The worst/most surprising/disappointing car you've ever driven?
 

What's the worst car you've ever driven? Anything that's amusingly bad? My worst is probably... a Daewoo Nexia.

worst: Daewoo Nexia
One of their first cars in the UK, it was based on the Vauxhall Astra which came out in 1982 and stopped production in 1991. The Nexia came out in 1995 (I think). You'd think they would have updated it. But nope.

The most disappointing Probably most Hondas. Didn't expect a great deal but still I think the older Accord and Prelude are crap. But then I haven't driven an NSX.

The most surprising Late '80s Toyota Corolla GTi-16. Seriously good fun, definitely more fun than a Golf GTi 16v.


yours?

Russ

The Good:

1. Honda S2000. It's not terribly exciting on the outside. Drive it! WOW! Handles like a race car, but rides decently. 9000rpm? Daily driver? Nope, but so what? For $48KCDN you can't come closer to a shifter kart for the street.

2. Mini Cooper S (2003) Looks great, handles like above mentioned shifter kart and is $30K. Price is high for teeny car with poor rep for quality, but an amazing driver regardless.

The Bad:

1. Hyundia Pony back in 1985. Bad at everything. Every single thing.

2. Dodge Neon in 1995. Poorest handling car I drove since the Pony.

3. Land Rover Disco I in 1996. How could anything with a 4.0L V-8 make so little power and use so much gas and handle so bad on the road? Unless I had to go serious off-roading EVERY day, I could never own one.

The Ugly:

1. Chevette, any year, any mileage. Never drove one, won't.

2. L48 Corvette from the mid 1970's. A Toyota Matrix base model can outrun one. Why bother? Why do people keep them?

the worse car that i have driven is Acura Integra LS

Elvir

The Worst car I Have Driven is a VW Vanagon.....
NO Power...Bad Brakes...and In a Crosswind....:eek:

The Most Disappointing car was a lamborghini Diablo
The Looks are So Cool ...Its artwork NOT a driver
Talk about NO Room...Cant see out...Want to back up forget it
The Trans Shifts like a Testarosa ...Double clutch every gear
The Only reward is Straight line performance

The Most Suprising car was a 1988 959 Club Sport a Friend has
OMG:eek: Talk about a car on rails......Even for a OLD school car..
it still can hold its own Today! ...Performance..matched with awd...
I Think its Better than the 996TT...Just a BLAST!

The worst:

1. 1994 Chevy Camaro - The car seemed unstable at all speeds including parked.

Ugliest car:

Chevette, pacer or gremlin I'm not a Nova fan either.

The Best:

Ferrari 360 Modena
Subaru WRX
Audi Quattro Coupe

I've never driven an S2000 but I am told I would love it.


Worst truck

Dodge Durango


Best Truck

Toyota Tundra.

Worst: tossup between a mid '90's Honda Accord and an '88 Ford Taurus sedan. The interiors on both were cheap and actively falling apart, the drivetrain was reminiscent of one or two drunk hamsters, and both vehicles just plain felt cheap.

Most disappointing: 2000 Honda Civic. My mom bought one, so I've driven it a few times. I would have thought that, with how the ricers seem to like them so much, that they'd have a decent amount of pickup, but my '85 300D can outrun one, and get almost as good fuel mileage.

Most surprising: 2003 VOlkswagen Jetta TDi. I test-drove one for the fun of it. WIth the 5 speed, the little 1.9 litre turbo diesel can outrun a GM 3.1 litre V-6, and get 45mpg doing it. I actually thought about trading my 300D in for one, before remembering that the payments would kill me. :)

Why do you say that was the worst? I'm just wondering...I test-drove one once and actually really liked it. I'd love to see them put a diesel in one. :)

BTW, the new Hemi is a really sweet engine :D although I would still take a Cummins first...

Best car I had for reliability was my 85 Dodge Omni. It was bought new and I took good care of it. It wasn't needy either. Helped me save my money. I bought it with no options, so there was very little to go wrong on it. I sold it 165,000 miles later to a very happy buyer and the car still had many of the original parts on it that are normally replaced on other cars.

Worst car - 66 Corvette. I was a young kid and didn't buy the car very well. It was basically a car that had been through numerous "improvements:rolleyes:" and had a nice paint job. Got rid of it and bought a 71 Cutlass, which I have to this day.

The Corvette turned me off so much that to this day I insist on keeping all my cars original, i.e., no "improvements".

Best car I have owened (180,000 miles) '97 C280. Do all my own work, which is only oil/filter changes. Worst car I have owned '96 wife's C280 which has been strickly serviced at the dealer. Nothing but little problems @ 76,000 miles. She thinks it stinks and I will buy another MB. Dealer has a nice waiting room with good coffee etc. But in general they are very hard on cars in for service.

hmmm since im only 20 and been driving since 16 Id say it has to be

1999 Chevy Astro Van......an uncle of mine has one.

also,

Pontiac Sunfire - had it for driving school and a rental.

