Cars that you have owned, and had high hopes for but moved on because you didn't like or get on with, for a particular reason?

[merc85]

Despite better judgement, A 1988 Ford Granada 2.0 Ghai, Bought at 95k and by the time it had reached 100k it drank oil, and evey electrical item either fell apart or didnt work.

And oh those rear arches were hanging lol

 

[AMGeed]

Despite better judgement, A 1988 Ford Granada 2.0 Ghai, Bought at 95k and by the time it had reached 100k it drank oil, and evey electrical item either fell apart or didnt work.

And oh those rear arches were hanging lol

The 70's and 80's were good years for rusty Fords. The late 90's saw a big improvement.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

@AMGeed

Ditto Ford Grenada (~1980 model IIRC). Was in Johannesburg (6000' above sea level) and in the pre turbo charger days with a 2.0L engine, it was hopelessly underpowered.

 

[jasmine]

tvr chimera looked good but what a pile of c..p . unreliable and bits came off in my hands regularly . low mileage 97 model had it about three months most enjoyable part of my ownership was seeing it pull off my drive with the cash in my hand !!

 

[DGAMG63S]

tvr chimera looked good but what a pile of c..p . unreliable and bits came off in my hands regularly . low mileage 97 model had it about three months most enjoyable part of my ownership was seeing it pull off my drive with the cash in my hand !!

Cars that are mutts or just don’t hit the spot are like the old saying about boats. “The two happiest days in a sailors life are the day he buys his boat, and the day he sells it”.

 

[buccal]

NB mx5.

Only time I ever bought a new car and ordered one of the facelift (mk2.5) cars before there were any demonstrators.
Hence no test drive.

I didn’t get on with the driving position and hated the engine. Handling caught me out too and had me facing the wrong way on a dual carriage way despite having had a mk1 for years.

Sold within a year and lost £££.

Interestingly, I have had two NC’s since which I love.

Exactly the opposite to what the journo’s would have you believe is the better model.

 

[Darrell]

tvr chimera looked good but what a pile of c..p . unreliable and bits came off in my hands regularly . low mileage 97 model had it about three months most enjoyable part of my ownership was seeing it pull off my drive with the cash in my hand !!

Mine was fine and so was the Griff I had before.

 

[jpwilliams]

Hillman Imp 1964 `nuff said.

 

[AMGeed]

Hillman Imp 1964 `nuff said.

A neighbour had one of those. Always to be seen with the rear hatch open and an engine problem.

 

[jpwilliams]

A neighbour had one of those. Always to be seen with the rear hatch open and an engine problem.

Produced in Scotland at Linwood, tell the wee Red Haired first minister !

 

[gaz_l]

I didn’t even get to buy one. I’d been after an R170 C32 AMG for about 18 months (they are like rocking horse droppings), when one came up for sale not too far away - right spec., right mileage, ticked all the boxes except it wouldn’t have have been my first choice of colour. Anyway, all excited I make an appointment to see it and it every bit as good as described so the salesman (very generously) let me take it out with Mrs. Gaz, on the proviso I leave my car keys and driving licence with him as some kind of guarantee that I’m going to bring it back.

After no more than about 1/2 a mile I turn to the Mrs. and say “Do you know what? I don’t like this.” She replied “I wasn’t go to say anything, but I don’t either”. Never before or since have we both taken an instant dislike to a car like that. So anyway, I took it up the road a bit more before turning round and driving straight back to the garage. “Really sorry, but this one’s not for us”, I tell the salesman, who took it on the chin. “This is why we let people test drive” he pointed out. I was gutted as I’d really built it up in my mind, but as I say as both me and the Mrs. thought “No” instantly, so there’s no way I was going to buy it and hope it grew on us, you have to go with your gut feeling. Still frustrates me to this day, though!

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[jasmine]

perhaps i had the friday afternoon chimera ..... as for the imp my dad had one it was better at boiling water than our kettle

 

[fourwheels]

2015 Jaguar XE. First year of production. Should never have been released until they finished the R&D. Not a Friday car just bad year. Replacement steering rack, Ad Blue tank, badly aligned boot, badly chipped paint forward of rear wheels, back end resprayed, Stop start failed (I mean I would stop and car failed to restart) & more.
Sold, totally frustrated after 12 months.

 

[markjay]

1958 Renault Dauphin, 850cc engine. The thread in the engine block for the bolt securing the alternator in place was shot, so the belt could not be fully tightened. This meant that the 6V battery always ran flat and the headlamps were dim. The car went back after one week. This was my first car. I am happy to say that after that I liked all my cars. In the past 20 years, I haven't kept a car less than 5 years. I liked them all.

 

[poormansporsche]

Over the last 30 years I have had the intention to buy every single generation of Golf GTi (bar the 7). I have taken every one for a test drive with prices ranging from 500 quid to 25 grand. I've probably test driven at least 6 MK2s probably 10 MK3s and good 5 mk4s and 5 mk5s. But strangely never actually bought one ? I still do not know why. I have liked every one but just not been excited enough to actually splash the cash ???? I have bought a lot of £hite instead though !

 

[DavidL]

Rather incredibly this

I really wanted one, got a decent deal and a decent car, not in grey scale and it went like a rocket with a 500bhp Manthey remap.
But it wasn't at all practical (despite what they say), the alarm drove me mad, I was terrified of the carbon ceramic brakes and it did rather make you drive in full on attack mode all hte time well, just because.
It only lasted a year which I still find surprising but at least I tried.

 

[GillyC63]

B7 RS4, spent an absolute fortune on it, Bilstein coilovers, H&R uprated roll bars, MRC stage 2 tune, bored the absolute pants off me, got rid of it for my first MB, C63 wagon (miss that car!) only time I've ever bought the same vehicle again in a different guise.

 

[AMGeed]

B7 RS4, spent an absolute fortune on it, Bilstein coilovers, H&R uprated roll bars, MRC stage 2 tune, bored the absolute pants off me, got rid of it for my first MB, C63 wagon (miss that car!) only time I've ever bought the same vehicle again in a different guise.

The RS Audis have always interested me, but never enough to actually buy one or even test drive one. Funnily enough, BMW's leave me cold and I don't know why. I've never owned one, but had an X5 loaner and it was horrible.
I live less than a mile from Poole's main Audi dealer and often admire the cars in the showroom as I pass by.
When the 63 has to go, I may look again, but I've made the mistake of not test driving for long enough before. Won't do that again.

 

[DGAMG63S]

The RS Audis have always interested me, but never enough to actually buy one or even test drive one. Funnily enough, BMW's leave me cold and I don't know why. I've never owned one, but had an X5 loaner and it was horrible.
I live less than a mile from Poole's main Audi dealer and often admire the cars in the showroom as I pass by.
When the 63 has to go, I may look again, but I've made the mistake of not test driving for long enough before. Won't do that again.

Interesting on the BMW comment. I’ve gone back to one after a long time with AMG’s and am doing a bit of a back to back comparison, but I think Merc will figure again. I’m not far from Poole Audi as well (nice set up) but haven’t looked at one since an S8 and an RS6.

 

[GP801]

Early w203 saloon. Our first Mercedes and was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately another car released before it should have been. So unreliable - mostly electrical issues with various bits not talking to each other. new instrument screen, zircon flaps installed wrong way round so it steamed up all the time, ignition module (twice), alarm system, rear SAM, numerous sensors, new keys, suspension joints. Got to know the local Mobilo team pretty well and experienced a few Enterprise hire cars. Eventually realised it was never going to be properly fixed so traded it against the CLK which has been brilliant. Allegedly warranty repairs cost MB over £10k.