Manky Motor Award

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mcscottwgtn, Jan 28, 6:23am
What's the most manky car you have driven/owned or had the pleasure of being in! Maybe there is something on TM worthy of mention!
I can recall doors falling off mid corner (Mini), missing gears (Toyota colon change 3 speed I think, Corona maybe), Jag XJ6 where you had to use both pedals at the same time to avoid stalling. And just plain bad taste morri van dem plus. I am sure there are others.
Nothing like a motor with real character.

carkitter, Jan 28, 6:36am
Worst car I've owned (from a reliability and ease of servicing point of view) is the only Euro car I've ever owned, a 1983 2L Lancia HPE.
Also the best handling and most enjoyable to drive, on the rare occasions it actually ran.

mcscottwgtn, Jan 28, 6:39am
Good looking beasts those Lancia's.

moosie_21, Jan 28, 6:59am
My "mate" currently has a Ford Laser that has every panel busted, a white replacement drivers side door, busted rear view mirrors on both sides, an engine that idles extremely rough and only gets going in 1st after 3000 rpm, tyres that aren't worth scrap price, not to mention beer bottles, McD's, napkins, and whatever have you all over the interior.

cuda.340, Jan 28, 7:00am
my first car, 1958 Humber 80. had to rekit the brakes every second month, had rust holes all thru the floor, once i copped cowshit in the eye as i could see the front wheel next to the accelerator, it was a rusty POS but it was because of old sh!tters like this we have safer cars on the road these days.

mcscottwgtn, Jan 28, 7:02am
I have been in mini's were you could see the road because of the rust.

chevcamaro, Jan 28, 7:44am
i remember many years ago getting picked up in rotorua in a old husky, the cop yanked my door open and it fell off and smashed his foot, i cracked up , he didn't see the funny side and locked me up for the weekend, another old humber i opened the boot and it smacked me in the chin, springs had come right through the chassis. oh the good old days, older and wiser

franc123, Jan 28, 8:00am
I'll nominate a whole model series here, and thats imported Mitsi Diamantes from 1990-96ish, and especially when they are painted that horrible drab metallic charcoal colour they came out in.Whats left of these vehicles rattle, smoke, flatspot on acceleration, the steering wheel/gear selector surfaces wear horribly, the trans clunks and bangs, the suspension clunks and bangs (too many bushes and balljoints to wear out) and they have alignment/tyre wear problems.ALL of these vehicles are owned by complete cheapskate dropkicks who don't give a stuff about the car and can't afford anything decent, and don't seem to have money for servicing that it desperately needs but plenty for cigarettes and booze, and those that bother seem to only just scrape through WOF checks.The boot, and often the cabin is usually an aromatic delight of used pizza boxes, empty beer bottles footy boots and whatever stagnant water manages to leak into it.I can describe this so clearly because I see it so damn often!

nzmax, Jan 28, 10:07am
The scary thing is that they cant be all that bad as there is still so many of them left on the road.lol. Plenty of more reliable nicer cars that should be on the road but are long gone.

My POS car was a 1985 pop headlight Honda Accord, was an absolute lemon. Had it for 4 months and couldnt wait to see the rear end of it, along with heaps of other similar aged Accord owners from what I understand. Next in line, more by timing of ownership, would be my old NZ New 1985 Nissan Laurel 3.0V6 pillarless Hardtop. It had been owned by a Nissan dealer when new, and I think it had had a bit of a hard life during that time. There were numerous fixed supermarket style dings that all started to fail during my ownership, as well as finding out it had been rear ended, which the repair also started to fall apart during my ownership too, you know that period years after being fixed, when the paint crazes the bog starts to fall out, then to top it all off, my mates mother borrowed it and cooked the motor. Admittedly it was a very nice car to drive, with plenty of power, although the economy was crap.lol

townie55, Jan 28, 10:16am
Aw man, ya gotta love that one.

pollymay, Jan 28, 10:43am
My rx7 with the chevy in it. Makes me giggle like a schoolgirl when it runs, thing is it never runs. It is flouro green which attracts dickheads to run into it which has tweaked it bad enough from the 3 times I drove it that the drivers door doesn't shut properly.

