worst cars ?

[GrahamL]

A differant direction to Glens thread,what was the worst car you owned?

Well I don't really want to pick on minis but this one I bought off a good friend was nothing but trouble the whole time I owned it.

A complete brake rebuild 5 days after buying it
everything is/was such a pita when trying to work on them
Train lines were a constant problem when driving around as the sucker would bottom out on the slightest pebble on the road .
In fact a train line broke one of the mounting flanges of the exhaust manifold and it was impossible to get at without burning hands .
A cop pulled me over while it was broken and refused to give me a few days to repair it , I had to present it to him the next day fixed or he'd defect it. I put a big spring on it and switched the car off as I rolled to
the police station hoping the spring would hang on long enough for him to look at it , it did ,just, the spring fell off 5 feet down the road as I was driving away.

And there was the sometimes plain refusal to start , I'm not sure what went on this day as I was a fair way down the road there and would of normally had it going , I think possibly it didn't end up starting and I walked back up the street.

The car did a head gasket eventually and i sold it to some other
sucke..r , er I mean enthusiest .

Its worth noting the friend ,who has actually worked with minis his whole working life dosn't drive one as his everday car :thumbsup:

(gateway bridge in brisbane getting built in the background)

[Mliss]

:rofl: that picture is priceless!!!

great thread idea :thumbsup: i have two cars in mind, but i'll have to go with my first.

personally i wasn't fussy on what car i got...as long as it wasn't sky blue. being young & female and surrounded by men who knew everything (apparently), i was totally out numbered and had to go with the flow!

Toyota Corona bought in '89 and yes, it was sky blue :doh:

it was a great little car for the first year, but after that it was a nightmare. the first thing to go was the speedo cable. in the end i'd replaced it 3 times, then gave up. i lost count on how many speeding fines that resulted in...

the break fluid leaked as well as the transmission fluid (which i needed to top up constantly). Sometimes the car wouldn't shift out of first gear - always fun in peak hour traffic :rolleyes:

The boot leaked, which i didn't realise until after weeks of rain and a couple of days from hunting down that musty smell. The wipers were tied on (and occasionally would shoot off across the road).

My window would spasmodically fall and disappear into the door (what is it with train tracks :shrug:).

and something weird was going on with the ignition as i needed nothing but a 10c coin to start it.

I couldn't wait to get rid of it and instead of a loving pat as i left it with the car yard, it kicked it. as the bottom part of the door was rusting, my shoe went straight through and became wedged. rather than make it even more obvious i left it sticking out and quickly left in my new car.

:driving:

[FlashDrive]

Horror Vehicles.

: Sigmas and TR Magna's ... both are " dog boxes "

I'm now a Mazda Man ( Mazda 6 ) ... ZOOM ZOOM :D

Flash :D

[taminga16]

A new AU II cab chassis ute, the first Aus built ute I have owned and the last, it drove well but the build quality dissapointed me everyday and to think that we subsidise the manufacturers. Previous utes were Nissans and I now own Mazdas :). Best day car, I am single, selfish and on my third Mazda MX5, ZOOM-ZOOM.
Greg.

[taminga16]

Who could forget Chrysler Centaur's and Ford Cortina's of the same era, over powered and under braked, badly weighted and all topped of with about as much handling ability as a camel on rollerskates.
Greg.

[marki]

Morris Marina and anything built by Leyland including all forms of Rover, just piles of junk.


Mark

[ballaratdragons]

My '98 TF Magna is about the best car I have owned! :thumbsup:

But the worst car I have ever owned was my old EB Falcon 'S' Pack.
Anything that could go wrong did go wrong, I have replaced almost all items several times including Starter motors, Alternators, Brakes, Power Brake Pump, Injectors, Radiator, etc etc,
and even a whole motor!
And it still went wrong regularly!!

And to make matters worse, I Still have this car sitting in my driveway, dead as a doornail. :lol:
The new motor siezed, and the mechanic can't even find a reason for it seizing :shrug:
It has been a constant money-pit.
Anyone want it for $200? :lol:

[midnight]

Ford Fungus (Focus)

Picked it up brand new in 2008 as a company fleet car and always having electrical problems.

1. Indicator blinking noise went silent one day but the indicator still worked (that's when I found out the blinking noise is actually from a small speaker and not from an old style relay!)
2. The doors locking and unlocking every 2 seconds for a 1 hour trip. Always a problem and not just 1 trip.
3. All of the mimics on the cluster panel lighting up whilst doing 90km/hr
4. The power window decided to fail in a drive through (a few times)
5. The car unlocking itself at 2AM noticeable by the orange indicator lights flashing in the driveway and being seen from our bedroom (regular event)
6. The boot opened by itself at an intersection (and several other times)
and it goes on.

The car went back to Ford 4 times and because they were intermittent problems, it was passed off as a dirty connector. But one service report said "firmware upgrade". Crikey!

