"what’s the worst car you’ve ever owned”

[Accy cyclist]

My very first car was a Hillman Hunter, and also the worst by a country mile.
Only had it a couple of years, had to replace the clutch, rebuild the engine, reconditioned gearbox fitted, new top plates, sills and doorpans. Loads of other niggly things as well. Only good thing was I learned a lot of car related repair stuff which came in handy for a few more old bangers that came my way.

My dad spent endless Sunday mornings fiber glass and resin patching up mine and brother's cars in the mid/late 1970's! I loved that smell. It was so sweet smelling, but probably totally carcinogenic!!

 

[Brandane]

Never actually OWNED a bad car (always stuck with Vauxhall, VW, Toyota, and now Suzuki) but driven a few sheds. Austin Metro being one, with the steering wheel offset away to the left, the passenger could have used it! And pedals so close together it was a bit random whether you managed to hit the brake or not.

But the very worst was a rented Kia Sportage. Driving on Florida's super smooth Interstate roads in perfect weather, this thing felt as if it was in a hurricane force side wind, alternating randomly from one side to the other. On day 2 of the holiday I put the key in the door lock (yes it was a while ago) and the door lock barrel fell inside the door. On a very new car. At that point I returned the POS to the rental company and got something driveable.

 

[Drago]

Beside the British Leyland rust buckets I'd say not many, if any spring to mind. I seem to have been fairly lucky after my 15 years of various Minis, a Maxi (though that was a decent car, granted, decent as in for sleeping in more than performance/reliability etc. ) and an Austin Metro which was an electrical problems nightmare, plus the gearbox conked out costing me 500 quid in 1991, which was a fair bit more then than it is now. I think I bought that car on tick for 3 years costing me £1000.

And here is that Austin Metro and me on the 20th of October 1991, pretending to look grumpy about the shaving foam and balloons 'attack' after my previous day's wedding.

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You married an Austin Metro?!

How did you consummate the marriage?

 

[Spiderweb]

Volvo 440GLE, G Reg, I’m not knocking Volvo but this car, I think, had a lot of Renault bits!
By far the worst was a 57 Reg BMW 520D M Sport (LSI model) looked great and was a lovely drive but unreliable and so expensive to have repaired.

 

[screenman]

And your favourite??

The Skoda Octavia 2.0 diesel DSG that I have owned for the last five years, for me it just does everything.

 

[Beebo]

I have owned 2 metros. A red 3 door and a blue 5 door.
Both had their problems and idiosyncrasies. But cars in the 80/90s were still badly made with very few driver aids. No power steering, manual choke, 4 gears, mirrors which could only be adjusted by winding down the window, you needed a passenger to help you do the nearside mirror (if you even had one)

Both metros had endless rust issues, which were very common. You just don’t see rusty cars nowadays.

The suspension in a metro was a hydrogas system which was always going wrong so the cars had a pronounced lean.

The blue metro had central locking which never worked on all 4 doors so you never knew of the car was locked.

Try telling a teenager about how bad cars were when we learned to drive. Imagine having to lean over to open and close all 4 doors in a car.

 

[Dirk]

Volvo 340.

It would never start on a cold morning, even with a new battery.
It was only a year old when I had it.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Austin Allegro, by a mile. Impulse buy at auction, discovered it had just been resprayed - and they sprayed over the birdshit on the roof. Replaced the clutch after 2 weeks ready for a drive from Fife to Wellingborough for a wedding. Before we got to the Forth Bridge, my girlfriend said her feet were getting wet. Turned out the windscreen seals were gone and the passenger footwell was filling up (cured by bashing a hole through with a screwdriver). Stopped in Berwick for the AA to fix the windscreen wipers which died during the storm. Had to balance clutch and accelerator at junctions to stop it stalling, it eventually died in Northampton. AA said big ends had gone and there was evidence of sawdust in the sump.

 

[dicko]

To tell the truth I’ve owned many cars since my first in 1967 but to be fair I’m a Mechanical Engineer and fiddling with cars is a kind of thing I like. I was also a lodger at a garage/petrol station for four four years and I learnt a lot.
BMC and BL cars were my favourite.

 

[Alex H]

Ford Classic (not this one)

Had a small wiring fire under the dashboard

 

[Drago]

Volvo 340.

View attachment 751024

It would never start on a cold morning, even with a new battery.
It was only a year old when I had it.

Unsurprising. Renault engines. The 360 had the indestructible red block Volvo motors from the 240.

 

[Sharky]

My worst car, was also the best car I've ever had. A 1966 MG Midget. Great to drive and loads of fun, but rusted away and drank oil. It was a mere 5 years old when I bought it and by the time it was 8 yes old, got rid of it, to my brother! He managed to keep I going for another few years and drove it to France,where the engine blew up. So he more or less gave it away to a local garage.

 

[OldShep]

Worst car Renault 4
Best is a toss up between a Saab 95 and the current Skoda Octavia.

 

[Jameshow]

Volvo 340.

View attachment 751024

It would never start on a cold morning, even with a new battery.
It was only a year old when I had it.

Yeap had a 440 and that was bad!

Drank fuel like a Georgie on a night out!

Volvo just didn't do small cars well.

C30, S40 V50 for instance....

 

[oldwheels]

A bit hard to answer as all the vehicles I owned had different characters.
Perhaps a Bond 3 wheeler or the Rover 80 which to be fair was pretty clapped out when I got it.
The BMC Highwayman motorhome was excellent in snow but too slow for modern roads.
The VW van ate heat exchangers and drank a lot of oil. The gear change was also a problem being long and lots of linkages which wore out regularly. OTOH I did over 100,000 miles in it but also too slow for motorways.
I think perhaps my vote would go to the Ford Transit which was a nightmare to start being diesel with no preheater.