Best and worst car you ever had...

[swee'pea99]

... as the front shockers were shot you didn't drive it over 50mph.

Reminds me of when my mate Jill had her ancient Mini 850 repaired by our local Vietnamese mechanic, Ray (so called because no-one could pronounce his real name). After she took it for a test drive Jill declared it fine 'except the speedo still doesn't go round.' Ray gave it a look of profound contempt: " You no gon speed in tha..."

 

[Rhythm Thief]

...but dear oh dear oh dear what a dull DULL car.

Worst crime a car can commit, in my book. It's why I don't like modern cars, at least not the sort of modern cars I can afford to buy and run.

 

[Durian]

Ray sounds more Glasgow like than Hanoi!

Love my current car, an Isuzu pick -up. It carries everything in the rear boot part from bikes and building stuff to people. Other favourites of mine have been a Toyota MR2 and a Skoda Fabia VRS, the Skoda was quick and very economical.

Worst has to be a Vauxhall Viva, pile of junk but fortunately it was only used as a stopgap whilst another vehicle was being repaired.

 

[Cosmicned]

Worst: Austin Maxi - bloody thing needed the RAC following you 24/7 it broke down so often- followed closely by a true dog of a car - a Peugeot 309 - nasty, terribly plastic fantastic & things fell off if you looked at 'em wrong...

Best: Ford Mondeo 1800 estate- amazing car - huge & comfortable - never went wrong or let me down despite my ignorance/indifference to regular servicing... miss it terribly...

 

[CharlesF]

Both my best and worst were bought in South Africa

The worst was bought secondhand from the Rolls Royce dealer!! It was a 1991 Ford Meteor (a Mazda 323 with a boot). It has no power and was so bland to drive. To discover its meteor side, I took it to a rolling road and the tech revved the guts out it and concluded it was a basket case. It was even worse after that and was quickly traded in for a 1993 Nissan Sentra 1.6 SGLi (a Sunny?). This was 100% reliable, quick, handled well and was extremely comfortable.

I then got the off-road bug and bought the best car every. 1995 Landrover Discovery 3.9l V8. The engine had been mildly tuned and the straight through exhaust sounded brilliant; the whole car would flex when the engine was revved it had endless torque. It was as at home barrelling up a muddy hillside as bombing along an open road. Some of the electric were dodgy but nothing put me off my love for it, not even the fuel consumption - worth every penny.

 

[cragster]

Worst car: A Morris Marina Coupe. I still remember the back of the car overtaking the front of the car, as I went around a roundabout! What a pile of junk it was!!
Best car: Probably a Honda Civic Sports that I had when I was just a kid. (Relatively speaking). Very comfortable and very fast.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Best, well favourite anyway was a 1986 Austin Montego as it's the car I had when I met Mrs S, (soppy bugger aren't I?)

Worst - BMW 318 Ci. Nothing wrong with it per say, and it looked the dogs proverbials in Topaz blue with 18' M Sport alloy wheels, but OMG, the interior of that car was so boring. I sold it at the first opportunity before I slit my wrists inside the damned thing just to brighten things up

 

[Piemaster]

My worst car was probably my 1962 Volvo Amazon, bought for £900 unseen on Ebay and driven home from Reading to Wolverhampton. It'd have been a corker with a bit of money spent on it, but as it was I couldn't really afford to sort it out and it was a complete dog. I enjoyed my brief ownership of it, though, because it looked really cool and was a bit different. But it was hopeless for long journeys. Either that, or the knackered Renault 5 - based wheelchair van I bought to convert to a small camper. It leaked water into the footwells and the heater didn't work, with the result that before driving it in winter I had to remove about two inches of ice from under the pedals. One day in December I got into it when leaving work (having removed the ice and togged up in gloves and a woolly hat) when I suddenly thought "why am I driving this heap of shite?". I unlocked the office, fired up the computer, went on ebay and bought - there and then, unseen - a Saab 900, which was reliable and comfortable, but dull.

The Saab eventually failed it's MOT, and was replaced with my best car yet, which was (inevitably) a Citroen 2CV. I've had a lot of 2CVs and they've all been great, but this one was really great. It was more rust than solid metal - when I eventually scrapped it I was able to fold most of the shell up by hand - and I had to rebuild the engine before it was reliable, but when the summer came and I removed the doors and knocked the windscreen out (by accident), it was great. Easily the most fun I've ever had on four wheels, driving that thing to work in a woolly hat, buff and goggles on the M50 every morning, rain or shine.

French cars eh?
Renault was worst because you had to drive it wearing winter woolies, and the 2CV was the best for the same reasons
I'm absolutely with you though, and you've just summed up what the best/ worse car definition is for me too.

