Most unreliable car you have owned

Macone

Active Member
1983 Rover Metro, gearbox total failure after 6 weeks from new. Part exed it after 3 months for new escort.
 

churchilllafemme

Forum GOD!
A 1961 Porsche Super 90 (bought in 1968), which seemed to require engine tuning every 1-2 months. A lot of fun to drive, but ready at any time to misbehave if not kept in tip-top shape.
 

Northam Saint

Forum GOD!
Never really had a unreliable car, had things go wrong, but that’s exception. Current 19 plate has haf a new turbo at less than 4.5 K.
 

Benz3ne

Forum GOD!
My most unreliable car was a 2000 Fiesta 3dr 1.25L in white. It was driven by old biddies prior to becoming my first car, barely used. The gear lever was exceptionally stiff but otherwise it drove fine.
That is, until I put it in a ditch after turning the steering wheel and continuing straight ahead. It never worked thereafter, terribly unreliable. :hyper:
 

Northam Saint

Forum GOD!
That's pretty poor - I trust it was done on warranty?
Yeah, but they made a right mess. got it back first time and it was leaking oil, took it back and again same th8ng, so went back again. Got it back just as lockdown happened, checked the oil and the idiots had not topped up oil so it was under half way on the dipstick. Some idiot I spoke too said it was fine and would go up to full on dipstick when the engine was warm, as warm oil expands. That didn’t go down too well ! All ok now though.
 

Vacumatic

Testy
A long time ago I had a Ford Capri as a company car and a boss who knew bugger all less 10% about cars, tried to tell me once that no-one knew what a crankshaft did and to make matters worse he didn't want to pay main dealer service charges, even with a new car he insisted that the car was serviced at some back street garage, who, no word of a lie, that garage filled the car with an oil called Economoil. The car had an oil pressure guage and it was frightening on a motorway run to see the oil pressure go down to zero.With no oil pressure I stopped at a service station and used one of the DIY oil change vacuum machines and replaced the oil. The car also had a bad distributor and an automatic choke on the carb, they combined to make cold morning starts unpredictable. This Capri was the only car I have ever known that did not make its first MOT test at three years old.

Next car was a Honda Accord which never needed any work doing to it.
 
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Vacumatic

Testy
Inspired by this thread I sat and talked to a neighbour, he reminded me of a car that he owned a few years ago. He had a history of buying S type Mercedes and 7 series BMWs, but one year we had a lot of snow, he bought himself a Range Rover. He worked out that in one year of ownership the car was in the garage for more days than it was on the road, the issues were mainly the transmission, the car had several gearboxes and transfer boxes, but also electrical items failing, the engine however was faultless. He used to collect the car on a friday and then booked it in for a week on Monday, when asked when the problem was, he said he didn't know but there was bound to be something. There was also a constant rattle behind the dashboard which turned out to be a golf ball fitted by the factory as a joke to see if the dealer could problem solve. In the end he sued Landrover and handed back the car within 12 months.
 

HereticHermit

Forum GOD!
A 2009 honda hatchback 'Jazz'. It was all nice and proper and never gave even a pause. Then it hit me. Her first ever outing of town on real highway came after 1 1/2 year and just week after any kind of warranty lapsed. Every time I tried to give her stick on full clip, the moment speedo hit 85kmph engine would stall, crawling below 70 it will fire again and off we go till i forget about the glitch and stick her, off she goes on her tantrums again. ECU re-loaded, all sensors checked, every electrical touch point checked and finally complete wiring changed at my own cost. No joy there and I just had to retire her from any highway duties. Again tried a small trip out of town after 6 months but the ghost returned again. Mind, I have some armature competition experience in local rallies and can read the hand written tulip charts and haldameter but I just could not bring her around.
If I knew any better, I should have bought one of these.
2cv.jpg
 

Cheesepiece

Stickler
A 2009 honda hatchback 'Jazz'. It was all nice and proper and never gave even a pause. Then it hit me. Her first ever outing of town on real highway came after 1 1/2 year and just week after any kind of warranty lapsed. Every time I tried to give her stick on full clip, the moment speedo hit 85kmph engine would stall, crawling below 70 it will fire again and off we go till i forget about the glitch and stick her, off she goes on her tantrums again. ECU re-loaded, all sensors checked, every electrical touch point checked and finally complete wiring changed at my own cost. No joy there and I just had to retire her from any highway duties. Again tried a small trip out of town after 6 months but the ghost returned again. Mind, I have some armature competition experience in local rallies and can read the hand written tulip charts and haldameter but I just could not bring her around.
If I knew any better, I should have bought one of these.
My now wife and I had a 2004 Jazz, she having inherited it from her mother who had it from new around 2014. Most reliable thing that took so much punishment. My wife isn't easy on cars, she rests her left foot on the clutch pedal while driving but promises she's not applying any pressure whatsoever (sounds uncomfortable if true and rather implausible to me) and would never think of checking oil. It ran for about 5 years thereafter no dramas with only tyres going on before the engine mounts went and that proved terminal. My mother in law would have been kind to it though in its previous ten years service, rarely if ever asking for anything above 60mph, so perhaps it felt a bit of loyalty to the family.
 
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