What is the worst car you ever owned,and why?

samboette

adouglasmhor wrote: »

You do know what FIAT means, Fix It Again Tomorrow :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I loved my old Uno Euro 90 fire but it did have some strange faults over time.

Lol yeah we're well aware of what FIAT stands for!!!!

Other than the airbag fault which is pretty much on all the time the other faults were intermittent. The electrics play up the most when it's wet, once had the whole dash go off, absolute nightmare! Still won't get rid of it though!

avantra

Lum wrote: »

Apart from the airbag, none of those other things actually matter

And yes, Italian electrics are... interesting. People seem to forget about that when they slag off French cars.

I was surprised to read of a long term test in an Israeli car magazine (the 'What Car' franchised if I remember well) of a 2011 Renault grand Scenic and Megane coupe, they did 45k miles over 8 month in hot and cold weather, school run, traffic the lot.

In Israel as opposed to the UK, reliability is the number one priority (Mazda 3 is the most sold car by a country mile), badge is somewhat lower ranking priority.

At the end of the test they took the cars for a checkup in good assessment lab where they practically took the cars apart, and the results were very impressive. There was not even one electrical or mechanical glitch to report of and ware and tare was on par with Japanese cars.

Apparently a lot of the electrics got simplified, made robust and they also found an extensive use of Nissan's bin parts.

So maybe they finally take note of their dreaded reliability issues and do something about it.

Weird_Nev

The thing is, electrics degrade over time, not miles. And israel is hot and dry - our wet climate rusts metal, corrodes connectors and dampens relays.
8 months isn't a test of electrics. They SHOULD be working impeccably for years. It's when a car is 10 or 15 years old and everything still works that's impressive.

avantra

Weird_Nev wrote: »

The thing is, electrics degrade over time, not miles. And israel is hot and dry - our wet climate rusts metal, corrodes connectors and dampens relays.
8 months isn't a test of electrics. They SHOULD be working impeccably for years. It's when a car is 10 or 15 years old and everything still works that's impressive.

Point taken, but:
From what they were saying, Renault's electrics of the last decade use to fall apart in hot weather after couple of month, worse than cold conditions apparently.

They did the test over the winter as well, driving a lot in the northern part which is quiet woolly and snowy in winter and many of the roads are pot hall galore.

I think that with the bad reputation they accumulated over the years (the French cars) it will take them a generation or so to turn the brand around and be a bit more like Skoda.

givememoney

Well hard to decide between the Montego and the Avenger both awful in different ways.

The Avenger made hideous noise whilst driving, the door made hideous noise when opening and shutting and radio was un-listenable.

The Montego constantly going wrong has oil leak when we bought it but DH who was used to mending cars at the time just dismissed it, then the gear box blew a hole in it on the M3. We were messmerised by it because it has a tow bar already fitted and we needed to pull our caravan. Trying to climb a hill in Devon it nearly gave up the ghost. Interior was dirty grey colour, hated the whole thing.

bosseyed

Worst car I've ever owned was a 1999 VW Golf, MK4 Gti. Was fine on the test drive, then about a month later everything started going wrong and never stopped for the best part of two year. Lambda probes, Oxyen sensors, spark plugs, misfiring, radiator broke, impellor dropped off the water pump, brake light switch went, drank oil like petrol, used petrol like it was going out of fashion....the list went on and on.....spent more time at the side of the road in that car with the AA man than I ever have before or since (touch wood).

Everyone told me I'd be fine with a VW and their famed reliability, not on my experience. A disaster almost from the word go, and I sank far more money into trying to fix the thing than I really should have.

A total lemon that no dealer, AA man or VW specialist was able to diagnose or fix correctly. A cursed car perhaps.

trets77

stu20vt wrote: »

The only Honda I would call 'fast' is a fireblade In car terms, possibly the NSX, but certainly no Honda Civic is fast. The 'R-Type' is the fastest Civic and is a warm hatch at best. S2000 again is nice, but not fast.

Reliable, yes I'll give you that, but plastic cheap interiors let them down.

let me re phrase that :my VTI is " pretty fast" next to your average run about. and fast enough for me .

colino

Nothing is truer than when buying cars, you get what you pay for. No car for me has been "the worst" as they have all (bar the under-engineered RR HSE) fitted the bill for the reason I wanted them or price I was willing to lash out at the time.
I'm pretty sure thats why Skoda scored so highly in customer satisfaction in recent years, middle of the road cars at reasonable prices, whereas the average Bentley driver would be fuming when the ashtrays filled up.
Ladas, Maestros, Simcas, even Land Rovers have had some redeeming quality.

mikey72

colino wrote: »

Nothing is truer than when buying cars, you get what you pay for. No car for me has been "the worst" as they have all (bar the under-engineered RR HSE) fitted the bill for the reason I wanted them or price I was willing to lash out at the time.
I'm pretty sure thats why Skoda scored so highly in customer satisfaction in recent years, middle of the road cars at reasonable prices, whereas the average Bentley driver would be fuming when the ashtrays filled up.
Ladas, Maestros, Simcas, even Land Rovers have had some redeeming quality.

I had a Skoda Favorit.

It was everything I expected it would be.

AndrewNorthWales

Worst cars I ever had were 2 Mk3 Escorts - I had three in total but the horrendous ones were both 1.3 engined versions.
You would turn the key and they were already starting to overheat, both of them were a waste of space.
The 1.1 model was fantastic and never gave me any grief but it was rotten to the core, it looked as though it had sat in a salt water bath for about 2 years before I got it (very cheap mind!) and I got rid as parts of the engine were starting to rust in on themselves less than 12 months after I bought it.

The Best Cars I have had are Two Rovers and a Citroen
a 1973 P6 Rover 2200SC Auto which was sounded gorgeous and was lovely, the only problem with it was Rust though as everything was bolt on/off even that wasnt too much of a problem.
My 1993 Citroen Xantia 1.9 TD LX - like floating about on a carpet of dreams whilst sat in the most comfortable settee you can ever find and hardly ever visiting a fuel station - completely gorgeous to drive, a beautiful car that I would have kept if I didnt get my current car at such a bargain price when the LX was starting to get very old. Apart from ropey electric windows the Xant is probably THE best car I have ever had and certainly the most comfortable car I have ever driven or even sat inside of - gorgeous!

my current £300 old Rover 420 SDI diesel (S-reg)
My 400 is a great laugh it arrived as a Cat D write off from a mate, it corners like the titanic, everything electric is broken pretty much - my window is held in by a block of wood. the trim is falling off all over the car the front and back bumpers are both broken and held up with Gaffer tape the heater fan has fallen off inside or something and rattles rather than blows out air and it only turns on at setting 3 anyway and always has done.
Apart form these luxuries being broken, then damn thing has never once broken down, it does thousands of miles with me, always starts even in the coldest, hottest or wettest weather. It will drive almost anywhere (up embankments the lot) and always gets me home. It looks like and truly is an old wreck but its the most reliable hunk of junk I have ever had the pleasure to own.
Its a crying shame that Rover were left to the dogs as they made some flipping cracking cars over the years - the only issue was that stupid K series engine.
Id have another Rover tomorrow - though not a K series