The worst car ever sold in the UK?

These are many favourite contenders.

Morris Marina

In the early 70's British Leyland needed a car to rival the excellent Ford Cortina. Instead of designing an all new car BL decided to use the platform of the 1948 Morris Minor with disastrous consequences.

With little modification they stuck a fairly modern bodyhsell on top of a Morris Minor, they then uprated the engines to offer more power. The problem was that the chassis could not really handle any more power than the 800cc unit it was originally designed to use. A 1.7 litre engine with Morris Minor breaks was quite simply terrifying.

The car rusted like most BL products and tarnished Morris's reputation for good.



Austin Allegro

Another awful car from BL, this car looked ugly and early cars featured an awful square steering wheel. It had a clever gas suspension which leaked and caused bodys to collapse. The engines failed, the gearboxes teared them selves to pieces and they rusted from day one. Oil leaks, head gasket failures and rot problems were all too common.



Lada Riva

In some ways the Lada should been a good car, it was based on the excellent 1965 Fiat 124, the trouble was by the time it was launched in the UK in the mid 70's the car was already 10 years old. To make matters worse Lada's were never as well built as the Fiat original and they used their own engines and gearboxes. It was replaced in 1983 with the Riva, this was a Fiat 124 with a more modern bodyshell. The problem was the engines, gearboxes and chassis were the same old design which was approaching 20 years old. It was rear wheel drive and had an awful suspension, this meant that handling was down right dangerous. The breaks were weak and the steering was very heavy. The engines were touch but extremely crude, slow and noisy. Clutches would fail and the electrics failed more than they worked. Perhaps the Lada's biggest problem was rust, they rust and rust even from a very early age. Remarkable the Riva is actually one of the best selling cars in the world and is still made today, however it has not been sold in the UK since 1997 as it failed to meet modern safety and emission standards.



Vauxhall Vectra MK1

A truly nasty car, it looked quite good but it was too similar to the dated Cavalier it replaced. Engines were nothing spectacular and the electrics failed from day one. The car was nearly always bottom of the customer satisfaction surveys. It is a shame because if it had better engines and reliability it would have been a half decent car.



Rover 45

One of the last of the 'Rondas'. This car was actualy based on a late 80's Honda Civic using a mid 90's Civic bodyhshell. There wasn't actually a lot wrong with the car in itself, but it became a pricey antique. The Civic's had reliable Honda engines, the Rover version had the unreliable K series units which would often seize up after 60,000 miles. In 2003 Rover updated the car with horrendous results. It stuck a modern dashboard and front grill onto a 10 year old body. It failed and it ended up looking even more dated, most of these cars ended up on fields waiting to be sold as the public were not fooled, even Rover fans avoided this piece of junk.



Austin/Rover Montego

In many ways the Montego was a good a car, it looked bland but offered more power than a Ford Sierra and had lots of standard equipment. The problem with the Montego though was its durability. Being a product of the ex British Leyland group it had major rust problems where as the Ford Sierra was a lot of better in this regard. The engines could cope with 100k but they would break down frequently. In reality most bodies failed long before the engines did, many never lived to their 10th birthday.



Skoda Estelle

Long before the Volkswagen Auto Group (VAG) took over Skoda had a reputation for buildling solid reliable budget cars. However the Estelle was rear engined which meant the handling was down right dangerous. This Skoda didn't have any significant problems with rust but the engine needed constant attention and the interior was cheap and nasty in comparison the Lada Riva's interior was quite luxurious.

Much of this didn't matter anyway, the handling was so awful the car would be written off into an early grave anyway.



Morris Ital

Another failure for BL, this car was designed to replace the Marina in 1980. However it used the same awful chasis, the same crappy engines and the same body with only minor modifications by the Italian design house Ital. It was soon killed off and the car did not have a fighting chance against the new Sierra and Cavalier.



If you can think of any awful cars please tell me and I can add them. The car has to be have officialy been sold in the Uk to qualify.

Ford Escort MK5
The MK4 Escort was actually a good car, it looked bland but was reasonable to drive and had class leading interior. Reliability was also good for a British built car. However in 1990 Ford has to replace it so it could compete with the new Golf and Astra which were in the pipeline.

