What was the most depressing car you’ve owned?

Cooper

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C63 / Emira
Rover 214, I bought for the missus to get in and out of work about 10 years ago.
Every morning there was something wrong with it.
And yet the 216GSi with the honda engine is a world away.

205 Straight Diesel in 5 door guise.. Slow as anything, zero creature comforts (not even power steering) and a jammed manual drivers window. It's only redeeming feature was getting me home from Newcastle Upon Tyne on a Sunday after flying over for a Senator which had the big ends hanging out of it.
237046
 

cauld1

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BMW E34
MK1 Skoda Fabia vrs. When I bought mine it was only a few years old. Dreary, just utterly dreary. I'd been driving a MK2 golf 1.3 petrol before that and had much more fun driving it.

Every journey in the Skoda was tedium, how people find them fun to drive I don't know unless they spend money on a lot of aftermarket suspension to give it a bit of feel. Awful looking car at standard height too.

Maybe I expected it to be more enjoyable than a diesel hatchback would ever be, I don't know. But the 250 quid Peugeot 205 d-turbo that replaced it was a million times more fun.
 

nobby

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wee Norn Iron
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Jap stuff
i owned an Austin Montego in metallic blue and it really was a heap of **** :worried:
Dear God, when you think of bad ... then x that by a 1000.
dont even ask about a picture ... the memory is bad enough

I remember it taking in water from the back seat footwell and one day it had wild mushrooms starting to grow there
it was a 1.3 HLE variant i think as well with the A series engine. I am not really sure what this got you in trim level back in the day ... probably the radio or something but i really dont remember anything other than the colour coded metallic blue interior - seats, dash, the works!
Jeez, still gives me shudders that i drove such a deth-trap.

but hey we all have to start with something ....
 

AlpineF30

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4,967
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BMW M3
An E90 318d which I owned 11 years ago.

Was my first ever BMW so was very chuffed at owning it. Fast forward 2 weeks later and the honeymoon period was well and truly over.

Things that failed in my ownership:

  • Turbo
  • Injector
  • Clutch release bearing
  • Clutch
  • Fuel tank breather pipe - If you brimmed the tank it leaked diesel out
  • Steering column locking mechanism
  • Heater Matrix
  • Roof bars began to rust
  • Wiring loom to drivers side headlight

Safe to say it was a total dog and I was too young and stupid to buy a rough E90 at the time rather than a cleaner E46 as I wanted to be seen in a newer BMW, added on top of that it was as slow as a snail and watching paint dry would have been more exciting to drive than it.

The shed in question(with the all so important felt spec pose of parking it on my parents garden) - Checked on DVLA some poor sod still has it on the road

e3aa4304.jpg
 

hitandamiss

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Belfast
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Nothing
Toyota Auris 1.33 petrol, feels so well put together, comfortable and cheap to run but easily the slowest car i've ever driven - actually fart before going up a hill to shed weight!
 

FM155

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8,651
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Alfa 155
i owned an Austin Montego in metallic blue and it really was a heap of **** :worried:
Dear God, when you think of bad ... then x that by a 1000.
dont even ask about a picture ... the memory is bad enough

I remember it taking in water from the back seat footwell and one day it had wild mushrooms starting to grow there
it was a 1.3 HLE variant i think as well with the A series engine. I am not really sure what this got you in trim level back in the day ... probably the radio or something but i really dont remember anything other than the colour coded metallic blue interior - seats, dash, the works!
Jeez, still gives me shudders that i drove such a deth-trap.

but hey we all have to start with something ....

Not all Montego's were that bad. They weren't great though, I had two Maestro's and a Montego at one point. Good god they could rust, I started buying Italian cars because they were less rusty lol
monty2.jpg
 

G N K

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Newtownabbey
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Anything
And yet the 216GSi with the honda engine is a world away.

205 Straight Diesel in 5 door guise.. Slow as anything, zero creature comforts (not even power steering) and a jammed manual drivers window. It's only redeeming feature was getting me home from Newcastle Upon Tyne on a Sunday after flying over for a Senator which had the big ends hanging out of it.View attachment 237046

What a machine!

Think people aren't quite getting the topic here... E92 M3s and fresh A7s being classed as depressing cars.

My current 320d is starring to get the better of me, have lots of respect for it though so it'll be kept until its death and until I've enough money for what I actually want.
 