Beyond that a subaru leone I owned for 3 days, when it was ready to go I drove it hard for 20 minutes and threw a rod which everyone watching thought was awesome, made so much smoke as it rolled to a stop I was having trouble breathing, really. Also leaked water like a pig, fuel pump worked intermittently, had to bang the tank to make it kick in. What a POS.

trogedon, Jan 28, 6:52pm
The passenger floor mats used to blow up in one of my MGBs when I was going down the motorway because of the rust holes. I've since welded in new floors, sills.

vpholdie, Jan 28, 6:57pm
Austin Allegro brought two for 165 bucks worst 165 bucks I ever spent haha. Ended up towing one round on its roof with HZ Kingswood

1fordluva, Jan 28, 7:27pm
Austin princess,My wifes car when I met her.the front wheel would only stay on for 250kms then fall off.
Had a garage fix it,but it kept doing it and manifold leaks,argh the list goes on ,english piece of junk lol

berg, Jan 28, 7:31pm
CF Beddy van. Bloody doors would always fly open, oil leaks, brakes always seizing, cooling problems etc etc etc

scarey65, Jan 28, 8:29pm
hillman hunter sent me broke in the 80s
totally horrible but the mechanic loved me but most cars were like that in the 70s 80s, if it wasnt for jap imports we wouuld be still driving total s it, any thing british back then yuk!
no wonder jap cars were so accepted.
anything nz made car wise would fall apart quickly especially the valiants made at todd park.

lovemore_mbigi, Jan 29, 7:24pm
1981 Holden Camira - the last of a truly bastard breed and the ultimate expression of slap-dash Friday arvo NZ-made 1970's beige motoring.

craig04, Jan 29, 7:34pm
That's horrific! I couldn't think of anything worse than having to change gears with my colon.

rob_man, Jan 29, 7:54pm
Made my eyes water too when I read that.

moby, Jan 29, 8:11pm
Mercedes Benz 180D (diesel) 1955. Dad bought it new then gave it to me when he couldn't be bothered with it any more. Had cooling problems its entire life (went through diesel and water in equal amounts). Had the accelleration and handling of an Interisland Ferry. Called it "Hitler's Revenge".

bigjerry, Jan 30, 2:12am
aah well you havent lived mate! theres nothing like a colon change on a long and lonely highway haha

nzmax, Jan 30, 2:49am
Camiras didnt get released here until August 1982 and ran thru till March 1989. My aunty and uncle bought a new one in 1983 and they had it for years totally trouble free. I realise they did have a bit of a bad reputation though.

Are you sure it was a Camira!

franc123, Jan 30, 3:01am
He might have meant Sunbird perhaps lol.Could have been anything given nearly all the midsize cars GM have sold here have been rubbish.The Camira was such a mixed bag of poor engineering and quality control issues that even Holden saw the light, gave up on it and replaced it with a rebadged Camry for oz, and fobbed the Pontiac Lemans onto us.About their only good point was the handling was near the top of its class.

jarrod261, Jan 30, 3:14am
1974 ford escort.gearstick use to pop off when changing gear,I dont mean the knob on the end of the gearstick I mean the whole stick would come out.Would have to park up and screw it back in.
Also my MK1 capri,caught fire while I was driving down the motorway.Petrol leaked from the fuel line onto the engine,Cruising down the road and smoke starts belowing from under the bonnet,Pulled over and watched the car burn.

ambo11, Jan 30, 3:18am
Biggest pile of poo I've ever had the displeasure of owning was a MK 5 Cortina 2 litre wagon, thirsty, gutless , noisy piece of crap. Next comes a Mitsi Diamante 1997, thirsty plus, with a tiptronic which died for no apparent reason. Then a Subaru Outback wagon which cracked a head on the way home from buying it (got my money back). Now have a Nissan and a Camry Gracia, both great cars. To think I used to dream of owning a Cortina Mk5.now I wouldn't even take a dump in one.