Cars and bikes you wished you never owned

[donkeychomp]

I'll kick it off.

A Citroen 2CV. I needed wheels and my Alfasud had shat it's engine. Awful beyond belief. Handling felt like it was going to roll over on every corner at any speed. Talking of speed...there was none. 60mph maybe. And eight minutes to attain such velocity. The moronic dash mounted gear change felt like I was stirring porridge. Cost me £300. Sold it for £150 and was happy. Now they are £5k plus.

Only enjoyable moment was being pulled over by plod and when he made the 'wind your window down' motion I opened the hinged glass and clouted him in the face.

Alex

ps never owned a bike I didn't like

[arrow]

Ford Sierra 1.6

Very heavy on petrol. 0~60 in 19 minutes. Big car, with no inside space. Juddery clutch, coolant leaks, etc, etc....

And then there were cars like the Austin mini. If only they were a bit (lot) more, better ride, safer, quieter. The first time I went round a roundabout in a mini, I slowed down. Then I realised, (traffic permitting) I didn't need to slow down. They just went round like a go‐kart. Great cars.

[JonW]

Ive got 2:

2001 Lotus Elise... Ive spoken about this many times before on here, sorry to repeat it. I saved and saved and then got a loan as well for my first foray into a special and modern sports car after multiple classics like Triumphs and Alfas. I was super made up that I'd managed to make it happen after years of dreaming. I bought new... and it was absolute junk. So many issues. Friday car for sure. It leaked water from a not done up rad hose when I picked it and that was where it started... Had a weird intermitting vibration in the chassis, its sposed to be glued solid isnt it? but something was reverberating like panels moving about etc. Dealers caulked it all round the floor like a YTS doing a bathroom seal with black sikaflex. Sigh. We had words about that and they improved it, but never got rid of that noise fully. After the first week the reverse lock out fell off inside box as I did 1000 miles that week to run it in. Lotus said I was 'using it too much', er its a race car right? lol ...and offered to fit a used gearbox... just what you want to hear on your new dream car you cant really afford. We negotiated and I got a stainless sports exhaust, Sport 135 engine upgrade (whole new head etc) and some other things including an extended warranty. Later some other plate thing fell off inside the steering and could have locked it up and any time killing me. I lost count of the numbers of alternators it had as they whined. After 2 years when the warranty was up I pitched it against a TVR which was super reliable compared... go figure. The dealer kept telling me the new owner didnt have a single issue with it, maybe I was proof of that whole 'never be the first owner of an esoteric car, let the first owner get all the foibles fixed' thing.

2012 Polo GTI... the 1.4 supercharged and turbocharged one. Bought new and the last VW i'll ever buy, and Id had loads of VAG (oi!) over the years. The dealers were awful and damaged the car twice (scratched the bonnet and dented a door) in the months they worked on it over the 3 year ownership. It drank 1L of oil in 600km and the dealers couldnt get the figs worked out properly (or lied) and wouldnt agree that it wasnt 'right', it was very 'youre the only one' like the PO Horizon experience and yet online loads were having similar issues. Car dealers hate it when you say 'online'... When VW eventually rebuilt the engine (at 12,000kms) it had multiple mms deep carbon covering the piston crowns, the workshop's lead mechanic had never seen one so bad and was surprised it ran. Driving it you could hardly see out the back when you booted it due to the massive cloud of smoke that followed you and people would beep and wave at me that something was wrong with the car. plus the back of the car was covered in unburnt oil and was hard to wash clean, but apparently this was 'to spec'. Liars. It also ate DSG clutches, even driven gently, as apparently these gearboxes hate stop start traffic - VW wont tell you that and its the same for some current DSG boxes they sell today, read the reviews carefully if you live in a built up area like a big city. New clutches every 12k kms isnt viable as an owner, it was £1+k a go. Final straw was when it locked me out of the fuel flap (there is no pull cable for VWs by the way), it was already booked in for the now loose roof antenna (WTF?!) and for fitting a 2nd replacement gearknob, it had delaminated its top layer of 'chome' in the same place as the first one did and a few other little things. Traded it at 27k kms for a Subaru WRX which was much, much, much better quality.

[arrow]

I had a mk 2 fabia vrs, 1.4. As your post Jon, it was the twin charger engine. I owned it for 5 weeks, but it was only on the road for 1 weekend! The CAVE code engine was the bad boy, the latter engine was OK, apparently....

Fair play to the second hand dealership, they gave me all my money back, including the road tax.

