What's the worst car you've ever owned?

nickod

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leighton buzzard
Your Mercedes
1995 e220 1992 300te 24 1994 200te s211 e500 5.5
i cant decide between a TVR S (it broke down every time it rained) or my 114 280ce which was handpainted by its previous owner
 

Aitch55

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Bedfordshire
Your Mercedes
SL55 AMG
Mazda RX8. Most impractical thing made. Engine would overfuel from cold and then wouldn't start no matter what. Only way was a tow start and then it would fire up immediately. On the RX8 forum they recommend never to switch off the engine before it's at operating temp. so, to just move it on the drive, you had to sit there idling for 20mins or take it for a run before switching off. No torque and have to rev the nuts off it to get it to go. Fuel and oil consumption were terrible.

Ranked alongside an Austin 1100 the same model that Basil Fawlty beat with a branch. Oh how I empathise with that scene. Leaked like a seive but only one way, in. I became adept at braking with the heel of my foot because, as the car slowed, a tidal wave of water rushed forward to the footwells. Only solution was to drill a series of holes in the floor. Met its end, one dark wet night. on the M1 at 70 when a rod punched a hole through the front of the block.

Good riddance to both.
 

orb the Impaler

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2012 SLK 250 CDi AMG | Volvo V70 2.5T AWD | MV Agusta F4 | 1999 YZF-R1
Haha! Forum regulars will know exactly what I am going to say now....

My previous R230 SL500; lovely when it worked but an utter money-pit. A car that I actually started up every day with total trepidation as I worried what was going to go wrong next.

This won't make the R230 fans happy but IMO and with the wisdom of hindsight the R230s (early ones at any rate) were a bad car; poorly buiilt, poor design and chock full of unproven (thus unreliable) technology and pointless unreliable gimmicks. What made it worse were the utterly ludicrous, stratospheric parts prices. This was Mercedes flagship model and I wonder how many of them will reach 20 years old? Vanishingly few I suspect.

Stuff that fails and shouldn't (I've had all of these except the tank baffles)...

- rust on arches
- shocks leaking
- valve blocks
- tandem pumps
- water ingress causing electrical issues (eg SAMs)
- SBC (a timebomb for every owner now)
- balljoints on shocks (appalling design)
- PSE pumps
- fuel tank baffles breaking free
- cat breakup
- gear selector issues leaving you stuck in park
- rattles

None of the above is acceptable, not on a cheap car and certainly not on a car like the R230.

Utter utter crap, and I'm surprised that I even considered another MB; happily the new one seems far better.

(Compare and contrast the above (on a very well looked after car) with the 2005 Volvo V70 that replaced our (falling apart with rust) C class - 120,000 miles, not a spot of rust, quiet, wafty, no rattles, every single thing works as it did when it rolled out of the showroom. Not had to touch it since we got it apart from putting washer fluid in. Made in Belgium.)
 

st4

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Your Mercedes
Disqualified driver
The feeling of "what's going to break on it whenever you drive it" is a familiar feeling with my E320.

Quite how that car can be so different to two other Metcedes I have had beats me but sheds are out there
 

littlebrooklyn

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2016 A180d
My worst car was my very first car, a 1966 green and white mini. My dad bought it for me very cheap as it was an MOT failure but somehow we managed to get an MOT for it ;)

When I braked I had to hold onto the steering wheel as it was in the habit of pulling to one side everytime I braked. Also for some reason the back wheels didn't seem to follow the front ones. The radio had smoke coming out of it when it was on too long.

One evening I was driving my then bf home and as we approached a set of red traffic lights the subframe fell out, severing the brake pipe. Fortunately by the time we reached the lights they had just changed so we rolled to a halt and had to leave the car on a double yellow line for the night :rolleyes:

I eventually sold it for the grand sum of £35 :lol:
 

The Pan Man

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Warwickshire
Your Mercedes
2008 E 500 A/G Classic colour combination.
Triumph TR7
Rear suspension tore itself apart

Had a TR6 do that on the Stourbridge ring road in the late 70's. Reinforced it all with a mate still solid wehn sold.

