Non-Landy most-hated cars

After the initial elation of buying my first car , the cost of maintenance on a 1975 Chevy Monza was horrible. The clutch was prone to premature wear , brakes too and horribly unbalanced. A small v8 ( 262 cid )upfront and very little weight over the rear. So wheel spin and sliding was expected esp in the wet . Snow drives terrifying. To change the plugs either raise the engine off the mounts or drill holes through the wheel wells. After a couple years of this I sold it to a fellow who wanted to rally it. Strangely a work mate had a 76 version with a 350 and auto and it so much easier to drive and service.

Mitsubishi Magna.... Mum had one as a company car and bought it at the end of its lease. Terrible turning circle, transmission that could never work out what gear it was supposed to be in and had terrible axle tramp if that’s what you call it on a front wheel drive vehicle - if you turned a corner more than a bit fast and gave it some welly, the inside wheel would flap about on and off the ground something terrible.

1973 Toyota Corona. I bought it "cheap" as a 2 owner trade in at the car yard I was working at and the first thing I did when I got it home was ring the paper and lodge the ad.

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Originally Posted by travelrover

Mitsubishi Magna, as a company car I had a small fleet of them in the late 80’s but they were downright dangerous. All automatics and would loose all drive with no warning. Needed to be loaded on a flatbed. Great when you are driving between a couple of semis. Apparently Mitsubishi developed a special atf to attempt to fix the problem. We ultimately terminated our lease and they got replaced with fords.

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I managed a small fleet that bought Sigmas. Our senior management in Sydney got their economical pants on when fuel was getting expensive and caught "Four Cylinder Economy Disease". I wholeheartedly agree with you that they were rubbish. The 2 litre Sigmas without a/c used more fuel than Commodores with a/c. After about 50,000 k's oil consumption started to rise and become horrific. The Mitsubishi reps refused to believe this and wanted us to have our reps take their cars to the nearest dealership weekly so oil consumption could accurately measured and a log book kept. Our SWQ rep said he would need log books at Goondiwindi, St. George. and Charleville. "Why" asked the Mitsu team. "Because when I get to Gundy I have to put in 2 litres to come home." Mitsu also refused to believe complaints about dust entry into the boot. The reps used to put their suitcases in garbage bags to keep the dust out. What were dead set dangerous were the Ford Meteors that reps in another division were issued with. After several rollover and sideways into trees accidents the reps jacked up and refused to drive them. Hopeless on dirt roads.

My most hatred car was a Morris 1300 Auto. I was 18 and working out what sort of car I was going to buy as my first car. In my mind a Hillman Royal 660, a Mazda R100 or an Alfetta was what I was going to buy - had the money as I had worked since I had just turned 18.

Then one day when I was at work, my mum rang me all excited and told me that my Dad had bought me a car - a Morris 1300 Auto - all for $1500 only 18 months old and I could pay my Dad back.

Parents - do not buy your kids a car without reference to them.

Any way it was the top spec model with fake wood dash and front bucket seats - heater but no heater fan or assisted ventilation.

The thing was a heap of crap - and broke down when ever it sniffed rain - the distributor just attracted water through the grill. Yes there were various shields and kits you could buy but none worked - and many a time I had to hitch hike home or catch the train because the ignition failed and I flattened the battery and had to leave the car. What worked the best was waiting for a low humidity day and wrapping the dizzy with glad wrap and putting a jam tin over the lot and wrapping that in glad wrap and then taping to whole lot up.

Car was slow, unreliable, unfashionable - but comfortable to sit in. I owned it for 15 months then traded it for a 1/3 of what I paid for it on a brand new Valiant Galant GL - it was a nice basic car.

This is not it but is similar.

