Worlds Worst cars?

[12Ax7]

don't know if this thread has been done already but in your opinion what is the words worst car/truck. My vote would have to go to the american made pontiac grand am/chevy corsica/beretta. I owned two of these and they were nothing but trouble. Both spent more time in the shop than on the road, and they always had the wierdest problems too. Like the front timing cover where the belt tensioner broke off, not the tensioner itself mind you but the actual housing that it was bolted too. Both cars left me stranded many a time far from home. So anyway what is your opinion on the worlds worst cars/trucks, lets have your ideas and discuss.

[kingvitamin]

97 plymouth breeze.

[Township Rebellion]

The Yugo. Also, the Dodge Aries and K-car family get my vote for the least interesting cars ever.

[Rocko]

The K-cars were boring as hell, but they did save the company so they could keep making entertaining cars.

I also have to cast my vote for the Beretta, I knew a guy who had one and it was the worst piece of shit I've ever seen.

[sexualjesus]

holden commodore

[pill popper]

Chevy chevette or Ford focus 00 to 02 fucking shit fuel pumps that never lasted more then 10 thousand kilometers

[MediumD]

My vote would have to go to the american made pontiac grand am/chevy corsica/beretta.

No wai. My best friend had a 3.1 Corsica in high school, and man we horsewhipped the unholy hell out of that car. It had almost 200k when he sold it, and he pretty much never had a problem with it. Although sometimes when the heater was on it would smell like it was baking cookies - which is obviously awesome and not a problem.

Well, I guess there were some problems with it... but they weren't the car's fault:
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/1570/3341/3924170011_large.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/1570/3341/3924170015_large.jpg

[Professor_Skullsworth]

My coworker bought a baretta brand new. While it was still under warranty, the door fell off. How do things like this happen? Its not like doors are new technology that the manufacturers are still working the kinks out of.

[pill popper]

My coworker bought a baretta brand new. While it was still under warranty, the door fell off. How do things like this happen? Its not like doors are new technology that the manufacturers are still working the kinks out of.

explain a fuel pump that cant even last six months
even the replacements wouldnt last six months

that is fucked but yeah having a door fall off is pretty shitty especially for gm

[MunkeyQ]

Don't know about the worst car, but the early Land Rover Freelanders were plagued with gearbox problems. The transfer case, which they called the Intermediate Reduction Drive, had a viscous coupling inside it to act as a centre diff (full time 4x4) whilst biasing power towards the front axle. However, it was very common for the coupling to seize solid, causing the front and rear axles to be locked and driven together. This meant there was immense strain on the output section of the IRD due to the continuous difference in shaft speeds. Signs of this were very rapid tyre wear.

The increased strain on the output shafts would cause it to eat the bearings very quickly...enough to make the gears jump teeth when turning tightly, which of course munched the teeth horribly and dumped metal shavings inside the 'box. If the fault wasn't picked up already, the metal shavings would be circulated round the rest of the gearbox and destroy it.

Land Rover rebuilt many, many IRDs under warranty - it wasn't unusual for one to go as early as 10k, then another 5k later... Beware of early used Freelanders with low mileage as chances are the IRD hasn't been modified yet and it's going to die soon. It's about £1500 to have a new one fitted...

The new models use a completely different drivetrain though so the problem's been solved.

[bornkiller]

holden commodore
4 cylinders

[ratfrink]

Never had a bad car myself. My MG never left me stranded but it did break down fairly regularly, but always managed to start itself up again (in retrospect this was probably vapour lock... if only I'd known then what I know now...). It even carried on driving for about a month with a head gasket that was blowing so badly you could hear it.

In terms of driving experience, I think the worst car I've ever driven (and I've driven a lot, working at a garage and all) is probably the Vauxhall Astra F-series. Jaguar E-Type Series 3 comes a close second (only because it was such a disappointment).

My aunt has a MINI Cooper S and it breaks down all the time. It needed a new radiator (BMW quoted something like £700, my stepdad and I (mostly I) replaced it (took all fucking day and the radiator cost like £180 for a pattern part). Then the oil pressure sensor broke, and it's in the most ridiculous position ever. I couldn't get a grip on it, so my mechanic came and had a look. He couldn't get it out, then we discovered you need a specially designed tool to do it. So it went back to BMW for £££. Then the power steering broke and it was so hard to turn the wheel that my aunt couldn't drive it. We had to get the AA to take it to BMW.

