What was the worst car you ever owned.

[AndrewP]

Objectively the 1.0 Metro City that was my first car - Billy basic and rotten as a pear but it was brilliant so I don't think I've ever owned a bad car.

Worst in the family Volvo 340, badly built, unreliable and terrible looking. Known of a lot of unreliable Volvos though

Worst rented Ssangyong Rodius - ride, handling, performance, looks, comfort, economy and style. It had none of those

 

[Howardh]

Although I didn't own it, I had the misfortune to have to borrow mum's bright-orange Triumph Dolomite to drive to work one day while my car was being repaierd thanks to a lorry driver reversing into it.

I would have been less embarrassed running through Marks and Spencer's stark naked.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Have never had a really bad car myself but I've had a couple of basic cars. A 2007 Polo I had last year was fairly basic and my very first car, a 1993 Nissan Micra, would be extremely basic by today's standards.

 

[Cowley]

Have never had a really bad car myself but I've had a couple of basic cars. A 2007 Polo I had last year was fairly basic and my very first car, a 1993 Nissan Micra, would be extremely basic by today's standards.

Talking about basic cars, when I was 21 I worked in a group home for people with learning disabilities, which meant that on weekdays I was off in the daytime as the folks were at their day centre. So I ended up delivering VW car parts to local garages for a family owned company that I was friends with.

Unfortunately one day I wrote one of their vehicles off (my usual rather nice turbo diesel Passat estate) and for punishment I ended up having to drive the spare vehicle for six months which was a four speed (original) W Reg VW Derby with literally no creature comforts, not even a radio - basically a Polo with a boot. It truly was embarrassing being sat at the traffic lights on Torquay seafront in the summer with boy racers in XR3i’s sniggering at you.

Anyway it was like this but black and more rusty:

 

[DustyBin]

Talking about basic cars, when I was 21 I worked in a group home for people with learning disabilities, which meant that on weekdays I was off in the daytime as the folks were at their day centre. So I ended up delivering VW car parts to local garages for a family owned company that I was friends with.

Unfortunately one day I wrote one of their vehicles off (my usual rather nice turbo diesel Passat estate) and for punishment I ended up having to drive the spare vehicle for six months which was a four speed (original) W Reg VW Derby with literally no creature comforts, not even a radio - basically a Polo with a boot. It truly was embarrassing being sat at the traffic lights on Torquay seafront in the summer with boy racers in XR3i’s sniggering at you.

Anyway it was like this but black and more rusty:

View attachment 120282

What a…… motor……

Quite interesting though as I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before!

 

[Cowley]

What a…… motor……

Quite interesting though as I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before!

I wish I hadn’t seen it.

 

[Zamracene749]

Talking about basic cars, when I was 21 I worked in a group home for people with learning disabilities, which meant that on weekdays I was off in the daytime as the folks were at their day centre. So I ended up delivering VW car parts to local garages for a family owned company that I was friends with.

Unfortunately one day I wrote one of their vehicles off (my usual rather nice turbo diesel Passat estate) and for punishment I ended up having to drive the spare vehicle for six months which was a four speed (original) W Reg VW Derby with literally no creature comforts, not even a radio - basically a Polo with a boot. It truly was embarrassing being sat at the traffic lights on Torquay seafront in the summer with boy racers in XR3i’s sniggering at you.

Anyway it was like this but black and more rusty:

View attachment 120282

How hard did you have to press the brake pedal to stop? Well, when I say stop, slow down a bit? I had the similar Mk1 1.1 Polo, GBB423W if anybody cares, it was terrifying with just me in, 4 up it was downright dangerous to stop. Mind, for a car of those days, you couldn't half throw it about!

 

[mike57]

Has to be 1.6 Austin Meastro which whist I didnt own, it was supplied as a work car with personal use included. Totally unreliable. Would throw its oil out every so often into the clutch housing, and on one occasion completely cut out on the M62 at 70mph due to a fuel pump failure. Steering never felt precise. A horrible car that was always in the garage. I had multiple 'discussions' with work about it, but it was a leased car and nobody wanted to do anything, even although they were paying me to sit around every time there was a problem.

