What's the most difficult car you've driven?
#1
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Northants. 22B sold, as-new Lotus Omega instead.
Posts: 2,027
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What's the most difficult car you've driven?
Which ones have you really struggled with over the years? In my case it was a 1991 Morgan +8 (pre-cat 190bhp 3.9 litre Rover Vitesse engine), that a friend of mine has owned since new.
It had a sticky accelerator pedal, light-switch trigger clutch, impossible "fly-off" style handbrake hidden under the dash, solid suspension and heavy unassisted steering. I looked after it for him for a few winter months, but rarely used it because I used to have to plan all my journeys to avoid any embarassing hill-starts at junctions!
I am sure it never liked me either, because the only long journey I drove in it resulted in me being painfully hit on the head by a branch that had blown off a tree on the A1.
It's weird, because it is a fast car with a fantastic exhaust note and the owner drives it very smoothly so it's always a great ride as a passenger.
One day our paths may cross again, as he tells me he's put it in his Will for me!
It had a sticky accelerator pedal, light-switch trigger clutch, impossible "fly-off" style handbrake hidden under the dash, solid suspension and heavy unassisted steering. I looked after it for him for a few winter months, but rarely used it because I used to have to plan all my journeys to avoid any embarassing hill-starts at junctions!
I am sure it never liked me either, because the only long journey I drove in it resulted in me being painfully hit on the head by a branch that had blown off a tree on the A1.
It's weird, because it is a fast car with a fantastic exhaust note and the owner drives it very smoothly so it's always a great ride as a passenger.
One day our paths may cross again, as he tells me he's put it in his Will for me!
#3
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Chesterfield
Posts: 2,939
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Series 3 landrover diesel on ****-lies, on tarmac
The huge steering wheel that you had to constantly adjust to keep straight, the fact that you accelerated, double clutching through the first 4 gears then just hit 40 mph with lots of road noise. Then came a junction which took simultaneous double clutch down shifts and pumping the breaks while trying to hold it in a straight line with just the one hand.
Scary, but the best green lane tool ever
The huge steering wheel that you had to constantly adjust to keep straight, the fact that you accelerated, double clutching through the first 4 gears then just hit 40 mph with lots of road noise. Then came a junction which took simultaneous double clutch down shifts and pumping the breaks while trying to hold it in a straight line with just the one hand.
Scary, but the best green lane tool ever
#4
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Wanting the English to come first in England for a change!
Posts: 2,091
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
E36 328i with knackered traction control that told me it was on when it wasnt.
In heavy rain.
booting it coming off a roundabout.
brown trousers time.
In heavy rain.
booting it coming off a roundabout.
brown trousers time.
#5
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (40)
Test drove a R5 GTT a few years back, with a tickover problem, heaviest steering I had ever experienced, so noisy, and torque steerded like a good'un. The guy told me it had been 'breathed on', and I had no reason to doubt him. It was like hot poo off a shovel, and soooooo difficult to keep on the road. I walked away while I still could.
#7
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Swansea.In search of more power!!
Posts: 6,498
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It would have to be a Reliant Scimitar with the Rover V8 in. Use to pull very strong because of a recent engine overhaul. The downside was the Milk bottle top brakes which would best be described as vague at best. Made for some interesting driving
Trending Topics
#8
Guest
Posts: n/a
Where shall i start?
Porsche 356 Speedster - not nice at any speed above 30mph when your whole head is above the windscreen
Ferrari Mondial T Cabriolet - Never take the roof down if it's not warm - it shrinks and won't stretch up again.
928 manual - some makers put decent Dog-boxes in their cars i.e. BMW, Aston, Ferrari. Porsche didn't.
TVR Chimaera - No PAS, steering just felt rubbery and stiff, kept over-heating, dials didn't work. POS.
Marcos Mantis - Just an utter, utter POS in every way.
Porsche Boxster 2.7 Tiptronic - what is the point of this car? Crap.
E30 M3 with bald tyres, knackered shocks in the wet.
I'll think of more
Porsche 356 Speedster - not nice at any speed above 30mph when your whole head is above the windscreen
Ferrari Mondial T Cabriolet - Never take the roof down if it's not warm - it shrinks and won't stretch up again.
928 manual - some makers put decent Dog-boxes in their cars i.e. BMW, Aston, Ferrari. Porsche didn't.
TVR Chimaera - No PAS, steering just felt rubbery and stiff, kept over-heating, dials didn't work. POS.
Marcos Mantis - Just an utter, utter POS in every way.
Porsche Boxster 2.7 Tiptronic - what is the point of this car? Crap.
E30 M3 with bald tyres, knackered shocks in the wet.
I'll think of more
#9
Scooby Regular
Join Date: May 2007
Location: By t'canal in West Yorkshire.
Posts: 344
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
All of the 3 series BMW's I've driven coz my feet overlap from one pedal to the next
Years ago the company I worked for had a Peugeot pick up truck that was SHOCKING
Years ago the company I worked for had a Peugeot pick up truck that was SHOCKING
#13
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Bushey
Posts: 2,542
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Suzuki Cappucino - I was 6ft 2" and 20 stone at the time, I drove with the roof and side windows down (needed the elbow room), they almost had to grease me up to get me out of it after a 5 mile journey.
#18
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Disco, Disco!
Posts: 21,825
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Porsche Carrera V10.
racing flywheel the same size and weight as a teabag.