Worst: 2000 Mercedes ML. No matter what anyone says, this car feels the most disconnected from the road of any car I have ever driven. I would HATE to have one for a daily... no offense ML owners...

Suprising: 1982 Toyota Pickup. Handles and accelerates suprisingly well. I really enjoyed driving the 5 speed 22R.

Best: SCCA Porsche 914 ... WOW! Never driven in such a kart like street legal racer. Awesome!

DaimlerChrysler Neon.

http://www.mercedes-benz.com/e/about/default.htm

:)

Ken300D

drove an avis rental once on vacation - a grand am or something of the sort (GM POS). it only had about 10k on the odo but it felt like 100k+ and probably just a month or so from the assembly line but it felt like a 10 year old car badly maintained...

worst:
Yugo, makes the 850 spyder seem like a powerhouse
Audi 100ls
Audi Fox
Audi 5000, How Audi ever recovered from those fiascos'??
TriumphTR6, made the 100ls look reliable
MGB-GT Was this someones idea of a joke?
Datsun 210, this is the reason corolla's sold so well.

Scariest:
1968 corvette. frightening in any cornering situation

The best engine:
1956 Chrysler Newport/New Yorker 2dr ht The 354ci hemi gave a character to that car that was a pure delight to drive. Sorry I sold it.

Suprising:
My high mileage beater 300D-t rates right up there with the hemi for being a very agreable car to drive.

Worst: Fiat Fierenza (sp). They imported these to the US briefly during the 80s. I had one as a loaner. Front wheel drive with about 80 HP. It still had torque steer.

I've driven AMC Pacers too. A Pacer drives like a Cadillac compared to this thing.

Most Surprising: 93 Corvette. Just the pure torque of the LT 1 V8 was impressive. Haven't driven a C5 yet.

Most Disappointing: Early 80s Mustang (non 5.0) LX. No power, bad suspension and handling. Poor brakes.

I have to agree with the Fiat negatives. I can't understand how europe loved Fiat so much during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. You have to work on them constantly! The little Weber carbs had dirty idle jets (that made the car not idle) every month or two. I worked at a Fiat dealer and was embaressed to be seen as associated.

My Dad owned a 73 124 Spyder when we lived in Illinois. While I loved the spiffy little motor and oversteering capabilities (due to the 90/10 front to rear weight ratio), Fiat obviously didn't worry too much about treating body panels for harsh weather! :(

Rust overtook the car within one winter, and the cheap interior parts didn't help either...inside door handles broke so often that we kept a dozen or so around just in case!

Sometime later we procured a Renault LeCar...same issues...fun little motor, but rust was the demise of that car as well... :rolleyes:

1974 124 Fiat Spider The first year for the new air pump emission system. One of the first ones sold was to an attorney that I knew. He started his car up and left it run to warm up about halfway in his garage. The manual choke was set about half way, nice high idle(very rich). The air pump did its job injecting air into the exhaust to help burn that overrich mixture. The exhaust glowed. The carpeting caught on fire. Then the rest of the car, then the garage, then the house. And this all happened to a lawyer. Boy did he collect. Oh yeah, Fiat said "DOH" and added heat shields to their cars.

You have got me started now. The 124 Fiat owners manual said to change the timing belt at 24,000 and it meant it! You think we have a problem because of the chains and guides on the 116 and 117 engines that have to be changed at 100k.
And the 850 spyders would litteraly wear a hole in the timing cover with the timing chain. Yeah, I think they needed to be changed at 36k. POS is too kind of a comment for a Fiat. Oh yeah, the cable window regulators!

those fiats were already rusting out as they sat in the dealer lots! :rolleyes:

'71 Pinto my wife had when we got married. Had the earlier 2.0 liter 4-banger, with auto trannie and A/C. Couldn't pull it's own shadow with the A/C running!:eek: I spent more time keeping the thing together than we did driving it. But the engine was bullet-proof. I constantly manual-shifted the thing at about 7,000 RPM's:D

Yeah, no kidding. I knew a fella that had about the same year Pinto, but he did a major build-up on it. Hot cam, header, dual carbs, and I don't remember what else. I think he had the head ported and polished. Stock bottom end though. He had a lot of fun blowing the doors off Camaros, ect:D (He had a hard time keeping trannies in the thing) I got to drive it once. What a screamer!:eek:

hmm... I'll stick with what I OWNED (it would end up with about 40 cars otherwise..).
The worst: both Grand Wagoneer currently owned and a 1981 Dodge Omni. It takes 10 hrs maintenance to drive 60 miles in the Wag (currently I'm fixing/replacing SECOND generation of the replacemnt parts). in Omni nothing fit including doors and hood.

