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

[SL63 Mark]

Yes, I've come across that before with ambassadors. Weren't they known for it ?

 

[Sue new MB owner!!]

I suppose it is the worst car ... but it was my first .... A YELLOW Metro ...Y reg.

used to have to drive it with a peg on the trottle pull.... to stop it stalling!!,

several times it stopped dead for no apparent reason ... junctions .. motorways it did not care!! ....

I traded it in and got MORE than I had paid for 18 months later!! ha ha....


engine blew up as being removed from VW deakership!!.... where I had traded it in (Where a friend had done me a deal!! )

Good menories of my first car though!!

 

[SL63 Mark]

Shudder. Even today, the words "Austin" and "Metro" bring goosebumps and a feeling of fear and loathing.

 

[GeeAy]

Good thread this.. Most cars prior to my '89 Volvo 440 had their problems or annoyances. The 440 with the 1.7 Renault engine set the modern benchmark. It never went wrong, it got serviced. Replaced it for another at 107K. Ok back to the duffers..
Fast forward to 2002 and I'm the early adopter on a 1.4 Citroen C3 HDi 16v. Astonishing economy at the time - mid 60 MPG and for 3 years all was well. Apart from losing the power steering and engine timing if i ever stalled it. (turn the ignition on & off 3 times to reset the ECU). then came the first MOT.
Fail. Suspension bushes. warranty repair. (Citroen UK paid up no quibble despite just being out - In fact I hadnt even broached the subject.)
4th Year. Fail. Broken coil springs at the front.
5th Year fail - cant remember on what mind. Turbo housing split.
By now the daughter was late teens with boyfriend in tow. It couldnt cope - suspension wise with 4 full size people. Rolled bounced and crashed. From wanting it, I grew to hate it with a passion. The seam welds on the sills started to show rust. I thought I was buying modern 2CV cool - in fact I just looked like an old tw@t despite only being 40 odd.
Sold at 6 years and 85k for the first 3k that came my way.
Big mistake. I hated it but everybody else wanted it. I had over 30 calls from a 2 week run in autotrader. Lesson to be learned there. Just because you hate it...

 

[Xtractorfan]

I honestly cannot think of any bad cars I ever owned.. or in the family as well.. all have done what they were supposed to do.. my son even had a cossie once.. ran up an amazing fuel bill on my account ..ha, and still talks about the times he replaced the rear tyres twice in one day..part worn of course....

 

[Starky]

1999 fiat punto, what a load of rubbish

 

[JEZ.S320L]

Two spring to mind:

1) Triumph Acclaim - Mrs J's car. It was warm and kept you dry in the rain. That's it really. Everything else about it was dreadful.

2) Austin Princess 2200 HL - mine. Awful suspension which made Mrs J, seasick. Rusted away before your very eyes. Traded it in for a Rover SD1 3500 9 months later. Got more as a Trade-in, than I paid for it..!!

 

[Neil H]

Rover 416 in pale blue, Y reg. Total pile of **** and the seats in it are still with me today in the form of lower back problems. Was so happy when one of the directors wives cars was stolen and they took my Golf TDI away and replaced it with that monstrosity. I was driving 60k a year!

 

[jibcl500]

Nissan sunny estate brand new 4000 on the clock and it put a football sized hole in the side of the engine.

Best thing that could have happened to it.

jib

 

[Mickey76]

1.5 auto proton, with screwdriver entry, £150.... Had it two weeks.
Rover 45 unfortunately with the rover engine not Honda, leaked from every possible place and most things only worked with the tap of a hammer, true British.
That said, my 98 e class spends a fair amount of time off road.....

 

[CRH71]

Two contenders:

First one was a truly horrible 1976 Talbot Alpine (remember those?). Looked lovely on the outside but that was the one and only thing you could say in it's favour. Failed the MOT miserably and I think the scrappy gave me a tenner for it because he felt sorry for me. Seat covers had completely disintegrated, the engine had been 'rebuilt' (but the PO forgot to add the bit about 'by blind, one-armed monkey without access to torque wrench), leaked when it rained, brakes worked on the "telegram and prayer" principle, gears crunched, clutch awkward, wipers intermittent, ugh..... Revolting piece of machinery..

Second one was a 2002 Sprinter 311CDI. 18 months I had that, on longterm hire, and in that time (and just over 40,000 miles) it had two glowplug controllers, a high-pressure rail sensor, battery, brakes every 8-9,000 miles, rear tyres the same (fronts were a bit more sensible 20,000), the DMF collapsed, big style in the centre of Canterbury, leaving me stranded, and various annoying rattles and squeaks that never really got resolved (apart from turning the radio up louder). Fuel consumption seemed to be measured in GPM, rather than MPG. Only discovered after I'd backed it to the hire company that there was a known issue with my year/model Sprinter with the rear brake compensator valve that lead to a lot of the problems I'd been reporting for months!

Other than that, I've been pretty lucky with cars. Couple of Merc W123's, Cortina, Renault 18, Skoda Estelle, Montego, Vauxhall Carlton (leaked like a sieve when it rained, but drained equally quickly when the rain stopped....), Couple of Escort Mk3s, Skoda Favorit, 2 BMW E34's and, now, a W202 Merc. All proven to be very good, and all needing little more than routine servicing and a few (expected) age-related items to be replaced.