Motoring Discussion > Your car - the bad bits Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Iffy Replies: 33
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 09:02 
 Your car - the bad bits - Iffy
What is it about your car that you don't like?

The worst thing abut my Focus CC3 has to be the ride - too harsh for my ageing bones and our potholed roads.

Tyre wear seems quite high to me, I'll only get 20,000 miles out of all four after swapping front to back a few months ago.

I've not been too impressed with the paintwork on my last two Fords, seems soft to me, and it certainly picks up fine scratches too easily.

The seals on the folding roof creak when it's up.

This can be alleviated by lubrication, but is still a bit of an irritation.

I keep plenty of polish on the car, and water collected on the bootlid runs into the boot when you open the lid.

The bootlid's a fair size, and sometimes needs a heave to lift it, so the gas struts could do with a bit more grunt.

So there we have it, a list of fairly minor faults which are far outweighed by the positive aspects of the car.

How does yours stack up?

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 Sat 12 Jun 10 09:26 
 Your car - the bad bits - smokie
Mondeo Titanium X 2.5 T here. This also has a problem with collected water running into the boot when you open it - but there is a TSB (?) issued by Ford for it which some have managed to persuade their dealer to fit, at no cost.

My voice seems difficult to hear on inbuilt Bluetooth.

I'd prefer better fuel consumption but that's the problem with running a large car.

It would have been better if the engine hadn't packed up at 32k so I've just forked out nearly £3k on a used one due to warranty being invalidated by late service.

But I will visit your other thread and put in the long list of good bits.
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 10:13 
 Your car - the bad bits - Fursty Ferret
Passat TDI PD 130 (2003).

At idle speeds in second gear, the fly-by-wire accelerator flickers between "nothing" and "a tiny bit of gas, please". Consequently, you end up lurching down the road at about 12 mph. It's annoying, but hardly ever happens now.

2nd gear is usually driven on idle or giving it some welly.
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 10:37 
 Your car - the bad bits - Hard Cheese

>> just forked out nearly £3k on a used one due to warranty being invalidated by
>> late service.
>>

That actually sounds pretty good value to me.

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 Sat 12 Jun 10 11:57 
 Your car - the bad bits - smokie
It was, but still a lot of dosh...
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 12:50 
 Your car - the bad bits - swiss tony
>> Mondeo Titanium X 2.5 T here. This also has a problem with collected water running
>> into the boot when you open it - but there is a TSB (?) issued
>> by Ford for it

Technical Service Bulletin.
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 11:04 
 Your car - the bad bits - Bazzabear
Alfa 156 GTA SW

It's very low, and not as well damped as it should be. So on b-roads or worse, especially ones with a pronounced hump to the middle, it's quite prone to bottoming out. Only the engine undertray, but still scares the hell out of you!

Also, no rain gutters because they don't look good enough. So if you wind the window down and there's water on the roof, it will be deposited in your lap at the next corner. Not exactly a bad point, since I love the looks, so accept the compromise.

I honestly can't think of anything else. It's a cracking car.
Last edited by: Bazzabear on Sat 12 Jun 10 at 11:05
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 11:25 
 Your car - the bad bits - Stuu
Daihatsu Sirion 1.3 SE auto

23k now. Nothing has gone wrong as expected, but a few things you notice arent so good.
Main complaint is the gearbox which at low speeds has a habit of dropping into 1st gear too easily such as when you turn into a side street at say 15mph. It catches you out at first and results in rather sprightly entrances to side roads at first.
You learn to drive round it but jumping out of my Carina which will stay in 2nd until standstill and into the Sirion can result in a period of adjustment.

Other little things. The straps for the parcel shelf tend to pop off on occasion, steering wheel could do with more adjustment for the perfect driving position and a littl emore side support from the seats would be nice.

Overall though, a very fine small car solution and the wife adores it.
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 12:40 
 Your car - the bad bits - RattleandSmoke
Panda 1.1 Active Eco

Already summed it up on review thread but for the bad bits:-

1) Its impossible to drive it in a lazy way because its so under powered, even in the city on a railway hill if I forget to drop into 3rd I have the throttle pedal to the floor and it still struggles to do 30!

2) Gear change is slightly notchy compared to the Fords I have driven but no worse than any French car I have driven.

3) There is only one door lock on the drivers door as there is no motor on it, so if I need to get something out of the glove box I have to do it via the drivers door.
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 12:59 
 Your car - the bad bits - Zero
The Lancer.

Soft paint, easily scratched to show the white undercoat. Does not chip tho.
Interior plastic trims, although superbly fitting strong and accurate mouldings, they have poor surface treament that scratches and marks very very easily.
Terrible instrument lighting. (so bad I am gonna have the instrument pod out to fit led lighting kit)
Lazy engine.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 12 Jun 10 at 12:59
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 Sun 13 Jun 10 10:32 
 Your car - the bad bits - BobbyG
Zero, will that be blue LEDs ????
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 13:01 
 Your car - the bad bits - swiss tony
Mk2 Mondeo Ghia X

weak auto gearbox (every time I drive it Im worried it will go bang)
tyre wear (goes through tyre like there's no tomorrow, but wears all across so its not tracking or camber - maybe my right foot?)
fuel consumption - in town low 20's have got on a run high 30's (maybe my right foot?)
its getting old :-(
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 13:58 
 Your car - the bad bits - Skoda
BMW 728i / 2000 (W)

- Doesn't fit in parking spaces.
- The lower bumpers and side skirts aren't colour coded by default on this model.
- The 16" wheels leave too little gap round the brake disks + shields to get my alloy wheel cleaner brush in comfortably
- Bi-Xenon headlamps but low beam / high beam are separate housings and would be ideal for Full Xenon, i don't follow why they're not full Xenon.
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 14:40 
 Your car - the bad bits - corax
BMW 323i Touring 98 R

- Hard ride. My own fault really as I've fitted Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers, but having taken a week off so far with sciatica, it doesn't make sense right now! But the ride is fairly hard as standard. This is the last car I'll modify for suspension 'improvements', the roads here are just too bumpy. For my next car I want something that gently wafts me home after a hard day at work. Must be getting old.

