Cr*p cars I have driven..

[BTB 500]

For me it was the Hillman Avenger
we had them as company pool cars in the 1980's

If they were really Hillmans they'd have been pretty old. The Avenger became a Chrysler in 1976, and a Talbot in 1978.

We had Talbot Alpines, Solaras, and a solitary Avenger. The Avenger was a fantastic car in comparison to the others and everybody (me included) tried to book that!

 

[A-AvantGarde]

For me one of the worst cars I've ever driven was recently. It was a Chevrolet Aveo, I had it as a 'courtesy' car when the E60 5 Series was getting a respray after being keyed along one side.

It felt lke something from a couple of decades ago.

 

[Tiff]

I'm a huge SAAB fan, having owned quite a few classic 900's right up to a T16S. The first time I drove a GM 900 I was actually angry at what they had done to a great company. the first time I drove a 900 convertible I was greetin' with laughter at the scuttle shake. I've owned a Lada and a Trabant, used to work in an FSO dealership and the Saab is the one I remember.

 

[BigSilverEstate]

Just back from France last night, still amazed at the way cars are treated in France, only cars without dents and scrapes are less than a week old! On the motorway, lane discipline may be far superior to the UK, but even the smallest hatchback is thrashed mercilessly at over 90mph for hundreds of miles at a time.

Slightly off topic but IMHO doing a separate overtaking manoeuvre every time you pass another vehicle is not necessarily the same as good lane discipline and creates lots of unnecessary lane changes thereby increasing the risk of errors and accidents. You see this a lot on the continent, not just France, so it must be a big thing in driving pedagogy over there. Yet for someone in the outside lane it is very disruptive to be constantly anticipating other drivers who weave in and out of their lane every time they encounter another car!

When on the motorway I think it is safer to drive predictably with few changes of direction and make steady progress as long as I am not impeding others - even if this sometimes means long spells in lane 2 or 3.

 

[st13phil]

In UK, the worst car I've had was a Talbot Sunbeam. But, it was robust. I tried many times to cane the guts out of it so it would die and the company give me something new - but it never did...

Funny you say that... A mate of mine in the late 70's had a Talbot Sunbeam as a company car and employed exactly the same stategy as you. He failed in his quest too

 

[GP801]

Kia Avella. Dont think they ever made it to the UK but truly appalling. Made the Lada Riva seem brilliant by comparison.

 

[renault12ts]

Vauxhall Chevette, 4 door saloon...what a piece of...

 

[Deleted member 6183]

In the late eighties a part of my job was repo man for cars, drove some right sheds.
Imagine how little maintenance is done leading up to a repo?
Worst was a v8 rover sd1, put the window down to reverse out and it wouldn't go back up again, 70 mile drive in winter!
Biggest surprise was a skoda, rally prepared, rear engine - owner just got too old and handed it back, he lived right out in the sticks and I caned it through the woods, big fun.
The Renault 5 turbo was fun too, kept it as a company car for 3 months.

 

[gaz_l]

A Ford Ka new shape based on the Fiat 500 platform. It was dreadful. The Pug 207 was a lit better.

I rented a Ka a couple of months back and I thought it was a great little car. The interior wasn't to my taste (I don't think their target market includes anyone in possession of a willy), but it drove and handled sweetly, and pulled stronger than something with a 1.2 engine is entitled to. IIRC, I got 44MPG from it and that was driving it like I stole it, in proper rental car style. OK, it's pretty basic (you have to wind your own windows and so on), but you could buy 2-1/2 Ka's for the price of the Peugeot. I know what I'd put my money into.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Colin_b]

W168 A class Merc, if we are talking modern (ish) cars.

Underpowerd, badly built, overpriced and sloppy handling. Put me off MB for 10 years.

Any car, Austin 16. Comically inept in every way. It even has jacks built in to it - waggle a lever under the bonnet, and lifted the car off the ground. Cool, but necessary!

 

[Braincrank]

I drove a Chrysler voyager (2009) some time ago and hated every minute in it. Very bad cornering, seemed a bit top heavy. Awful ride. I'd rather walk .

 

[sinewave]

Talbot Sunbeams were fantastic compared to the Talbot Horizon!

My Mum had one not long after I passed my test, handled like a pi$$ed up Pig on Cake Trolley!

Engine sounded like a bag-O-spanners all the time, biggest bag of wan* I've EVER driven.

 

[Charles Morgan]

The car I genuinely hated driving as it seemed to have absolutely no connection between the road, the handling, the steering and one's inputs was a first generation Corvette that Mithril had at Goodwood some years ago. Wallowy, barge like and frightening even at low speed.

The most mediocre modern car I have driven was the first Daewoo sold here, based on an 80s Cavalier chassis. A temporary car while a new company car was sourced to replace my nicked BMW, it was the personification of cheap and nasty. Felt like a Lotus compared to the Corvette though!

 

[Orwic]

Hillman Husky, early 1960s. (a friend's car I drove in the early 70s). No power, rattly, rusty, prone to breakdowns. Steering - well, you thought you were steering, but the car thought that it should be doing the job. It made its feelings known by blowing its horn when you turned the wheel. Brakes not much good either. Exhaust fell off on one occasion in remote part of mid Wales, fixed with some string, lashing on to bits of bodywork. Had to stop every so often to replace it, as the string burned through. Eventually fixed permanently with steel wire. On another occasion the engine just coughed and cut out...

Me: have you got a toolkit?
She: oh, yes!
Me (thinks - that's OK, should be able to get it going again) says: OK, let's see it then

She then gets out a universal screwdriver set, cracked plastic handle with a few blades - corkscrew, spike, big flat blade, small flat blade, Phillips...

Me: can't remember what I said to that. Probably something like 'oh, very nice toolkit - I'm sure I'll manage'. But did get it going eventually.

Can't grumble, though - gave me and other friends lifts between college and home. Memories of vehicle packed to the roof with people, bags, suitcases, springs fully compressed, shocks completely shot. Luckily we were never stopped.

No more Hillman Huskys for me. Don't care if they're vintage collectors items

Orwic