Anyway one evening coming home from visiting friends who lived between Grassington and Skipton (I lived between Pateley Bridge and Ripon at that time, about 1984) coming up from Grassington up the long hill the oil warning light came on again, and you could smell hot oil. It was late, nearly midnight and a cold but clear winters night, and I thought **** it Ill see if it will get me home. Trying to get any sort of recovery to the top of Greenhow Hill would take hours. It got me home, sounding very rough, and massively overheating. Came out the next morning to see if would start, and nothing, wouldn't even turn over. I rang the office, 'Sorry boss, it was fine last night'. Needless to say it needed a new engine. Good thing is I got Ford Escort Estate in its place, totally reliable, and much more convenient for carrying tools and equipment.

 

[Lost property]

Vauxhall Viva (1970's) !!!!!....the slightest bit of moisture in the air overnight and it refused to start...changed all the obvious suspects, made no difference....very happily got rid for a F.Cortina Mk4 1600 GLX...fantastic aerodynamics watching the snow going over the top of the vehicle and sometimes actually making it to the windscreen.

 

[Cowley]

How hard did you have to press the brake pedal to stop? Well, when I say stop, slow down a bit? I had the similar Mk1 1.1 Polo, GBB423W if anybody cares, it was terrifying with just me in, 4 up it was downright dangerous to stop. Mind, for a car of those days, you couldn't half throw it about!

Oh the brakes were terrible and the steering was connected by wool! I’m not even sure that the brakes were servo fitted?

 

[Zamracene749]

Oh the brakes were terrible and the steering was connected by wool! I’m not even sure that the brakes were servo fitted?

Correct, no servo, plus tiny pads on tiny discs. I got rid of mine after one of the already ineffective front discs sheared clean off the hub, leading to me hurtling over a busy roundabout at @20mph unable to stop. VW really upped their game after that era though, the mk2 Polos were great cars and the B5 Passat I owned (110TDi) was outstanding!

 

[uglymonkey]

Volkswagen Polo. It broke down and over heated 500 yards from where I collected it ! Terrible runner - one of the reasons was it was fitted with the wrong carburetor from new apparently. I never brought another Volkswagen ever , as a consequence of this car !

 

[E27007]

Correct, no servo, plus tiny pads on tiny discs. I got rid of mine after one of the already ineffective front discs sheared clean off the hub, leading to me hurtling over a busy roundabout at @20mph unable to stop. VW really upped their game after that era though, the mk2 Polos were great cars and the B5 Passat I owned (110TDi) was outstanding!

VW really did up their game (for making mistakes). Cars were leaving the factory with the wrong engines, errors such as 130bhp cars had been fitted with 110 bhp engines, The errors were not detected for several years, VW did a fix on the quiet such as buy backs, but there were owners who had paid a premium price for the high power cars, and never learned of the error.

 

[Richard Scott]

Can I bend the title a bit and be worst car I've ever driven? A 2006 Golf TDi (was in 2006 so nearly new at the time), what a hideously boring overrated waste of metal. It was the dullest car I've ever driven, why did people buy these things?

 

[DustyBin]

Can I bend the title a bit and be worst car I've ever driven? A 2006 Golf TDi (was in 2006 so nearly new at the time), what a hideously boring overrated waste of metal. It was the dullest car I've ever driven, why did people buy these things?

Practical, economical and as you say incredibly dull; exactly what the majority of people want. (Not me however as you’ll have seen on the “best car” thread!).

 

[Richard Scott]

Practical, economical and as you say incredibly dull; exactly what the majority of people want. (Not me however as you’ll have seen on the “best car” thread!).

What I don't understand if that's what they want there's plenty of far cheaper cars that fall into those categories!

 

[jfollows]

Practical, economical and as you say incredibly dull; exactly what the majority of people want. (Not me however as you’ll have seen on the “best car” thread!).

I'm with you - my "worst" cars were the practical and dull ones, X-reg Escort 1.3, Honda CRX, I replaced them both because I was bored with them. As you say, if I'd been happy with boring, dull and economical I'd have had more money to spend on other things in my life.

 

[pdq]

I am tempted to say that my current car - a 2021 Octavia 1.5 TSI Estate Mk4 - is the worst car I've owned. I think that's partly because for me it hasn't lived up to the reviews, and isn't the step up from my previous Mk3 that I expected.
It has a persistent creak/vibration from the driver's door that should not be present in a 1 year old car with a list price in the high £20k range. The infotainment is sluggish (though better after a recent software update), and the lack of physical heating controls is unnecessary. I find the ride jittery over poor roads, the handling uninspiring, and the 1.5 turbo engine has surprisingly poor low down torque though it flies once it's in its power band.
However, it is spacious and economical on long runs. A fully loaded 200 mile run to Heathrow with 4 people and rammed boot returned 58.5mpg. That's impressive for a petrol.
So I'm not saying it's a bad car. It just isn't as good as I hoped, and may well be my fourth and last Skoda when the lease ends in 2024.

