What was the worst car you ever owned.

[MattA7]

What was the worst car you have ever owned and why was it the worst?

I’ve had my fair share of bad cars but mine would have to be a Renault Clio the filled with water every time it rained and constantly stalled at junctions and traffic lights despite having a automatic transmission.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Never owned a car I felt was bad. There are surprisingly few genuinely bad cars these days.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I have never chosen to own a bad car! They've merely got more well-equipped and upmarket over time!

I had an original Ford Ka once as a stopgap before I moved abroad, and even that was a superb little machine. Four wheels, a 1.0L engine little different to that of a 1959 Ford Anglia, handling like a go kart, rattled a bit at 90+, loved it!

 

[Gloster]

The worst car I never owned was a blue Ford Orion: I looked at it but decided that I didn’t want it. A friend, more knowledgable than me about cars who had come along to give me a second opinion on its condition, decided it was worth buying for his wife and handing her car on to their daughter. He got it home, but the first time he tried to take it out a brake seized and over the next few months he had a series of problems including all the lights failing and a rear seat collapsing. Finally one of the engine mountings fractured and he gave up. (I think I have got the details correct, but it was not my car.)

 

[nlogax]

Volvo C30. Awful, awful car.

Also drove a Saturn SL1 for a while when living overseas. Like driving an unconstructed Airfix kit. GM's very cheapest components coupled with an engine that was reminscent of a box of marbles.

 

[steamybrian]

Toyota Yaris,
It shuddered when I changed gear

 

[SteveM70]

BMW 325 estate

Not a bad design, just the one I had seemed to be plagued by irritating low level problems

 

[Ediswan]

A 2002 1600cc VW Passat. Not owned, but provided as a short term hire car while waiting for the 'company car' to arrive.

* Under-powered (compared to other 1600cc petrol vehicles), quickly gained the nickname 'Gutless Wonder'.
* Would auto-lock all the doors, hence got paranoid about not getting locked out (hire company had hidden the manual).
* Loaded roof rail started to come loose (rattling). Plain nut and washer, no nylock, no star washer, no 'loctitie'. Fortunately, we had a suitable spanner.

 

[stuu]

A Renault Scenic.

• The worst pile of crap I ever had the misfortune to own. It cost me more in two years than all my previous cars put together over the previous 20 years of owning one
• Idiocy like having a key card which you put in the dash. If the card battery runs out, there was an emergency key as part of the card, which could unlock the car but couldn't lock it again. What sort of imbecile would design something like that?
• When it needed a new starter motor (I think, might have been alternator), the only way to do it was to remove the engine, with consequent labour costs from having to disconnect and reconnect the fuel, electrics, cooling and exhaust system.
• Amongst many other issues that I have tried to blank out.

I traded in a Golf GTI Turbo for it, as that wasn't really suitable for putting a child seat and pushchairs etc in. I'll forgive my son one day

 

[Jagdpanther]

In theory a 1976 forward control Land Rover I bought 20 years ago and is still gong strong. For every hour I have driven it I have probably spent at least three hours fixing/working on it. But love every minute!

 

[vinnym70]

Austin Maestro 1.3 HLE. I'm not *quite* old enough to opine accurately but, if it wasn't, then it should have been the car that finished off the British car industry once and for all.

 

[Ken H]

Escort Mk 3. Horrible horrible car to drive. Hit any sort of bump in the road and it would dance around.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A 1997 (P-reg) Suzuki Swift 1.3.

Prior to me getting it from a random garage along the Taunton to Minehead road, it had been used as a "pool car" by the Suzuki dealership near Taunton. It had a few fancy gadgets for a cheap car, such as electric mirrors and front windows. However, those windows had a habit of falling out of alignment when lowering, meaning they had to be guided back in as you raised them. I forgot to do this a few times, including at a jet wash!

It wasn't a terrible car, and never actually stranded me... but it had all the power of an asthmatic ant with three bags of heavy shopping on its back!

 

[Vespa]

My first car 1979 Renault 5 brought in 1986.

*Difficult to start you had to listen for any sparking then hit the accelerator.
*Rolled round corners.
*Discovered a hole in the floor and water kept coming in, weld patched it up and closed it.
*Demister is useless.
*Rusted in rear wings.
*Eventually died from a cracked cylinder block, I was so frustrated with it that I decided to rag the engine to 80mph (maximum it could do) and it started to shuddder and shake finally it cut out and died, I opened up the the block and discovered the cylinders were filled with water.

