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.

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

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.

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]

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.

Bit boring for me best car was a modified 205 gti worst was a Renault espace

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.

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...

My best was without doubt my mitsi evo 8

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]

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.

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]

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.

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

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.

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!

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]

... 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!

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

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 !

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.

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]

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

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

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.

Worst car Austin Montego 1300cc

Best car Renault Megane 230 F1 team R26 absolutely amazing

quote:

---

Originally posted by AntonUK
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

---

Worst car was my Escort RS Turbo as much as i loved it the MFI as pants and gearboxes never lasted 5 mins.

Best car has to be the current Lexus IS200, not that great on fuel but is bulletproof. So far we have put a tyre on it in over for years and shes getting on for 12 now, well that was until the Misses stuck it into the back of a peole carrier with a fecking TOW BAR! Boooo.

Just to add, the most fun car has to be my 328is Coupe. Wish i never sold it, oh well, i had to find the westy some how!

Worst.. 1980 Mk2 Escort, it was only 5 years old and an absolute knacker...

Best.. current 16 year old Pug 106.. why? Its cheaper to run than a scooter!

Dixie

I had a 10yr old 328i conv out here as my last toy. 50k miles, LHD a minter. Too nice to park outside the supermarket or pub here though as no-one gives a toss about dinging the bodywork. Par for the course on the costas.

My little Uno Turbo with a real 'tease' in 1986, particularly up aginst cars which 'on paper' should've been a lot quicker. The water injection was magic. The torque-steer the grunt generated was just manageable, but it was a Cosworth-eater through the gears 50-80 mph was insanely quick and with Koni shockers and dampers it meant it handled well and the brakes were uprated too.
It was a wolf in sheep's clothing alright. What a grin

Had lots of good cars but the worst without a doubt was a '97 vectra- I think everything but the engine went wrong with it - gearbox , electrics, suspension, aircon you name it - shockingly bad car - put me off vauxhalls for life

Best car my current one - Subaru Forester 2.5XT just because I enjoy it so much and so good on gravel roads, stable at any speed - worst - none really but if I had to choose one it would be the Volvo S40 T4 - lovely motor but had to replace computer and fuel pump in the 100000 miles it did - both horrendously expensive - however seats very comfortable.

Never really had any exciting or fun cars but I've had some rather fine ones. So no real best but:
MK3 Escort, loved it but it was a bag of c**p at that age.
Rover 216 vitesse, the square one from the 80's. Very smooth and comfortable, lucky I never got caught unable to stick to 30!
Nissan Sunny, slow and brown (gold?) but it was the most comfortable seats I sat in
Current Mondeo, it's needed tyres, tyres and more tyres but never missed a beat and only now starting to show signs of being old and tired (I think it's going to need a clutch soon it's barking at me!)

Worst: Fiat Panda. Uncomfortable, slow and wouldn't stop. Never been afraid to drive a car and took it back after 2 days.

best :- volvo 940 turbo 40k miles for 260 quid , only scrapped it this year .

worst:- skoda felicia

ive owned an s500 in that time but because it was rusty , it doesnt get top spot .

Best:
Locost

or Austin A35 van

or Fiat x1/9


Worst Citroen Xantia Turbo Diesel

Unreliable, thirsty, slow, noisy (not in a good way), smelly, crap, crap, crap

Best car I had was a Renault 5 GTX closely followed by a BMW 520, the worst was a Fiat 124 Special T, superb engine but it rotted and had to be scrapped @ 5 years old.

quote:

---

Originally posted by panichat
Best:
Locost

or Austin A35 van

or Fiat x1/9


Worst Citroen Xantia Turbo Diesel

Unreliable, thirsty, slow, noisy (not in a good way), smelly, crap, crap, crap

---

Best Car is my current 06 Mondeo Ghia X 2.2L TDCI, closely followed by my Nissan Navara twin cab. Brilliant.



Worst Car was a Vectra 1.9TD engine never ran right, misfired, over heated on hills, finally abandoned it in Newcastle at my ex's. Wouldnt start one day so that was it...

Best car is my 58 mondeo tdci, brilliant car in looks, the way it drives, space, etc etc, and it tows the caravan, with out even knowings its behind us!!

