Ford Escort everything seemed unusual it just was'nt a great car to drive, very clunky motion very hard to balance clutch with accelerator Used to have a mind of its own sometimes and just go wacko not to mention (on the patricular one i was in) the weird pocked thing near my knees **** that was uncomfortable
BMW X5 - Nice car, wouldn't pay 50g's for it though. Noble M12 GTO 3R - Super fast, built to last 12 months before dropping to pieces. Citroen C2 - Little bit bouncy and sometimes the dealers are cocks. Fiat Punto - Damn city steering. The weight they took out of the steering they put into the clutch. Citroen C4 VTR - most comfortable drive yet. Weird steering wheel, but I could drive it all day long. Toyota Aygo(sp?) - Cheap car... and you can tell. Wouldn't want a crash in it. Vauxhall Corsa (Old round headlight one) - Alright car for the money, showing their age now though. Very basic and rolled around like mad. Easy to repair however. Fiesta (Mk1 or 2 can't remember) - Fun little car, though now you would look like you were going to "get a fix" driving one around here. Definitely wouldn't want to crash in this, it's 4 wheels and an engine away from being a coffin. There's others that i've played with but I can't remember.
Peugeot 206 Hdi - brand new, sounded like a broken tractor and had a gearbox with more travel than a Michael Palin documentary. Clio 172 'Cup' - fell to bits, literally. Chevrolet Camaro 91 5 litre - Like a Big Nissan Bluebird with a gutless V8. Honda Prelude Vtec - seats were exactly half the width of my ass.
After I passed my test I was insured on my mums car witch was an old G reg Nissan Micra, painted gold and the lowest possible spec. The radio didn't have a tape player and only played LW or MW. It was an awful but as it was the only car I had access too it felt great! After that it would be the courtesy cars I get when the cars in for a service. An 03 VW Polo that felt like you were driving on ice the entire time as the power steering was racked up so high and it had bugger all grip which was impressive for a car so slow and lacking in power. They also gave me a VW Lupo once which was a severely under powered diesel which amde pulling out at junctions and roundabouts an interesting experience. Driving those cars really makes me appreciate the Golf GT though. My best experience of a new car was my first drive of the Scoob. The dealer was over 200 miles away so when we test drove it after work there was only time for the wife to drive it. We hired a van and combined an IKEA run with picking up the scoob so I had been driving a knackered old transit van all day when half way home we pulled into a lay by and swapped over. Getting into the scoob was like climbing into the cockpit of a fighter plane. Everything was enclosed and near to hand and it felt like you were sitting on the road it was so low compared to the transit. The power, immediacy of the steering, the grip and the awesome noise it made ensured I had a huge grin driving it the rest of the way home!
1993 golf vr6... heating was broken so it was a sauna, power steering was gone so like a ferrari, suspension was lowered so hideous round town and finally on motorways above 110 mph it was completely unstable - like a seesaw. but I loved is because it was mine.
Other POS I have had the misfortune to drive: Honda Jazz - Got this as a courtesy car once. Felt like it was made out of biscuit tins, drove like Postman Pat's van and had the gayest horn in the village. Renault Laguna - This was MrsGoo's car, and it was awful. How we put up with it for so long I don't know. It was obviously a Friday car, (Or, it being French, a "anytime after a three hour lunch" car) as it had continental headlights on a UK spec car, the electrics where shite and the ride was as bouncey as trampoline. The rear subframe bushes went in about 12 months.
Which Mk ? The Mk4 and maybe the 3 was quite a nice otor to drive. XR3i was quite nice too, bad image, not very well made though. Once upon a time, an Orion 1.6i GHIA was the car to have.
Depends on the definition of "worst". Overall it must be our old company car; Opel Combo. What really ruined it was the gearbox. It nearly gave you a whiplash each time it changed gear, and the brakes couldn't handle a heavy-ish loaded car. The gearbox also broke down a few times. We also noticed the welding seams between the A-pillar and the roof was staring to crack after 3 years of use... In the comfort area I would say a Caterham 7 was the worst. It was a squeeze to get in, and there wasn't enough space between the pedals to wear shoes. The steering wheel rested on my knees, and the steering was really "nervous". On the other hand, it was very fun to drive.
'93 VW polo 1.0 totally gut less never been so scared in a car in life, had it for three years till i could get a proper sized car again.
I had a courtesy car while my car was being repaired that was awful. No power steering, rattled like a bag of spoons and the pedals felt so hard to press as they had very little give in them. Iirc it was a late 90's Fiesta. They're normally fine but this one had seen better days. I had a test car which was a Ford Mondeo Titanium X, very nice apart from the seats which weren't comfortable at all. You certainly wouldn't want to be driving it for hours on end. There wasn't much padding. I also had a Cadillac BLS as a test car which was okay, although I thought the body was made to look purposely too big. The very worst car was a Vauxhall Insignia, in which I couldn't get the knack of the gears. I've driven quite a few vehicles but there was one point where I had stopped at a set of lights and couldn't put it into first or second.. it just wouldn't go in. I ended up having to set off in third giving it a few beans. It kept doing it, too which was a concern when I pulled up to a roundabout and it would only set off in second. I was looking forward to testing that car but there was definitely a problem with it. It wasn't like it was crunching into gear, it just wouldn't go at all, despite how light or heavy I was with the clutch. A Renault Scenic I had a few years ago did a very embarrasing thing. I found out what it was in the end, a loose battery terminal that once tightened up made the car fine, but once when I was filling up with fuel the alarm went off and the only way I could get it to switch off was the open and close the bonnet.. not something you want to be doing at a busy filling station. Driving it to work one day I was also unaware that the nsf spring had gone, which could have taken the tyre out as it had sheared off and was rubbing against it. It was a heavy-ish vehicle with not exactly pin-point steering anyway.
Ford Focus that was given to us as a loaner by a car dealership. It was the first gen American model, automatic. It had the worst body roll I've ever experienced in a car.. Acceleration had to be veeeery very gradual, it would pretty much die if the pedal was put down. To be fair, it was probably abused over the years by people who were mad that their car had to be in the shop.. But still, I've driven abused cars that are much older that weren't this bad.
Smart Car... Bloody horrible. I drove a 1934 Morris Minor which was hard to drive (pedals were the wrong way round, chassis/suspension made out of wood etc) but really quite fun.
Chevy Cobalt I rented one while I was in Mississippi and hated every minute of it. I couldn't sit up because my head would be mashed into the headliner, the seat didn't go far enough back to be comfortable, it was so low to the ground you didn't get out, you fell. It also developed a little issue a week in where unlocking the car didn't turn off the alarm so it was one of those "get the key in the ignition within 10 seconds or it blew up" things. When I went to Reno with my ex they tried to give me one and I told them where they could stuff their crappy American car. <rant> I'm 6' 1", so tall, but not huge. What I want to know is why is it that cars made in Japan fit American people and cars made in America only fit Japanese people?!? I've never had problems fitting into Hyundais or Kias or Toyotas, but it seems like almost every US car I get in is too cramped to handle for more then a couple of hours. My mom has a Trans AM and it has to be the MOST uncomfortable car I've ever been in! Also, it seems like most American cars you have to drive laying down.. I like to drive sitting up without getting my head mashed into the headliner if it's alright with everyone! </rant> Dying to test drive a smart car.