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Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

I managed a small fleet that bought Sigmas. Our senior management in Sydney got their economical pants on when fuel was getting expensive and caught "Four Cylinder Economy Disease". I wholeheartedly agree with you that they were rubbish. The 2 litre Sigmas without a/c used more fuel than Commodores with a/c. After about 50,000 k's oil consumption started to rise and become horrific. The Mitsubishi reps refused to believe this and wanted us to have our reps take their cars to the nearest dealership weekly so oil consumption could accurately measured and a log book kept. Our SWQ rep said he would need log books at Goondiwindi, St. George. and Charleville. "Why" asked the Mitsu team. "Because when I get to Gundy I have to put in 2 litres to come home." Mitsu also refused to believe complaints about dust entry into the boot. The reps used to put their suitcases in garbage bags to keep the dust out. What were dead set dangerous were the Ford Meteors that reps in another division were issued with. After several rollover and sideways into trees accidents the reps jacked up and refused to drive them. Hopeless on dirt roads.

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He he - forgotten how bad they were - my brother had one, bloody horrid. Must have blocked these out of my memory... 😆

Would have to be my parents car when I was knee high - Renault 12.

Now that was a grand POS that spent its life either broken down or having rust repairs.

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Originally Posted by johntins

I think the red one, fourth from the left, could have been mine. Hard to be sure, because the door fell off on mine. I am quite serious. The door fell off. When I gave the car back to Lada, the wipers were going. They had been for three days. No, it wasn't raining. Now I come to think about it, the Niva was a jewell compared to that Samara.

Thanks, Vlad, I needed the distraction.

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A friend way back bought a new Triumph Herald. Going around a left turn from Brunswick into Kent st. the passenger door fell off into the road. Some time later the drivers seat fell backwards and he very nearly cleaned up a couple on a pedestrian crossing whilst on his back struggling to sit up and retake control. These 'orrible little jiggers were put together with self tapping screws.

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Originally Posted by johntins

I will brook no argument on this. It was a Lada Niva. In fact, there were two Ladas, the Niva and a Samara. OK, I will brook an argument. The Samara was worse. It is hard to imagine anything worse than that car. They were foist upon me and my then spouse through some bizarre sponsorship deal with the auto parts recycler that I was working for at the time. IMO those cars should have bypassed the rego and stuff to put them on the road and gone straight through to the wreckers. Peter Brock or no Peter Brock. ( If you don't know, Peter Brock and his company took on the PD for Lada Cars back then. He should have stuck to Polarisers ).

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Have to agree with this ............. the wife's brother bought a Samara brand new and drove it from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie. By the time it got here, the top of the dash had melted and looked like black, shrivelled up orange peel. By the time it completed the return trip to Adelaide, the front wheel bearings were stuffed and the car was off the road for about 3 months while parts were sourced from overseas (pretty sure it was Fiat components that went into it in the end).

Biggest heap of **** I have ever come across. [thumbsupbig]

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Originally Posted by BMKal

Have to agree with this ............. the wife's brother bought a Samara brand new and drove it from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie. By the time it got here, the top of the dash had melted and looked like black, shrivelled up orange peel. By the time it completed the return trip to Adelaide, the front wheel bearings were stuffed and the car was off the road for about 3 months while parts were sourced from overseas (pretty sure it was Fiat components that went into it in the end).

Biggest heap of **** I have ever come across. [thumbsupbig]

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By only contact with Ladas was with the little 4WD. Two friends quite independently bought second-hand ones. Both were so impressed they bought new ones. One guy still has his plus a few parts cars. He reckons they are basically a good car just very badly put together. He says when you got a new one home from the dealership you gave it your own pre-delivery service, adjusted everything that could be and tightened everything else. The car now wears a Volvo 1800 E engine with the injection replaced by SU's. I donated this. It was out of my daughters first car. The other guy got an attack of the marries and traded it on a Falcon wagon. Both owners reckoned they were great little go anywhere jiggers.

BM, do you remember French cars with the iridescent white plastic handles and knobs? Looked pretty but in extreme cases in Western Qld. sun lasted a matter of weeks before turning into white powder.v