The s**t motors thread.

[Mad Cyril]

What is the ****iest motor you have owned?

For me it was a Renault 19 1.7. In my one year of ownership I went through three clutch cables and a cam belt. The worst thing was I bought it from my dad who must have seen me coming.

I would have gone for the Austin Allegro 1.3 that let me down so many times but there is always something special about that first car.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Would have to be an old Austin A40 that I used as a runabout for 6 months as a student.

Ended up in the scrap yard after I was stopped by a couple of coppers for driving a vehicle which was in a dangerous condition.

 

[A Century United]

Would have to be an old Austin A40 that I used as a runabout for 6 months as a student.

Ended up in the scrap yard after I was stopped by a couple of coppers for driving a vehicle which was in a dangerous condition.

My brother's first car, and the one he went on honeymoon in, was an A40 - I remember being somewhat disturbed to find I was travelling in a vehicle with a beaten flat and welded-on Castrol GTX oil can forming a major part of the flooring...

I've owned a lot of very poor motors but the worst was probably a Fiat of such awfulness and unreliability that I've forgotten the exact model. It did have a heated rear windscreen, which I deduced had been thoughtfully provided to keep my hands warm as I, once again, pushed it.

 

[The Big Shrimp]

An Austin Montego. Paid too much for it & had nothing but grief after about 6 months! I remember driving to Halifax on a Friday night to see us win. I haven't a clue how it did the journey. In second place, but not as bad as the Montenogo, was a Yugo Zastava. Fairly new & costing me £400, it may squealed like a scene from Deliverance, but it did just over 60 mph & got me to & from Grays for over 6 months & lasted about 18 months!

 

[Jam_Man]

I once bought an MG Midget from Reading that literally broke down 15 minutes after buying it and had to get it brought home by the AA Never had it run reliable and ended up leaving it in the garage for a year before flogging it for £800 (£1200 less than I bought it for)

 

[MK Shrimper]

Plenty!

First car at 17, my mates knackered old Vauxhall Astra that i bought for £50 and never drove (as I didn't pass my test). Towed away for scrap.

Another Astra that I bought for £1500 from some shyster garage that went wrong after a month, and when I went back to them, they threatened to break my legs.....nice people. :nope: Bizarrely after some repairs it ran for a few years, until it blew up on the way to Reading Festival.

Finally a Escort Mk3 that was a good little runner until I tried to change the spark plugs. :blush: Needless to say I don't do car repairs anymore.

 

[Hotman]

Range rover sport. Honestly a dreadful car. Had all the trimmings but still felt like an old Citroen Picasso to drive. But with 18mpg! Nothing but problems with it, although I escaped the gearbox going (dealer told me about the problems he had 3 months after I offloaded...).

Wouldnt touch them again!

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

What is the ****iest motor you have owned?

For me it was a Renault 19 1.7. In my one year of ownership I went through three clutch cables a

So did i on a 1.4 model back in 1992!

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

What is the ****iest motor you have owned?

For me it was a Renault 19 1.7. In my one year of ownership I went through three clutch cables and a cam belt. The worst thing was I bought it from my dad who must have seen me coming.

I would have gone for the Austin Allegro 1.3 that let me down so many times but there is always something special about that first car.

It's hardly worth me posting anything as this covers my situation except that the Renault was a Laguna 1.8 and the Aggro a 1.5. I bought the Laguna from an ex-copper and only needed it for a year before I was scheduled to move to the US and it broke down the day after I bought the ****er.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

white 928, back in the 80s, poor colour for a car, hard to keep clean; traded it in for a silver 911, much much better; especially on the mpg.

 

[* ORM *]

I've had two cut and shuts in my time. The first one was actually a decent runner MK V Cortina that caused be no problems until part exchange. The second was an utter dog from the day I got it. A Ford Mondeo from Dagenham Motors. After weeks of in and out of the garage I knew something wasn't right but couldn't put my finger on it. Second opinion time. Dagenham Motors refused to accept it was a cut and shut at first but finally sorted that. This was the last time I ever bought a Ford. Japanese cars all the way since and nothing but wear and tear costs on any of them.

Y

 

[Crawliano]

Red Escort 1.8 si - was bowled over at first as it was the ooomphy higher BHP model that I took great delight in touching 125 on the way home from London once.

However, this masked the following problems.

Constant sticking idle speed control valve (which still failed despite being changed twice)
Faulty throttle position sensor

So these two combined meant that I either had the car locking at 3000 rpm or just conking out.

Then I had the wheel bearings go to such a degree that the wheel almost sheered off

The battery then died and then to cap it all off I was driving to work one morning, the power went and then an almighty cloud of black smoke was coughed out the exhaust, I could at this point go no faster than 60 any more.

After being told by the garage that they wouldn't even entertain a px on my new car I managed to sell it somehow for £300 less the alloys and stereo. So I actually did ok in the end.

 

[Mad Cyril]

My brother's first car, and the one he went on honeymoon in, was an A40 - I remember being somewhat disturbed to find I was travelling in a vehicle with a beaten flat and welded-on Castrol GTX oil can forming a major part of the flooring...

I've owned a lot of very poor motors but the worst was probably a Fiat of such awfulness and unreliability that I've forgotten the exact model. It did have a heated rear windscreen, which I deduced had been thoughtfully provided to keep my hands warm as I, once again, pushed it.

FIAT = Fix It Again Tony.

 

[Benfleet A1]

Once had a Mk III Cortina which was just a death trap and accident waiting to happen. It came in the form of the brakes failing in the one way system in Hadleigh when some dick decided to turn right after the exit across the chevrons. I stamped on the pedal and nothing happened which resulted in me slamming him up the rear and shearing off half the front of my old jalopy. The funny thing was, the engine never missed a beat but everything around it either fell off or packed up. Finally gave it a viking burial and brought a Mk IV which carried on in the same vain. Me and Cortina's just didn't get on.

 

[ESG]

Would have to be an old Austin A40 that I used as a runabout for 6 months as a student.

Ended up in the scrap yard after I was stopped by a couple of coppers for driving a vehicle which was in a dangerous condition.

First car I had was an A40 with 185,000 on the clock complete with original clutch and Harry Moss stereo when Nevendon salvage finally came a calling. The worst car I've ever had was a Rover 414. Really don't know what processed me to buy the bloody thing. Proper old gist car and I wasn't even 30.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Somone I knew had a MK IV Cortina and both the back door handle mechanisms were broken. The interior door handles were tied together with a bit if rope to prevent the doors flying open on corners.

 

[RobM]

Chrysler Alpine in a yellow diarrhoea colour. Rusted away in about a fortnight.

 

[Crabby Shrimper]

Ok, here's a list of corkers for you...

Lada Riva 1500 estate. Was actually quite reliable and practical, but it's still a Lada

MG Midget 1500. Fun car, but loads went wrong on it (fortunately a lot of probs could be easily fixed with a bit of wire and some pliers)

Fiesta (H reg) . Nothing worked, but it was only purchased to do one journey, so managed that at least.

Rover 825 fastback - comfortable, fairly swift, stuck to the road like teflon, and ate alternators! Least reliable car......ever!

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I had a hand painted C prefix Hillman Imp, thought it would be real doggy doos BUT it was a real gem, especially in the snowy winter of 1981.