And the award to biggest POS car goes to...

[jadewombat]

This topic is probably beaten to death, but when you drive the worst car of your life you just have to share.

OK, so I live in Quito, Ecuador and drive a 2011 Ford Fusion hybrid. Just hear me out a minute. Not as quick as my old RS4, but a really good car in the altitude here (you become a target if you drive something fancy around here). My car was hit about a month ago by a woman in the parking lot. It's been in repairs, insurance company got me a rental. A 2013 "Chevy" Spark made in Korea. Not the newer style ones with turbos they sell in the states, nope, the old venerable coffin on wheels.




Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against small cars. I really admire the newer Spark, Mini Cooper, etc. and the B-Spec racing program (amazing what those cars can do).

So anyhoo, this thing I was given for 10 days is the WORST car I've ever driven hands down. It's FWD 1.0 cylinder engine is the most underpowered piece of junk, you had to constantly keep your foot into it above 4000RPMs to get anywhere. Passengers or slight hills? Forget about it. Handled like a cardboard box with a steering wheel grafted onto it. Little engine, high efficiency? Unt-uh. Barely squeezed out 30 mpg. My Ford does 40mpg. And the worst part, this thing is dangerous. No kidding. I was taken by surprise quite a few times how awful the brakes are.

I had the gas pedal buried on the highway and it would not get over 100k/hr (60mph). GM really??? Come on.

[A930Rocket]

Looks like a SMART car from where I'm sitting and the same amount of crumple zone.

[masraum]

Nice, I hate underpowered cars. Yours was probably extra bad if you are in the mountains. The turbo would have made a big difference, but if the steering and brakes were that bad, that may have been worse.

[recycled sixtie]

So your insurance company gave you a small car with a small engine. That is no surprise as they are trying to save money unless you pony up for a large car.

Secondly is a small car a POS if it has a small engine? Not necessarily. It is an economy car. So if you put a large engine in a small car does that make it better?
In terms of speed/acceleration yes but fuel economy no.

I am no great fan of American cars but the small ones I have driven are adequate and reasonably priced. I cannot name a POS car that is currently made. There is too much competition. Garbage cars cannot exist for long.

[wdfifteen]

I've had a lot of fun driving underpowered cars with OK brakes. (my first car was a 36 hp 1960 VW) The right pedal is just on-off. The bad brakes the OP describes are a different story. If an underpowered car still overpowers the brakes, that's a serious problem.

[Chas White]

As someone —and I forget who—said, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

[Steve Carlton]

Haven't driven any Sparks, but I think the worst modern car I've driven is the Smart. I wonder which one is worse (or if it matters)?

[aap1966]

Originally Posted by jadewombat

...... I was taken by surprise quite a few times how awful the brakes are......

If the brakes can't pull up something that size........

[AFC-911]

Originally Posted by masraum

Nice, I hate underpowered cars.

Don't you drive a Miata?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

Secondly is a small car a POS if it has a small engine? Not necessarily. It is an economy car. So if you put a large engine in a small car does that make it better?
In terms of speed/acceleration yes but fuel economy no.
Garbage cars cannot exist for long.

I've had plenty of low performance economy cars over the years, a bunch of them had <100hp. I have no problem with low performance cars and/or small engines, assuming they fit the car and perform reasonably. I have driven a few cars that just could not get out of their own way. Cars that were so slow that it felt dangerous pulling out into traffic in them. There certainly have been cars that were just bad. Are there any now, I suspect there probably are. Some people just don't care, and will drive anything that gets them from A to B

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I've had a lot of fun driving underpowered cars with OK brakes. (my first car was a 36 hp 1960 VW) The right pedal is just on-off. The bad brakes the OP describes are a different story. If an underpowered car still overpowers the brakes, that's a serious problem.

Absolutely, I've had lots of fun in cars with <100hp, but that doesn't mean that every low powered car is fun.

Originally Posted by Chas White

As someone —and I forget who—said, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

Absolutely, I've had a great time driving like a nut at legal speeds in slow cars.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by AFC-911

Don't you drive a Miata?

Yep, but they aren't underpowered. I could use the power they had to induce oversteer in corners, and I could get out in front of most cars at a light. My '97 topped out at 115-120. they weren't going to win many drag races, but they were fast enough. The current miata is a turbo. It's not underpowered either.

My parents had a Seat 850 when they lived in Spain. I assume it was an 850cc motor. The top of the carb wasn't much bigger than a quarter. I topped it out once, 110kph. Yeah, it was slow, but not the worst that I've ever driven.

[Paco Anton]

I see you lived in Cadiz in Southern Spain. I guess your father was in the military and probably assigned to the Rota naval base. Nice place and weather!!!

The Seat 850 was the "standard" car at the time in Spain where there was little choice. It was, however, a big improvement form the earlier Seat 600. My father had one and we drove in the summer to the beach filled with luggage. Unbelivable nowadays.

The Beetle would be a luxury in that era since imports were quite restricted. Maybe there was some way for foreigners to import cars.

