous if you really tried to put your foot down - you could never tell if or for how long it would maintain a straight line.

 

[FZR400RRSP]

You mentioned the Rover as one of the best handling cars.

It was amazing, you really could do whatever you wanted with it.
One of the few FWD cars I've had that didn't understeer to any great degree.
And you could kick the tail out any time you wanted/needed.
I got it used though, so it's feasible the previous owner had done something to the set up.
Or maybe the Gti Rovers had a different set-up from normal Rovers anyway.

 

[gibbsy]

It was amazing, you really could do whatever you wanted with it.
One of the few FWD cars I've had that didn't understeer to any great degree.
And you could kick the tail out any time you wanted/needed.
I got it used though, so it's feasible the previous owner had done something to the set up.
Or maybe the Gti Rovers had a different set-up from normal Rovers anyway.

The 220 GTi had a lot of input from Honda, including a Honda designed chassis and gearbox. My Civic VTi which I got in 1995 must have shared some of the basic dna with the 220. The Civic handled like go kart on rails. The 1.6 engine developed 160 bhp without the use of a turbo. When the Rover Honda marriage ended in divorce that seemed to have started Rover's downward spiral.

 

[Ian J]

I had a Morris Marina for a week whilst my Saab Turbo was being repaired and it's handling was about on a par with a double decker bus

 

[FZR400RRSP]

I had an Escort that had so poor compression that you daren't let the revs die.
So I had to sit at lights revving the bejesus out of it.
The amount of clutches I went through, I'd have been better getting the compression sorted....
The stupidity of youth.

Strange that these aren't the sorts of cars that I rate as the worst I've had.
I guess the older you get, the fussier you get.
And the amount of things wrong with the A3 I had warrants my 'worst' rating.

 

[gibbsy]

I had a Morris Marina for a week whilst my Saab Turbo was being repaired and it's handling was about on a par with a double decker bus

Agree with that one. Drove our station commander to a couple of fires using blues and twos. As you've said the fire engine would handle better.

 

[tonyrees687]

Datsun 120Y dark blue
Renault 5 in biege
Ford Fiesta mk1 xr2 red
Ford escort xr3 in white with white wheel covers

 

[alexs2]

Worst I had was an ex-company Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1.....yes it had done a lot of miles,but it rewarded me by exploding in a cloud of steam in the Lake District.

 

[mr:w]

Audi A4 Avant 2.0 FSI Sport.

Woefully underpowered, had the agility of a tank at anything less than 30mph, and despite being 4 years old with full main dealer service history when I bought it, it cost me over £6k in repairs in one year.

It was the only time I ever bought a car with the slightest nagging feeling in the back of my mind that it may not be the one, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Learnt plenty from that year of ownership.

 

[Inked]

I've enjoyed and disliked aspects of all of the cars i've owned, but overall the car I think I have had the overall worst experience with is my 58 plate Fiesta Zetec S 1.6 TDCI.

It handled fine and was comfortable, but it was slow, had constant electrical problems, ended up in two accidents and had other minor paint scrapes with high kerbs, every alloy ended up either scuffed or buckled.

Now admittedly, some of these problems were not really the cars fault, but the fact that it continually cost me money soured the whole experience of owning it and I was glad to see the back of it.

The funny thing is, so far my Audi has also had its share of problems (failed Amp, had to get door and bumper resprayed) and so has also cost me money, yet I love the car, and don't even mind when it goes in for work as at least now I don't end up with a Ka (so far it has been Audi TT's)

 

[FZR400RRSP]

58 plate Fiesta Zetec S 1.6 TDCI.
It handled fine and was comfortable, but it was slow

You're not wrong there.
I've driven plenty of other 1.6 turbo diesels and Ford's Tdci is the worst.
Really breathless, like something's blocked.
I had to drive another one to make sure the wife's Fiesta was ok.

 

[Ed Selley]

Oddly I rate my old 1.8TDCI Focus Mk1 as my favourite car overall. It was economical, suprisingly agile, comfortable and incredibly tough. In terms of outlay to perceived value it was great. Came with semi naked photos of the previous owner's Mrs in the glovebox too which is something that hasn't happened before or since.

 

[Kurchatov]

Interesting question. Even the bad cars had some redeeiming features:

Rover SD1 probably the worst. Had 60 delivery faults. eventually caught fire and I was happy to let it burn.

Matra Rancho: terrible build quality but great for carrying our two German Shepherds.

AlfaSud: terrible rustbucket, but great car to drive: way ahead of its time

Maserati Indy: worst elctrics I've ever seen; forever blowing fuses

BMW750i: second worst electrics I've ever seen, but great V12 engine

 

[FZR400RRSP]

Matra Rancho: terrible build quality but great for carrying our two German Shepherds.

The Skoda Yeti is a blatant copy of the Rancho, and the Yeti's sales success surely shows the Rancho was ahead of its time.
I used to drool over the Matra Bagheera.

 

[gibbsy]

Interesting question. Even the bad cars had some redeeiming features:

Very true. I've had 21 cars since 1973. I loved my Renault 16, which was car number 5. It was brilliant in fog, you could easily see the white lines on the road. Just look for them through the hole in the floor.

 

[mr:w]

AlfaSud: terrible rustbucket, but great car to drive: way ahead of its time

Interesting for handbrake turns if I remember rightly

 

[mjn]

Rover SD1 probably the worst. Had 60 delivery faults. eventually caught fire and I was happy to let it burn.

Just nearly wet myself!

 

[FZR400RRSP]

Interesting for handbrake turns if I remember rightly