I know it's really for another thread, but my best car was my first Skoda and first brand new car. It was a 2011 Fabia TSI estate. Compact and highly practical but not a good looking car at all; it was quiet, well equipped, incredibly responsive for a 86hp and just a nice car to drive. In some ways the opposite to my Octy in that it was so much better than the reviews and reputation would have you think.

 

[DustyBin]

What I don't understand if that's what they want there's plenty of far cheaper cars that fall into those categories!

True!

I'm with you - my "worst" cars were the practical and dull ones, X-reg Escort 1.3, Honda CRX, I replaced them both because I was bored with them. As you say, if I'd been happy with boring, dull and economical I'd have had more money to spend on other things in my life.

Very true!

 

[rf_ioliver]

Early 90s my dad had a Rover 216 ... which was less powerful and much more fuel inefficient than the Rover 213 (Japanese engine IIRC), it also had an oil leak as a feature, plus the carburettor was tempremental to say the least. I bought it off him for not a lot of money and discovered that in its last year of life it decided to kill battries at an alarming rate - I think it destroyed 4 of them. Every mechanic who looked at that car just politely smiled and ran away.

 

[DustyBin]

Early 90s my dad had a Rover 216 ... which was less powerful and much more fuel inefficient than the Rover 213 (Japanese engine IIRC), it also had an oil leak as a feature, plus the carburettor was tempremental to say the least. I bought it off him for not a lot of money and discovered that in its last year of life it decided to kill battries at an alarming rate - I think it destroyed 4 of them. Every mechanic who looked at that car just politely smiled and ran away.

I’m not an expert but presuming it was the Honda Ballade based version, it would have had the S-series engine. You’re correct re the 1.3, that was a Honda engine.

My friend’s dad had a 216 when we were at school, it was beige and had zero “street cred”. He replaced it with a late build Maestro so was clearly a gluten for punishment!

 

[450.emu]

I’m not an expert but presuming it was the Honda Ballade based version, it would have had the S-series engine. You’re correct re the 1.3, that was a Honda engine.

My friend’s dad had a 216 when we were at school, it was beige and had zero “street cred”. He replaced it with a late build Maestro so was clearly a gluten for punishment!

I had a Rover 216 as well, on a G plate (1990)... electric sun roof had to be gently encouraged to open, though strangely the windows were manual. Mine too had an overactive carburettor, so the car smelt of petrol all the time. This was the boxy shaped one before newer 1993 models came out. More clag than a Deltic on a cold start, it also had little desirability in a sky blue shade.

But the worst car was a Yugo 513 (Eastern European saloon based on Fiat 128), went through 2 radiators, a water pump, 3 clutch cables before I got £50 from the scrap man... certainly was not a "gluten for punishment" after I found out I'm Yugo Intolerant

 

[Richard Scott]

I had a Rover 216 as well, on a G plate (1990)... electric sun roof had to be gently encouraged to open, though strangely the windows were manual. Mine too had an overactive carburettor, so the car smelt of petrol all the time. This was the boxy shaped one before newer 1993 models came out. More clag than a Deltic on a cold start, it also had little desirability in a sky blue shade.

But the worst car was a Yugo 513 (Eastern European saloon based on Fiat 128), went through 2 radiators, a water pump, 3 clutch cables before I got £50 from the scrap man... certainly was not a "gluten for punishment" after I found out I'm Yugo Intolerant

Likely a 1990 216 was Honda engined too so not giving a postive about the supposed Japanese reliability there!