NickR

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11,040
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A6/E39 530i
105!!! Lol

Mine was remapped to 160ish, totally different car after.
Feels more like 15 at times 😂

I miss having a properly quick car (The other half usually drives the A6 so that doesn't count!)
 

nobby

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wee Norn Iron
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Jap stuff
Not all Montego's were that bad. They weren't great though, I had two Maestro's and a Montego at one point. Good god they could rust, I started buying Italian cars because they were less rusty lol
View attachment 237051


Mine was an exception! My number plate was also HIB so that tells you all in terms of vintage and ****-ness! :grinning:
at least when you owned yours, Austin Rover could throw an extra fiver in for revisions etc :grinning:

My dad bought a Meastro shortly after its debut to the market all those moons ago... it too was metallic blue in 1.6 guise ... it put a leg outta bed after 6 months and constantly had fuel gauge issues and generally being a piece of ****. that summarises the era of both cars most likely
 

Cooper

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Belfast
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C63 / Emira
Oh and for @chris_b benefit,
What a machine!

Think people aren't quite getting the topic here... E92 M3s and fresh A7s being classed as depressing cars.

My current 320d is starring to get the better of me, have lots of respect for it though so it'll be kept until its death and until I've enough money for what I actually want.
Agreed it should be something you can look at objectively and truly be considered utter *****.
 

cormac81

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Lurgan/ish
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GTI, VRS, Superb
Vectra C SRi. I liked how it looked but the handling was so so bad. Soon realised a 25 yr old with no kids did not need a derv family car.
 

big_pete

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Ballyclare
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Soulless pos
I've owned alot of cars that I really hated.

My MK4 supra was probably the one that depressed me the most. Looked incredible but was a 3.0 non turbo auto. Slow and horrendous on fuel, was scared to park it anywhere and got followed home in it a few times by JR scum. Was a nightmare to sell too. Broke the power steering and at the time it cost me so much in fuel I couldnt afford to fix it for a month lol made parking with 20's interesting.

FB_IMG_1558710960315.jpg


Also had a Rover 214, that I actually wanted to buy. As soon as I drove it home I realised it was awful, had to endure it for a few months before I could afford something better. The drivers window feel down into the door and smashed to pieces and glass went everywhere when I was driving one night.

Also managed to drive from Ballyclare to Bangor and back again for two days before a taxi man commented on my "personal reg". @Robert had made up a plate saying GAY 4 U and stuck it on the back lol
 

Chris100

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718 T
Fiat Panda and a Vauxhall Astra 1.7d estate.

Both were given to me as company cars many years ago.

Both equally terrible.
 

chris_b

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11,657
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A car
For me, it’s easy....

Vauxhall Calibra that I had 23 years ago. Thing was amazing in the looks dept and sadly the only car I do not have a picture of 😭
However, it was dashboard roulette each and every time you started it and it was constantly giving trouble, although nothing serious like the cylinder head issues most had.

Also, at least once a week some scrote tried to steal it, one week it was so bad the police actually parked up for the night outside my folks house to allow us some sleep 😆
 
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FM155

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Alfa 155
103-0327_IMG.JPG


Not all sh1t cars are bad. I bought this 414Sli in Nottingham for £350 in 2004 when I was working in Derby as a runabout / airport car. Ran it for 18 months in Derby and when I got a job in Madrid, it went with me. (This is it en route after an all night run through France) Ran it for a year in Spain during which time it needed a HG but I did it in an alleyway behind the flat in Madrid one weekend. After a year in Madrid, I drove it back up to Leicester where the next gig was. I ran it for another 6 months there until I bought another Alfa and sold the 414 for £250.

Oh aye it had Pirelli 4000's on the back which I reckon were on it from new and were so hard that the slightest drop of rain meant you could enter corners looking out the side windows with a slight lift off on entry. It was great craic tbh and I loved the fact that it was so crap that nobody gave it a second glance.
 

therock

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Slumming it
I had an old Rover 200.
The gasket on it was the usual with that model and literally required topping up with water on the daily. It was a pure bucket
 

Jecks

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Just laughing to myself. About 20 years ago I bought the girlfriend , now wife, think it was a 1.0l metro, light blue between the rust
Jez what a heap , wife absolutely loved it being her first car. She used to go and paint over the rust with a paintbrush.
I remember driving it at night time about 6 months later , complete death trap, couldn’t see a thing, full lights on and no one noticed, brakes took a week to stop. Knocks , whines etc
Think traynors collected it for £50
Bought here a Citroen ax gt
 
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