The results has a horrible bland design with a heavy steering and awful reliability. The fuse boxes would rust causing all sorts of electrical problems. The engines were the same old Engines carried over from the MK4 and Fiesta. In 1994 most these problems were ironed out and the new Zetec engine was introduced, but it wasn't until 1995 when the Escort got new interior, class leading sound proofing and improved crumple zones that the Escort became a decent car again.

With the MK5 Ford had made the mistake that BL was famous for, letting accountants design cars. They got so much criticisms that Ford made sure the Mondeo would be a class leader and spent a fortune in making sure it was a world class car, that investment had paid off.



FSO Polonez

Based on a 1966 Fiat 125 but with a more modern bodyshell the FSO Polonez was so awful its amazing it was ever allowed to imported to the UK. The company used to be called Poski Fiat but FIAT ordered them to change their name because of their woeful build quality. The engine was a slow crude antique and it frequently failed.

I think it is fair to say that there are no FSO's left in the UK now as they have all rusted away. FSO's used to be a common site in the UK in the late 80's and early 90's.

Oh and the best feature of the FSO was the hatchback, the rear seats could not be folded down!



Yugo 45

Based on the Fiat 127 (a pattern is emerging here) the car was the cheapest car on the market in both the USA and UK. It had an slow 903cc engine and had shocking build quality. The gearboxes would normaly pack up well before 60,000 miles.

Panels never fitted properly and the interior fell off.

http://www.synlube.com/images/yugo45.jpg

 

FSO Polonez?
Yugo Sana?
TATA Loadbeta?

Of that list, my dad once owned an Ital and a Montego, the latter I can actually remember from when I was a kid (he had 2 of them in fact, quite liked them at the time as well for some reason). He also had a renault 4 at one point, a gold one...not sure how good or bad a car the 4 actually was, but my god they're ugly!

 

Think you're missing the Wartburg Knight....a really nasty offering with a 2 stroke engine

 

Yep I have the FSO Polonez to add, I have this thread running on two forums so its nightmare trying to update them both.

I am also adding the Yugo 45, I won't bother with the Sana as it could have been a good car. I am not familier with the TATA loadbeta is it a 4x4?

I have a poll running on the other forum and Lada is winning, but I don't think the Lada is anything like as bad as the Marina. My dad said the only time he has ever been scared in a car was driving a hired Marina on the motorway.

 

There is a DeLorean in a private motor museum in Newburn [N bank of the Tyne].

I can't remember seeing any car that was as badly put together. Just shows how idiotic civil servants are for throwing money at that project.

Well worth a visit for Paul Birkett, MrCat etc

 

My family had an Allegro once. A very expensive mistake, and a terrible car to drive.

 

Definately one of the worst ever!

"The Knight handled adequately in the dry but disastrously in the wet, with a strong instinct for ploughing straight on given the slightest opportunity. For those who wanted to plod, its 76 mph top speed was probably acceptable, but anyone following in the Wartburg's wake would have been choking in a mist of blue oil smoke. Neither was it especially thrifty, returning 28 mpg. As usual for its ilk, its major attraction was price: here was a Cortina-sized car at a Mini-sized price - just £690 in 1970. No longer able to pass emissions tests - and damned for its handling - the Knight disappeared from the UK market in 1977, although it was still offered in East Germany as late as 1985."

But don't forget the Moskvitch 412

"The Moskvich engineers had got hold of a cutaway sketch of a BMW four-cylinder unit and built their own, providing the 412 with straight-line urge that was very much in excess of its ability to go around corners. In fact, the 412 was so quick that the importers entered it in saloon-car racing which, at that time, was organised along price lines. In a field of 850 cc Minis, Dafs and Hillman Imps, the Moskvich cleaned up - the terminal understeer and wilting drum brakes didn't matter when you could blow everything away on the straights. Its moment of glory didn't last long, however; terrible press reports hinted that the car might actually be a danger to the public and imports dried up in 1975. Production in Russia continued well into the '80s, however."

 

Did anyone mention the Lada Riva Cossack?
My dad had Morris Marina.. he hated it.

I had a Vectra mk1 for a while.... nothing wrong with the engine - that was the only good thing about it! handling crap and lots of little things going wrong all the time, and the Vauxhall garage didn't give a sh**. Luckily it was a company car so it wasn't my pocket. But it was actually a very good car for going long distance on motorways.

