Thread: What is the worst car you have ever driven?

Morris Marina were dangerous when new, particularly the six cylinder version.
This was the extreme example of understeer.

I have a mate preparing a six cylinder one for time trials at the moment.
reckons he will kill the understeer by lowering a bit.
I told him at least he will be unique, especially since it is a coupe, but he also has a sedan for parts.
Every dog has a lover.
Regards Philip A

Without any shadow of a doubt, my worst experience was a DAF33, one of the earliest examples of a car with CVT (transmission). Brakes, steering, suspension.....all scary. The drive used to 'slip' when it rained, to the extent that I could not trust the car to climb hills over a certain gradient.

It was an archetypical POS !

I've had the 'pleasure' of driving some pretty ordinary Chinese cars, the BYD (Build Your Dreams....!) F0 and the Changan Benni-Mini spring to mind.

In the UK the forerunner to the Hyundai Excel/Accent was called the Pony. Very aptly named, it was indeed Pony and trap.

I expected these to be crap so I guess in terms of expectations being truly shattered, the worse would have to be a tie between a D44 Navara and Toyata Hilux, both petrol 2wds. How on earth these things have earned good reputations is beyond me. They were slow, noisy (the rear axle whine on the Navara was ear-bleedingly bad), I have made wooden billy-cart things as a child with more cornering and road holding ability. The ride was about the same as the billy cart too. God awful things the pair of them.

...regarding the OP, the Korean built small Fords were called Festiva (and are a bit poo). From 2004 (I think) Ford imported the European built Fiesta.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

I have a mate preparing a six cylinder one for time trials at the moment.
reckons he will kill the understeer by lowering a bit.
I told him at least he will be unique, especially since it is a coupe, but he also has a sedan for parts.
Every dog has a lover.
Regards Philip A

And there is nothing new under the sun...
Bathurst Marina Project | The BMC Experience
(they finished 2nd last)

Originally Posted by BMKal

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But then - I've never had any time for french cars (except for some of the very old ones from the days when they used to know how to make them).

Where I am working now, they used to have a Renault Koleos in the office "fleet". It remained parked up under the building most of the time, as nobody wanted to drive it. Again, a horrible piece of rubbish. They sold it a while back and replaced it with a new Dunnydoor - a much nicer car to drive.

Interesting view about the french cars, my experience it is complete opposite.
I have 504, 505, 205 and now a 406 coupé and they are the best handling cars that I ever had or have driven.
One of my sons used to have a 307 and it was glued to the road.
Perhaps the closes cars in handling to the Peugeot that I have driven was the Saab 900 turbo coupé. (the gear change was terrible )

In regards to the first post, the late 90's early 2000's Australian delivered Ford Festivas were rebadged Kia's, and were terrible. But the european equivalents were totally different.
I drove my gran's Fiesta in Scotland some years ago, and it was great; 1. something litre engine, 5 speed manual had plenty of power, and very good handling. I could have had even more fun if Gran wasn't in the back seat at the time......
The Focus, and I'm pretty sure the Fiesta that they sell in Australia today are the european ones, and are a pretty good car. Especially compared to any Korean offerings.

Worst modern cars I've driven would be Hyundai Getz, and Accents (or whatever they're called), the manuals are slightly better than the auto's, but still no power and terrible handling.

The ****sabishi Triton's are bad too. Turning circle of the QE2, (makes my Defender look like a mini!) I think the manual gearboxes are made of rubber, they are so sloppy and no feel to them (this was a brand new one), and they get worse with age. The 3.5 V6's are all revvy power with no torque (the trouble with putting a car engine in a commercial vehicle), the diesels are better.
They've got to be the worst of the current Jap light commercials I reckon.

The worst car I have driven has got to be my Haflinger - low power (an inbuilt safety feature), poor brakes, low speed, poor acceleration, high CofG so they want to tip over, on the highway very skittish at 65kph let alone if you manage to get to 80kph going down a steep hill - is like driving a roller skate. Very poor fuel consumption for a vehicle of its size and weight.

But it grows on you and I love it.

Garry, it is legal to drive on the road a vehicle without doors or it have a special number plate?
I love the "Recaro" bucket seats on it, they are in the same category than the ones in the venerable Citroen CV2