Booted it to the scrappers.

Never touched another French car since.

Other cars after that were much better even a Skoda Estelle 120 was way better, apparently the Estelle is now a collecters car.

Currently driving a 2005 Ford C Max 2.0 Ghia, probably the best car I've ever had so far.

 

[DustyBin]

Not owned, but I had a 2015 Audi A4 estate (sorry, Avant) as a company car for a couple of years (I didn’t order it, I took it as it needed a home!). It was slow, not particularly comfortable, and somehow managed to combine a crashy ride with shopping trolley-esque handling. Sometimes the automated tailgate would refuse to open or close and the glovebox would open itself. Audi never managed to fix either issue. It was just a joyless and not particularly good car.

I’m not sure if this counts really, but I did once buy a 1992 VW Passat 1.6 diesel that was for sale locally, for a friend who needed some bits off it for a project (VW enthusiast, strange lot!). I paid £90 for it. As it ended up on my drive for a few weeks and was taxed and tested I decided I may as well take it for a run. Let’s just say i got what I paid for!

 

[cactustwirly]

Volvo C30. Awful, awful car.

Also drove a Saturn SL1 for a while when living overseas. Like driving an unconstructed Airfix kit. GM's very cheapest components coupled with an engine that was reminscent of a box of marbles.

Just curious why did you say the C30?

I know lots of people that love them

 

[DustyBin]

Just curious why did you say the C30?

I know lots of people that love them

Quite a few years ago I had a MK2 Focus ST and my colleague had a C30 T5. Despite being close cousins (the cars, not my colleague and I!) the Focus was, objectively, superior in just about every single way. It’s only downside relative to the C30 was it’s ubiquitous Focus shape, but it was still a good looking car. I never quite “got” the C30, it was quite a nice looking car but was perhaps an exercise in form over function?

I suspect that the above has nothing to do with why @nlogax was unimpressed with the car however!

 

[malc-c]

Worst car - Second Gen BMW 520i. I did a straight swap for my two year old Cavalier. In the three short months I had the car I had two stupid bumps after years of accident free driving, the car developed loads of odd ball faults and was basically a lemon. The day I was selling it in a PX deal a sabb in front hesitated at a junction and basically did a brake check, we seem to slide for ever and had a low speed bump, which was quite comical as the two circle emblem part of the grill shot up and landed on the bonnet. Other than that there was no damage to either car. - I was glad to see the back of it.

A close second was a 3.0l Vauxhall Senator - in the two months I had the car the second hand dealership replaced the starter motor, coil, HT leads, alternator and regulator, but the car still had starting issues. The last straw was when starting the car one morning there was a loud bang, shaking the car and what looked like smoke coming from under the bonnet. On inspection the battery had exploded and fanned out like a loaf of bread - the car was declared not fit for purpose and I formally rejected it and got my money back.

Best car - the Phase1 Volvo V70 (shown below) that I currently own, and have done since 2007. - 169K on the clock, 23 years old and still passes her MOT each year with just a few advisories such as a stone chip on the window, which I've just been too lazy to have filled. It still runs sweetly, and all the luxuries such as heated rear seats etc all still function.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

My first car 1979 Renault 5 brought in 1986.

*Difficult to start you had to listen for any sparking then hit the accelerator.
*Rolled round corners.
*Discovered a hole in the floor and water kept coming in, weld patched it up and closed it.
*Demister is useless.
*Rusted in rear wings.
*Eventually died from a cracked cylinder block, I was so frustrated with it that I decided to rag the engine to 80mph (maximum it could do) and it started to shuddder and shake finally it cut out and died, I opened up the the block and discovered the cylinders were filled with water.

Booted it to the scrappers.

Never touched another French car since.

Other cars after that were much better even a Skoda Estelle 120 was way better, apparently the Estelle is now a collecters car.

Currently driving a 2005 Ford C Max 2.0 Ghia, probably the best car I've ever had so far.

Funnily enough, my best car was an R5, though one of the later ones... in fact mine was one of the last RHD ones built, a 1994 (L) 1.4 Campus Prima. It unfortunately got damaged in an accident, and as I needed a replacement quickly I sold it for scrap rather than repairing it or finding it a good home. I've regretted doing so ever since. I replaced it with the aforementioned Suzuki, though I was very tempted by a 1982 Renault 5 that the same backwater used car place had... it was in a brownish beige colour, so very Hubnut!