I also had a scorpio as a rep-mobile my fuel bills were the highest on the company the thing used to do about 12mpg in town traffic. Those were the days, NOT.
 

SL63 Mark

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Your Mercedes
R231 SL63 AMG
I have 2 contenders.

1. Renault 4 van - owned from age 17 loved it, 850cc (aircooled twin ? can't remember now) top speed 45 mph, but it felt so much faster ! but - floor fell out come MOT time - tester poked screwdriver through floorpan and said it was only held together with underseal - I was offered £40 scrap value:(

2. Truly awful Morris Marina 1300 coupe owned age 18 - boiled it's head - still got £200 for it ?

That's about it. All my other cars have had at least some redeeming features. :)
 

47p2

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Your Mercedes
W638, W140, W220, W639 All gone but not forgotten
W reg Mini Traveller, what never went wrong with it would be easier to list.

That said it was the only car I managed to make a massive profit on when I sold it 2 years later
 

S500 Pete

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Essex
Your Mercedes
S500 (W222) 2014. Turbo 4.7 V8 with loads of toys. Superfast luxury.
An R reg Rover SDI 3.5 V8.

The body was just rusting to nothing.

With the low pressure oil system they had if you sat a lights then the oil light came on which meant the fuel pump stopped followed by the engine. You then couldn't get enough oil pressure from the starter motor to switch on the fuel again. AA man showed me how to disconnect the oil light until it was restarted and then reconnect afterwards.

It did however have the self leveling rear suspension and towed a big caravan like a dream.

Also owned a Scorpio which was one of my best buys, a big comfy armchair with all the toys that I used for a daily 30 mile commute in to London in traffic and still got 24 mpg. It also had a heated front screen which is one of the best things ever to be put on a car.
 

00slk

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Cambridgeshire UK
Your Mercedes
2002 SL55 AMG, 2005 E320 CDi, 2014 SLK250 CDi, 2003 SLK200
Oh, good thread....I think the worse car we had was an M reg Ford Escort TD, had the AA out 4 times in 3 months, it was horrible by far the most unreliable car we have owned and we half had over 160, However the best car we have ever had and owned for 5 years or more was....Wait for it, Alfa Romero 156 V6, never once went wrong in 35,000mls, in fact we bought another one and had just the same reliability, until it went on fire, hmm, there's more Renault Laguna 2 over 100,000mls in this car and never let us down once, I still have it. I know this is like an unbelievable story but it is true, if you don't believe me I will sell you the Renault.......
 

S80

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Your Mercedes
None at the monent, but there's an OM642 in the Jeep Grand Cherokee!
I've had quite few 'candidates', but the one that wins by a nose:

A 1981 Talbot Horizon 1.5GL

This was (literally) inherited from a relative, and the damn thing did its best to re-unite me with said relative - brake fade down a steep Pennine descent wasn't my idea of fun :shock:

A horrible, soulless car in all respects.
 

MarkCL

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Hampshire
Your Mercedes
W211 E320 CDi Avantgarde
Unquestionably a Ford Escort XR3i that I had a few years back. Despite replacing the entire braking system, they were still fekking useless, every time I indicated to change lane or make a turn the headlights would turn off if they were on, which at night was literally lethal! It also leaked and was damp no matter what the weather and on top of their lights-out party trick the electrics were generally the most dodgy I've ever had the misfortune to encounter :-( All in all it's definitely an ownership experience I would wish to either forget or just not do if I had the time over again - what-a-mistake-a-to-make-a! ;-)

Cheers,
Mark
 

SL63 Mark

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Your Mercedes
R231 SL63 AMG
Forgot to mention my 1.3 Marina was "Harvest Gold", or "Hint of Diarrhoea" as it's also known. I think that makes it worse.
 