[JonW]

Jan 14, 2024 1:31:06 GMT 1 arrow said:

I had a mk 2 fabia vrs, 1.4. As your post Jon, it was the twin charger engine. I owned it for 5 weeks, but it was only on the road for 1 weekend! The CAVE code engine was the bad boy, the latter engine was OK, apparently....

Fair play to the second hand dealership, they gave me all my money back, including the road tax.

Ahh, yes... it went well, when it went. lol. JUNK!

I remember you had the previous model Fabia VRS didnt you Gary? that was a good one.

Yep... the later Polo GTI came with a turbo 1.8. It was a better engine but its DSG was flawed in that as well I reckon. I had a brand new one as a loaner when they were fixing mine at one point and was spirited driving and thought id broken it. I had a little section I have to drive that is a bit 'fun'. You brake hard for a corner, turn left, floor it, brake for a left corner again and then floored it again - its all really open with no one around and you can see well so no hassle to drive quickly. All in all its about 2-300m of driving. Never had an issue in other cars doing that, but the 1.8 polo gti didnt like it, the gearbox was very confused each time. When i did the last of those brake/accelerations it was obviously more than confused as I was travelling quicker and it didnt know what gear to use so it did something quickly that was 'wrong' and it made the loudest BANG! youve ever heard from the underfloor, like id blown the 'box, snapped a diff or an axle etc etc. My wife looked at me with that face that said 'Now youve done it! How are you going to explain that to the dealer?' as I limped to side of the road for a look. I expected there to be bits of car and oil dripping on the ground but the car was ok actually, but I drove it very carefully after that as I was sure the DSG controller/box/drive shafts or something would let go at some point.

Ahh the 1.2 manual Fabia from 2012ish was wonderful... I wish Id bought one of those. It was the wrong car for Sydney and the (at that time 'new again' to Aus) Skoda couldnt sell em. The people who buy small hatches in Aussie cities want autos and Skoda EU didnt want to send em here as they could sell lots elsewhere so only sent manuals to Aus and nearly killed their business before it started. I made offers to dealers on the Monte Carlo spec cars they had in stock for ages (and were past their stocking plan times etc) and some looked sorely tempted but no one bit, wrong day of the month was all really as on the right day they would have gone for it. If they had agreed then i reckon i might still own it. The 1.2 was a lovely free revving engine and coupled with that manual box in a light car was a delight to drive. What a fun car, almost 'guiltless' at the cost etc.

[veg]

Only one car o wished I’d never owned. Totally Variable Reliability.. having sold my 8 yr old 911 C4S that was spectacular 15k all year round use to a shonky piece of British crap that cost me nearly its purchase price in repairs.
Only one bike Harley Davidson 1200 sportster sport. Ex demo that within 30 miles I’d realised I’d made a huge mistake. Slow, heavy, poor handling, weird footrest position sold as quickly as possible and replaced with a 1200 monster sport complete opposite an animal.

[arrow]

I've just gone in for a brand new car. The plan is to pay it off in three years time, then I'm done at work; retirement.

I'm getting the mk 4 fabia. It's the monte carlo spec with the 1.5 tsi evo engine. DSG only. The car I have at the moment is the 1.0 DSG and that's just great. Must say though, it took me twelve months to get used to that gearbox, but I wouldn't have anything else now.

[JonW]

Jan 14, 2024 1:59:06 GMT 1 arrow said:

I've just gone in for a brand new car. The plan is to pay it off in three years time, then I'm done at work; retirement.

I'm getting the mk 4 fabia. It's the monte carlo spec with the 1.5 tsi evo engine. DSG only. The car I have at the moment is the 1.0 DSG and that's just great. Must say though, it took me twelve months to get used to that gearbox, but I wouldn't have anything else now.

Ive had all the auto box styles over the years and would only buy a normal 'slushmatic' now I think. Not a proper old skool one tho, the modern ones are much much better and change fast and can be held in gear etc. The new GRY Mk2 comes in Auto with a box like this, Id like to try it as it'd be great i reckon where i live.

I do think it can take a bit of time to get used to a certain type of box and some manufacturers do their version better than others as well, plus you have to understand what its trying to achieve. ie the Subaru CVT is great, but only when you understand and appreciate it. If you want a manual WRX then you wont like the auto no matter what, that means lots of bad mouthing online from people who never tried one doesnt help but actually if you use one for a while its really very good at what it does, but its not like driving a manual or DSG or an normal auto etc. Its also not like the 'yanking on a rubber band' awful CVTs (Yes Im looking at you Nissan!) either tho and you can drive it on paddles like a manual where it'll hold gears forever. Like I say, gotta get used to it, easy to diss what people dont know etc. What it funny tho is that it makes driving the manual and auto versions of the same car very different experiences, like 2 different cars.