Though if your story is representative, I probably did right avoiding the early ones!

 

[Vespa]

Funnily enough, my best car was an R5, though one of the later ones... in fact mine was one of the last RHD ones built, a 1994 (L) 1.4 Campus Prima. It unfortunately got damaged in an accident, and as I needed a replacement quickly I sold it for scrap rather than repairing it or finding it a good home. I've regretted doing so ever since. I replaced it with the aforementioned Suzuki, though I was very tempted by a 1982 Renault 5 that the same backwater used car place had... it was in a brownish beige colour, so very Hubnut!

Though if your story is representative, I probably did right avoiding the early ones!

You certainly did mate.

I was young and we didn't have Google or online reviews to go by.

 

[nlogax]

Just curious why did you say the C30?

I know lots of people that love them

@cactustwirly @DustyBin Fair question! Has to be said it's been the only car that's broken down on me since being acquired brand new. The interior quality wasn't great compared to similar cars in that price bracket and I really struggled with the rear space which ultimately disappointed. Should have gone for Mk6 Golf GTi at the time which actually did replace it after two years.

Whether I'd ever buy a Volvo now is debatable. Love my current (very German) car and I feel a bit of brand loyalty building as a result.

 

[cactustwirly]

@cactustwirly @DustyBin Fair question! Has to be said it's been the only car that's broken down on me since being acquired brand new. The interior quality wasn't great compared to similar cars in that price bracket and I really struggled with the rear space which ultimately disappointed. Should have gone for Mk6 Golf GTi at the time which actually did replace it after two years.

Whether I'd ever buy a Volvo now is debatable. Love my current (very German) car and I feel a bit of brand loyalty building as a result.

Interesting, what engine did you have? The small diesels were Ford/Peugeot engines which weren't great.

 

[Cowley]

Worst car hm..?

In 3rd place: Probably the 2008 BMW 520d estate that I had a couple of years ago.
It was nice to drive but became more and more gutless over the first 9 months, this turned out be the DPF which finally disintegrated while I was in Northern Ireland having taken the in-laws out for a drive. Missed the ferry home and had to stay in NI while the garage replaced it (at no small cost).
Three months later the timing chain snapped and that basically wrote the car off because it would have been at least three grand for a new or rebuilt engine (I’d paid £3400 for the car).

Propping up the number 1 slot and coming in at a massive number 2 (in more ways than one), I had a mk3 Golf tdi for a couple of weeks that I ran out of diesel on the first day and it must have sucked something at the bottom of the tank into the injection pump or one of the injectors, which would have been more than the value of the car to fix. Twelve days of shuddering smoke belching driving later I put it out of its misery and once I’d coaxed it into life I drove it straight to the scrapyard.

Coming in at number 1: My one and only dalliance with a French car. The absolute top of the plops Peugeot 307 estate which we had for about two years before it started falling apart. Warning lights on the dash, get something fixed and something else would go wrong, electrical things packing up all the time, the windscreen started to delaminate, it started to smoke and then finally the twin mass flywheel disintegrated and no doubt smashed the inside of the bell housing and release bearing arm to pieces but I never had a chance to look inside because yet again we delivered it straight to the scrapyard!

 

[nlogax]

Interesting, what engine did you have? The small diesels were Ford/Peugeot engines which weren't great.

1.6d which in of itself wasn't the disappointing part. Until it conked out of course.

 

[gingerheid]

Worst car I've driven was an office pool car Renault Clio, the engine on which would randomly give up while driving (esp on busy narrow winding A roads) and refuse to restart until it had rolled to a complete stop.

 

[Trackman]

Late 80's- Vauxhall Carlton estate.
It was like driving a tank.
Turning circle worse than Rovers.
Electronic ignition always playing up.
Strange noises.
Breaking down.

Sold it no problems, then had a great deal from a neighbour for an Opel Kadett. Thing is, it stunk of his dogs - it really stunk. tried cleaning it, air fresheners etc.. no joy..
... then went onto a MK2 Escort .. which got pinched twice. I was so fond if it bought a big chain to put around the steering wheel.