[petrolhead611]

The worst made car I ever owned was a Berkeley B105.Fibreglass monocoque with thin aluminium reinforcement-its obvious I never crashed it because I am still here. No constant velocity joints on the front wheel drive shafts(instead Hooke joints that had to be greased every 100 miles. Duplex chain drive from engine to aluminium mounted gearbox.Let the motorcycle clutch out too fiercely and the gearbox would be pulled out of line.Combination of motorcycle clutch and Hooke joints and very high first gear meant that pulling away from a reverse cambered roadside parking space was very difficult as one was fighting the torque of the engine and proceeding at inappropriately high speed for the manouver. Front suspension pivots ran in aluminium brackets.
The car was light (circa 750 pounds)and relatively powerful(50 BHP) so was fast for its day,(and in fact were successful in motorsport) but severe scuttle shake at speed rendered the mirrors and instruments unreadable.Detachable rim wheels.No space for anything, girl passengers had to put their handbag on their knees, so I suppose that feature would have earned their mothers' approval. I sold it after a month.

[jadewombat]

I wanted an upgrade, Budget didn't have any other car though. I've driven my share of slow cars and I know all about staying on the gas to keep the momentum up. With crappy brakes this is not an option though.

I know people have to get around and all, but I dunno. The smallest cars from manufacturers tend to be the worst ones on the road though:

'Consumer Reports' rips Toyota Scion iQ microcar


You wouldn't consciously drive a car not firing on all cylinders (not only from the engine damage, but not being able to keep up in traffic), a suspension with the shocks totally shot and bouncing down the road or a tie rod about to break, nor a car with leaking wheel cylinders--to me a "new" car that is TOO slow, doesn't handle good, or doesn't stop correctly is just as unsafe.

My car still isn't ready, waiting on the import of a $700 headlight assembly. Sigh. Anyhoo, got a "Chevy" 4-door Aveo with a trunk for a week. Big difference over the Spark. 16V engine and decent brakes.

I've lived in Ecuador for almost a year. This is a developing country still. Things are getting better here economically, but my concern for the future is the huge influence of Chinese cars, trucks, and motorcycles here. How much would you pay for a 2011 Ford Fusion Hybrid with 12,000 miles? I had to pay $30,000. Yep. Food and rent are cheap here, but cars, electronics, and booze are ridiculously expensive. Would you pay $80K for a 2014 Passat AWD or Honda CR-V 4WD? Because cars are so high priced, people tend to buy the next model down, etc.

The streets are littered with Sparks, and 4-cyl. Suzuki Vitaras, and Aveos. And a lot of Chinese cars are also here that you've probably never heard of like Great Wall, Ambacar, Cinascar, Lifan. What is worse is that cars new or used are roughly double what they should cost, then motorcycles are the complete opposite in pricing. It's very hypocritical. You can have your pick of a brand new motorcycle starting at $700. Yep, 125cc of Chinese single cylinder crap on two wheels; Pulsar, Motor1, Shineray, etc. I see these guys broken down by the side of the road all the time, most of them haven't even taken off the light blue plastic on the chrome parts! I can't stand the motorcycles here. They get in front of you at a traffic light, take off full-throttle wheezing down the road and are still in your way. The Chinese have a huge market influence here (I think from a lot of back-door deals) it's just sad seeing people piss their money away on junk.

Again, I know everyone can't afford a decent car but to me it's like getting some money saved up and choosing between buying a 20 year old 2-bedroom brick house or a brand new mobile home.

They do sell decent cars here though. Chevy makes small 4WD diesel trucks here in Ecuador, the same with Mazda--both sell for about $28K new.

[gamin]

Concur, Seat 600, Seat 850 Spyder, or Geo Metro wagon with auto trans. Would rather have the 600 than the Geo. Spent 7 yrs in Rota. Picked up my 70 in Madrid.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Paco Anton

I see you lived in Cadiz in Southern Spain. I guess your father was in the military and probably assigned to the Rota naval base. Nice place and weather!!!

The Seat 850 was the "standard" car at the time in Spain where there was little choice. It was, however, a big improvement form the earlier Seat 600. My father had one and we drove in the summer to the beach filled with luggage. Unbelivable nowadays.

The Beetle would be a luxury in that era since imports were quite restricted. Maybe there was some way for foreigners to import cars.

Yes, my dad was stationed at Rota. I spent two summers there. It's a beautiful area and the people are great. The weather was very nice. It reminded me of Florida, but a bit less humid.

The Seat was an interesting little car, that was around 1990. Rear engined, rear wheel drive. The only cooling was a radiator the size of a textbook with a little electric fan, IIRC. I can't imagine a family going anywhere in one. They were so small.

[Nostril Cheese]

Friend of mine had a Triumph TR7. THAT is the worst car ever made.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Nostril Cheese

Friend of mine had a Triumph TR7. THAT is the worst car ever made.

In the running for ugliest maybe, but I doubt it was the worst.

I drove one of these, except without the luggage rack (yep, even had the faux wood sticker down the sides). 1.4 liters of 52 hp fury, but at least it was rear wheel drive. I usually couldn't even get the tires to spin in loose sand, but I could do donuts in wet grass. Well, I was able to drive in small circles with one rear tire spinning. I'm not sure that counts. And even it wasn't the worst car that I've ever driven.



I think I had a '90 or 91 Mercury Topaz that was worse. I've also driven a couple of really bad Tercels over the years. I had an '85 Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a 307. It was pretty horrible as well, but again, at least it was rwd.

A girlfriend in HS had a Nissan Pulsar, that was also up at the top of the bad car list.

[Chocaholic]

I owned a TR-7 and can vouch for it as the worst POS ever made. It was a full time job to prevent it from over-heating.

[dennis in se pa]

The "Le Car" and "Hugo" are the worst ever I think. Never had either.