oooooh...a few of them. A (rental) Kia Picanto with 7.000km on the clock. In Johannesburg. That thing had an on-off clutch (NO slip in there, even if you want it). It was basically rev the hell out of it, then try to let go of the clutch and jolt forward. Also, the clutch would bounce up and down whenever you went over a speedbumb. A (again - rental) 2l Toyota Auris Automatic with 10.000km. The most horrible gearbox ever. even in manual mode (that sequential thing), that thing would take almost a second (no joke) to switch up or down. It wa a matter of "run in 1st gear until you think you'll want to switch to second gear in a bit, hit the switch, wait, hit the rev limiter, then it'd switch". I have never driven a lazier car in my life, not even the 1.0l Kia...
Worst car Morris Marina (spent more time in bits than it did running )& anything else built by British Leydown/their multiple associated acquistions in the 70's & 80's + Rover in the 90's Best car 2008 Golf TDI, went like stink, handled like a gokart, more miserly than scrooge on fuel.
In 1995 the 1st car I ever bought should have been a Sky Blue Escort 1.1, but as I went to buy it, the guy had a bright red Nissan Bluebird ZX Turbo standing right next to it... I was smitten, fake bonnet scoop and foot high lettering down the side proclaiming ZX Turbo just did it for me. I paid nearly twice as much as the escort and the insurance cost me as much as the escort would have been. It was only 5 days later that I found out it had no discs or pads after I ploughed into the back of street cleaning lorry (Bright yellow with flashing lights and doing @2mph) when I slammed the anchors on and nothing happened, I would have been better off doing a Fred Flintstone and sticking my feet out of the door to stop it. Almost the cost of the escort again in repairs (daren't tell the insurance) The adjustable electrical suspension wasn't adjustable, the electric seats didn't have electricity and about a month later one of the wiring looms fell onto the drive shaft and it ripped out most of the wiring in the engine bay!! yet more money) it barely did 20 to the gallon and needless to say, I loved it - with wheel spin all the way through into 3rd, great turbo whistle and I even loved the fake plastic bonnet scoop.... now I drive a super comfortable Passat with loads of toys that work and I hate it..... it's weird how life is!!
Worst by far... While my Jeep is in for some service work I've been loaned a Chrysler Sebring. Now it's not bad in the way that cars used to be - unreliable, bits falling off, electrics not working, won't start in the rain... But, it is simply terrible in every other respect, and this one smells of a mixture of wet dogs and curry.
The worst car I have ever driven by a mile is a vauxhall corsa one point something. Gutless badly made tin can that saw me get over taken by a bus going up a hill. Terrible car.
I think the worst cars are the ones that are absolutely horrid to drive, minivans; cheap cheap cheap small cars, and sedans that aren't made well at all. Not to insult ford, but not many of their cars are well made enough that it's worth buying, same goes for GM, the interiors are fischer pricey, and the auto gearboxes are..well miserable. With that said there are gems here and there, just never grab an automatic.
Ford's not built well? Which ones? My Mustang is a little suspect inside (cheap materials), but pretty much everything else they make is incredibly well built. The new Mondeo is every bit as well build as a BMW or Audi inside. I think there's a difference between Ford Europe and Ford USA in terms of interior fit and finish.
c. 2000 Chevy Malibu My driving instructor used one. That dinky P.O.S. was absolutely horrendous to drive. It made my 2001 Galant seem like a turbo-charged Bimmer. And while the Galant doesn't suck, it doesn't exactly drive nicely.
My first car.... A 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity....what a hooptie It was sh!t brown and my friends loved it because they loved making fun of it. I would never drive a girl anywhere in that car and had a hard enough time taking it into work. But it got me from A to B. I never locked the doors either...it's the kind of car that if someone were to steal it, you wouldn't ask "how" but rather "why" haha
Ford Escort. it was at least third hand when I got it, and had been thrashed, and clearly not very well maintained. Eventually it took proper retirement in the Shetland Islands where it was used for a couple of years by my in-laws to run back and forward to the shops. (FORD is an acronym for Fix or Repair Daily)
or Frequently Off Road Dead. My old man has always had Fords (an Escort then several Sierras) and then Mondeos since 1993, they have been decent cars really. He did have one that had a 1.6 engine which was as slow as Stephen Hawkins in the 100m breaststroke... needless to say he got another 2L after that...