 

[PG]

were a D-plate Volvo 340 which my dad bought after his Citroen BX suffered an un-economical

Worst in the family Volvo 340, badly built, unreliable and terrible looking. Known of a lot of unreliable Volvos though

I'd forgotten about the B reg Volvo 340 I owned for a couple of years early in this century.
Only 4 gears plus the rather temperamental Renault sourced engine, which demanded operation of the choke at random intervals to tame the Learner-esk judder that hindered most journeys!
My regular 12 mile commute could often double in time - not because of any traffic - if atmospheric conditions were not precisely to the engines liking

 

[antharro]

I don't think I've ever had a "worst" car. I've had cars that have had characteristics I haven't liked, but nothing that's been super unreliable. Probably the two that stand out the most:

1987 VW Polo 1.0l - my first car. Great little car with fantastic handling... in the dry. Bloody lethal in the wet. I quickly learned to take it very easy in the wet on corners. And this was with new suspension and tyres.

2001 Lexus LS430 - this car probably should have gone to the breakers instead of to me. It had been soundly thrashed and very, very neglected. I spent a LOT of money on it; had the transmission rebuilt, new radiator, new rear air shock absorbers, new discs and pads, new tyres, a very through service... and it was never right. It ultimately developed two engine problems - rough running (it dropped a cylinder under load) and it smoked. At which point I threw in the towel and sold it on for spares/repairs. So not really a fault of the car, but it was probably the car that's given me the most trouble.

My father had a Series 3 Jaguar XJ6 which he bought as a project. Another very neglected vehicle. It cost him a fortune and when a garage screwed up an engine swap, he got rid of it as spares/repairs. (They built and set up the replacement engine so badly that it drank 80 litres of fuel in 100 miles then developed a clatter. Never gave us paperwork so we couldn't do anything about it).

 

[GusB]

I'd forgotten about the B reg Volvo 340 I owned for a couple of years early in this century.
Only 4 gears plus the rather temperamental Renault sourced engine, which demanded operation of the choke at random intervals to tame the Learner-esk judder that hindered most journeys!
My regular 12 mile commute could often double in time - not because of any traffic - if atmospheric conditions were not precisely to the engines liking

Now that you mention it, I do recall issues with the choke. I had to drive the bloody thing down to Coatbridge for my gran's funeral and the weather on the return journey wasn't exactly favourable in February! Perhaps, had the circumstances been slightly better, I might have looked upon the car more favourably, but when there's a blizzard at Druimuachdar and your car appears to have a bit of a cold, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

 

[dgl]

Strangely I understood that the 1.7L Renault engine that was available for the 340 was the best of the bunch, it does need proper maintenance though.
I always liked my Gran's 340GLE (F202DYA), and as I understand the only real issue she had with it was a glovebox light staying on and flattening the battery.

 

[Cowley]

Strangely I understood that the 1.7L Renault engine that was available for the 340 was the best of the bunch, it does need proper maintenance though.
I always liked my Gran's 340GLE (F202DYA), and as I understand the only real issue she had with it was a glovebox light staying on and flattening the battery.

Was it those Volvos that had some kind of strange rubber belt drive instead of drive shafts?

 

[Richard Scott]

Was it those Volvos that had some kind of strange rubber belt drive instead of drive shafts?

Possibly the auto versions did, similar to the DAF cars that preceded them.

 

[GusB]

Was it those Volvos that had some kind of strange rubber belt drive instead of drive shafts?

I think you're possibly thinking about the DAF/Volvo 66, which had continuous variable transmission (CVT).

See:

Volvo 66 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

My dad's 340 had a bog-standard manual transmission (I think it was 4-speed, but I don't remember that well.

The 340 looked like this:

Volvo 300 Series - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

*Edit*

Perhaps I should have actually read the second article; it would appear that the 300 series also had CVT, having originally been a DAF model rather than a Volvo.

The Volvo 343 was introduced on 19 February 1976. The introduction model was fitted with a 71 PS (52 kW; 70 hp) 1.4 L[6] Renault Cléon-Fonte engine in the front and DAF's radical Variomatic continuously variable transmission unusually mounted in the rear, helping weight distribution. The engine was an enlarged version of those already fitted to the DAF 55 and 66. To add to the appeal of the car and boost its sales, Volvo adapted the M45 manual transmission from the 200 series to fit in place of the CVT, and was sold alongside the CVT models from 1979. A five-door model, the 345, was added in August 1979 for the 1980 model year. The extra doors added 30 kg (66 lb); other modifications included better brakes, a slightly larger track due to wider wheels, and interval wipers.[7] During 1980 larger wrap-around bumpers were introduced. In 1981 another engine option was added to the range, the Volvo designed B19, only available in GLS-specs with the manual transmission.

It still doesn't change the fact that it was an absolute pig to drive!