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Author: Subject: Best and worst cars you've owned?
bobinspain

posted on 27/11/11 at 10:59 AM Reply With Quote
Best and worst cars you've owned?

With the 'popularity of 1st car owned thread' (and the surprising number of 'mature' drivers), collectively we must have owned some memorable cars and some 'dogs' in our time.

Best, difficult. Certainly, most fun, A Mike Spence modified, water-injected Uno turbo (1986) with uprated brakes and suspension. (de-badged too) to look 'ordinary.'

Worst: easy. A Mk 1 Lotus Esprit. Leaked like a seive and overheated without provocation. Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious described the thing to perfection.

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Benzine

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:14 AM Reply With Quote
Best: Daihatsu Charade GTti. So much fun to drive, always made me smile, and very reliable

Worst: Mk 4 Fiesta. Kill it with fire. Well, crushed it last week so good enough

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MakeEverything

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:17 AM Reply With Quote
Best car is tough. I've had some really good cars in the past, such as mint 2.8 Capri, Mondeo zetecS tdci, Audi A3, Hyundai scope turbo to name just a few. The worst car I've e er owned was a Mercedes C180 elegance auto. Bought it for 12k and it went back for warranty repairs every two weeks for six months after which when I went to sell it was only worth 6k. Never will I buy another Mercedes or say anything good about Mercedes Benz of Stevenage or the people I dealt with in it.





Kindest Regards,
Richard.

...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...

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Andybarbet

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:18 AM Reply With Quote
I have decided to put this in as my Best & Worst :

I once bought a 4 year old Hyundai Pony from my boss, this was in about 1991.

I needed a car desperately just for a few weeks whilst my old triumph was off the road, i paid £600 for the hyundai, going rate for one was about £1500 at the time, it had 120,000 miles on it but had been serviced regular.

When i was done with it, my dad needed a car for a few weeks so he used it, it went backwards & forwards between us & whoever needed a car here & there, believe it or not this went on until last year when it finally failed an MOT so we dumped it.

By this point, we estimate that we had basically only put an exhaust on it, a set of tyres & two batterys, everytime something broke on it, which mainly seemed to be interior trim, it was gaffer taped back together. everytime a bit of rust came through it was rubbed down & given a coat of hammerite. People at work took the mick out of me when i had to use it after a very bad divorce, i dusted it off, took it for an MOT & the guy passed it i did 20,000 miles in it that year without a hitch ! It sat happily at 75mph & was without doubt the most reliable car i have ever owned.

It became a bit of a family pool car, everyone was fond of it even though it looked like a pile of poo, we still talk about it & at 23 years old ish when we got rid, it only actually needed about £100 spending on it to get through the MOT but we decided to let it die gacefully

RIP trusty old Pony !

[Edited on 27/11/11 by Andybarbet]

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myke pocock

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:23 AM Reply With Quote
Worst, Yugo Sana (It was cheap and I was skint!!!)
Best; Locost for smiles per miles, trials Skoda Estelle for the classic trialling and PCT fun I have had with it and my Citroen Berlingo Multispace as it does just what I bought it to do, nothing more.

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carlknight1982

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:23 AM Reply With Quote
Bit boring for me best car was a modified 205 gti worst was a Renault espace





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Imagination will take you everywhere.

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owelly

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:23 AM Reply With Quote
I can't decide if my first Minivan was the best car or my SD1 Vitesse. I think the rose tinted spectacles are favouring the Minivan and those same eye-pieces are fighting the Rovers corner too! The Minivan took me and my girlfriend all over the place but so did the Rover. The Rover also took me and my mates all over europe more than once, went everywhere sideways and was utterly luxurious. My insurance was on a 'trainee clergy' policy. It was the only way a youngster could afford it!
Worst car has to be a big old Subaru Estate. Drive shafts kept falling to bits, it had several gearboxes and the spares were bloody expensive. And it rotted in front of my eyes.





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David Jenkins

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:25 AM Reply With Quote
Best car was a Toyota Corolla - 1600cc, pretty quick too. Drove it all over the place for 3 years, including all of the way down into Austria, with only a deformed tyre to worry about. Zoomed along the German autobahns at 90-ish without complaint for hundreds of miles. Admittedly not the most glamorous car, but sturdy and reliable, and not a sign of rust, even when it was 6 or 7 years old.

Worst car was an Austin Maxi, as discussed elsewhere... a total bag of poo...






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daniel mason

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:28 AM Reply With Quote
My best was without doubt my mitsi evo 8






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RichardK

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:28 AM Reply With Quote
vauxall chevette 1.3 proper bag of sh1te, felt bad for a few minutes when I part ex it for a fiesta at main ford stealer when it had a blown head gasket.

Best I think was my octy vrs
Cheers

Rich

[Edited on 27/11/11 by RichardK]





Gallery updated 11/01/2011

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nick205

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:30 AM Reply With Quote
Best car to date was my mk1 Leon Cupra TDI. Quick, comfy, economical, reliable, handsome, good main dealer, practical...in short bloody brilliant.

Worst cars to date were a Volve V50 closely followed by a mk3 Escort. Both appalling cars for different reasons, but @ £23k (leased) the V50 was bordering on criminally bad.






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jollygreengiant

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:40 AM Reply With Quote
Mk2 340 Jaguar.

A dream car. Took my parents out in it once to see my brother, didn't miss a beat, even when sitting down an 'autobahn' (not neccesarily the correct name for the road or country) at a fair bit over a ton. Then I asked my mother what it felt like to be doing that speed for the first time in her life, her face was a picture, she thought I had been doing a little over 44, she was watching the rev counter .