 

[Ken H]

Surprised at the anti pug sentiment. I have had 405's 6's & 7's. All done well over 20000 miles. Current one is 407 turbo diesel. 2010, 170,000 miles passes MOT no probs. But i dont do much driving now (semi retired & WFH)

 

[Harpers Tate]

All owned from new in chronological order with ranking in brackets - 1 = best:

1: Nissan BlueBird 1986 2 litre SLX. (5) It had its moments (mostly with a gummed up carburettor) and was heavy on the front tyres, but was generally OK and I would probably have kept it longer than the three years I did, but a company sponsored house move left me with some equity which I spent on
2: Toyota Carina 1989 2.0 Executive. (4). I kind of wish I'd kept it longer after the ~12 years (120000 miles) I did, but was beginning to need work on the body and brakes. It was, quite simply, a superb car; utterly reliable, quiet, a good drive, quicker yet a lot more economical than the BlueBird. Anyhow, that imminent expense saw me shop for
3: Honda HR-V 2004 1600 vtec. (6) Well made (as all Hondas are, I suspect), but dire to drive. Thirstier than the Bluebird even, and had an occasional, unpredictable nasty habit of simply refusing to produce any torque in tight situations (like entering a crowded roundabout). Needed lots of rpm to get any kind of performance out of it and that made it very noisy. So that only lasted for 2 years after which I bought
4: Nissan X-Trail SLX 2.2 litre Turbo Diesel (3). A good drive, not terribly noisy for a diesel except at low speeds; very torquey and very, very fuel efficient. Kept that for 12 1/2 years (125000 miles) and it was still going "strong" when I sold it. It had a new turbo and some work on the fuel pump, along with other more routine stuff, so wasn't totally trouble free. As far as I know, it's still on the road. But by this time, it was time for an upgrade (it had a cassette player in it!) and I was becoming conscious of the environment. EVs were just beginning to expand beyond Tesla + Leaf and I found myself taking a test drive in....
5: Hyundai Ioniq Electric 2017 (2). At the time that was the best thing I had driven - most particularly because I like the electric driving experience (acknowledging it's not to everyone's taste). I'd probably still have it today if it weren't for getting a "privileged customer" (con) invite to the dealer that coincided with its 2-year service. I checked online for the value of the car and the price of a newer model and went in, mainly to fill in the time while it was being serviced, with a balance figure that represented a healthy discount in mind. I had every expectation they'd turn me down and I'd walk away keeping the existing. But to my surprise, they shook hands on a
6: Hyundai Ioniq Electric 2019 (1). It's an improvement over the 2017 item because it has a few more bells and whistles and, importantly, a notably greater range. Three years in, and it has been pretty much flawless. There is an outstanding safety recall on the main battery pack meaning that when they get around to mine, I'll get a whole new set. I'm not in a hurry; I'm limited to 90% charging (and thereby 90% range) in the meantime which has not been an issue to now, and the longer I wait, the newer my new battery will be..... My 20k miles in it have cost under £180 in fuel.

Future: Uncertain. The Ioniq hasn't had any feature/spec/etc., updates whatsoever since mine and they are no longer making new ones. So an upgrade like-for-like isn't an option. Whilst there are certainly "better" EVs out there and way more of them to choose from, none of them is close to being as efficient as the Ioniq. One way or another we have to pay for electricity, just as any other type of fuel. I don't see "free" supermarket charging lasting long. Clearly therefore, the less I use, the better - for me and the environment. So, right now, there is nothing I'd pick as a replacement. And I most certainly would not want to go back to using a conventional engine. So I'll probably keep this until something markedly better appears or until it starts to cause grief (whichever is the sooner).

 

[Fyldeboy]

Surprised at the anti pug sentiment. I have had 405's 6's & 7's. All done well over 20000 miles. Current one is 407 turbo diesel. 2010, 170,000 miles passes MOT no probs. But i dont do much driving now (semi retired & WFH)

I'm of a generation that doesn't touch French cars (electrics) or Italian cars (rust). A year ago, I found myself buying a Peugeot 308SW - brilliant car! I'm as happy with it as I was with the BMW I owned 2 cars ago, but burning much less fuel!
If in a few years time, I post on here I have bought a Fiat (now same group as Peugeot) you'll know that my metamorphosis is complete.

 

[jamesst]

I had 2 Vauxhall Astras. The first was brilliant the second literally had fault after fault and cost me an absolute fortune in repairs, couldn't get rid of it quick enough.