Kylinski

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cardiff
Your Mercedes
SLK R170 230 (2001)
Mine would have to be my last car, 2004 MG TF. Dreadful car! Paid a fortune in repairs in one years ownership. Nice looking car, but the build quality was horrendous!


Then I bought another 2 seater convertible, my SLK. Worlds, ney galaxies apart.

Good thread this :D
 
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initialbdriftracer

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Northern Ireland
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Your Mercedes
W220 s500. Year 2000 airmatic
Forgot to mention my 1.3 Marina was "Harvest Gold", or "Hint of Diarrhoea" as it's also known. I think that makes it worse.

my mate had a 'harvest gold mini' looked more like cow dung green..


worst car i had was a mini red hot. wish id never seen the damn thing...
almost drove me to the drink..
 

3146bj

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Melbourne, Australia
Your Mercedes
2010 B180CDI, 2008 Golf Pacific, 2013 VW Tiguan 103TDI
Mine would have to be a 1998 Holden Commodore VT. In the first 90,000km the front suspension was re-bushed twice and the back end 3 times. At the same time the driver's seat was rebuilt seven times including 3 new frames (all under warranty). I'm not really small but that was the first car I had problems with seats. It made the 1948 Vauxhall Wyvern, my first car, look like a 10 quid dream. The Commodore also had transmission and ignition faults when it ran out of sparks on wet roads (water spray affected the ignition system). Traded it on a E280, W124 and reversed the usual sublime to the ridiculous progression.
 

Ben Longden

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Echuca, Victoria, Austrayamate
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www.benlongden.com
Your Mercedes
W203 220CDI. Silver with grey and black trim. 1992 W140 400SEL Silver. 1999 CLK430 (missus)
Well....

A 1968 mini. With Lucas electrics. need I say more? Even in a drought stricken country, the electrics got wet and went on strike if anyone sneezed.

A Morris 1100. Went well, but then one day the transmission died. At least it was at home. Took the guy who bought it an hour to shift the danged thing.

Maybe Basil Fawlty used this one as his inspiration.. ;)

A 1963 Ford XP Falcon. Great car, but for a 179 cubic inch engine drank the fuel like it was a drunk in the pub at closing time. It had to go. Burnt skin on vinyl seats too many times in the summer.

My 1979 VB Commodore.... Replaced the original engines oil seals about three times. Then replaced the engine three times. First one was at 120,000km. Mind you, it had gone through two sets of tyres, two air condioning compressors, wheel bearings all round - twice- two sets of brakes pads and rotors, three radiators.. few sets of hoses... in that first 120,000.

I ended up taking the six out, and getting an engineer to put a V8 in, which was great. I had better fuel economy than before.

The usual routine of brakes, rotors, wheel bearings continued along with radiators and compressors...

The end came when at 500,000km the engine started to blow smoke, and she was giving 15mpg...

Sort of one of those 'new' axes thats had five heads and two handles....


My worst car was going to be the 140, but since she has had a new engine loom and HT gear, she is running sweetly.

But the "unreliable piece of $hit" award has to go to the (GMH/Vaukhall) Holden Commodore, which was based on an Opel Rekord with an Opel Senator nose.....
 
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teabag

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Your Mercedes
2001 W163 ML270 CDI
It has to be my first car, a 1956 Mk1 Singer Gazelle bought for £7 in 1969.
Hard to decide which was the worst smell, the strong reek of petrol from the rotten tank, the horrible mouldy smell from the sodden carpets which never dried out due to the rotten floor, or the stench of burning oil from the leaking exhaust which came in through the same rotten floor.
Still, it served it's purpose for a year until I got £15 in part exchange for a 1960 "F" series Vauxhall victor on sale at £30. but that's another story.
 

55palfers

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Solihull
Your Mercedes
Toyota Landcruiser LC4 and W124 E36 his, SLK 200 hers
A lovely red with beige velour Austin Ambassador.

Very, very comfortable indeed but every time you pulled the key out you were a good 30 feet away before the engine finally cut out.

No one could cure it.
 


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