The electric power steering failure seems like a very dangerous design flaw to me. You could turn the wheel, but it was incredibly difficult to do, and I'm used to cars without power steering (FWD + heavy engine + very wide tyres on the supercharged models). It failed overnight, but if it failed during driving it could potentially cause an accident.

[slm33d]

holden commodore
wrong :facepalm: daihatsu charade

[pill popper]

wrong :facepalm: daihatsu charade

I still dont think anything could ever top the fucking chevette
not even that ugly fucking thing

[slm33d]

really? should see some of the "mini trucks" we have . the owners failed

[squeegee]

The electric power steering failure seems like a very dangerous design flaw to me. You could turn the wheel, but it was incredibly difficult to do, and I'm used to cars without power steering (FWD + heavy engine + very wide tyres on the supercharged models). It failed overnight, but if it failed during driving it could potentially cause an accident.

My girlfriend has an 06 cobalt with the electric PS in the column. It went out about six months ago and had to be replaced four times after that before she got a replacement last lasted more than a week.

[Frankeh]

Isn't Jeep the worlds worst car? always catching on fire and stuff..........

[sexualjesus]

Isn't Jeep the worlds worst car? always catching on fire and stuff..........

i like jeeps, they make there own engines and there cars are built tough, sides which everyone here calls SUV's jeeps because no body knows what an SUV is (4 by 4 maybe, but SUV is such an american thing)

there was this freelander with a blown engine (bad blown, not good blown) that i was so going to buy, but perhaps the reason the engine was blown is because jeep's are unreliable.

also the first serious of beatles, the battery was in the back and they had aluminium panes that slid over it and caught it on fire, such an obvious problem yet they never fixed it. a block away from my old house there was a beatle that went up in flames and melted the plastic wheelie bin next to it, i didnt understand at the time why it went up but my father eventually told me its a very common issue with those heaps of shit.

[sexualjesus]

oh and the mitsubishi magna, its an australian car that competes with our other big 6's only with a much newer nicer look and a lower price tag, for the past 20 years since it was called the sigma it has never shook its namesake of being the most unrealiable heap of poorly made shit in the world, they blew head gaskets as quickly as they needed a tyre change and its front wheel system was hell for the poor mechanics who had to work on them, a friend of mine said at least half of all the cars that go into his mechanic shop are mitsubishi magna's.

the magna is also a mexican car under the name galant, you americans must have an opinion on the mitsubishi galant, they changed there name to 380 in aus to get rid of the bad reputation but it only became worse and mitsubishi australia closed down, leaving the mexicans to continue on that reputation timebomb

[InspiredByMe]

Ford Pinto.

[sexualjesus]

lol i looked up the chevette, man it looks like a peice of shit, but its frame is the t frame, we use them in australia for gemini's and astra's which both have had a long line of having huge fuck off engines put into them, so as bad as it looks i know for a fact that when u get bored enough you can drop a turbo'd 6 into it and the chassis wont break, oh and the engine packs a punch considering its price, the car looks quicker then any of the new 08suzuki's you can buy for 10 grand

[Tunicate]

Kias. pretty much all of them, because of the irrational structure i.e. the necessary use of two differntly proportioned engine mounts etc to work in room for unneccessarily space. Basically, under the hood, things are goobbleteegook. And mechanics hate working on them because it's a pain to drop an engine out of car like that,so it takes forever.

[sexualjesus]

Kias. pretty much all of them, because of the irrational structure i.e. the necessary use of two differntly proportioned engine mounts etc to work in room for unneccessarily space. Basically, under the hood, things are goobbleteegook. And mechanics hate working on them because it's a pain to drop an engine out of car like that,so it takes forever.

agreed, although most of the engines themselves are mazda engines or source elsewhere the parts that havnt been crafted by another company are cheap korean bullshit that break before they should, the electronics like power windows break alot and timing belts, they also cost a shit tonne to get straitened up after a crash but then again i havnt really priced getting a chassis straitened on another car so that one is just rumored

[Rocko]

Kias. pretty much all of them, because of the irrational structure i.e. the necessary use of two differntly proportioned engine mounts etc to work in room for unneccessarily space. Basically, under the hood, things are goobbleteegook. And mechanics hate working on them because it's a pain to drop an engine out of car like that,so it takes forever.

