Worst Cars/Engines

AndyBoBandy

1L 3 pot Yaris petrol from circa 2012...

My mother had one and after failing NCT, it was pretty much scrapped at about 90,000km because of a serious engine issue that they all have apparently.

SchrodingersCat

Any Opel since GM bought them.

Montage of Feck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851921#Comment_121851921

They've built more than a few decent yokes since 1929 in fairness.

pauly58

I was Assistant Service Manager/Warranty Advisor at a large Opel dealer around 2022. The old Kadett 1.4S was a great car, Corsa A was nice, Astra F I always preferred over the later G, it was all downhill from there. Most people would say the Vectra B was crap & most gave a lot of trouble but we had a customer that had no problems at all.

I left when the Sigma came out, we had trouble getting them running out of the showroom, column integrated module was one of the problems.

galwaytt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851994#Comment_121851994

The 1.7 Isuzu engined Vectras were bulletproof t.b.h.

rob316

Ford Ecoboost 1 litre - mechanic next to me constantly has one in for an engine rebuild. Calls them eco-bombs, your just waiting for it to go.

Mazda diesels in general absolutely awful.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851921#Comment_121851921

Opel was bought by GM in 1929. Vauxhall was bought by GM earlier - 1919 I think.

I had an Opel Vectra from new. Driven energetically it was ok, but drive it slowly and it wallowed hopelessly.

The rear wheel overtook me when I was on my way out to the dealer to sort out a nasty noise from the rear. Never been overtaken by the n/s rear wheel bouncing down the road before or since.

Would not touch one again. The Zafira prone to catching fire with devastating consequences. The Omega my neighbour had was rubbish - always breaking down. No, never.

SCOOP 64

Have 2 Opels , Zafira 2008 1.6 petrol brought when it was 2 yrs old now 305,000 klm still going well, this was serviced by Opel until book was full, also 98 Astra G have had this one 17 years 256000 miles, always serviced on time, maybe i was just lucky with them.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854976#Comment_121854976

Head gasket didn't go on the Astra g? Had a 99 back in 2005, 3 injectors went and head gasket, got rid of it then.

student7890

I've had three Toyotas all were cheap to run. Two burned oil (Corolla and Yaris) which eventually caused excessive emissions the older they got and had to be changed. I liked them as they were cheap and easy to service but definately started having big issues beyond 200k mileage.

I think five years is good for an older healthy car. If it lasts that long its done good work.

SCOOP 64

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854993#Comment_121854993

Yes last year, now if i got garage to fix it would have cost alot more then car is worth so me and a friend put on new gasket so still on road but has just failed nct on emission's and some rust so needs more work now, but cant complain as had a good run for 17years, dont want to let it go now its part of my identity😁

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121858854#Comment_121858854

Fair dues I couldn't even imagine mine is still on the road. It was a nice car for its time. especially when I was 18.

Hellrazer

Most reliable based purely on my experience - The old 1.2 in the Hyundai Accent - Had one customer with over 750,000 on the thing - It just wouldnt die. My own Accent had 250,000 on the same timing belt.It didnt bother me because you could literally do a belt in 20 minutes on the side of the road and in all the years with Hyundai I never saw a belt break.

It also used to throw an engine light on for the air flow meter and Id give it a clean and it worked again for another few thousand Kms. The coil pack used to break down on it all the time - you could see the insulation sparking. Id take it off , fill the crack with epoxy and again it would go for another 20 or 30 thousand kms before the epoxy would fail. Great little car to mess about with

Worst for me - The Astra 1.6d - even over the Insignia. Clutch hydraulics used to fail so much so there was a recall released that replaced everything to do with the clutch and brakes hydraulics- and guess what - they still failed again after the recall. The timing chain is mounted in the middle of the engine so the easiest way to do the chain is to take the **** engine out - €2500 euros just to do a chain.

