33 replies to this topic

[Shooter63]

As the title really, what's the best and worst car you've ever owned, I don't mean in a " I drive a BMW blah blah blah" but in a crap but good sort of way with a bit of history if you like.

When I was involved with bike racing when I was young and skint we needed a car/van to trailer the bikes ( Yamaha 350lc, TZ125, Kwaka 1000 ) around, we 1st got a Morris Minor van (ex GPO) what a piece of crap, no power, no brakes and total crap suspension
The replacement was a dream of a car, a Datsun 120y estate in baby poo brown, the engine worked, the heater worked, the brakes and suspension worked, we used that old thing for 2 years, it never missed a beat, I almost miss it in a weird sort of way

Shooter

[panky]

Citroen BX GTi was fantastic and the ONE car I wish I'd never sold (even though it went so I could buy my Cooper) . The worst, well I was the one that bought a ten year old Chrysler 180 and suffered the consequences

Edited by panky, 24 October 2022 - 11:20 AM.

[whistler]

Citroen BX GTi was fantastic and the ONE car I wish I'd never sold (even though it went so I could buy my Cooper) . The worst, well I was the one that bought a ten year old Chrysler 80 and suffered the consequences

Do you mean a Chrysler 180?

[whistler]

The worst car is easy, Ford Corsair. Steering was so bad and limited you had to do a shunt in a multistory car park helterskelter to get around the corners.

Best, Saab 99 for all round happiness.

[sonikk4]

Worst car would have been my first one, a Vauxhall VX4/90 FD 1965. When my parents gave it to me for a birthday prezzie it had led a chequered life, full of pug, leaky rad etc but it worked (for a while) then rapidly developed issues which at the time became unsummountable. I was grateful though as it led me futher into tinkering with cars.

 

It led me to a MK3 2lt GT Cortina. Loved that car but it hid rust, like a lot of rust. It worked really well, drove it everywhere with no issues until one fateful night in Battle where it died a painful battered death. (Big RTA)

 

Panic bought a very ratty 4 dr MK3 in rust primer and white. Amazing cam rattle (if you were a Ford owner back in the eighties you will know what i mean) dodgy electrics and even worse tyres (that nearly got me a fine) Drove the rattling beast to my folks. New cam fitted in a couple of hrs and then back to base. God this car was a shed but somehow it got me to scotland when i was posted to Lossie, dim lights nad barely functioning heater but it got me there. That car kept me going for 4 years.

 

Best car??? that would have been my old RS2000. Rebuilt that beast, drove it over Europe, many many runs up and down the country and loved it. Not a modern car but on the Autobahn in the early 90's after i had fitted twin 45's to the very modified 2.1 lump plus five speed gearbox i had great fun toying with BMW 325's. 

 

I have had a pleathora of modern cars (currently running a 175bhp CC with 140k on the clock) but they are quite souless. But they do their job banging out my daily commute of 124 miles. In comfort, ac, heated leather seats etc etc.

[stuart bowes]

Never owned a truly crap car to be honest I was a bit lucky parents always made sure I had something reliable

 

The best I've owned, or my favorite at least, (despite various tidy bm's and stuff) was a Volvo 360gls 2ltr n/a rear wheel drive (gearbox at the back for perfect balance) lowered 2" and put on BM wheels.  The grip was phenominal, it wasn't fast really but you could plant it through any bend with confidence that even if you did crash it you were in a tank lol.  The steering was a bit heavy having the engine out of a 240 sitting on the front axle, after being at the Gym I could barely get it out of the carpark

 

The best thing is it cost me £185 plus £15 petrol to get it home, and it was on 65k when I moved in

 

Gutted that I scrapped it just because it had a rusty battery tray .. I could fix that easily now.. although to be honest the economy was also hilariously poor which was part of the decision.  every now and then I look to see if I can find one but they go for stupid money these days in that condition, it was otherwise totally mint

 

I was also quite fond of my scooby (non turbo estate 'wagon' type) which was quite economical, quick, grippy as f*£$ and handled really well, but that comes 2nd due to a slightly wonky driving position, being a bit too cramped and having a repeated electrical fault that just kept coming back despite replacing the sensor twice

 

 

edit: just remembered the worst has to be the Vauxhall Vectra estate I bought on hearing the missus was pregnant the first time, I panicked and bought a 'family' car but the timing belt snapped literally within a month.  although I'm not sure if I can blame the car on that one or the PO who clearly just never serviced it and neglected to mention it hadn't been done (or myself for not checking..) oh well it was only £600

Edited by stuart bowes, 25 October 2022 - 08:24 AM.

[panky]

 

Citroen BX GTi was fantastic and the ONE car I wish I'd never sold (even though it went so I could buy my Cooper) . The worst, well I was the one that bought a ten year old Chrysler 80 and suffered the consequences

Do you mean a Chrysler 180?

 

Yup that's the one, corrected my mistake.

[DomCr250]

Worst - Ford Galaxy people carrier, it was the 1st model released, very poor reliability, terrible to drive - when the lease ended it was still broken (again) in the local Ford dealership. I had to go into their workshop to pull off the tow bar and the car phone install, poor thing was sitting in a service bay with no head on the block, they'd over reved it trying to get it to pass it's 1st ever mot - lol.

 

Best - S1 Elise, a car I said I'd have for 'a couple of years' - 17 years on and its still amazing to get in and drive.  The mini comes a very close 2nd to the Elise.

[Shooter63]

Citroen BX GTi was fantastic and the ONE car I wish I'd never sold (even though it went so I could buy my Cooper) . The worst, well I was the one that bought a ten year old Chrysler 180 and suffered the consequences

Believe it or not a chrysler 180 took over from the datsun 120y, roomy little bugger I seem to remember.

Shooter

[panky]

So there were two of us

Mine was a total shed but was very roomy and comfortable, I even had the engine running sweet for a couple of days before the head gasket gave up

Edited by panky, 24 October 2022 - 05:10 PM.

[colinf1]

The worst - MK3 Renault Laguna 1.5 DCI, would go into limp mode every other day, the pipe for the intercooler would pop off if you tried to accelerate too hard, the boot release didn't work.

 

The best - '14 Nissan Leaf - literally haven't had to do anything other than a few sets of tires and a few cabin filter in 4 years. 

[IronmanG]

Worst. Ford orion. Nothing wrong with it except everyone else on the road seemed to enjoy driving into it over my 1 year tenure like it was cursed or something
Best. Metro GTA. Got thrashed to within an inch of its life and never let me down. Hard to believe I know

[JXC Mini GT]

The worst was my 1st car, a Mk 1 cortina estate with fake wood panelling on the side, bench seats and a column gear change, it didn't suit the image of an 18 year old and any spirited cornering ended with me in the passenger seat hanging on to the steering wheel.

My best was my metallic blue 1974 Ford Capri 3.0GXL, it drove really well and looked fantastic.

 

Had another think about it and I would change my worst car to an Audi Q2, drunk fuel so badly that I took it back to the dealer as I thought it had a fuel leak, the dealer said it was because I had 19inch alloys on it? It also used to go into some idle mode while coasting which caused a massive lag on acceleartion.

Edited by JXC Mini GT, 25 October 2022 - 09:25 AM.

[Norfolk Boy]

Best and worst I ever had Mk1 Fiat Uno Turbo, great car when it worked, terrible car when it didn’t and eventually rotted quite literally in half!!!

[MiniMadRacer]

Austin Allegro....and... a Morris Marina