Lol.

People buy a cheap car, then have to pay out the ass to fix it because it was designed by morons.

[Tunicate]

hope that made sense, I realize it was a bit garbled. I was on sleeping pills. ;)

[MunkeyQ]

Ford Pinto.
Hmm...

The car might have been badly made but it doesn't deserve its reputation. It used the excellent Kent and Lima engines, the latter of which was used in the MkII Mustang, the Ranger and the Cosworth Escort to name a few.

[BlackopsNinja]

I have a corisca, same as the one posted by mediumd. Almost 185k miles, Rarely any problems. It can haul ass (fair amount) and is pretty reliable. When i bought it the radiator was fucked but after i replaced that with a new one it ran like a champ.

[skyclaw441]

Anything by Daihatsu. Makes some ugly fuckin' cars.

[Republican Jesus]

i don't know about the worst of the worst, but... Stay away from Chrysler (as well its subsidiaries, Dodge and Jeep) and Land Rover at all costs. They are the most unreliable pieces of shit on the face of the planet. I've had Doritos that held up better than them.

[bornkiller]

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/3282/989197lada2vs.jpg

[Uriah Heep]

http://www.geocities.com/g_wellwood/automotive/85firefly.jpg

lulzerx

[Young Meth]

1997 Ford Monte

[Skater14]

Ford Thunderbird.

http://image02.webshots.com/2/3/62/79/43536279mlVjsE_fs.jpg

That one specifically.

[smitty]

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/3282/989197lada2vs.jpg

ladas are wicked

[bornkiller]

ladas are wicked
Only the ones with the heated back window, so your hands stay warm while you pushing it. :rolleyes:

[El Monstruo]

KIAs

[AsylumSeaker]

http://hyundailv.cma.ee/pics/main/Getz_hp_information_223541_140521.jpg

[MunkeyQ]

ladas are wicked
Funny thing about Ladas. They were built with typically over-engineered Russian designs, but the flawed models when Lada started going downhill gave them a bad name. Unfortunately, this is the time when they started exporting...

The bodys are made of very thick steel - press on a modern car's body panels and you will feel it flex...not so with a Lada. Running gear was Fiat and Peugeot engines coupled to modified Fiat transmission.

And the Niva was the first 4x4...ever...to have a monocoque body and independant coil suspension. Ahead of it's time really, and the early Russian models weren't all that bad really.

[Grey Area]

http://www.supanet.com/media/00/08/73/70s_vandenplas_430.jpg http://www.belmontvillage.org.uk/images/BAD-2.2.gif

Austin Allegro FTW!

[ratfrink]

^ yeah they're pretty awful. The Vanden Plas version you showed is the absolute worst though, at least the basic models weren't trying to be nice cars.

[ComradeAsh]

The bodys are made of very thick steel - press on a modern car's body panels and you will feel it flex...not so with a Lada. Running gear was Fiat and Peugeot engines coupled to modified Fiat transmission.



lol, Didn't they have one on top gear?

Hammond hit it with a hammer and all he got was a dull thud.

[bornkiller]

lol, Didn't they have one on top gear?

Hammond hit it with a hammer and all he got was a dull thud.
They also got the lotus team to modify one. :thumbsup:

[Rocko]

They also got the lotus team to modify one. :thumbsup:

When was that?

[The Green Arrow]

The new Kia Soul looks pretty shitty

[bornkiller]

When was that?
Someone posted it on totse when I mentioned it in a gearheads thread that I was contemplating putting a V8 in one.
So it was a while ago. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHr2eaEJoCU

[Township Rebellion]

The new Kia Soul looks pretty shitty

This. What the fuck is Kia trying to prove? The "soul" appears to be another ugly economy car that I wouldn't give a second glance. It's not distinctive, innovative, pretty, or memorable, and it probably isn't a good car either. It's just another forgettable korean shitbox.

[bornkiller]

This. What the fuck is Kia trying to prove? The "soul" appears to be another ugly economy car that I wouldn't give a second glance. It's not distinctive, innovative, pretty, or memorable, and it probably isn't a good car either. It's just another forgettable korean shitbox.http://z.about.com/d/boardgames/1/0/y/F/tf06-american_idol2.jpg

[MunkeyQ]

Looks like my definition of a "worst car" varies quite a lot compared to most people on here...:D I'd say a bad car is one that's badly designed and unreliable, not one which looks ugly.