Worst was my 2+2 Lotus elan, looked the dogs danglys, but was so unreliable, i used to HAVE to own two cars, as the other was allways a back up and was used the most, Lots of trouble usualy serious

quote:

---

The A35 vans where quite sprightly I had an 850cc one, last off the production line also the saloon enjoyed both of them also enjoyed 2 door mk2 Escort Capri Mk 2 S Golf Turbo least liked Rover 2700 SD1 leeaked like a sieve always felt damp

---

best ever was any of the 5 WRX wagons that I had, never a murmer, but always a huge G R I N Nothing comes close, 140 on the autobahn, and always great in the snow,... would have another one like a shot if the chancellor would let me,...

worst car,.. well the one that I enjoyed the least was a Honda Accord 2.2cdti - bing - bing - bing, between getting in and going backwards down the lane it used to bing up to 30 times,... made me scream, 3 months and that was 12 weeks too long!

[Edited on 27/11/11 by HowardB]

My best car was my 1978 mk3 capri 3.0s. I loved it until
some t**t swiped it
My worst was a 1980 renault 18,it conked out every time i drove it.
Pile of sh1te.

Andy

quote:

---

Originally posted by panichat

quote:

---

The A35 vans where quite sprightly I had an 850cc one, last off the production line also the saloon enjoyed both of them also enjoyed 2 door mk2 Escort Capri Mk 2 S Golf Turbo least liked Rover 2700 SD1 leeaked like a sieve always felt damp

---

Dave

---

Hard to choose a best and worst out of this lot:
103E Pop - heavily modified; 100E engine, Aquaplane bits, Bellamy IFS, Minx rear axle, full sun roof, trialled a fair bit;
Minx IIIc; Trialled! (Once - 1974 Edinburgh, I think)
Dellow Mk VI;
Hillman Imp; SU carb, extensively lightened by removal of all trim, very good for PCTs and classics, even on its 6" clutch
Rover 105S (1959)
Singer Chamois, PCTs
VW 1302S
1973 Renault 5 - boring and bombproof
1977 Renault 12 - as above
Land Rover LtWt; engine died so fitted V8 & 3.54 diffs - definitely most fun at a best of 15mpg;
Colt Galant 2000 - most reliable, changed oil, couple of tyres, otherwise not touched in 2 years
Marina 1300 - yes, trialled!
Series I LR already with V8
MG Maestro, with twin Webers. Generally good, but succumbed to atrocious peripheral rot;
Volvo 240 GLT estate auto (as for the Colt, above)
1972 RWA Midget modified for Classic trials. Died from rust, bought new shell, did nothing for 5 years, sold to fund MK
Peugeot 205 GTi 1600
Talbot Samba 954 --> 1124 --> 1360, trialled, bombproof!
Peugeot 306 DTurbo
... and MK Indy.
There may be one or two I've forgotten, but never owned anything especially fancy.
John.

...oops, just remembered the '68 Swiss-import LHD T-reg 1300 VW automatic. Scrapped long ago I'm ashamed to say - probably as rare as hen's dentures these days.

...and a '71 Rover 3500 auto, another 'oil + tyres' only. 2 years reliable but thirsty motoring.


[Edited on 27/11/11 by MautoK]

Worst, Ford Orion. It hated the snow and the corners, and it didn't like being thrashed.

Best, by far. VW Golf V5. Good performance , comfy, and the smoothest engine i have used. Until a stupid cow pulled out in front of me.
It's only when there gone that you miss them.

Best were either of my V8 SD1's or the ZT260. Quite like my Espace but new shocks & ball joint, stereo's cd payer has died and rear window exploding etc etc is a bit dissapointing. Still rather have the Espace than anything german though (both my Beetles got scrapped from rust.

Cheapest was our Capri 2l GL auto. Paid £200 for it, sold for £190 with 40k more miles on it.

ATB

Simon

Worst car - probably 2001 Laguna 1.9 DCI. Only kept the car a few weeks it developed a stutter which turned out to be a hole in the intercooler, 3rd gear crunched, both front electric window cables failed, self levelling headlights had a mind of their own and got eml for injector fault a couple of times

Best car - hard decision, best all rounder probably Mondeo ST200 but mk1 Astra GTE, mk2 Astra GTE16v and Porsche 944 were all cracking cars

best: pug 106, 954cc, carb, 4spd - it cost next to nothing and just kept going and going (and took mango to rome and back)

worst: a 78' 3.0 carpri that I was given for parts and never had on the road - there wasn't a single part that wasn't rotten



[Edited on 27/11/2011 by mcerd1]

best- lancia gamma coupe, beutiful, i loved that car!
worst- bmw 3 series, uncomfortable, thirsty, not fast, not chuckable, just a malevolent lump. i never locked it, but no-one was daft enough to nick it! god i hated that car.