 

The Moskvitch 412 had a world in action programme dedicated to it didn't as it was so dangerious.

The Niva Cossack isn't such a bad car, it can climb mountains like a Land Rover and its cheap and durable. Even now they fetch £500-£1000 on the used market.

They are however awful to drive. I still see a few Niva's on the road.

 

My grandad had a knack of buying bad cars since he stopped getting Cortina hand me downs he has owned:

Two Allagros, one of which needed a new engine.
A Lada 1200 (Fiat 124), a Lada Riva 1200
Two Montegos
A meastro
and finally a Nissan Micra hand my down.

I remember his Montegos were a lot more unreliable than his Lada which he had for years. My uncle thought the Montego would be a better car (which it was) so he sold the Lada in favour for my uncles old Montego.

Out of that list my dads just had two Ladas, the first one was nothing but trouble but the second one was actually very reliable until it got to about 60,000 miles and the gearbox and engine failed. It had never been serviced though

 

What about those Indian Tatas?

 

The main reason the 2L Montegos were unreliable was because most mechanics couldn't set up the carb. The 1.6 was rubbish (stupid place to put breather system) though it was better than the 1.3. The ECU's used were very low grade. The C reg montego tubo had to be detuned due to the amount that ended up in ditches.

 

Aye that was the motor I mentioned in my post, the Loadbeta being the pick up truck version! Our old next door neighbour had one from their building company, a few years back...horrible thing.

Its engine was the old 90bhp Peugeot non-HDI turbo diesel unit from the 306, but everything else was just plain crap - it had the worst interior build quality I've ever seen in a car, and I've been in both a Lada Riva and Samara (perhaps worthy of addition?) in my time! Perhaps I'm biased against the TATA in this respect though, the Ladas were much older designs than the TATA and so I was expecting more of it.

Their TATA never broke down though, probably followed the Ladas in whilst built using cheap materials and shoddy designs, with no quality control worth mentioning, the overall simplicity of the thing was such that it was actually pretty tough.

Another possible addition, Hyundai Pony?

And a real wildcard- the DeLorean DMC-12?

If it wasn't for 'Back To The Future' nobody would be fond of it, it was vastly overweight, underpowered (only 130bhp), the windows leaked, the doors didn't close properly half the time, and cost $25,000, despite its model name supposedly being derived from its price in thousands (it was intended to cost $12,000 but development costs spiralled). The back story to the Delorean company itself is even more shambolic than the car

 

Talking of Maestro's and Montego's:

My brother had a strange MG Montego obsession for a while (he had two of them). The 2nd of the two was actually not a bad drive, but predictably rusted to nowt and needed constant visits to the garage.

The MG Maestro Turbo was ridiculoulsly fast wasn't it? 0-60 in under 7 secs or something daft like that. I remember (a long time ago; 1980-something) flicking through the specs of all the fastest mainstream production cars for the UK to try to find something that was quicker than the Maestro, I think the Supra injection turbo just about pipped it.

Needless to say, regardless of how fast they went, I wouldn't touch one with a sh*tty stick.

 

What about the Trabant Gernman engineering at its best

 

Was the Tribant ever sold in the UK? I didn't add it becuase I wasn't sure. As for the Lada Samara I have never been on one but my dads old Lada machanic reckoned they were a lot more unreliable than the Riva.

However if that was the case why did I see Sameras moving?

 

Nissan Bluebird worthy of a mention as well?

 

Another one I thought of, but is there anything wrong with it? It has to be the most boring car ever sold in the UK, but its reliable and its supposed to be oddly good to drive.

It is a nasty car though, I would have rather had a Montego even if would have cost three times as much in repair bills.

 

I learned to drive in my dad's Allegro and quite liked it - had some kind of gas based suspension and never went wrong on us. My brother had a Reliant Regal which was diabolical. We went from Ipswich to Wales in it and had to have the heater on full to suck air over the engine and cool it down. It then failed to get up a steep hill and when we tried to turn it round, went up on two wheels and almost rolled do the hill sideways... It eventually met its end when someone reversed into it and the thing disintegrated in a heap of fibreglass shards.

 

Midlife was that one of the later Allegros? Apparantly the later exampls are half decent cars as much of the build quality issues were sorted out.