I stalled 7 times trying to pull away. I had to keep the revs between 3-5k just to launch it.
I am sure with practice it would have got better but by how much i am not sure, not a car to pop down the shops in or get caught in traffic.
The V10 noise was woodie inducing but embarrassing id sat in traffic try to move off with you balancing the revs/clutch/blipping the throttle.
Great car mind
racing flywheel the same size and weight as a teabag.
I stalled 7 times trying to pull away. I had to keep the revs between 3-5k just to launch it.
I am sure with practice it would have got better but by how much i am not sure, not a car to pop down the shops in or get caught in traffic.
The V10 noise was woodie inducing but embarrassing id sat in traffic try to move off with you balancing the revs/clutch/blipping the throttle.
Great car mind
#20
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Disco, Disco!
Posts: 21,825
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#22
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: The right side of Manchester-360 gamertag-FLD MOG
Posts: 169
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Renault Megane Dynamique.Only there wasn't anything dynamique about it.It is the only car I have ever spun on a roundabout and the oncoming traffic wasn't impressed.I had sticky pants for a while!It was a Massey Ferguson in disguiseStrange though,the wife loved it,but she loves wheelbarrows too.
#23
Toss up between an old rally escort with a dog box that wouldn't idle and had a dead starter motor that I had to drive about 100 miles through heavy traffic jams in heavy rain, and my P1 with a 450bhp RCM engine and a Motec ecu that suddenly started doing 7k rpm in my drive as I was trying to ease out on to the road to take it for mapping. It did it every time I switched the booger on and in the end I just ran for the motorway trying to hold it back on the brakes and switching it off at junctions which made for, ermm, spectacular progress through the suburban streets around me. Fortunately, it suddenly sorted itself out as I was approaching 7k in 5th heading out the A20... and I could slow down to normal.
Other than that a Scout patrol car with a pre selector box...
Other than that a Scout patrol car with a pre selector box...
#24
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: gravesend, kent
Posts: 4,721
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
LHD Lotus Carlton, great car just not good to have that much go in a car when you can't see where you're going half the time
also any car with a dog leg gearbox, not good thinking you're going down into 3rd then nearly smashing through the windscreen.
and my dads Morris Minor traveller, jesus christ it's un-drivable, i don't know how he gets around in it. you can get loads of stuff in the back of it though
also any car with a dog leg gearbox, not good thinking you're going down into 3rd then nearly smashing through the windscreen.
and my dads Morris Minor traveller, jesus christ it's un-drivable, i don't know how he gets around in it. you can get loads of stuff in the back of it though
#25
I had one and it was a really easy going car, did 120,000 miles, dont really see why people were so anti, the Cavalier and Sierra werent that much better.
Nat, no mention of the E-Type, they are actually easy to drive slowly, go fast and it all goes wrong.
Our Fiat 500 is challenging to drive, low geared staeering, random conking out, hopeless brakes, very little power, lurching handling, sticky throttle etc etc, great thing is it never works so you dont have to drive it.
Supra Turbo on bald budget tyres in the wet, alarming.
Mk1 Golf GTI with crap tyres, 130 bhp engine, mis adjusted camber bolts and badly adjusted bell crank for the brakes.
BMW 320i, nice drive but crap engine, smooth but cuts power just when moving nicely, gutless.
Metro GTI, the engine was too powerful for the chassis, knackered rear radius arms meant the camber adjusted itself, terrifying.
Old V6 Audi's, wheezy old things, heavy on fuel, slow.
1.6 MK3 Capri Laser, frsutratingly slow after a Golf GTI.
Nat, no mention of the E-Type, they are actually easy to drive slowly, go fast and it all goes wrong.
Our Fiat 500 is challenging to drive, low geared staeering, random conking out, hopeless brakes, very little power, lurching handling, sticky throttle etc etc, great thing is it never works so you dont have to drive it.
Supra Turbo on bald budget tyres in the wet, alarming.
Mk1 Golf GTI with crap tyres, 130 bhp engine, mis adjusted camber bolts and badly adjusted bell crank for the brakes.
BMW 320i, nice drive but crap engine, smooth but cuts power just when moving nicely, gutless.
Metro GTI, the engine was too powerful for the chassis, knackered rear radius arms meant the camber adjusted itself, terrifying.
Old V6 Audi's, wheezy old things, heavy on fuel, slow.
1.6 MK3 Capri Laser, frsutratingly slow after a Golf GTI.
#27
Renault Clio Cup Racer - it is completely bonkers like driving a GT4 game. Same kind of wacky digital responses. I am sure with practice/skill it could be great - but would I want to put the effort in!
#28
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: gravesend, kent
Posts: 4,721
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
i managed to settle with the sequential gearchange straight away and loved the way it drove, but you're dead right though it's like driving in a PlayStation
the one i found a git to drive was the GT3, didn't like flappy paddles and it just felt odd maybe i was expecting too much?
#29
Scooby Senior
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Scotchland
Posts: 6,566
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yep another vote for the original hedge seeking missile.
I always remember the guy from Rover telling me to hold onto to the steering wheel real tight - we were at a tank testing site somewhere that had adverse cambers etc - the ******* Montego was the closest I've come to being killed in a car
I always remember the guy from Rover telling me to hold onto to the steering wheel real tight - we were at a tank testing site somewhere that had adverse cambers etc - the ******* Montego was the closest I've come to being killed in a car
Last edited by jasey; 23 July 2009 at 07:16 AM.