My favourite car was also a Rover SD1 3500 it seems a few on here liked them, mine was an early 1977 car in brown with full webasto sunroof that ballooned up at high speeds according to others that had followed me.It was other wise a basic spec car with manual windows and lots of rust and no oil pressure but very comfortable and reliable.
The worst must have been the one i replaced it with which was a fiat 127 that i had to rebuild engine and suspension at about 80,000 miles and then needed major welding on both rear arches where the shocks were attached amongst other places.
Paul

NSU RO80
Best and worst at the same time

Best ... TR6, not the fastest or most exotic car I have owned but the one with the fondest memories.

Worst ... Fiat 850 coupe, dismal rust bucket. It caught fire once but it went out. Couldn't even burn properly.

Best car, difficult. I loved my Dolomite sprint which had beautiful neutral handling and great acceleration but didn't dare drive it over 80 as the engine would die. At the same time I had use of a Datsun 180 B SSS which had no handling but great acceleration and top speed and in a dim light on a rainy day looked a bit like a mustang.
Not had a worst car. HB viva was dull and boiled if you drove it a bit hard. Fiat 127 was fun but a constant loosing battle against rust and presented in an exciting shade of khaki.

Best so far is a Nissan GTR (totally mental car), worst was a 1997 Astravan 1.7 turbo diesel, definitely a Friday afternoon vehicle.

It's difficult to pick a worst as most had their good and bad points but probably the worst were:

Morris Marina estate 1.8. Only had it a short while as i couldn't believe how unbelievably badly it handled.

Fiat Mirafiori- the thing rusted to bits but great performer in its day, the 1.6 would out gun 2.0 Cortinas and most other mid range stuff.

1981 Mustang V8 hatch. Water kept getting into the bores despite replacement heads.

Pilgim Sumo, AC Cobra replica. Lovely shape but that's where it ended. A truly terrible kit- awful handling (the guy i sold it to managed to flip it over on an urban road) Everything broke including 2 propshafts and a gearbox due to the sharp angle between the box and off centre Granada diff.

Toyota Tercel 4WD. Nice concept but underpowered, full of tacky plastic and the gaerbox broke.

Best cars;

Astra Mk2 GTE16. bought it cheaply off my boss with minor panel damage. The chip upgrade released lots of extra horse but it still hardly used any fuel.

Capri 2.8i I'd have another one tomorrow but would have to replace the live rear axle with IRS and proper springs.

Citroen 2CV. Drove like a small air cooled sportscar, huge fun. Only got rid of it as the wife forbade me from taking the kids in it.

Mercedes 500SL. Solid as a rock.

Rover 827 Vitesse. Less road presence than the V8 SD1 i had before it but very quick and great to drive despite it's size

Mercedes E320 cdi estate. Best all rounder ive had 196bhp and >40Mpg on a run. Over 180,000 miles but it never goes wrong. Still got it.

quote:

---

Worst ... Fiat 850 coupe, dismal rust bucket. It caught fire once but it went out. Couldn't even burn properly.

---

Easy!

Best Equal: 2005 SEAT Leon Cupra R & SEAT Alhambra SE 1.9Tdi for different reasons.

Worst: 1988/89 Rover 213 (only had it as a temporary second car and traded it against a 2nd hand Rover Vitesse 820 Turbo. It was so bad that I got a call from the police a few days later to say it had been found abandoned in Glasgow. The dealer I traded it with had obviously left it out hoping it might be stolen. Fortunately I had proof of the trade-in on my receipt.

Best and1st 1945 Willys jeep bought in 1963 for £65,the French girls in Devon loved it (and the jeep)
Worst Metro in a moment of hard up madness,it was mine for 5 days.

hi bobinspain i now own your uno turbo, well im pretty sure its the same one here is a picture of it

after a lot of resoration

search for turbo collective on facebook thats where all the uno turbo owners hide,
cheers, james


cant seem to add a picture but look here

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10552625_10152719159261133_9200443086960761013_n.jpg?oh=b7e7906a6c5ae44921e29f4c1beec1 5f&oe=54C0A052&__gda__=1421286847_e7a4aee182d4f467c5763d5a39d7e786


[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10552625_10152719159261133_9200443086960761013_n.jpg?oh=b7e7906a6c5ae44921e29f4c1 beec15f&oe=54C0A052&__gda__=1421286847_e7a4aee182d4f467c5763d5a39d7e786[/img]

[Edited on 28/9/14 by calvins_media]

[Edited on 28/9/14 by calvins_media]