[JonW]

...im trying to think of a bike I wish i hadnt bought... hmm... its a struggle... not thought of one so far...

[4l04ever]

I had a 1990 GSXR-750 for about one month. Was a very clean one, but I could not get my feet up high enough to ride it. I used it once with my mate to go to the local cafe. It was that bad I got him to ride my bike back home, then I sold it back to the place I got it from.

[oldelsieboy]

Ford Crapi 2.0s in baby shit green, at the time I thought it was the dogs danglies but realised what a pile of poo it was when I replaced it with a BMW 323i

[linx]

Honda CB250 G5. Just slow and boring. Could get it up to 80 in 5th gear, change into 6th and it would slow down to 70 on full throttle. Had it about 3 months.

[dusty350]

900SS Ducati, the Terblanche rejig. I dont really regret it as I bought it mint for £700 with Ducati Performance pipes on it and a remap. Spent £400 on a battery, belts, service and an Mot and then rode it. Never suffered with wrist pain on a bike either before of since but that bike was torture ! Great fun when you ragged it - like a turbo tractor, but just too uncomfortable to make it a pleasant experience for normal riding. Sold it for £2500 a couple of months later, so no real regrets, but it's a shame I didn't gel with it as it was an awesome bike;

DSCN2361 by dusty miller, on Flickr

And the "Oh Fec" Gsxr was an impulse buy at Kempton autojumble. I love Gixxers, and was looking for a project, but this was the wrong bike ! Never ran right - think it was running on 2 when I sold it - coil I think, but the initial euphoria of a new project soon wore off, and I realised I love Lc's more than any other bike, and if your heart isn't in it you are wasting time and money.

Now if you started a thread on bikes you wish you had never sold, I could fill the page !!

[billbott]

BSA Bantam.
Bought one with a mate to do the Manx GP. Spent a load on it before actually riding it. Took it for MOT, brought it back and sold it. Absolute bag of sh!te.
My mate persevered with his and went over on it (I used the Lc so did a lot of waiting around) and it was dusted by an old fella on a C90, then it broke it’s gearbox.
We then all bought C90’s
rdlccrazy.proboards.com/thread/25196/bantam-d7
Car wise, had a passat V5 auto. Never knew which gear it wanted to be in and was awful on fuel. Said I’d never have another auto then a few years later drove an M135 auto and have now owned one for over five years.

[Gitram]

Freelander, I did a lot of offroading, just forest tracks etc, for work and it needed everything underneath replaced. The garage fitted a new rear diff casing seal instead of rebuilding the diff properly.. exploded 25 miles later.. back on a truck..
Defender, transfer box broke while driving through a town at about 20 mph... back on a truck..
Discovery 2, one whole engine, one short engine, one replacement cylinder head, one gearbox two turbo's and probably more... back on a truck..

none of the above came out of my pocket, i'm glad to say..

Opel Manta, the injectors used to clog up so i had to whip them out and clean at roadside as i also had to with a Mazda 626 which blocked it's carb with silt from the tank on a regular basis...

Mk2 Transit, only motor i have had that required ear defenders cos it was so rattly..the good thing was that it was petrol so every time the engine destroyed itsself, i just bought another cortina and swapped the engine...

marti

[steve h]

I regret every motorcycle I've ever owned.
Each one has fueled an all consuming addiction that cannot be shaken. It's a terrible state of affairs.

And to think I could be stamp collecting or train spotting or involved in some other fulfilling pastime.....but no....bike...bikes....f'in bikes....

[steve h]

Jan 14, 2024 2:53:57 GMT 1 JonW said:

...im trying to think of a bike I wish i hadnt bought... hmm... its a struggle... not thought of one so far...

[veg]

Seems to be a bit of a theme here. Basically if it’s British it’s shite.
One of the best cars I ever owned though was my cooper s at least they had managed to iron the bugs out after 30 plus years.