[zooting22]

That new indian car

[bornkiller]

http://www.supanet.com/media/00/08/73/70s_vandenplas_430.jpg http://www.belmontvillage.org.uk/images/BAD-2.2.gif

Austin Allegro FTW!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/1966.morris.1100.arp.jpg

Morris 1100...Back at Yah!

[ArmsMerchant]

I guess no one else remembers the Chevy Vega--had a really bad rep. I had a 72' GT, which I really liked, though.

It didn't corner for shit, due to a solid rear axle and rear leaf springs and poor weight distribution, but it never left me down. . . .

[bornkiller]

I guess no one else remembers the Chevy Vega--had a really bad rep. I had a 72' GT, which I really liked, though.

It didn't corner for shit, due to a solid rear axle and rear leaf springs and poor weight distribution, but it never left me down. . . .
I remember them...only like this though.
http://www.dragtimes.com/images/14250-1972-Chevrolet-Vega.jpg
Not in 72, but the early 70's sounded like an awesome era for my taste in cars, and late 60's

[12Ax7]

I guess no one else remembers the Chevy Vega--had a really bad rep. I had a 72' GT, which I really liked, though.

It didn't corner for shit, due to a solid rear axle and rear leaf springs and poor weight distribution, but it never left me down. . . .

i know sombody who has one of these that he put a 350 small block into and its not a bad car. I do kinda dig the mini camaro styling of the early vegas. But i have seen one that had a 454 wedged into it that the engine made so much torque that it twisted the entire structure of the cars unibody and frame and such after a couple of passes at the dragstrip.

[ratfrink]

Morris 1100...Back at Yah!

No not really. The Morris 1100/1300 were far better than the Allegro. It was actually a pretty fucking good small car. It wasn't the best selling car of the 1960s for nothing.

What other vehicles in 1962 had front wheel drive, 5-speed gearbox, front discs brakes and hydraulic suspension? Plus it used the amazing a-series engine which powered basically every small british car from the 1940s to the late 1980s. It was smaller than a Ford Cortina but had far more interior room. And it was actually well built, unlike the Allegro.

[bornkiller]

No not really. The Morris 1100/1300 were far better than the Allegro. It was actually a pretty fucking good small car. It wasn't the best selling car of the 1960s for nothing.

What other vehicles in 1962 had front wheel drive, 5-speed gearbox, front discs brakes and hydraulic suspension? Plus it used the amazing a-series engine which powered basically every small british car from the 1940s to the late 1980s. It was smaller than a Ford Cortina but had far more interior room. And it was actually well built, unlike the Allegro.
You guys had a 5spd disc front??:eek:
The ones here were all 4spd drum brakes up to the early 70's before BMC closed their doors in NZ.
They were under powered, suspension leaking, shoe box land crabs.
They had a load of rooting room inside them for their size...most definitely.:thumbsup:
But to be seen driving one of these?....wasn't gonna get you laid:thumbsdown:
The good thing about the 1300?...good, easy engine transplant for early Minis if you couldn't afford a Cooper engine.
Easy to work on and mild performance applications were a breeze (reason I mentioned the 1100 & not the 1300 :D)
Another interesting fact - Have a look at a Datsun 1200 engine and tell me thats not a copied mowog engine:thumbsup:

[Rocko]

Someone posted it on totse when I mentioned it in a gearheads thread that I was contemplating putting a V8 in one.
So it was a while ago. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHr2eaEJoCU

Must be a pretty early one, Hammond looks really young.

[ratfrink]

Another interesting fact - Have a look at a Datsun 1200 engine and tell me thats not a copied mowog engine:thumbsup:

Yeah it pretty much is, I used to have a Datsun Cherry with the N12 engine which looked very similar to the BMC engine in my MG Midget. The Datsun A-Series was based on the Datsun E-Series which was basically a carbon copy of the BMC A-Series.

I think nowadays the Austin 1100s can be pretty cool. I saw a 2-door 1300 GT model for sale, cream with orange GT stripes down the sides with a black grill, looked very cool indeed.