Ever find yourself enjoying a "bad" car?

[wasabi]

My main 'car' for 2 years was a beaten up rusty old 1.7 non turbo Vauxhall Combo van. Dirty, noisy, slow. Loved it.

[Smudger]

My mum had a 1.3 Maestro back in the day. It was beige. And the auto-choke messed up so it'd be revving its own nuts off on a standstill.

But the engine was the 1275 leyland lump out of the mini, and it loved the attention of a just-passed 17 year old hoon. It just would not break, no matter how much I punished it. Also, certain teenage milestones were reached in that car, so I'll always be fond of it...

[Zak33]

My mum had a 1.3 Maestro back in the day. It was beige. And the auto-choke messed up so it'd be revving its own nuts off on a standstill.

But the engine was the 1275 leyland lump out of the mini, and it loved the attention of a just-passed 17 year old hoon. It just would not break, no matter how much I punished it. Also, certain teenage milestones were reached in that car, so I'll always be fond of it...

you are a fillthy boy

fair play, and awesome post!

[Rave]

By Mk5 do you mean a Mk4 Facelift, or the 2001-on model?

Neither of them could in any way be described as a bad car TBH, and if I could justify taxing and insuring a third car I'd have a Mk4 (or Mk4 facelift) 1.25 as a little runaround- and to enjoy thrapping the hell out of it from time to time. My 3.0 V6 Mondeo is a great car, but it's so large and quick you almost never find a suitable road to give it a pasting!

I've driven some bad cars in my time- the Corsa B I learned to drive in, my dad's old 1998 Polo, and a Peugeot 307 hire car spring to mind. All horrible soft wobbly things. And as for power steering- I used to sneer at it, but I recently had the misfortune to re-acquaint myself with my friend's old 1.4 306 Style. Now everyone knows that 306s are fantastic cars to drive, with a wonderful mix of great steering and pliant but sporty suspension...

...well not in base-model, non-PAS form they aint. The steering isn't that heavy, but that's because they've fitted such a low ratio rack that to get round any kind of 90 degree urban corner requires pretty much a full rotation of the wheel. You simply cannot chuck the car into anything more than the mildest bend, and it totally ruins the driving experience. Absolutely dreadful.

[circuitmonkey]

By Mk5 do you mean a Mk4 Facelift, or the 2001-on model?

Neither of them could in any way be described as a bad car TBH, and if I could justify taxing and insuring a third car I'd have a Mk4 (or Mk4 facelift) 1.25 as a little runaround- and to enjoy thrapping the hell out of it from time to time. My 3.0 V6 Mondeo is a great car, but it's so large and quick you almost never find a suitable road to give it a pasting!

I've driven some bad cars in my time- the Corsa B I learned to drive in, my dad's old 1998 Polo, and a Peugeot 307 hire car spring to mind. All horrible soft wobbly things. And as for power steering- I used to sneer at it, but I recently had the misfortune to re-acquaint myself with my friend's old 1.4 306 Style. Now everyone knows that 306s are fantastic cars to drive, with a wonderful mix of great steering and pliant but sporty suspension...

...well not in base-model, non-PAS form they aint. The steering isn't that heavy, but that's because they've fitted such a low ratio rack that to get round any kind of 90 degree urban corner requires pretty much a full rotation of the wheel. You simply cannot chuck the car into anything more than the mildest bend, and it totally ruins the driving experience. Absolutely dreadful.

I've not been driving long but we've had an eerily similar car history

First car I was given to drive was my dads 98 polo 1.6 auto
First car I owned was a corsa B (Still own it, plan on selling it when I get back from holiday)
Then bought a Peugeot 308 1.6 HDI, soft and wobbly it may be, but also makes for a nice motorway cruiser
Have now been given a 2.6 V6 vectra estate, looks beat up, thirsty as hell, but sooo much fun to throw around