Finally after about 18 months, the car was written off technically as functionally unsafe as it could not be fixed within the fleet budget:screwy:.

Apart from that, physically & mechanically it was a solid car.

Darrin...

[bartman]

Sorry, never owned a Ford........
and never will ( I think)
So I can't comment........
;)
Bartman
Ps I just did...... didn't I:thumbsup::rofl:

[bert]

I bought a ba falcon ute 6 cylinder. The tailgate broke in the first week, that was the start of the slippery slope. Next was the throttle pedal sensor, the brakes would warp every week. I did 3 diffs, 2 gearbox rebuilds, 2 heater cores which dropped coolant through the cab, blew a head gasket, all under warranty. That particular vehicle was sold before the warranty run out.

Funnily enough, I still have 2 ba falcons: a modified turbo sedan and a v8 ute. Both cars are very reliable and good to drive. I guess the 6 cylinder was a Friday 4pm car.

Brett

[sheeny]

After my separation I needed a car... and bought an EA Falcon with 170k ks on the clock...

Hindsight says "Yeah right!"

First to go were the shocks. New ones all round. Then I replaced the diff. Then the auto transmission had to be replaced, but the engine was blowing smoke. I fixed that for a while by running it on GP50:rolleyes:, but it had a bad problem of not starting when it was hot. Like drive 30mins to Bathurst turn the car off to go into a shop and then have to wait 3 hours for it to cool down before I could drive home!:mad2:

My mechanic replaced carburettor, and ignition unit and tried all sorts of things, but eventually I put a new motor in it and the problem persisted!

In desperation I took it to an autoelectrician and left it with them to drive around in for over a week before the fault would surface for them - it turned out to be the fuel pump.:rolleyes:

I got rid of it soon after. Maybe it was a good car by then:shrug: but I'd had enough.

Al.

[koputai]

I haven't owned a 'bad' car, but have not really owned that many.

I have driven quite a few 'dogs' in my time though.

1969 Holden Kingswood with 3 speed non-synchro gearbox. No power, no handling, no stopping. But, if you knew how to drive it then it wasn't a hassle.

BUT!!! The absolute worst car I have ever driven.....is a brand new Mini Cooper S convertible. My sister-in-law's car. This car is dangerous. You absolutey can not use the accelerator in a corner, it skips off the road. You can not brake into a corner, one brakes are applied, steering stops. The gearbox is attrocious too. Very little positive can be said about this car, an absolute DOG.

In order of ownership I've had:

1. Holden FC panel van, paid $50 for it. Lovely old car, basic to say the least.

2. Holden HQ Kingswood sedan, paid $900. Tricked up a few things here and there, lasted long enough considering the way I treated it.

3. Chrysler VK Charger 360 Pursuit (E57), paid $4000. Totally awesome. I wrecked it. Wish I still had it.

4. Toyota Corolla 1989, paid $14,500. Bulletproof. My daily driver and abused car for 18 years! Still going strong when I sold it to the kid up the street, who wrecked it.

5. Alfa Romea GTV 2003. Beautiful car to look at, beautiful car to drive. I still have this one. It's a pain in the bum and the wallet to own, but it's lovely. You drive it on a nice road, you can't wipe the smile off your face.

6. Nissan X-Trail 2005. Still have this one too, and will keep it for a while yet. 180,000 kms so far and it still feels like new.

The Alfa is probably about to be pensioned off soon, as my wife has her eyes on a 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport.

Cheers,
Jason.

[Kevnool]

Toyota 200 series landcruiser wagon.
Dust bypasses the air filter.
Last month had all the diesel injectors replaced for a measly $7200.00
Expensive rubbish they are,Toyota smile when you walk in the door with one of these.

They are nothing like the 100 series ...2 completely different cars.


Oh wnat a lemon......Toyota.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

A 1993 Ford Sierra my wife bought from a friend when she left the UK.
I warned her!
The littany of what was wrong with it was endless.

Highlights include:
Broken clutch cable at Marble Arch at 3 AM on way home from party. We had to shlep it to the Grosvenor Hotel to phone the RAC (odd how many statuesque young women seem to come and go at that time of day).
Alas it was a moving-in party and we are both dirty and smelly from moving furniture all day.
Slendid!

Same clutch cable. Middle of the M25. This time in the pouring rain on the way to observe the '99 solar eclipse.

Broken timing belt in middle of nowhere. Walked 11 miles to nearest phone. Again, in the rain.

Clutch again. Rush hour traffic in Trafalgar Square is thrilled. Also police.

Brakes fail (cylinder falls off) near Harrod's. Fortunately it is again the early morning and no-one sees me as I sail through 2 red lights. Somewhat miraculously, it is not raining.

Muffler falls off just a we head-off to a friend's wedding. 100 miles away!
RAC finally says "enough" and refuses to cover us after this.

First (and only) MoT:
Frame is rusted through in several spots
Petrol tank unsafe
Brakes unsafe
Electrics dodgy
etc.
etc.

