Our Favourite Bad Cars

_Conrad_

You shouldn't have liked it but you did anyway.....



I had the idea for this in the "lump of pig iron" thread where i was reminded of a horrible fiat marea that i had years ago.
I'll just lift that bit directly from that thread to start the ball rolling.


So what cars did ye have that were awful in some/many ways and you should have hated but somehow still liked and either put up with/soldiered on with or spent too much time/money flogging a dead horse just because for some crazy reason you couldnt give up on it?





I got a free fiat marea 1.6 once that overheated (well i mean it was permanently too hot), would only select 3rd gear at random, didn't like to stay in 4th, had almost no brakes so basically stopped it by using the gears and handbrake, blowing exhaust, fuel gaugue inoperative, mouldy smelly damp interior, 240,000 miles and probably zero servicing or maintenance. And the second day i had i i needed to drive from co.limerick to galway. A friend of mine was in it with me, started messing with the windows hyper active b*stard that he is and one fell down completely while it was pissin rain.
We drove it through galway with steam comin out of it and the bonned propped open using a complex system of a coke bottle and cable ties.

I did about 4,000 miles in that car.


I must also add that if you started it more than 3 times in an hour you had to give it a rolling start so i usually found a hill to park on. It actually never let me down though, i always got where i needed to go and aside from petrol it cost me only €30 for two part worn tyres for the front and a couple of bulbs. I had plenty of oil lying around so i changed that and drove it on for the next few months.


As a result i actaully bought another marea a year later, yes bought fiat, and i HATE fiats. Somehow that marea was grand too, but every other fiat i've had the misfortune to drive or know has pretty much been sh!te.

_Conrad_

_Conrad_ wrote: »

You shouldn't have liked it but you did anyway.....
.........

My W124 that I bought out in Spidal, was rough around the edges and everyone laughed their arse off when I bought it as it was off the road for a year or so and was an ex taxi. Like you and your Marea I did about 4000 miles in her, was a grand ole bus in fairness to her.

r3nu4l

_Conrad_ wrote: »

... but every other fiat i've had the misfortune to drive or know has pretty much been sh!te.

I loved my 1.2L Fiat Stilo because it was roomy, had six gears, really comfortable seats and very good storage (even under the drivers seat )
Unfortunately whoever at Fiat decided to put a 1.2L engine in that car was an idiot. A car as big as a Focus with a 1.2L engine. Laughable...but I bought it and loved it anyway at the time

Ardennes1944

a 1.2 8v punto, not even a bad car really, but boy did i love it

TrailerBob

it was my first and worst car, a 94 clio with galactic mileage. Bought it in 01, it was pure dirt, had 5 owners, clutch went, brakes were dire, drivers seat broke and fell backwards mid drive, along with a few other things. But it was mine, and i loved it.. a complete bucket.. but i loved it.. sold it for 250 quid after 9 months.

Solnskaya

2.0 turbo diesel primera. Pinkish paintwork, fly by wire throttle that had a total mind of its own. Bright blue interior, totally skank alloys. Looked absolutely sh1te, skangermobile, but I loved it and drove the length and breadth of the country in it, at whatever speed the crazy electric throttle decided on.

mondeo

I liked my old Alfa 156's alot. I put alot of money into them replacing a sensor here and there. I use to carry a socket set and a few spanners in the boot at all times for the occasion when somthing went wrong. I put up with alot of inconvenience. One xmas eve it stranded me and my gf at Tescos's in the freezing cold because of an on going crank sensor issue which was fixed a few times over but kept blowing for an unknown reason. I just kept fixing it and driving it, possibly sensor was being spiked for some reason which we never could find out, ecu failure maybe who knows.

ShadowHearth

r3nu4l wrote: »

I loved my 1.2L Fiat Stilo because it was roomy, had six gears, really comfortable seats and very good storage (even under the drivers seat )
Unfortunately whoever at Fiat decided to put a 1.2L engine in that car was an idiot. A car as big as a Focus with a 1.2L engine. Laughable...but I bought it and loved it anyway at the time

1.2 six gears?!?!

