Whats the worst "lemon" car you've ever owned?

[teaboyjim]

Have you ever had a lemon which is a car that from new has been plagued with faults often faults which flummox everybody who has tried to fix them
The car doesn't have to be one that you've owned and so could be a friend, work colleague or an anecdote
My worst lemon was a £3,500 car that I couldn't ever get an electrical fault fixed despite ploughing money into it - ended up loosing about £3,500 in total

 

[JP_]

Ford Focus ST170

Bought from a local dealer, that was also a parent from my son's school (his daughter in same class), so hoped it would be an honest deal. But no. Dealer ignored me thereafter.
Electrics failed every time a cloud passed over, needed welding, rear window washer broken (leaked into the car), alarm went off when the wind blew, there was an engine fault, mis-firing, and local garage quoted £700 to fix it (said it was manifold), but luckily another dad from school was a Ford engineer and worked on the 170s when they first came out, and quickly spotted something loose, and fixed it with some superglue. Sold it after putting through it's MOT, at a loss of about £600 (mostly the welding I think) in one year. Kept it undercover when selling so the electrics would keep working.

I could not get the alarm to stop one night and was convince it was something to do with the snow, so drove it around one evening about 2am before going back to bed. That seemed to settle it. There was no easy way to disabled the alarm, other than leave it unlocked, so I started not locking it at night.

Here's my ebay ad

 

[teaboyjim]

I thought those earlier model petrol focuses were supposed to be bullet proof as a general rule

 

[sxturbo]

I thought those earlier model petrol focuses were supposed to be bullet proof as a general rule

They were, the zetecs were great except for the 170 and focus RS.

 

[Londoner2]

Astra 1.7cdti, bought from local dealer, riddled with faults, lost 1k on it, egr issue, dash lights would light up and then go off again, rad leaked, had a fluid leak somewhere as well, only owned for 4 months.

Twas an ex mobility car, never buy an ex mobility diesel as its only done many short runs.

 

[teaboyjim]

Astra 1.7cdti, bought from local dealer, riddled with faults, lost 1k on it, egr issue, dash lights would light up and then go off again, rad leaked, had a fluid leak somewhere as well, only owned for 4 months. Twas an ex mobility car, never buy an ex mobility diesel as its only done many short runs.

I've heard the same thing said about ex police cars

 

[JP_]

I need a new car now. Wife starts a new job in 4 weeks and current car has failed.

Wish there were still lots of Chevrolets about! Owned a 2005 Chev Lacetti Estate for 12 years, probably spent no more than a few hundred quid on it beyond servicing in that time.

 

[teaboyjim]

I need a new car now. Wife starts a new job in 4 weeks and current car has failed. Wish there were still lots of Chevrolets about! Owned a 2005 Chev Lacetti Estate for 12 years, probably spent no more than a few hundred quid on it beyond servicing in that time.

Have you thought about trying VW's which are fairly good and Skodas?

 

[JP_]

Looking at anything - Skodas, Hyundais, VWs - seems a shortage of good value cars out there at the moment.

 

[JP_]

Current Autotrader filters:
within 10 miles
under £6k
from 2012
under 60k miles
petrol
1.4-1.6L
up to £185 tax
Up to insurance group 10
Exclude Cat S/C/D/N

10 cars ...
there is a Nissan Juke, my mum likes hers ... tempting...

 

[teaboyjim]

Nissan have a reputation for reliability I think

 

[sxturbo]

Looking at anything - Skodas, Hyundais, VWs - seems a shortage of good value cars out there at the moment.

There is.

P.s avoid anything made by vag group, it will cost you a fortune.

Stick to Japanese or Korean, even ford pretty cheap and reliable providing you don't go for the diesels

 

[johnny2007]

There was someone here with a death trap called Vectra with a Fiat engine.
He disappeared, probably over a cliff due to a "slight" problem with brakes...

 

[teaboyjim]

Current Autotrader filters:
within 10 miles
under £6k
from 2012
under 60k miles
petrol
1.4-1.6L
up to £185 tax
Up to insurance group 10
Exclude Cat S/C/D/N
10 cars ...
there is a Nissan Juke, my mum likes hers ... tempting...

Have you looked on gumtree?

 

[teaboyjim]

There is. P.s avoid anything made by vag group, it will cost you a fortune. Stick to Japanese or Korean, even ford pretty cheap and reliable providing you don't go for the diesels

What do you think of Skodas in terms of second hand value for money motors?