Worst car you've ever driven?

Worst car I ever drove was a Chrysler K-car rental back in what, maybe late 1970s or early 80s?

First one couldn't cough its way out the rental garage, they gave me another that barely made it out.

 

I think the thread should be "Worst car you've ever driven, excluding everything GM, Chrysler and Ford made from 1970-2000?"

They were all terrible.

I remember driving my grandmother's Chevy Monza...

 

I actually owned a 1984 Aries K wagon...drag raced that thing...it was definitely crummy, but seeing people's reaction after it went down the strip was priceless.

 

Ford Ka.

The suspension, when it is in full working order, is somehow bouncy and bone-jarring at the same time. Going round any corner makes you wonder if the car is going to roll over onto its roof before or after the back end slides away from you. How Ford managed to make such a small, short-wheelbase car feel like the back end is a completely separate entity from the front is beyond me. The engine is a monotonous drone that gives you no power at low revs, and similarly no power at high revs - though in the latter case it sounds like it is going to explode... in the most monotonous way possible.

Moving on to creature comforts... the seats gave me back ache, and I'm a perfectly healthy 20-something. The gear shifter detached and came away in my hand. The climate control system wasn't working properly. It either did luke-warm or cold, and there was no difference in fan speed between settings 2, 3, and 4. One of the two radio speakers didn't work.

Everything about it exuded a car that had been designed as cheaply as possible and built as cheaply as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if Ford lost money on this car due to all the warranty claims for poor workmanship. Ford is normally quite good and was producing the excellent Ford Focus at the time, but this was a terrible of a car.

And the one we had to rent only was only a little over a year old and had 4,000 miles on it at the time. Would hate to see what one looked like after a couple of years.

All the best,
Andrew.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I drove an "almost Ferrari" once....

 

I had a K-car as a company car in the mid-80's. No FM radio but it did have A/C
which was a blessing on hot summer days. I blew the tranny up (3 speed) during
rush hour in Cleveland, and thank god it wasn't in a bad part of town!

 

Lincoln Town Cars. Absolutely no feel to the steering.

 

Worst ever: Hawaii rust bucket 77 Bonneville. Going straight required swinging the wheel side to side, no brakes, 5mpg, no anything.

Worst new car: 08 Dodge Caliber. wheezy engine, plastic, inhuman ergonomics, chunky block styling. Makes a 1999 Saturn SL look brilliant, and thats a POS too.

 

oooh, good call. I had one as a rental car once. I had suppressed the memory until just now

it was particularly bad since I had just stepped out of my 997 moments before...talk about both ends of the spectrum.

 

Caliber... yeah. I showed up to Enterprise once and they had one waiting for me. I insisted that I wasn't leaving until they found me something else. Yeah, they're THAT bad.

 

funny stuff ....the comments abbout the caliber and pt-cruiser are so true .....i test drove a pt-cruiser turbo when i also test drove (the car i bought) srt4 ....i couldn't believe how the same company could make one so bad, and the other surpisingly good .....had a rental caliber a while ago, and it was abhorrid!

 

post bugeye "spridgit" what a POS....all the worst elements of english cars with none of the charm...don't get me started....

 

We had an 80 diesel Chevy Chevette. Slowest car ever,no a/c because it did not have enough power to turn a compressor too, the Izuzu engine covered everything in oil residue, it would spin out in the rain, in the early 80's you had to buy diesel fuel in the semi truck lanes. Starting it in the morning would wake Lazarus.

 

SMS,

You reminded me of my old "Dominoe's" pizza delivery days when I was just out
of school and looking for a job. They had those red, white and blue Chevette's
used for delivery before the liability exposure got too high and they sold them.
What a POS, no radio or other options, no speed from that crappy 4 cylinder
mouse motor that sounded like it was wheezing itself to death, but boy did we
drive the heck out them sliding them through the corners on those skinny tires
and just beat the crap out of them. The POS really make you appreciate today's
cars and it's hard to believe GM actually sold those pigs. You'd think they's be too
embarrassed after viewing the finished product.

Mark

 

We rented a C70 T5 convertible. It was a piece of ****. The interior looks like it was from a 1980's American car when it comes to quality. The buttons were big and nasty as in a pickup.
The ride was almost as vague as a Lincoln Town car. The brakes had 0 feel. And it shook like my 90.000 miles 1988 Alfa Spider.

 

You couldn't be more wrong. Just a few of the cars built during that period that were far from terrible:


1973-74 Trans Am Super Duty 455- a fantastic car. I remember destroying various Ferraris with it at Riverside Raceway during FOC track days.

1987 Buick Grand National /GNX- owned a number of those, too. Minor mods had it running 11's with all comfort items intact. Returned well over 20mpg on the highway, NEVER broke.

1986 Shelby GLHS. Still own this one. On its original engine and still has no trouble showing its tail lights to modern iron on the autoX course(most recently at a PCA event)

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T-still own this "Vanishing Point" car. Looks, sounds and runs fantastic and still turns heads.

Buick GS455-mine was a comfortable, reliable cruiser that would run all day at the dragstrip without complaint and cruise home with the AC blasting.


others include various LT1 Vettes, Shelbys, Mopars and the like.

 

I'm noticing a pattern here, a lot of American cars.

 

I'll say the Chevette was pretty awful, but I had fun learning to drive stick in such a beast.

The Chrysler K-cars and the equivalent Plymouth Reliant were absolutely horrible & I still can't believe my mother & grandmother got swindled to buying one of each respectively.

As to the worst I've driven? Can't believe my one word answer hasn't been mentioned: Yugo!

 

Pontiac G6 rental car. Biggest rattle box I have ever sat in.

 

Toss up between an 1975 AMC Hornet wagon that plowed miseably like a John Deere in corners and had really short gearing hurting top end as well as fuel mileage and early Vhevy Cavalier , rental rattle trap from hell!!

 

Funny you should mention "Vanishing Point" with that Challenger , the car they destroyed into the dozers was actually a Camaro with no driveline , they pulled it thru with a cable into the crash. That early it seem's the Challengers were a bit tight in supply and it was cheaper as well to crash a Camaro.

 

Changing my answer after a little thinking.

2002 (?) Ford Taurus. Putting it in any gear felt like snapping glass in half, and the gearbox itself, is a boring 4-Speed auto on the column. It's unresponsive, underpowered, and understeers like a pig. Super unadorned as well, it feels like a Tata Nano on the inside.

But I've gotta hand it to Ford, it's not a bad looking car.

The one I drove looks exactly like this:
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

For the money and how many people own them the Lexus RX330 BY FAR. It has some of the worst steering and handling ever. If you start to lose traction you get an annoying beep because Lexus has to warn you to not try and have fun in their cars. You can use the NAV while driving either. I guess a smooth ride is all that matters to the people that buy them because that is the only nice thing about it. That and they can tell their friends they have a Lexus.

 

+1
GLHS is a classic and one of the most underrated cars of all time.