SMB Worst Car you've owned

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P-Reg Nissan Micra featuring Red/Rust flip paint and steering 'centred' towards the nearest hedge. Also had a vibration at 61mph that would alert my missus to any speeding i was doing :evil:
 
I've had 3 that I have equally hated. My first car, a green M-reg citreon AX. Just awful thing.

A couple of years later I bought a 306 GTi6, but at some point in it's history it had snapped a cambelt, which they were prone to on that engine. Whoever had repaired it had replaced the cylinder head with one from a 2.0 XSi. Same basic engine but the GTi6 was 167bhp vs 136 on the xsi so there were some differences. It never started right and when I got trading standards involved it was stolen and burnt out a mile from my house, police said it didn't take a genius to work out who did, but no proof.

Next bad one was a 56 plate megane, bought in a hurry to tow a caravan, the A/C didn't work, and the passenger window didn't work, so being a passenger in the summer was like a sweat box, it had had the alternator replaced with the wrong spec on at some point so kept giving errors on the dash, ended up spinning a big end baring.
 
I've had 3 that I have equally hated. My first car, a green M-reg citreon AX. Just awful thing.

A couple of years later I bought a 306 GTi6, but at some point in it's history it had snapped a cambelt, which they were prone to on that engine. Whoever had repaired it had replaced the cylinder head with one from a 2.0 XSi. Same basic engine but the GTi6 was 167bhp vs 136 on the xsi so there were some differences. It never started right and when I got trading standards involved it was stolen and burnt out a mile from my house, police said it didn't take a genius to work out who did, but no proof.

Next bad one was a 56 plate megane, bought in a hurry to tow a caravan, the A/C didn't work, and the passenger window didn't work, so being a passenger in the summer was like a sweat box, it had had the alternator replaced with the wrong spec on at some point so kept giving errors on the dash, ended up spinning a big end baring.

This just shows the shit that goes on in the trade when it comes to keeping a car running or selling it.
Anyone who fits the wrong parts to a car in an effort to save a few quid knowing they will sell it on should be flogged. Just get the right bits, 2nd hand even and crack on, don't bodge it up and pass to someone else.

A Vauxhall Vectra..bought it brand new in 1998..fkn bag of shite..it was never out of the garage..engine sensors going every few months..shit.

Sensors and ecu's destroyed the rep of Vauxhall at the time, them and the Astras were terrible for frying the (engine mounted :lol:) ecu and throwing up tons of fault codes. The dealer / garage would then change every sensor and the coil pack only to find the fault was the ecu.

Ecu was about £1600 from Vauxhall just to finish the tale off.
 
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This just shows the shit that goes on in the trade when it comes to keeping a car running or selling it.
Anyone who fits the wrong parts to a car in an effort to save a few quid knowing they will sell it on should be flogged. Just get the right bits, 2nd hand even and crack on, don't bodge it up and pass to someone else.

absolutely, the fact that it only came with 1 key, and there was no sign of forced entry in what was left so they had planned on keeping the other key for when the inevitable unsatisfied customer comes back. I have absolute no hold ups for naming and shaming
Dial Motor Co, north shields
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.0...ru601Af6E-rhfpe_6ksw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Last time i was talking about them I checked if the were still around and they werent. So it looks like the shutdown and reopen regularly too.
 
absolutely, the fact that it only came with 1 key, and there was no sign of forced entry in what was left so they had planned on keeping the other key for when the inevitable unsatisfied customer comes back. I have absolute no hold ups for naming and shaming
Dial Motor Co, north shields
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.0...ru601Af6E-rhfpe_6ksw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Last time i was talking about them I checked if the were still around and they werent. So it looks like the shutdown and reopen regularly too.

Almost certain to be under another name now, I don't recognise the name but traders just shift about once they have a bad rep.

@anth A quick google, look at these couple :lol:
https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/dial-motor-company-north-shields
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/local-news/firearm-fear-sees-police-raid-1363499
 
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Had a K reg Golf when I was on the bones of my arse a few year back. The sun roof leaked leaving the seats soaking and 3 inches of water in the footwell.
 
Sensors and ecu's destroyed the rep of Vauxhall at the time, them and the Astras were terrible for frying the (engine mounted :lol:) ecu and throwing up tons of fault codes. The dealer / garage would then change every sensor and the coil pack only to find the fault was the ecu.

Ecu was about £1600 from Vauxhall just to finish the tale off.

My worst car was a 1998 Astra and that is exactly what happened to it. When it ran, it was a canny car, but had loads of electrical problems. I thought I had bought a dud, but it sounds like it was common.

Interesting that French cars seem to dominate this thread. I'm looking at trading in my car for something with a lot more boot space for camping holidays. I have done plenty of research looking at the boot capacity of a lot of manufacturer's offerings. I have not given Renault, Purgeot or Citroen any consideration at all.
 
Almost certain to be under another name now, I don't recognise the name but traders just shift about once they have a bad rep.

@anth A quick google, look at these couple :lol:
https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/dial-motor-company-north-shields
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/local-news/firearm-fear-sees-police-raid-1363499

yea sounds about right. Everything I've seen online has been negative. I bought the car back in 2005 so well before any of these online reviews were around for me to read.

Through the power of google. It's hard to tell from the size of the photo, but this guy will have been around at the time
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/steven-williamson-165ab99b
 
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52 Plate Hyundai Getz

Needed a car in a hurry and it was the best of a bad bunch in the price bracket. Struggled on slightest of inclines and was thirstier than a 1 litre car should be.

Managed to palm it off onto the step-son at only a slight loss so not as bad as it might have been

Funnily enough we don't really get on; can't imagine why!!!
 
My current car is my first, my last, my everything.

So the worst and the best.
There is something endearing about Charmless Man rocking the roads in his Barry White lovemobile...

The first car I fell in love with and wanted to buy was an Alfa Romeo 159. It broke down twice on the test drive.

Pros: women think you're sophisticated, speak Italian, drink red wine and read poetry.

Cons: you will never actually get laid because you will spend most of your life waiting for the AA man to turn up before you get to the end of your street to pick the object of your affections up.
 
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'99 Vauxhall Corsa B (had it in 2016). The only think not wrong with it was the sun roof. Honestly spectacular the stuff that wasn't right, including a ginormous cigarette burn in the driver seat so had to use seat covers. Eventually died on the way to the metro.
 
A Cityrover, basically a re-badged Tata IIRC.

Was only a few years old at the time and about £1500 at auction. It was absolute wank and to top it off everything on the dashboard: clock, speedo, fuel gauge proceeded to cease working over the the space of about a month.
 
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