As most of us on here are not the youngest (no offence meant) I wondered what the worst car(s) you’ve ever owned?

I’ll start:

Worst car was a Citroen Xantia estate, it had power steering if you turned right….the hydraulic suspension failed in between two speed bumps leaving me stranded!, and after repairs used to rise and lower on its own going down the motorway. On the upside the seats were very comfortable!

This will sound bad... but a 2016 Mercedes C350e

Awful thing, spend more time off the road than on it.

Other than that I have fond memories of every other car, started out with Peugeot 106/306's and still miss the 106 today. Sold - Bell a 2015 MY16 Loire Blue Autobiography 4.4 SDV8
Previously George a 2007 MY07 Java Black VSE 3.6 TDV8
Previously a 04 MY04 Defender 90

A 1938 Austin 10. It was long before MoTs. When you put the brake on the body slid forward on the chassis which required acceleration to push it back. It didn't last long before being scrapped.

You young guys haven't lived!!  John
2008 Stornoway Grey 3.6 Tdv8 Vogue
2005 TD6 Java Black Vogue - Written off!!
GAP iiD BT
2003 Discovery TD5 Auto, Nanocom Evolution - gone to a new home!
MasseyFerguson 152 - No electronics!! - Sold

Toss up between a Vauxhall Omega Estate or a Peugeot 406 Estate. I think the Vauxhall wins for worst car ever with an even cheaper feel when sitting inside than a Peugeot...

But worst experience was our Mercedes-AMG GLC43, the crabbing on that car was terrible and stupid. Mercedes denied it for a long time as a characteristic, but then provide two years later a 'fix' for RHD models to limit the steering angle. But that fix could not be applied to our AMG model, and wasn't really a fix as it meant I couldn't leave our driveway to turn into an ordinary two car width road. It was crazy and the treatment was enough to never ever get a Mercedes again.

Even a representation of about 300 owners in the UK did not make Mercedes move. And still people kept buying it, and after buying it they found my video. Lol even two people in my road bought one and had the problems...

Volvo xc90 ocean race. Utter pos. Had it for almost 4 weeks, had maybe half an inch of snow and it couldn't drag its self out of my drive which is a very shallow incline. The " 4 wheel drive" didn't work at all, took it back to where I bought it from the same day told them to ram it . Crappiest seats ever, i know Volvo have great seats but this was just cack.

A close second was a 16valve Astra . I drove a bedford van for work at the time, which was identical dash apart from the digital instruments, but that thing handled like sweet fa. Great in a straight line but utter dog poo round the corners.

Austin Maestro. awful awful car. it had zero power. no acceleration due to some weird experimental fuel efficiency gizmo that lit up on the dash. anyway it broke down on me twice so my wife sold it to her friend who ran it for years.
I then bought a Cavalier sri - wonderful car abso loved it

My first car was an Austin A35 which I paid £25 for.
I learned to drive in it, but couldn’t take my driving test in it because the handbrake wouldn’t hold it still on the flat, let alone any hope of doing a hill start.
I certainly learned a lot by doing all the work on it to keep in going, but was very lucky because my older brother was a motor mechanic so he taught me everything.
We replaced all the brakes and converted it to hydraulic rear brakes which was a big improvement.
I think I sold it for £25 after about 2 years of use.
Mike. G reg 2.5VM Vogue Portofino red 1991- 1999
V reg 2.5td P38 Rioja red 1999- 2006
53 reg td6 Vogue Oslo blue 2006- 2015
11 reg 4.4 TdV8 Vogue SE. Baltic blue 2015- date.
https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic56162...tty+affair

Not owned but a company car, Ford orion 1.6GL J reg, what a dog.
Leaked like a sieve.
Water in the fuse box menat that the lights all worked independantly and at random times. Also horn would come on for no reason especially embarrassing at a junction whilst waiting behind someone!
Finally i managed to kill it at 55,000 miles!

Think I'd struggle too find one that I would class as a pos. All of mine have been pretty decent if I'm honest. I've done most of the work on them by myself apart from the jobs that ain't possible like a mega flush etc

One that probably caused me the biggest headache was the vectra 3.0 Sri cdti but that was down too me being cheap and sticking a tuning box on it so messed the fueling up but once that was bench mapped it was a pretty decent barge

That's an easy one - a '405 funnily enough.

