Lets talk about cars/motorsports

Ten Worst Used Vehicles

Many Yahoo! articles tend to be crap, but this is a pretty decent summary of some lousy cars. I'm not surprised the Volkswagen Beetle made the list. It's one of the least reliable European vehicles I've ever seen.

4/10 are British-built. Most of those (but not the S-type) have an enthusiastic backing here, so their faults are known and taken into account, even if they're at similar places on a list here. I'd probably recognise a few faults^note  Rover K-series head gaskets I know about, for one, as I own a Rover.

Mind you, try and find parts for an American car in Britain...

edited 19th Jan '14 1:31:34 PM by Greenmantle

Then again why would you have one of those anyway?

Don't know, considering they turn like an supertanker, are built as well as a "Friday afternoon" British car from The '70s and can't fit into a ordinary multi-storey car park...

edited 19th Jan '14 2:03:25 PM by Greenmantle

Not to mention they either look even more bland than ours, or are very very ugly indeed.

Which would be alright, if carmakers hadn't started flirting with the silly notion of selling the same cars to everybody and adapting the styling from the wrong end. (looking at you there, Ford)

You know^note  Sometimes I get the same when I look at American buses; especially those sightseeing double deckers they're now converting from single deckers, sometimes I think the Americans just don't quite get it when it comes to vehicle design.

Reminds me of Fawlty Towers: "Ended up on some little backstreet called the M5!" "Sorry if it wasn't wide enough for you, a lot of the English cars have steering wheels."

The Yanks can do planes and trains pretty damn well though. Automobiles...not so much, but there's still some beautiful stuff. Especially if you grant them Ford (even though most Fords you see in Europe will be designed and produced here) and (shudder) Vauxhall/Opel. And the stuff from the golden age of the late fifties and early sixties. Dem tailfins...

Yeah, they have the occasional sweet spot, but other than that it's not looking to bright.

Of course, they're then still likely to fall to any of the aforementioned problems in sheer size, build quality or handling.

Could you guys be more specific? What particular design features are you talking about with regard to American cars?

At a cynical guess, the name badge/plate/insignia on the car.

Yeah, I don't know, cars like the Corvette C7, 2015 Mustang, Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Cadillac CTS etc all look pretty cool to me.

edited 20th Jan '14 2:31:52 AM by Exploder

Gross, the age of good looking American cars is long over.

You need to go further back when we were making them like boats.

Heh. I like a bit of the cultural headbutting going on here. While Japanese cars tend to look great to me, I'm also partial to American muscle cars of past and present. I'm not too crazy about Dodge, but the new Challenger is gorgeous. Conversely, I think British vehicles tend to look hideous.

I think most countries have built some beautiful cars (and interesting-looking ones, which don't necessarily have to be beautiful).

British: I really have to think something's wrong with you if you don't find the Jaguar E-Type beautiful.

There is, however, nothing wrong in finding the Reliant Robin... beyond odd. Still has a fanbase, though.

It's deeply odd. The early ones are kind of kitschy-interesting, though.

Then there's Bristol, producing from about the mid 70s through the 2000s the most ugly expensive cars the world has ever known. (See?◊

edited 20th Jan '14 11:31:05 PM by Morven

Form follows function for Bristol, and a lot of British cars in general.

They had all the style of British Leyland and none of the affordability.

Not bad cars at all mechanically speaking though.

Butt ugly the lot of them. The Corvette is let down by that huge dentist's grin of a radiator grille. The Mustang and Dodge Charger look like commercial rehashes of older, better cars, the Chrysler is a wannabe Rolls-Royce, and the CTSV looks like it was designed by an idiot with an Etch-a-Sketch.

Now, the Ferrari Testarossa, the Lamborghini Countach, the classic Porsches...that's perfection.

Moreover, the problem I have with American cars is that they are, to a great extent, built for America. That's fair enough for what they are, but America is a country so...unique...in it's road use that cars designed for it are badly out of their depth elsewhere: long straight roads, gas that's cheaper than dirt, a culture of paying off cars (so they tend not to be built to last). You could easily drive, say, a 5-series BMW around America, but you probably couldn't drive a Lincoln Town Car around Europe (in fact, I know you can't; my cousin had one and it threw a rod after he took it to the Alps). Of course, the two large American marques operating in Europe, Ford and Opel (GM) are okay, Ford better than GM, but Ford's European models are of dubious status as "American", since they are generally designed and built in Europe by Europeans.

edited 31st Jan '14 9:00:48 AM by Achaemenid

I own a Lincoln Town Car and it's great here.

Can fit the world in it, never breaks down, takes up two parking spaces.

Here's an interesting example: The same diesel engine you'll find in the Dodge Ram, the Cummins B-series ISBe (specifically the 6.7-litre version), here powers the longest version (11.3m) of the ADL Enviro 200^note  Now known to Americans as the New Flyer MiDi.

And yes, I agree. The Chrysler 600 has got a reputation here as a Gangsta/Drug Dealer's car.

edited 31st Jan '14 3:22:44 PM by Greenmantle

Ladies and gentlemen, does anyone have any advice for a first time used car buyer? I'm desperate to get a new car, as I'm roundly sick of what I've been driving for the past 7 years (one of these◊). I will fully admit that this is a question of vanity and desire rather than necessity, as my current car has done 57,000 miles and has been very reliable.

My main question is: can I get a proper used car that isn't a turd on wheels for around £2,000 (perhaps a little more, but not by much) or less? Ideally, something German. Those don't break, right?

(Fully expecting the answer to be "no", but I know bugger all about this sort of thing, so it's worth an ask).

edited 4th Feb '14 2:41:29 PM by pagad

German stuff usually works fine but when it breaks it's hella expensive because Germans.

But that's me as an American, no idea if that carries over to England. I mean hell I got my Towncar for $1200

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/used-prices/

All you could ever need.

edited 4th Feb '14 2:42:26 PM by Achaemenid

Thanks!