Honourable mention to the Corsa 1.2 and 1.4 3 Cylinder in the newer shape with the crankshafts failing in them - no reason just throwing on an engine light for crankshaft solenoids - measure the travel in the crank.Supposed to be 5mm if I remember right - saw some of them with 5 CM of travel. Awful heap of junk altogether.

md23040

I had a Mazda 6 2.2 Sports 2010 bought from the company in 2015 for €4995.00 with 205k km on the clock that my wife drove. Got a new Mazda 6 company car in March 2015 and left the company in Sept and was offered the car for €18.5k with 85k km and decided against buying. Thought although style wise it was a beautiful looking motor, inside and out, to me whilst driving could at times hear issues in the engine. Anyway, this car lasted 3 further years with my colleague who bought it at €18.5k and sold for €3k with engine issues.

I took back the 2010 from my wife and the engine was terrible to drive, getting 32 mpg and thought it was last no more than 6 months before the scrapper. Someone in Mazda re-gen’d the engine and mapped out the DPF. It continually passed the NCT until Feb 2024 with 394k km, when rust got into the underside boot area and not worth fixing. But the car always passed the emissions test, did 55mpg and the rev counter could sustain 100kmh in second, and a seriously fast motor.

The problem with all the diesel emissions technology is that it ruins engine and like trying to run a marathon with a sock stuffed in your mouth and the engine can’t take it.

bop1977

The Rover k series engine had a reputation for eating head gaskets and were pretty crap. good to drive apparently until the head gasket went.

JustAPoorDreamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119776979#Comment_119776979

I disagree. The ignition key to open the bonnet was brilliant.

Lord Baron Lane 8

List of Cars I have owned that where utter rubbish Ford Sierra , Ford escort, Austin Metro, Rover 214,Ford Fiesta,Volvo340,.

List of Reliable cars that never let me down Honda Civic ,Toyota Starlet, Toyota Auris ,Toyota Corolla, Toyota Yaris ,Honda FRV all where Petrol Great cars I have never bought a diesel car never fell for the Green Party buy Diesel cars in 2008 make you think about the electric cars no thanks for me .

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119811858#Comment_119811858

Seems so. I have a Mitsubishi Lancia with the 1.8DiD engine. Engine is fine in of itself and when its good its very efficient and smooth. However the DPF is blocked with ash and it regens about every 4th Journey. This does the diesel diluting the oil scenario so the engine oil is constantly rising. The issue is that the DPF is mounted on the firewall and would require the engine and subframe to be dropped to replace rending it a €2K job to fix which is more than the value of the car. Theres also a sump leak which would require s major strip down to cure. Car is scrap but runs like a dream when the DPF isn't playing up.

Par for the course on new diesels.

Don't even talk about the tiny diesels with massive turbos, had a works van which drank oil and went from sounding fine to worryingly rattly in less than 6 months - junk.

Looking for a van for a camper - wont touch anything post 2007 for these reasons.

Vicxas

Early 2000's Seat 1.2 petrol engines broke my heart. From timing slipping to fan belts snapping to spark plugs popping out. Loved that car but HATED the engine.

pauly58

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854993#Comment_121854993

Nearly all Astra G's from that time blew the head gasket, always the same place, between 3 & 4 cylinders.

ToweringPerformance

Worst. 2011 Opel Zafira 1.7 Diesel, actually feel sick thinking about the amount of money i threw at it to solve issues in my 4 years of ownership.

Best. 2008 Hyundai I30 1.6 Diesel mine has 375,000klms from new on it and nothing major has gone wrong.

vectra

Alfasud 1300,

What a b*stard, in 6 months of ownership, 3 engines, 2 gearboxes and a half ton of rust. Was never so glad to see the back of a car.

Mech1

Back to the Landrover engenium engine. On tv tonight.

https://www.rte.ie/player/series/the-complaints-bureau/10003472-00-0000?epguid

PukkaStukka

Isuzu 1.5 / 1.7TD engines were the finest in the era. Sadly though, GM in their wisdom decided to use their own 1.7D diesel turbocharged engine (the lowblow) to replace the Isuzu in early Astra G's. Man what a horrible hateful POS these things were. In 18 months of ownership, I almost broke myself keeping this thing running, with the single biggest failure being its electronic controlled diesel pump (almost €1000). Perhaps the saddest indictment of that engine in the estate was it's fuel consumption was worse than the 1.4 petrol!

Best engine out there now is my current one which is the VAG 1.0 TSi 115bhp in my Arona FR. It's an absolute gem.

teediddlyeye

Turbo Subarus. Savage cars but engines made from chocolate.