It was as rotten as a pear, the sills were gone, the rear spring hangers (quarter eliptic springs) were shot, the rear brakes were shot and everything broke when I tried to fix them, the rear hubs would not release (I mushroomed the end of the half shaft with a hydraulic puller over the course of a week, then had to re-cut the threads on the end of the half shaft to get the nut back on) the clutch went (that took a month without having access to a pit or engine crane), the head gasket went (corroded waterways), then it dumped all the oil out from the filter housing (it had distorted the alloy block that the sealing ring sits in) and finally the bottom end started knocking. Oh and did I mention that the interior heater was as useful as an Ice lolly in the arctic for supplying heat especially as one winter the temperature got down to MINUS 15 - 18 degrees C.


Mk 2 Jags, lovely cars, I will, NEVER, buy another one.


Nicest car, joint first on this one rover P5B coupe, or Rover 3500SD1, both like driving your favourite armchair, both with V8 music. HEAVEN. Put the gear selector in Idiot mode (drive) and GO.

Most fun car, my MK1 Cortina CGC671B. Nuff Said.

[Edited on 27/11/11 by jollygreengiant]





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macc man

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:41 AM Reply With Quote
Best car for me for fun and good times was a Mk1 Capri GT. Spent lots of time repairing and modifying it but loved every bit.
Worst car was a Mini clubman(woody) estate. If anything could go wrong it did. It nearly killed me when the brakes failed.
Put me off the Mini for life. Spent mor time underneath than behind the wheel.Good thread by the way.






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ali f27

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:43 AM Reply With Quote
Probs best was arbarth fiat raced it rallied it hamered it in every way you could just wouldnt break but would have to say cooper s best car. Worst dead easy triamph 1500 broke it in every way could once rolled it just cornering it just fell over didnt hit anything
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snapper

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:56 AM Reply With Quote
Triumph Spitfire Mk3
The best and worst in one car
Best because I was 21 years old and a young professional photographer and girls liked it
Worst because it leaked like a sieve, broke down a lot and handled like s4it
Other memorable cars
Alfasud until it disappeared in a pile of ferrous
Peugeot 309 GTI
Galaxy VR6 supprisingly fast when you took all the seats out and the fastest thing I have driven with a kitchen sink (and the rest of the kitchen) in the back.





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I drink to forget
I breath to pi55 my ex wife off (and now my ex partner)

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scootz

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:58 AM Reply With Quote
The best was probably my Exige or Boxster S.

If it wasn't for my bad back then I would never have sold the Lotus!








It's Evolution Baby!

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perksy

posted on 27/11/11 at 11:58 AM Reply With Quote
Best would be my old Peugeot 205 GTI (1.9 version) had so much fun in that car and regret selling it tbh

Worst would be a Mini Clubman which was my first ever car
I didn't know much about car mechanics before i bought it, but i certainly did after
Closely followed by an MGF
Luckily *most* things were covered under warranty when that thing started to fall to bits..

[Edited on 27/11/11 by perksy]

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scootz

posted on 27/11/11 at 12:00 PM Reply With Quote
... and the worst was the FSO Polonez donated to me by my grandad! It was free though and was my first set of wheels, so mustn't really grumble!





It's Evolution Baby!

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fullpint

posted on 27/11/11 at 12:01 PM Reply With Quote
Best car has to be my current one... Mk Indy Fireblade kit car.. Sooooo much fun, always puts a huge smile on your face no matter how you are driving it..

Worse; My Bettle (the one that lasted 3 days), was more holy than the Pope





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NigeEss

posted on 27/11/11 at 12:16 PM Reply With Quote
Best was a 1996 Astra 1.8 Sport, bought for £400 of a mate in 2005 with 11 months T&T four new tyres (put
on for MOT) and even came with a full tank of fuel.
Fast, comfortable, economical when treated gently. Was ultra reliable for three years at which point the
cambelt let go. Ummed and ahhhed for two month as to fix or scrap it. Went with the later and always regretted
the decision.

Worst by far, a 2000 Discovery TD5 ES Auto.
Lovely to drive but constantly waiting for the next thing to break and cost a fortune to fix.
(Wheel bearing £240 Active cornering piston, £400). The list went on.
That's just for the parts !





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matt_gsxr

posted on 27/11/11 at 12:17 PM Reply With Quote
worst: Chevette saloon (first car)
best: Mk1 Golf GTi (1.8, 5speed, Lhasa green), I still keep my eyes out on e-bay for it.

Phoenix isn't a car but a running project.

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mark chandler

posted on 27/11/11 at 01:11 PM Reply With Quote
Worst, mini countryman estate thing.... I crashed my capri and needed something so £50 later ended up with this!

Best, I have had plenty of really nice cars far better than this one but it always made me smile, mk1 3.0ltr ghia granada in sweeny colours.

[Edited on 27/11/11 by mark chandler]

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whitestu

posted on 27/11/11 at 01:12 PM Reply With Quote
Best - Sheila - a 1981 Citroen GSA 1.3 special estate in brown! Totally reliable from 100k when I got it to 170k when I last saw it. Fantasic engine, brakes and handling.

Worst - Fiat regatta

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AntonUK

posted on 27/11/11 at 01:25 PM Reply With Quote
Worst: Daewoo Matiz - Heap of f**king junk that was

Best was my 91 mini cooper modded to the hills.. but died of too much rot unfortunately

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minitici

posted on 27/11/11 at 01:31 PM Reply With Quote
Worst - 1963 VW Beetle 1200 - lethal.
Vile handling, rust bucket, noisy, slow, drank fuel and those were just the good points

As for the best car - I hope I have not owned it yet.

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