A Peugeot 405 in 1995. A 1.9 non turbo diesel which was unbearably slow and noisy (and my first car only had 2 cylinders and 26 bhp!) and it had a horrible long arm / short leg driving position. It was a company car and in the end, it was a resigning issue and they relented. But at least it was reliably horrible. Most unreliable car goes to a Citroen C5 estate 2.0HPi, bought new in 2003, but that's the subject for a thread on its own....

Most unreliable car is easy - sadly my first FF 2002 with the BM 4.4 petrol lump. Quite shockingly bad really, but when working it was a lovely car. Well when I say "worked" - in 4 years it never actually worked 100% its just that a lot of the things that stopped working at various times didn't stop me using it.

Like Bean I've enjoyed all of them (40 or so) - surprisingly I think the one at the bottom of the list would be an '87 205 GTi 1.6 Pug. It had its moments of fun, but was horribly tinny with an awful driving position that twisted your lower body 20 degrees left of your torso on the seat (the pedals were heavily offset left to fit inside the wheel arch). Uncomfortable within minutes and I didn't keep it long. Mike - MPx

2017 5.0 V8 Supercharged SVAutobigraphy Dynamic SVO Palette Grey (2021-...)
2012 5.0 V8 Supercharged Autoboigraphy Orkney Grey (2017-2021)
2007 4.2 V8 Supercharged Vogue SE Tonga Green (2012-2017)
2002 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonnatti Grey (2008-2012)

I’ve never been disappointed with an old car, I can forgive faults due the way I see “value” in an old car, if I pay 10% of a cars new price I don’t expect perfection.
My worst car from 1997 to 2019 was a Vauxhall Vectra that I bought almost new - apart from uncomfortable seats it did everything OK but was boring.
It lost it’s title in 2019 when I got an Outlander PHEV. Apart from it’s laughable EV range it did everything OK but every journey seemed to last forever, not in a good way. I soon started to hate it for seemingly petty things - no parking sensors on a £40K car!. I found I started using my RR more than the Outlander and I only kept it for 8 months then ended up with a RR, an E63AMG and a XK8 convertible with a total cost of less than the Outlander.
Lesson learned, I’ll stick with “interesting” cars.

A Smart 42..

Bought it in 2014 (2004 car), as a shopping trolley and a runabout for the kids.

Purchase price : € 2400 , repairs : € 3600 in one year. Sold it for € 2000 after that, not even 10.000km later.

My Discovery 3 cost me over almost ten years ( 2006 car, owned 2010-2019 ), € 2500 per year all maintenance,

tires included .

Later a Mercedes salesman said : these are meant to bin after ten years, not to repair.. .. no wonder.


I gave it an "AMG" look. Good fun. Once stopped next to a real AMG at a traffic light.. .. that stalled when the
light turned green, I saw murder in the guys eyes, even in my inside rearview mirror..



And the € 3600 did not even include the electric DEFA engine preheater..



Probably the only Smart in the world with an engine preheater and parking assistance ( for my daughter ). I-pace First Edition Santorini & 2nd car Mazda MX-30 Advantage red/black
PHEV P400e Hybrid Autobiography Loire blue= SOLD
D5 SD4 HSE Lux Corris grey = SOLD
D3 TdV6 HSE Lux Vienna Green =SOLD
P300 F-Type 2018 Ultra Blue = SOLD
25t F-Pace 2020 Loire Blue = SOLD

Hard to limit it to one, but I'll go with my 1993 Citroen Xantia 2.0 SX Automatic with 10k miles and 2 years old from a Franchise main dealer, that replaced my XJ40. Then I found out it had been resprayed poorly, with sandpaper swirls, overspray and filler in the wings. The fuel and temperature gauges worked when they wanted and to top if off a drive to Scotland has the washers frozen up and the suspension refusing to rise, which was just wonderful on the cratered roads around Largs. It wasn't the most rubbish car I've had, but it promised me the most, whilst delivering the least. Encourage alternative fuels, use all the petrol!
2012 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 TDV8
2006 Mercedes GL420 CDI
2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S
2006 Jeep Commander 3.0 CDI with GDE HOT Tune
1997 Nissan Patrol 4.2 GRSE
1995 Vauxhall Monterey Diamond 3.2 v6
1994 Range Rover 4.2 LSE Beluga Black, Softdash, Brooklands Body Kit - Loved it!
1993 Range Rover 4.2 LSE ended up converted to 300tdi

TJH1985 wrote:

This will sound bad... but a 2016 Mercedes C350e

Awful thing, spend more time off the road than on it.