What's the worst car you've actually driven yourself? Has any car ever seriously let you down at some point? It can anything you disliked, maybe some clapped-out old banger or some hideously ugly new car or something inferior from one of the lesser car companies (usually based in South East Asia).

I can't really think of anything too horrible, although I have driven quite few a crappy little cars, some that come to mind are the Seat Arosa and a 1990s Toyota Starlet. I once drove an old Peugeot 205 but I can't really remember what that was like. I don't have the heart to say my old Renault Clio because although it wasn't much it was still pretty reliable, although at one point I was hardly using it and the battery kept going flat maybe because it had an immobiliser and burglar alarm fitted outside the factory. I guess I'll go for the Starlet. Actually before I bought my Clio I tried a Mk5 Ford Escort (early 90s), and that was pretty nasty so I didn't buy it. Amusingly one of the hubcaps came off when I was leaving the driveway of the fool who was selling it.

I did not drive many cars.
I disliked the Toyota Yaris that I had to drive for one week.
The only really bad car that I drove was bad because of its engine in end of life and its gearbox, not because of the car itself: a smart fortwo whose engine had probably lost about 50 to 75% of its power, linked to an automatic gearbox that took more time to shift than a learning driver

I once drove a Yaris (the first model) and I didn't like it because the digital speedometer (displaying an LED number of miles an hour you were doing instead of the usual clock) was in the middle of the dashboard instead of in front of the steering wheel, and it was awkward trying to look at that part of the dashboard instead of glancing down in front of you like with most other cars. A pretty stupid feature from silly designers trying to be original, I don't like it when they to alter the basics of a car like that.

I've only driven about a dozen or so cars in the 6 years since I first got my provisional license. I once thought of starting a thread asking people how many cars they'd driven and what they were, but then I realised that some members (especially the older ones) would have driven hundreds of cars in their time and probably wouldn't remember all of them.

The worst car I ever drove was actually a new rental 2000 Ford Windstar mini van. It was the base trim level, and as a result, was equipped with base trim level everything, including the engine. It didn’t have enough power to get out of its own way. It was slow, wallowy and the transmission didn’t shift smoothly. The only thing it did do good (I think) was braking.

That was indeed one of the reasons why I did not like it, that dashboard/display.
But I also disliked the fact that it was quite "high", and the seat was high and quite "vertical" if you see what I mean.
When I got the 206 back, I felt like I was nearly lying down in the driver seat compared to the Yaris
What I do not like in cars where you are higher (which is more and more common nowadays since people like that) is that the speed feeling decreases. In that Yaris I was all the time at 70 km/h when I thought that I was only at 50.
With the Peugeot 106 Rallye it is the opposite: with its hard suspension and lower position you do not have to drive too fast to feel like you are driving fast

I've heard that when you ride in really low cars like Caterham Sevens you feel like you're going faster. Unfortunately I've never ridden in anything as exciting as that.

I drove a kart two weeks ago, you have the feeling to drive quite fast

Why do people like that so much? "Oooh, I like to sit high in my SUV" Oh really, does it remind you of when you were a baby sitting in your high chair while you dribbled food onto your chest? If you want to sit high go and ride on the top decker of a double deck bus!

If I was a car dealer I'd ask that of people when they say one of the good things about SUVs is that you sit higher up. In fact if I was a car dealer I'd want to discourage people from buying them, and direct them to a normal car which is what they should be driving.

>Neputune- My uncle had a 2000 Windstar LX which was really crappy, but it wasn't cared for too well either. It had an accident when they owned it for only 3 months and the damage was serious. After 2 years of ownership the transmission died. Other than that it had some mechanical problems, squeaky brakes, and some big dents all over the body. (I never drove it)

>G-MANN- I know that feeling about siting up high while drving. I particularly do not like it, but practicing on my future F150 did help me get used to it. I would prefer an Acura from my grandmother, but I'm not sure. I actually could use a truck anyway, maybe not as big but since my mother is providing it for me I should be thankful for it.

And back to the worst car I ever drove. The worst handling was the previous DTS. The steering felt lose and it wasn't really tight. The oldest cheapest one was the 1996 Driver's ed Corsica. It handled well, the brakes were stiff, but was pretty slow and it was probably really worn out.

The worse car I have ever driven was a Chevrolet Vega. Owned one for a short while and it was terrible - had a company car for a while and it was worse than mine.

What was so bad about it?

You could practically watch it rust - windshield surround and floorboard was gone in two years. It had an aluminum engine block (including cylinder bore) that didn't last so they burned oil, smoked and fouled spark plugs like crazy. You didn't go anywhere without 2 extra quarts of oil and a set of clean spark plugs.

The company car was an automatic with air conditioning and when the air was on it didn't leave much power for the car. If you went up a long hill it would downshift to get up to speed then upshift then would lose speed and downshift again, etc, etc, etc. Total piece of crap.

Edit:

I guess the main problem with the engine was that it had a very inadequage cooling system and the engine would get hot and that caused the soft cylinder bore to wear - particularly in the last cylinder - it had an inline 4 cylinder engine.

I pretty much doubt that, as most of the car dealers are paid in %age from the price of the sold vehicle - therefor, there is a difference if you sell expensive SUV or a cheap sedan

I know, I'm just talking. But I still wouldn't like to have to sell SUVs, I'd feel like I'd be selling my soul as well. The thing is nearly every brand sells an SUV now which is just sad. I was going to be a car salesman I'd have to work for one of the exotic sports car brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini or Aston Martin to avoid selling SUVs.

I got a Citroën Picasso once, from the autoclub, when my CX broke down. What a terrible thing to drive, not worth the name Citroën. With a big sign in the dash, showing if the childlocks were on or off.
And I am usually not very fond of Korean cars

I haven't driven many bad cars. I guess it would be this 2007 Jeep Liberty Sport 4x4. Terrible car. Loud, didn't turn at all, on the highway you had to constantly wrestle with it to keep it from swerving into another lane, it got worse miles per gallon then my dad's V8-powered F-150. What made it the worst was, it was a big V6 SUV, but it didn't have any more room then my own Tempo. Only sat 5 people, and it felt really cramped.

You haven't driven many cars (properly, on public roads, not down your parent's 4 mile long driveway), you're too young to drive by yourself anyway.

Obviously not as much as most of you, but you'd be surprised. I can drive on public roads, even if not without an adult. I do have a permit, in less then a year I'll have my license. I've been driving for about a year and a half. I've driven many cars (friend's and relative's cars).