[midlifecrisisrd]

My work forced me to order a Toyota Corolla Touring Sport

It arrived last summer and at first the only thing that annoyed me was that I didn't hate it 🤣

Then I did 2 days of 300+ miles in it

Bloody thing crippled me. Seats hard and narrow so pinched on your thighs. Road noise was terrible and the 3 of us that ordered them couldn't get the radio to hold a station (if you Google it they are all crap reception)

As Jonw says a cvt gearbox takes a bit of getting used to but the Toyota seemed to want to sit at 4-6k revs all the time which grated on me

Swapped it for a 2 year old Mondeo estate after 3 weeks 🤣

Still a cvt but quieter at least unless your foot is on the floor

Steve

[naich]

Peugeot 1007. An abysmal pile of crap in every way. It had a 1.6L engine that pulled like a 900cc car with the fuel economy of a 5L V8. Stupid sliding doors that kept breaking. Handled like a sofa on a pogo stick. Everything broke at one point or another. It was owned by my sister and I swapped an Astra for it because it did her back in. I wish I'd just given her the Astra and used the bus instead. I have nothing good to say about it. Even the rear view mirror was crap.

[pdxjim]

Jan 14, 2024 15:19:52 GMT 1 veg said:

Seems to be a bit of a theme here. Basically if it’s British it’s shite.
One of the best cars I ever owned though was my cooper s at least they had managed to iron the bugs out after 30 plus years.

Yeah, our F56 Cooper S is fantastic fun to drive.

… And speaking of auto trans, the BMW dual-clutch tiptronic in the newer Coopers (and lotsa Bimmers) is amazing, especially in sport and sport manual mode.

I’ve not owned French or British vehicles, so I’ve had mostly good luck with vehicles in the past, and can say all of the stinkers that have been thru my hands were crap due to merciless abuse prior to my ownership.

[geoffers997]

An ex decided she wanted rid of her mini and one of those new mini metro things.

This was on the basis that metros had head rests and a cassette player.

I thought it was a bad idea as there were rumours about them even back then.

Long story short it was a miserable piece of woeful misery that lasted 6 weeks before even she said ‘enough’ and I got her another mini.

[veg]

British see above

[donkeychomp]

Some British cars are fantastic. My first ever car was a Hillman Imp. 2 breeze blocks in the front to balance it out. Handled superbly. Had 2 Minis. The last one had a 1380 engine with 108bhp at the front wheels. Fast as feck and stuck to the road like it was glued there. And then there are the six Spitfires...loved every one of those.

Just don't buy anything with the words Land or Rover in them.

Alex

[veg]

My mates 2019 Range Rover v8 diesel is on its 3rd engine in 30’000 miles fmdsh.

[donkeychomp]

Add the word Range to the list then.

Saying that I've always wanted one, and a mate bought a crappo offroad one years back and it never missed a beat. But I know the horror stories...

Alex

[Gitram]

Jan 16, 2024 22:43:44 GMT 1 veg said:

My mates 2019 Range Rover v8 diesel is on its 3rd engine in 30’000 miles fmdsh.

erk.. the mechanic at the landy dealers said i was a bit hard on the vehicle when my disco was in for repair but each time i broke down, it was cruising along A class roads at 50/60... not forging a trail through the Congo...

Some misguided person once said to me.. " I'd like to buy an old Landy and drive round the world..." I replied "send me a postcard when you get to Dover.."

marti

[fabiostar]

Kawasaki KLR 600 i owned years ago. the last time i broke down on it was on a motorway, i was so pissed i rolled it down the bank and never went back for it.

the one that pissed me the most about 18 months ago a FZ8, what a bucket that was, total electrical death, had Yamaha dealers at it, all sorts of bike sparks.... it never lived again, sold it for a grand as a breaker and was glad and lucky to even get that.

[JonW]

Jan 17, 2024 15:21:32 GMT 1 Gitram said:

Jan 16, 2024 22:43:44 GMT 1 veg said:

My mates 2019 Range Rover v8 diesel is on its 3rd engine in 30’000 miles fmdsh.

erk.. the mechanic at the landy dealers said i was a bit hard on the vehicle when my disco was in for repair but each time i broke down, it was cruising along A class roads at 50/60... not forging a trail through the Congo...

Some misguided person once said to me.. " I'd like to buy an old Landy and drive round the world..." I replied "send me a postcard when you get to Dover.."

marti

Reminds me of Teg Sethi and his Jeep here in Aus.

The full story is here : www.heraldsun.com.au/business/companies/hilarious-clip-lampoons-i-bought-a-jeep-campaign/news-story/0846f1e04b74ea54dcb07474d89379ce

But if you just want his pop video parody of the then current Jeep Ad,



Jeep was so bad at the time (and now i suspect) one guy destroyed his newish car rather than let someone else suffer with it.

[dusty350]

That's a great video - fair play to him.
Guaranteed to get to lots more people than just a Jeep rant on social media