What's the worst car you've driven?

[Osella]

Vauxhall Nova MK1, driving school car. The steering wheel isn't even directly in front of the driver (ie centred on the seatback)and is tilted ever-so slightly off to the right... did they try to make it with one less joint in the steering column?? and heavy b-pillars always say 'this isn't particularly rigid' too....
Next worst- Nissan Micra, old and new. I just felt I was going to break the bl{}dy thing...

[Amaroo Park]

Nah better put down Holden CAMIRA, wonderful car................ NOT

[Alpina]

The worst handling car is a toss up between a Buick Skylark hire car that I drove from Houston to New Orleans. It sort of shuddered every time you pushed it through a corner. Why would anyone buy something like that?
My Fiesta with the RS Turbo engine fitted in it as mentioned earlier in the thread it was a brutally torque steering monster. So I modded the turbo and chipped it even more! Doing 360s at 90mph certainly gets your heart beating. Hasten to add it was on a rally. Suspension mods are ongoing to cure that little problem.
Third option was Zebedee. This was a 1.0 litre Nova that we bought for £50 and competed in an Autotest. It jumped to the left every time you hit the brakes but it was a broken rear spring. Lots of fun in the test though.

[MichaelC]

Originally posted by Osella
Vauxhall Nova MK1, driving school car. The steering wheel isn't even directly in front of the driver (ie centred on the seatback)and is tilted ever-so slightly off to the right... did they try to make it with one less joint in the steering column?? and heavy b-pillars always say 'this isn't particularly rigid' too....
Next worst- Nissan Micra, old and new. I just felt I was going to break the bl{}dy thing...

Right behind you on both of those.
I learned to drive in an Austin Maestro, and I remember a car dealer telling me that the Maestro didn't have design faults, it was a design fault.

I'm sorry Maisie, I never said I agreed with him. It didn't seem that bad to me, until I moved on to other things. It's still not the worst car I've ever driven by a long chalk...

[BertMk2]

Originally posted by Osella
Vauxhall Nova MK1....

Nissan Micra, old and new. I just felt I was going to break the bl{}dy thing...

I had 2 MK1 Novas and they were great fun especially the 1400 (the first one was a bit of a shed but it did the job), probably a case of nostalgia clouding my thoughts though.

Micras are on wheels, I had one for a while when my 306 was being straightened out, I nearly crashed it within five minutes of getting behind the wheel, understeer just doesn't cover it, how about "This car won't go around corners". The lights on the dash went out when you put the indicator on which was kind of weird as well. Hideous car, the best thing about it was the fact that it wasn't mine.

And don't get me started about Fiat Puntos, tin can cars - I'm never going on a motorway in one again.

[Neil C]

I rented a Hyundai a couple weeks back. I was underwhelmed. As Bart would say "Craptacular".

[steve_r]

Vauxhall Chevette 1256cc with an automatic gearbox, which strangled the very little power there was to start with. I can't be too hard on it, because I was given it for free. (Maybe the person who gave it to me didn't like me). I remember having a race with a 2CV, and only just winning.

Closely followed by a 1.0s Nissan Micra (Hire Car). I think the S stands for slow.

[AndyF]

Haven't driven many cars, but was probably the Volvo 460 a 'Swiss Tony' look-alike salesman tried to sell me. Car seemed fine on the outside, only to find it needed a new clutch. Half a mile of grinding gears was enough for me!

[429CJ]

1987 white Suzuki Carry Van... It had bad habit to raise its back wheels up, when braking harder.

Here is the picture of one example, this being a bus , mine was pure van with no rear seats.

[Alfaholic]

I nominate the car Hertz gave me as a free upgrade(!) in Ireland this year - the Mitsubishi Carisma Diesel. Never has a car been so inapporpriately named - the throtle pedal was 6 inches lower than the clutch, the armrest had to be moved out of the way to change gear or use the handbrake, and i resorted to memorising the number plate as it was easier than remembering what the car looked like (I still can't !) when going back to car parks.