Cost us more to fix it than to buy it.

Eventually we began leaving the doors open and the keys on the seat hoping someone would steal it.
After 3 weeks - NO TAKERS!! And this is just uphill from a council estate!

Finally the police called early one morning asking if I had used the car to rob a petrol station (???). Errr.... no.
"Well a red Sierra with your registration was used earlier.. etc etc."

My heart palpitates with joy as I run to the laneway to confirm it's non-thereness.
An agonising second later I realise the villains have stolen only the rego-plates and left the car where it was! :(

How bad a does a car have to be that no-one will steal it in the middle of London?

[brian nordstrom]

:sadeyes: no problems there , my 1st car , the 'purple sloaper' , my mates called it , a purple Wolsely 4/44 ( 4 cylinders and 44 horse power ) that had no 1st or 2nd gear ! , it was that guttless that more than once I had to stop attempting a hill in 3rd , stop :eyepop: do a 3 point turn and reverse over the top ,, how embarrasing ! Not a good way to impress a girlfriend .:(
It could take off in 3rd on a flat ,, SLOWELY ! ...
maybe thats why I like faster cars today .
Brian.

[GeoffW1]

I reckon if you were out to buy a 2nd hand car, you should take with you an experienced car thief, and get the best advice !!

I knew one once, and he was most knowledgeable, steered me to a good buy :lol:

Cheers

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Oh yea ahhhh! , THOSE $hit boxes , my ex had a marina , every 2nd time she came home from a drive , anywhere , I had to fix something , under the bonnet again.:lol: Hate'd it I used to try and hide every time I heard it comming up the road . POC !. it was .
Thanks for the memory Mark . ha ha :lol:
I can see this thread slowely turning to scope's ?
Brian.

[FlashDrive]

I would have liked to have seen this .... would be " rolling " on the bitumen in laughter.... highlight of the week I reckon.

Just got home from being out .... my girlfriend say's ... what are you smiling about .... oooh ..!!! not much ..just saw Brian trying to impress his new " flame " the tricks his car can do.... really ... she say's .... what's he doing ... driving " backwards " up our hill ... the things a bloke does to " impress " his new " bird ".

There's probably more to this story ... eh ..!!! ... Brian. :lol:

Flash :hi:

[jjjnettie]

The worst car I owned was a 1981 Nissan Bluebird LX.
Touted as the worlds first 4 cylinder limo. Oh it was luxurious....velour trim and electric windows.
But the body was so heavy, it should really have had a V8 under the bonnet.
Show it a steepish hill and it would start to sob. I'd have to knock it down to first gear and let it take it's own sweet time, mean while the traffic would build up behind you.
The best car I've owned were a 1974 Toyota Corolla...it just kept on keeping on. If the body hadn't fell apart with rust, I'd still be driving it today. :D It trekked from Sydney to Brisbane too many times to count and never overheated once.
I traded it in on the Bluebird. :(
Oh, I love the little Kia Cerato I have now.

[brian nordstrom]

:rofl: yes there is flash , my brother and I cut the body off with an ax and angle grinder , :eyepop:shortened the chassis by about 500mm , put an old gate or 2 on top for a roll cage and turned it into a buggy !!! yea ha ! went better with 2 the tonnes of purple sloaper removed .
Dad was NOT!:help: impressed !!
I think thats what impressed the girls ? :thumbsup:
1 st year apprentice boilermakers can do anything!! He he he
Brian.

[ZeroID]

I must have lead a bit of a charmed life with cars. Had a few that gave problems now and then but even when the flywheel had separated from the crank and was flailing around inside the bell housing and clutch asembly the old Morris 1800 got me home. A Hillman Avenger that used to leak water in through the petrol filler cap and if you forgot to drain the wee sediment bowl then you had to drive backwards up any hills otherwise the water got to the carburettor. (Going fishing early one morning in a hurry !! ) Any motor rebuilds I've done have been for performance purposes mostly, only one for dropped valve inserts many years ago.

I've had many company cars and most have been driveable and comparable for the period they were built in and I've always driven them quite hard. The worst was a Mazda 323 wagon which drove like a dog till it wore the first set of tyres out in about 25,000 km and they replaced them and did a proper wheel and suspension alignment and it was a sweet little car after that. Had over 250,000 km on the clock last time I saw it and still going.
2.0 litre Sierra was a cool beast, had one for about 3 years. It had a major frontal at about 100 kph ( someone drove through a stop sign in front of me on open road ). Built like a brick outhouse, saved our lives and was back on the road about 3 weeks later, The Subaru was toasted.

Currently we are both running Mitsi VR4's ( 2.5 litre, V6 Twin Turbo 4wd AYC beasts, basically big Mitsi Evos, same running gear ) and the real trick is to have them serviced regularly. Turbos don't like old oil so the cars get done every 5,000 km.

I reckon that's where half of people problems come with cars, a lack of service, cheap tyres, cruddy oil etc.