 

[biggs682]

this is a difficult one to answer in so many ways

easy answer first = worst car owned goes to a green mini 850 complete with fibreglass fr end and rotten rear subframe etc etc etc

best cars

reliable = toyota corolla gxi 1.8 k498??? owned from new and covered just under 12k
fun = honda civic vti 160 , no matter how you drove it (mostly hard) it always did what was asked off it
comfort = mitsubushi galant 2.0 gls , 3 + years always got out of it feeling relaxed and ready for next drive
pratical= cuttent citroen picasso just keep putting luggage in or bikes , never had it full yet
dream car = porsche 911 turbo early 1980's martini edition drove it 2.5 miles that was it a dream in the making

sorry forgot to put what car inspired me in my childhood the most = has to go various Saab 96's owned by my parents from the original 2 stroke ones right up to the last ones , many a happy memory from those days

 

[Stephenite]

Best cars i've had relationships with but not owned:

My dad's Cortina mk3 1.6l four-door saloon. He had it in my teens until i moved out. It was red with a black vinyl roof, and a thick black stripe along the middle of it. The horn, when he bought it, went a bit like the 'Dukes of Hazard's General Lee. But he changed it.

So many memories: - like when reversing out of the drive, the car fully loaded with two parents, five kids and a dog jumping about all over the place, he reversed into a Porsche 911. The family holidays to Southport and Prestatyn. My first driving lesson The two occasions he came to the school in it and parked it among the soulless Bluebirds and 626s He was forever tinkering about with it, trying to get the best mpg possible. Once tho' the gearbox fell onto his chest. He called and called me says, but i didn't hear. Eventually, the neighbour Brian was disturbed from his incessant 'knitting-machining' and came out and helped.

He ran that thing into the ground. One day he told me a couple of fellas were coming round to buy it but he had to go out. If i could get £50 for it he'd be happy. They came and i started it for them. The engine still had a sweet sound. I showed them the floor at the back was held up by blue nylon rope, as there was nothing more to weld to. Both parties were happy with £50.

Sorry for altering the thread a little but, for me, it's the best car my family have had.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

French cars eh?
Renault was worst because you had to drive it wearing winter woolies, and the 2CV was the best for the same reasons

Good point, I hadn't realised that. Just as the Renault van was ok in the summer, I imagine the windscreenless 2CV would have been intolerable in the winter, but as it never lasted that long, it remains at the top of the list.

 

[Bollo]

Best is a toss up between an Mk1 Impreza STI (surpringly practical but punishing service intervals and it's own paragraph in the Kyoto climate change deal) and my current mid-life nonsense - a lurvly Porsche Cayman.

Worst - again a toss up between a Fiat Punto (head gaskets for breakfast) and a BL era Mini. The mini broke down on the way home from buying it - probably it's most reliable stint. Dishonorable mention for the current family car, an A-class Merc. Nothing drastic but it's had a few quality issues since we bought it new (cracking trim, leaky air-con, leaky windscreen washers, loose door trim).

 

[tyred]

My favourite "car" is the 1991 VW Caddy pickup (original MK1 golf version) which I've owned for years and have used off and on and covered well over 100,000 miles on without any real problems. It's so practical, can take a 10 CWT payload or a load of bikes. It's a 1.6D so sluggish but seriously economical, even by modern standards. I only use it over the summer months now to keep it away from the salt on the roads. I love all variants of the MK1 Golf tbh and have had a few but I've kept this one and will keep it for a while yet.

I also like my winter car, an 1100cc Peugeot 205 which despite the reputation of French cars for being flimsy has proved to be well nigh bombproof and is lovely to drive in the way only a genuinely lightweight car can be and is excellent in the snow with it's high ground clearance and skinny tyres.

The worst is easily a 1992 Escort. Rust prone, underpowered, thirsty, vague steering, useless brakes, pathetic handling, bone jarring ride quality and shapeless seats which always hurt my back. I found it impossible to stop it wearing the edges of the front tyres no matter how many times the steering was aligned and bushings replaced. The earlier model FWD Escort was never this bad. What were Ford thinking? How this got to be Britain's best selling car is a true mystery as they don't really have any redeeming features.

 

[blockend]

Worst was a 90s Rover that had a 6 and i in the title but I've blanked out everything else about it. It handled like a pig on skates and cost money every time an MOT was due. Best is a Skoda Fabia for reliability or a Mini van for fun. Currently looking for a camper van to spread my cycling horizons.

 

[twowheelsgood]

Best car. Easily my Audi 100, the mid-80s aerodynamic model. Mine cost £800 and I had it for 8 years. Sold it for £500 and it was on the road until 2006, aged 22.

All I did was change the oil and replace one wheel bearing (£10). Lovely 5 cylinder engine, galvanised rustproof body, amazing fuel economy for the time (try getting 45mpg from a petrol 1980s Ford Granada). Comfortable and safe.

Never saw the point of running something grotty like an escort or astra when you could have this sort of car for the same running costs or less. I'd still happily have one in good condition today and there aren't many nearly 30 year old cars that I could say that about. Mind you I still see a fare few 20 years old Audi 80s where I live that look like they came from a showroom. These cars, like their smaller VW Golf brothers are seriously durable.

Worst? An Oldsmobile, just awful in every way.