Morris Minor Owners Club

We all know what our favourite is, but as a bit of fun, what is your least favourite?
I once had reason to drive a Marina van for work. Evil handling under powered pig of a thing.

3rd worst: 1975 Hillman Hunter 1725cc with alloy head. Used petrol, oil, water, brake fluid and clutch fluid in equal quantities.

2nd worst: 1980 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL automatic. Unbelievably slow. Lethal in the wet. Got through head gaskets faster than I get through Big Macs.

Worst of the worst: My dad's 1979 Chrysler Horizon 1100GL. (Re-badged as a Talbot prior to delivery). Rattly old Simca-designed engine. Notchy beat-the-synchro gearchange. Grabby brakes. Skinny tyres. Roly-poly 2CV-type ride. Orange dashboard, door-cards and carpets. Orange/grey check seat upholstery.

Renault kango. Was always going wrong. Was well maintained. My father bought it when it was 2 years old and gave it to me for work years later. Once the warranty ran out it was going wrong all the time. Got fed up with it. Had to walk 6 miles home one day. When the clutch went at 90k i sold it to a scrappy for £300.

Mother-in-law had a Fiat Brava, had the numbest power steering ever. Almost no feeling of being connected to the road. Also had water soluble electrics. Didn't so much steer as tack...

I had a newly new Golf in 2001 and went wrong from the day I got it and I scrapped it five years later as it rotted away.

palacebear wrote:
Worst of the worst: My dad's 1979 Chrysler Horizon 1100GL. (Re-badged as a Talbot prior to delivery). Rattly old Simca-designed engine. Notchy beat-the-synchro gearchange. Grabby brakes. Skinny tyres. Roly-poly 2CV-type ride. Orange dashboard, door-cards and carpets. Orange/grey check seat upholstery.

A learnt to drive in a Talbot Horizon voted European Car of the Year in 1979 . You forgot to mention the perforated hardboard headlining.
The one I learnt in had stains on the seats which looked like a lesson had gone horribly wrong
The clutch felt awful more like a switch, apparently the clutch failed a few days after I past my test in it.
Regards John

StillGotMy1stCar wrote:You forgot to mention the perforated hardboard headlining.
The one I learnt in had stains on the seats which looked like a lesson had gone horribly wrong
The clutch felt awful more like a switch, apparently the clutch failed a few days after I past my test in it.
Regards John

Thats right! I knew there was something odd about the headlining. Looked like grey peg-board. Seats were definitely not easy-clean. Dad's showed evidence of a thermos flask spillage for years! Clutch lasted well (95000, 195000, or 695000 miles... the odometer was faulty and clocked up 100000 mile increments at random!), despite Dad's arthritis and his reluctance to change gear!

The worst car that I drove was a Lambougini Murcielago whilst working for a super car club. After driving it from Manchester to Surrey it took me 5 minutes to extract myself from it. The most uncomfortable car I have ever driven I don't think my back has been the same since. I asked not to drive it again

My cousin's Reliant Fox is probably the most unpleasant car ever created. Rare,but for a very good reason. Most went to Greece thank goodness.

My sisters least favourite is her current car a 2010 Audi A5 convertible which she got from an Audi dealership in 2013. Two weeks after she got the car the oil light came on and it went back to dealer and it came on three times after that when it was supposed to have been fixed on the last time it melted the pistons and had an engine rebuild. Before she took it for last MOT I had a look round it and said it needs two rear tyres as they were nearly bald and she said I will see if it passes first and it passed and a month after the MOT she was coming home and one rear tyre exploded. Now the hood is leaking like a sieve and they have just charged her £ 700 to put it right and is leaking more now than ever. She reporting them to trading standards.

A new top spec Fiat 500 convertible with an auto-box I rented while on holiday! Was great until I tried to do a hill start on a steep Italian road and the clutch burnt out completely. Had to be towed away.

My friend got a new Rolls Royce and it died within 5 miles of leaving the dealership and they want £900+ before they will even start to look at it. He is going to reject the car.

Not a case of a bad car but definitely the shortest road life. I lived at Leeming Bar, opposite was Crossways Renault dealership. One August the 1st a brand new car was leaving the forecourt which was on a busy junction.It got two wheels on to the road before an HGV ripped the front off it!

I can't honestly nominate a worst car. I have only had one brand new car (Mini) and I was disappointed in the paintwork, which seemed worse than the one I traded in for it.

My father always says his worst was a Ford Escort. He bought it new in about 1968/69 and the back axle whined from day one, he changed the HT leads, as otherwise it broke down in the rain, if you drove at 70mph for any length of time, the oil pressure dropped (Sump capacity was low) and the gearbox used to scream (Probably because it too carried too little oil). On top of that it was a rust trap. On the positive side, it handled well and (Over short distances) went well.

The Escort replaced a Mini Countryman (Which although a smaller car, in many ways had more usable interior space). I don't know why my father didn't buy a Morris Minor Traveller and he can't remember why but I suspect it may have been that the Escort was offered with a 1300 engine. After the Ecsort, my father bought a VW Variant 1600 (That was a very well made car, though not so easy to work on and it was twitchy in the wind) but I often wonder that had the Morris been available with the 1275 engine, he might have bought one and it might have delayed his purchasing of foreign cars.

People often slate the Marina, which as we know, in 1300 form, was meant to replace the Minor. Some years later, my father had an MG and the petrol pump was replaced under warranty. He was given a Marina 1300 saloon, as a courtesy car and I expected him to slate it. He though it went quite well and found it far better than he expected. I've never owned one but I think that the 1800 was the one that suffered with understeer?

I am surprised to read of VW Golfs rotting away in five years. Between us, we had quite a few VWs. The aircooled Beetle and Type 3s were very durable; the early watercooled types weren't as good but they got better. My Mk2 Golf GTI, as an all round car, was perhaps the best I ever had. It wasn't the fastest car I ever had but it would do 120mph and yet carry a good load and return very good MPG. It was still easy to work on and was very well made and durable. I have heard that they a no longer as good as they were but still the rust issue surprises me.

I don't plan to buy any more cars.....unless I have a big win on Premium Bonds or Lottery, when I might go for a pre war British sports car (As an addition, not instead of what I have). I will never buy another new car but were I to so do, I think I would find such a circuit board on wheels to be the worst car I ever owned!!

Most 'average' moderns disappoint somehow. I had a 2012 Focus 1.6 petrol 5-speed. The emission control stuff made it very sluggish and it often struggled on hills. Dashboard gadget usually gave average fuel consumption of 34/36mpg in town. I rather warily changed it last year for a 2015 Focus Ecoboost 1.0 petrol turbo 6-speed. Far more lively. Tackles hills better. 47/49mpg in town and free road tax as it has engine stop/start (which rarely works). It also has anti-stall which is a complete pain and can't be over-ridden.

My wife got a new Golf about 5 years back. Truly horrible and boring. How I hated that car! Traded it in for a cheap Jeep and got some money back.
We were concerned about the Jeep's poor reputation for reliability etc but 2 years and 20k miles later it's been great. Think we'll just run it into the ground.

fiat multipla,vile.

i had an allegro when i was 18 was off the road more than it was on

I wondered when the allegro was going to be mentioned. Very underrated, once the car received some negative comments many people felt uncomfortable praising the car. Not me, the estate especially, had great style.

The Clarkson effect.... and also the press mockery over the steering wheel shape. Apart from the leyland / BL problems with build quality, a sound little car, in many ways of its time but also ahead of it, much like the Maxi...