Thread: What's the most UNreliable car you've owned.

Austin Allegro (or All aggro, as it was re-christened). Horrible little rust-bucket, that also had the wonderful "hydro-elastic"suspension system. Which was really just a ball filled with oil, that leaked a lot..
Worthy of a Basil Fawlty-style thrashing with a tree branch any day of the week.

Toss up between an early model RX7 circa 1979 12a or my very first car a mini cooper s of similar vintage

Mercedes 2.3 Cosworth, she was an old lady when I bought her so unreliability was expected, that being said she was also the most fun I ever had in a car backseat antics notwithstanding.

Bingo !

Austin 1800, with the wonderful hydrolastic suspension. Felt ok when it worked.
Lovely and roomy inside, but biggest heap of mechanical crap I've owned.
Odd design flaws, and eventually I left it by the side of a country road, only coming back 2 months later because I teed up a wrecker to give me a few bucks for it. I breathed a sigh of relief when I replaced it with a VW beetle.

Here's one in a classic pose with it's bonnet up.

Glad to be rid of this POS... Merc SLK350... wickedly fast and pretty, but what a nightmare to maintain...

I had something like this as a company car when I first arrived in Thailand in the mid '90s.



In the year I had it the thing must have spent the equivalent of at least eight months at the dealer waiting for some part or another to be shipped in from the UK as from memory the Thai spec was the 3.9 petrol and mine was a grey import 2.5 diesel. Even when it did work it was absolutely gutless, I remember with five blokes on board having to switch the aircon off to give the engine enough power to get it out of an underground car park.

I swore I'd never buy another Land Rover again.

This was my second most unreliable car:



... In a moment of short-sighted lunacy I'd bought it for my wife and unfortunately she loved it which meant I was stuck with the thing for a lot longer than made sense. It wasn't unreliable per-se, but needed lots of pricey preventative maintenance to keep it going.

Originally Posted by Roobarb

I had something like this as a company car when I first arrived in Thailand in the mid '90s.



In the year I had it the thing must have spent the equivalent of at least eight months at the dealer waiting for some part or another to be shipped in from the UK as from memory the Thai spec was the 3.9 petrol and mine was a grey import 2.5 diesel. Even when it did work it was absolutely gutless, I remember with five blokes on board having to switch the aircon off to give the engine enough power to get it out of an underground car park.

I swore I'd never buy another Land Rover again.

This was my second most unreliable car:



... In a moment of short-sighted lunacy I'd bought it for my wife and unfortunately she loved it which meant I was stuck with the thing for a lot longer than made sense. It wasn't unreliable per-se, but needed lots of pricey preventative maintenance to keep it going.

Ditto Discovery..bought a used top of range unit in Oz....everything kept falling off..dual electric roof lights had to be helped to close or open, cargo nets on interior roof fell off, grab handle over passenger door came away landed the ex on her arse, rear door retainer fell off, radio buttons fell off,near on 1000bucks to replace one tiny little anti lock brake module..engine oil leaks a given...
That said, loved driving it!

I don't have an actual pic to hand but this is the same model as mine right down to the same wheels, louvers and spoiler, and colour:



'74 Holden LJ Torana.

That thing was constantly breaking down but - being a tiny car with a 4spd and 202 / 3.3L engine with triple-carbs - it might have been more related to the way I used to drive it as opposed to any inherent mechanical issues.

The piece of shit I have got now a seven year old Mercedes cls in the UK
Never stop getting electronic faults .never again.
Mercedes reliability is a load of shite if it carries on one giving it a viking funeral
Too many things to go wrong when buying an older merc

Unfortunately with modern cars, this is the new "normal". That's why I drive a very simply constructed older car. And my second car is as simple as I could find.

"True refinement seeks simplicity".

^ WOT!!

1981 Audi 5000. My first and last yerman car. Total piece of crap. Within 2 years CV joints had to be replaced. Door locks were a joke. Vacume rather than electric. Tubing always loose or leaking. Never worked properly. Excuse for these probs was I lived in desert. Too dry for CV seals and lock tubing. WTF!

A Pontiac Fiero. '88 I believe (Pontiac only made them between '84 and '88). And yellow, too, which was very appropriate, since it was such a lemon:

Originally Posted by wjblaney

A Pontiac Fiero. '88 I believe (Pontiac only made them between '84 and '88). And yellow, too, which was very appropriate, since it was such a lemon:

Classic case of form over content. I bet you go for tarts with lots of makeup. Check the chassis before buying.

^ you see them all over Slough, Bolton, Dagenham - it's just a mkI Mr2 with a bodykit...

Originally Posted by Lostandfound

XKR Jaguar. The thing kept slipping in to "safe drive" mode. It went back to desler twice before they gave up, defeated. The car was somehow not "right", sluggish, not right on corners. Maybe just a friday car or a car that fell off the delivery low loader.

So it was sent back to Coventry. Dealer only had a Nissan as courtesy car. Middle of august and instead of a nice convertible Im driving a feckin nissan. After two more weeks I got fed up, went to Porsche for test drive on 911 thinking I'd swap. Hated it. Worse, managed to reverse into it with the Nissan and ended up with a £1000 or thereabouts bill.

Just wondering, but: are you my wife?

No, too beautiful them guys are all over my big breasts and hairy snatch but I beat them off cause I only want money. Sometimes I just wish I was ugly this is a cross I bear.

hahah... you dodged a bullet.... (I prefer mine shaved) *and female! lol

1978 Triumph Spitfire

Originally Posted by Munted

Classic case of form over content. I bet you go for tarts with lots of makeup. Check the chassis before buying.

I don't know about tarts with lots of makeup but the next car I bought, in '92, was a 1988 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350



Drove that car every day until I moved to Thailand in 2010. Then put in storage until I gave it to my nephew-in-law last year. At least it's still on the street.

Originally Posted by CalEden

1978 Triumph Spitfire

That's a car.

a french blue triumph tr6.



the fuel injection system was forever failing, and it spent far too much time stuck in the useless british leyland dealership in uxbridge who just wanted to sell me a tr7.

when it was on song though, it was wonderful.