The best: 1986 CRX Si. The fastest )(*%&^%$ errr... pocket rocket I've driven. I would win from under the lights with Camaros and Trans Ams. 110 hp with a weight of a bicycle (no AC). I would hydroplane at 45mph, but MAN, what fun!! no trouble except gearbox sync bearing. Although it may be that I burned clutch every 15,000 miles

The most surprising - 1982 Renault 5 (so called LeCar here). Similarly fast as CRX. horrific body roll, but once you realized it was not going to tip over, you could do some terrifying driving. Got through 10 inches of snow (unploughed) in Michigan winter.
Also, my ex-wife 1992 Hyundai Excel - loaded, with manual tranni it surprised a few people by screaming by them. relatively trouble free although rotors warped at 10,000 mi.

The most pleasant/comfy and trouble free - 1996 Grand Am GT (4 dr). Not a blessed thing wrong for about 65,000 miles. Good acceleration (although not as good as the 3600 series with an air dam), very comfy seats, good looks.

Re: The worst/most surprising/disappointing car you've ever driven?
 

Ah, the good old AE86. Probably THE car for drifting.
I say the worst car i driven so far is my mom's Nissan Quest, the throttle is overly sensitive, and the steering feels numb.
Surprising was a 1983 Toyota Cressida, it looks like crap and has a head gasket leaking oil, but i was able to sissy-race a riced out Integra, and beat the guy. And all the electronics still work.

worst: 1980's Ford Escort, made from pressed rust. Good for welding class. Drove like the wheels steered independently.

surprising: toyota celica gt4. Bought this in '93 as an insurance write-off. Had been blown up by the IRA in London :eek: (glass damage from office blocks, falling into street). Fixed up the paintwork. After the Ford, this felt absolutely brilliant, but then I guess anything would.

best: my '83 911 turbo. Had it 10 years. fun fun fun. Cheaper than you think.

Had one of those too. Not a bad car up to 100K miles, but they like to crack cylinder heads. But then maybe the Escorts in UK were different from here.
I'd like to hear more about cars from across the pond that we don't see much here. Good, bad, ect. We don't get Renaults, Citroens, Fiats, Trabants(sp?), ect over here anymore.

Worst and most dissapointing = a toss-up between a 95 Ford Taurus and a 98 Hyundai Accent. The Ford was just VERY badly built. Things were rattling everywhere, smelt bad, etc. The Hyundai barely had enough power to go uphill when it was full of people.

Most surprising : Suzuki Aerio.
For Boston roads the Aerio was so comfortable. It had good power, working brakes, amazing amazing ride!

I am surprised that no one has yet mentioned the Vega or the Citation. GM did a great job hyping the Citation. They even had a waiting list. SIx months later, people were complaining about not being able to trade them in for half of what they paid.
Someone correct me of I am wrong but wasn't the term "torque steer" created for the Citation:D heh heh, just being serious

did anyone own any GM product in the 80s that had a 700r4 transmission? What about one of the GM diesel cars or trucks. They actually hurt Mercedes diesel car sales through association.

Worst ... Dawoo Lanos. It was a rental POS. Yeck!!!

Disapointing .. A/C Cobra kit. I was the passener. Huge amounts of power but NO, i repeat NO room for a 6'4" person. My knees were locked to get under the dash. (if we would have crashed, I would be about 2 feet shorter). The driver was at an angle with feet out board due to Trany tunnel. The shifter hit his thigh in 2nd. I had to bend over to see through the windshield or crane my neck to see over it. It used to be my dream car.... snif snif

Surprizing ... AMG test drive at TX motor speed way. They had pro drivers on a closed circut. Man, that was the most fun I ever had with my clothes on lol. It was 2 years ago and I still dream about it.

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)

What's a "MCC Smart"?

This is the degenerated piece of crab:

http://smart.com/smart/images/cityco...pe_home_de.jpg

They call it "City Coupe"

Kind regards
Eberhard

Looks like an updated version of the old BMW Isseta:D

Say Eberhard, have you ever driven the truck version of the 2cv? We had on here in St Louis. It was called a Majare. All plastic body. Push pull shift like the 2cv.
Our newspaper delivery guy had one of those apache trucks when I was a kid. I thought it was a Pontiac. It was powered with a Pontiac engine.

What's so special about the new Rangie? A decade-old Jeep Grand Cherokee V-8 will out-accelerate one in all legal speed ranges (and yes, even with the new BMW V-8), have more skidpad grip, and destroy it off-road in stock form.

Don't believe me? Read Car and Driver's Road Test archive.

-Sam