I've never actually driven one; otherwise they would have been the third on my "worst" toss-up list. I've ridden in a couple (including a '98 6.5l tow truck that couldn't go any faster than 40mph on the freeway with my truck on the hook).

I still blame GM for making sure that diesels didn't catch on in America... :mad:

Warden quoteAnd that was the "New and improved" The old ones(that they never powered a tow truck with, by the way) was a 5.7
I worked at a Chevy dealer in the late 70s and 80s. People bought the diesel powered cars and light trucks and found that it said in the owners manual that you shouldn't pull a trailer! It was easy to see why. If you stopped on a steep hill, you would have to floor the throttle to get them to start moving. Can you imagine what that would have been like with a trailer?

My parents bought one of those Oldmobile Diesels. A long tale of woe ending with a broken crankshaft. Yet they still drive GM vehicles to this day. They blame the Diesel, not GM.

When I was fueling up the 240D this week, an Oldsmobile 98 Diesel pulled up on the other side of the pump. I was shocked! I didn't think there were any left. :o

Oh, and to keep this thread on track: Most surprising = my E300 Turbodiesel. :D

One of the most funcars was something that I almost threw together. It was a 1964 MG mIdget. I am 6'3" so I had to squeeze in it. The stock engine did little more than move it but it handled like a go cart. Really fun to drive. Well, the engine threw a rod bearing(I only paid $300 for the car) and I stuck it in the back of the shop. I was doing a lot of Mazda rotary engine work at the time and I decided to do some experimenting with porting on one of the engines. Well, I needed a car to try it out in so I put the two together. What a blast. I took out about 40 MG hp and bolted in over 150HP. It would ring the center out of the wire wheel or shuck the ring gear if you poped the clutch, so I didn't. I made the exhaust out of a 3" diameter driveshaft flattened out.
What great fun! Those were the days.

Worst: '87 Ford F-250 4x4 Pickup. How can something with 460 cubic inches be so slow to accelerate? The damn thing must have weighed over 5,000 pounds.

Most surprising: '92 Subaru Legacy AWD station wagon. With the skinny stock 14 inch tires, almost as much grip as a friend's BMW 325iX (awd) with 45 series 17 inch tires. Gotta love Subaru suspensions and AWD.

Should have gotten a Ford Ranchero (their version of the El Camino) if you wanted to fit kegs in, lol.

-Sam

In the mid-70's my father was a salesman for Subaki chains. He had just sold his 220D and wanted another diesel. They were of course excellent cars to put 40,000 miles on in a year. Went to an Olds dealership and the guy even admitted to him that since he wanted reliability he should go to the MB dealership and get a 300D. So he bought his pride and joy, a 1976 300D that was as he described the most beautiful color of blue ever. He said that the color didn't last long with MB.
David

What does that have to do with the topic they are talking about. We all know that MBs are the best. They are talking about the worst/most surprising/disappointing car you've ever driven.
Tim

The best truck I ever drove was my cousin's dually pick-up. He owns a top-fuel Funny Car drag team, and his towing truck is an older GM dually four-door with a 500c.i. alloy V-8 with a 6-71 bursting out of the hood. It's designed for super-low grunt and I'm sure could pull a shopping mall off it's foundation. I pulled a trailer carrying a race car, several engines and tons of tires/parts weighing in at about 11,000lbs up a steep hill and out accelerated several small cars. It's Porsche Guards Red and is a very cool truck, even if uses more gas than some small nations.

The worst truck I ever drove was the Land Rover Disco as mentioned previously.

BLACKMERCEDES have you ever driven a Range Rover 4.4 V8?

Most Surprising: In college, little money, needed car. Bought a very rusted Toyota Celica GT (75 I think it was), which I thought might get me back and forth to class for a year. Ended up keeping it almost four years, drove all over the place including Univ. of Ky. to Florida for spring break, and never had any problems except the occasional in line fuel filter replacement. The most surprising part was how great the car handled and how smooth it was for that era. I still think I wouldn't mind having another one. :cool:

My dad bought a (I think) '82 Audi 4000.

The maual transmission went out at 10,000.

The rear window exploded one winter morning after he engaged the rear defrost.

On a family trip from the DC area to Hilton Head Island, the rear floor boards had about two inches of water for us to slosh around in. The AC was pulling all the condensation into the cabin!!

What a total POS!

PS It did look cool driving it for my high-school prom though!:p

Nope.

A Delorean is the most disappointing car I have ever driven. Man was that thing slow.

Very interesting car, A Citreon SM or for that matter the DS21. The hydraulic suspension is neat. To remove a wheel you select the highest position, instal the jacking stand in the side of the car and then select the lowest ride position. The whole car lowers and the jack stand keeps that corner of the car up so you can change the tire, or just take it off and drive the car with just three tires. Front wheel drive, it can't be one of the fronts. But the owners manual says that if you remove one of the rear tires that you shouldn't drive the car faster than 45 mph.

The worst cars I have ever driven?

Let's see:

1.) Brand new Chrysler Neon rental: Roof was leaking, you could hear by the noise that it actually had an engine (not by performance)

2.) VW New Beetle Convertible: What is the point of this thing? Retro design with watercooled four cylinder inline front wheel drive. Econobox-feeling in a toy-box design?

3.) MCC Smart: It started as a brilliant concept and ended as a poor performing car. Six gears shifted with automatic clutch (with about half second delay between shifts) Driving around town, your body gets thoroughly shaken through.


Best cars so far:

1.) My Citroen 2 CV: Put more than 120 tkm on her, she never let me down. More car is absolutly unnecessary.

2.) '56 Chevy Apache van: I simply loved her

3.) Rover P6 3500 V8: Beyond every comparison.

Kind regards
Eberhard
(who, in a long night, summarized that he has driven about 170 different cars so far)