The Worst or Most Pug Ugly Car In The World

[Richy2]

I've driven in Poland, and witnessed first hand their appalling driving attiude, and this is what would be regarded as exemplary vehicle control over there!

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by georgemacspoon

This isn't VW's finest hour, you really have to say. But if I was looking for Germany's contender for the World's Wosrt Car Ever, surely there never was a worse car in Germany than this?



The Wartburg Knight: a two stroke sewing machine on wheels.



It's great selling point was that it was cheap. I am catastrophically mean with money, everyone who ever met me will confirm this. That's why I became an accountant. But how cheap is cheap enough?

[dbailey]

I can't believe that you have all slagged off the Austin Allegro and Maestro when a far worse offender was on the roads.

I wish I had a picture...

..ladies and gentlemen I give you the

Morris Marina 1300.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFakcNhI6Mc

a 1275cc 4 cylinder A series engine driving the rear wheels through a four speed manual gearbox and al the aerodynamics of a garden shed. I think it may even have had leafspring suspension a la cart horse.

The Allegro was a triumph of front wheel drive design with hydroactive suspension in comparsion...same nasty 1275cc A series engine though in the 1300 variant. I drove an Austin 1100 at the time and I coveted the 1300 Allegro...if you had shown me the Allegro 1750 GT I would have wet myself.

[BigBucket]

Originally Posted by tmee2000

Reliant
Britain's answer to the Plastic Fantastic Trabi, less one wheel. My first impression of these (luckily, not from the driver's seat) was that it was somebody's idea of a sick joke. No, they were deadly serious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=130OVZcMEcA You will love this then.

[Tmee2020]

Originally Posted by BigBucket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T98JvmubpMk You will love this then.

Now this is spooky- Gail, nice to have you here- but I was just watching this very Top Gear episode not 5 minutes before coming home to VEF and finding Scounds' new thread.

Anyway, I will see your Reliant and raise you a Trabi. It's not the one I was looking for, there are just too many "Trabi on fire" vids to choose from. These people are clearly unaware of the location of the fuel tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PabCd...eature=related

[Tmee2020]

Originally Posted by georgemacspoon

Think it´s time to not only blame italian or british cars, but also Germany has had some big fails in engineering - the VW 411/412

And while we're on Volkswagen- what about this one?



Headlights- 2 Candlepower. An engine-rear axle arrangement that can most generously be described as "Lethal" and might have been an attempt at population control.

No the VW Beetle doesn't even make it out of the Group stage here. They're too reliable, for one thing. That was shown on another Top Gear "Across the Desert" episode.
It was all that testing in North Africa I think.

I better be careful- the Wolfsburg engineers might be around to repossess my Passat.

[Tmee2020]

Australia's entry.
Lightburn made cement mixers and washing machines and this was in competition with the Mini, which wasn't much more expensive.
It might have been all right but the styling isn't too flash. Apart from the snappy looking sports car. It shared the Trabi gravity-fed fuel tank technology.
I think there is one in the National Motor Museum, well worth a visit if you are in South Australia.

[squigg58]

Originally Posted by tmee2000

And while we're on Volkswagen- what about this one?

Gets my vote for one of the best cars ever made!

Tough (Once hit a Ford Escort. The Escort was a write-off. The Beetle front bumper was bent about a 1/4 inch!)
Reliable (Never ever broke down)
Versatile (Would run on absolutely anything. I swear blind that if you'd had a couple of beers and had run out of petrol, you could piss in the tank and it would get you home!)

Worst car I have ever driven ... an early Escort XR3. What an absolute pile of excrement that was! Fortunately, it wasn't mine!

[Xexemedes]

He he, nice thread Scoundrel

The late 80's early 90's Chrysler/Maserati comes to mind:



It was basically a LeBaron morphed into a Maserati. They were plagued with recalls of various kinds and about half a hundred "service bulletins". Little annoyances like leaking roofs and clutches that wouldn't quite stay together. Those who bought it expecting the power and handling of an Italian exotic were rewarded with the bone crunching 3.0 liter, v6 with 141 horses .

I bought a 1997 Chevy S-10 pick-up for work, brand new (first and only).


(mine was green but later had the 1998 rims as does this one)

After my 11th visit to the shop in the first year (still under full warranty-but, of course, the warranty did not cover my lost wages) the service adviser labeled it a "Monday morning truck". I swore that I would never buy a Chevy again!. A preposterous number of things broke or malfunctioned, sometimes two or three things a week! One day the warranty expired. I began fixing the truck myself, and, miraculously, the truck would run for months and months on end with no ridiculous problems. I later received something like a $14.00 check as part of a $3 million class-action lawsuit filed against the repair shop-seems they were experts at causing malfunctions.

I just sold that truck this year. I ended up with 10 really good years of dependable service (not counting the first 3). But for the first 4 years or so I stopped a number of my contractor friends from buying S-10's because a bunch of greedy bastards (working for a licensed Chevy dealer BTW) wanted to fleece General Motors for millions in unnecessary repairs.

[BigBucket]

Originally Posted by tmee2000

And while we're on Volkswagen- what about this one?



Headlights- 2 Candlepower. An engine-rear axle arrangement that can most generously be described as "Lethal" and might have been an attempt at population control.

No the VW Beetle doesn't even make it out of the Group stage here. They're too reliable, for one thing. That was shown on another Top Gear "Across the Desert" episode.
It was all that testing in North Africa I think.

I better be careful- the Wolfsburg engineers might be around to repossess my Passat.

Ah the beetle, people conveniently forget that this car was officially endorced by the biggest mass murderer in the world. That alone should have consigned this vehicle to well deserved obscurity.