[AussieV8]

My sister had a 6cyl Marina and a Datsun 240k and I'm not sure which one is the worst.

Thank god she has come to her senses and drives a Mazda 2 now after having a MAJOR UGLY Toyota Echo which she had nothing but trouble with it. All electrical.

[Wrex]

A holden Camira - Shocker!

[Amaroo Park]

When I was a kid my Dad had a Volvo 144 what a piece of ****.

[Mattracer]

I learned to drive in a Mitsubishi Colt- on one lesson, the oil light came on. On stopping to check, almost no oil!

Ypu shoulda trid the clutch...

[krt917]

Not one I drove, but one my Dad and Grandad owned - a Ford Orion (I thiink it was a 1.6, but am not sure). It had tyres that were small enough to go on my pushbike and screahced if you tried to take a corner at speed (ie. moving). My Dad's had some good cars, but I wasn't too sorry to see that go!

[Aysedasi]

A desperately boring Ford Orion, circa 1985. It was bought (second-hand)just before the birth of my son, and I was ordered to ditch my Golf GTI for something more sensible.......

[275 GTB-4]

Ralf wrote the book "Unsafe at any Speed" on the wrong car!!!

[D-Type]

A Renault 9 I test drove. I found the handle to adjust the seat, pulled it and it broke. It was a brittle plastic. No sale!

Or a Hyundai Stellar I owned from new. To be fair it did nothing badly but it did nothing well. The only thing in its favour was the price. You got a lot of metal for your money. With two small kids there was room for nappies, buggies, mother-in-law, etc. The real problem was that the suspension was US spec rather than European. A good ride on a straight somewhat bumpy road at 55 mph. But don't try to take a corner at any speed above a crawl!

[blackx]

I had a MK2 Mondeo Turbo Diesel which HAS to claim the award for the worst car I have ever driven..............
Slow and not very economical either...
Not half the car my new MK3 Turbo Diesel is..

[Reido Rules]

I haven't been driving long, but I can certainly tell you what for me is the worst car.

The Rover 25, yes there are slower cars, yes there's cars which are slightly less polished. But boy is that car a shed!

As soon as you sit in the thing, it is a horror movie, with Stalone in. The dash is surely made of left over bits from the sixties, which were found in some Birmingham scrap yard. the interior is hidius! and very cheap. Not only is it ****, it's poorly bolted together, and rattles from day one till day million. I know that there's more to a car than the interior (but this really is bad enough to put you off even starting it).

So what's it like to drive, as soon as you try to find your bite point the cars all over the place, the clutch is dreadful!, It really is totally hopeless if you want to dash off!, then comes the gears, which are quite honestly shocking! You need a bulldozer to force it from gear to gear, and it puts up more resistance, and is more defiant in accepting your wish, than an Iraqi information minister. The handbrake, is totally apalling, it never wants to go down, and the butten at the end summons every bit of stength of the Russian weightlifter you just hired to press it.

The acceleration takes lessons from Gerri Halliwell in the fact it mimes what it is meant to do about 5minutes too late. The brakes well are dangerously bad, you put your foot on it just out side of Newcastle and come to rest just as you hit the M25. The car seems to belch after doing anything serious and finally the steering is apparently power assisted, well it's nice to dream.

To add to the sheer poorness of the car it has a rubbish speck list, it's unappealing and seriouslly uncool.

there might well be worse cars but in my short spell I haven't driven one. I am actually going to add insult to a self inflicted injury by saying it is worse than the Vauxhall Corsa I drove today.

Yes you might say the MG's are good, (I happen to think the ZR is quite bad as a car), but think it's got more power and a body kit, that's why you like it, not because it's a well made and comfortable car!

[Flatspot]

Gotta be the Chevy Corsica. What a piece of . Sorry, but thats the nicest word I could come up with for something so worthless.


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