ShadowHearth

ShadowHearth wrote: »

1.2 six gears?!?!

To compensate for the lack of torque

Zubeneschamali

I ran a Kangoo Kar for 3 years, and should have hated it. A feeble 1.1 petrol motor towing a great big ugly shed around, it should have been hopeless.

But actually, it was kind of fun being on the road for so little money, and the ability to put half the attic into it for a trip to the dump was useful.

Then I got a job with a long commute, I had to drive the diesel, and Herself had to take the Kangoo, so it was changed for a Mini Cooper, pronto.

Mr Magners

A 1990 Subaru Justy 1.0L. Some craic.

Driving up a hill one day and the hinge on the drivers seat (3door) broke and I ended up half in the back seat.

Nippy little car though for a 1.0L

Good times

si_guru

1990 Citroen Bx14TGE... owned 1997 to 1998

..bought for £800, spent not one penny on it.. no problems and regular 40-50mpg. A "friendly" neighboured stoved in the drivers door but was traded in for £500 after 1 year!

Shame it got dented as she was very tidy looking.

MetzgerMeister

RoverJames wrote: »

To compensate for the lack of torque

It was obviously a rotary engine so!

Cookie_Monster

my mother's old Renault 9.
Never drove it or anything, was too young but I always that it was great despite being ****, ugly, falling apart etc

Vicxas

I had a 02 Ibiza that caused me nothing but trouble but i loved it to bits, cost me more then what i paid for her in the end.

helimachoptor

01 baby blue fiat brava. Loved it, sunroof alloys and installed a USB cd player. Then it fell apart

r3nu4l

ShadowHearth wrote: »

1.2 six gears?!?!

Yup A six-speed gearbox in a car the size of a Focus with an 80 bhp engine

Mine was a UK Spec 1.2L Fiat Stilo active. Don't know if that was the same as the Irish model, maybe it only had 5 gears?

ThisRegard

helimachoptor wrote: »

01 baby blue fiat brava.

Was it this "blue" ? It's called Sassi Grey if it is Had one just like this.

helimachoptor

ThisRegard wrote: »

Was it this "blue" ? It's called Sassi Grey if it is Had one just like this.

No.. was this colour

r3nu4l

r3nu4l wrote: »

Yup A six-speed gearbox in a car the size of a Focus with an 80 bhp engine

Mine was a UK Spec 1.2L Fiat Stilo active. Don't know if that was the same as the Irish model, maybe it only had 5 gears?

Irish ones had 6 gears too, the 1.2 was in them as the 1.4 originally in the Bravo and Brava was such a heap of sh1t

dan hibiki

My favourite. my first. my motoring cherry popper. 98 fiat brava sx 1.4. it was 4 years old when i bought it for 5 grand. it was light, fast, economical, stylish (black), roomy and well kitted out with a ten disc changer. i had her for two years and i had to change the starter 3 times, replace the fuel tank, exhaust, battery (3 times), and front bulbs every month!!! engine just died on my way to work one day. garage rang me and broke the news to me. felt like crying.

maddness

I had a 96' Lancer 1.6 estate which I loved. It had 115bhp and was very light so went like stink. Very easy to get the back end out too.:D

ofcork

r3nu4l wrote: »

I loved my 1.2L Fiat Stilo because it was roomy, had six gears, really comfortable seats and very good storage (even under the drivers seat )
Unfortunately whoever at Fiat decided to put a 1.2L engine in that car was an idiot. A car as big as a Focus with a 1.2L engine. Laughable...but I bought it and loved it anyway at the time

I always thought it was crazy at the time putting that 1.2 into the stilo,i bought a punto sporting in 2002 the same year the stilo came out and remember being in the garage and seeing the size compared to the punto with the same engine.One of the lads at work bought one at the time and ended up wanting to drive it through the showroom window he had so much grief from it.