- Heavy steering. I like a certain heaviness to the controls, but the steering is too much. I sometimes wonder if there's a problem with it, but I'm not going to worry about it now at 12 years old and 155000 miles.

- Gearbox is stiff from cold. It needs a deliberate action to change into second gear in winter.
Last edited by: corax on Sat 12 Jun 10 at 14:41
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 22:41 
 Your car - the bad bits - RichardW
2001 Xantia HDi 110 Estate

The alternator has a bearing away at only 100k miles, and it's not an Exclusive.

Not much else!
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 Sat 12 Jun 10 23:05 
 Your car - the bad bits - Londoner
BMW 320d Touring Automatic (56-plate)

Lots of things that I could mention, but just the main highlights (lowlights):
** Appalling Image.
** Rubbish handling in poor conditions - take the bus instead.
** Over-firm ride is uncomfortable on long journeys.
** Very poor practicality for an estate car.
** Condition based servicing.
** EXTREMELY fiddly indicators (yes...I know :-) ).
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 Sun 13 Jun 10 10:15 
 Your car - the bad bits - Netsur
Ford S-Max TDCi auto

- Tailgate very heavy
- Ignition key hole not illuminated
- Impossible to turn radio off (not simply reduce volume) and leave other things also controlled by central touch screen working
- SatNav is sophisticated but slow
- No room for spare wheel

In reality minor things that do not detract from my enjoyment of the car.
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 08:52 
 Your car - the bad bits - paulb
07 Fiat Bravo Dynamic 1.9

* Screen pillars so thick they hide buses. Admittedly this is largely because they have airbags in, but I'd rather a thinner pillar and better visibility, as this might lessen the likelihood of needing the bags.
* No spare wheel, no jack or tools - just a compressor and can of tyre weld. Fat lot of good that'll be in the event of a blowout. The lack of tools/jack is daft, also - I've got a stone under one of the pads and have no means of getting the wheel off without using the Panda's jack.
* Daft radio switching system whereby it either always comes on when you turn the the ignition on or it never does - unlike most other cars I've owned, where the radio came on with the ignition only if you turned the engine off with it still on last time.
* No left foot rest. I'm used to it now but if they can manage it on the Panda and G. Punto, why not here?

Again, not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the car but you just think "why did they do that?"
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 09:00 
 Your car - the bad bits - idle_chatterer
'09 BMW 330d Touring 245PS

Not much I'd describe as 'bad' but....

Small boot (OK I knew this when I selected it)

Standard cloth seats are comfortable but it's obvious they want you to pay extra for leather.

Having to pay extra for adjustable lumbar support (on all models) seems a little mean.

No blue-tooth phone prep as standard, a £600 option which I think should be standard on a £33K (base price) car ?

The DRLs are merely permanently activated dipped beam unless you specify HIDs, SWMBO's Golf VI operates the high beams at reduced power which looks more aesthetically pleasing to my eye.....
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 11:53 
 Your car - the bad bits - henry k
>>No blue-tooth phone prep as standard, a £600 option which I think should be standard on a £33K (base price) car ?
>>
It was a similar situation with the S/H SLK my son recently purchased.
At todays prices about £35 base price. It had virtually every extra on it ( except AMG body kit & wheels). Those extras add up to about £10 but no phone kit.
This is on a varient that has a big phone key pad just to the left of the steering wheel.
The first thing he did was to pay lots of £££s to have the phone kit and of course an Ipod connection fitted. I certainly did not understand the previous owners logic but I can see MBs logic ( and BMWs).
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 09:06 
 Your car - the bad bits - Dog
Yep, I suppose the ole Almera has some bad bits ...

(1) The combined heater/climate/aircon/radio controls defy common and indeed all sense.

(2) The LCD 'on board' computer thing's screen has gorn a bit misty in places.

(3) The reversing bleepers drive me nutz b'cos they are always bleeping while I reverse up my drive.

That is about it really :)
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 11:48 
 Your car - the bad bits - Ted

On the Note, speedo goes up in 20 mph segments so you have to guess for 30/50/70 !

It will show me when I'm doing 140 mph, though !

Ted
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 12:08 
 Your car - the bad bits - Dieselboy
2002 Alfa 156 2.4JTD Veloce SW

With the seat and steering wheel in a comfortable position, I cannot see the speedometer between 40mph and 130mph.

Weedy airconditioning.

Fragile loadcover that I've had to bodge a number of times, all because Alfa insisted on using plastic lugs on something that is constantly under sprung pressure.

Impending £1k clutch and DMF change - then again the clutch has been very high and slipping slightly for the last 2 years...
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 12:11 
 Your car - the bad bits - Redviper
Vectra C 1.8 (06 Plate)

*The right hand head rest button on the passenger seat rattles right in my left ear when no one is sitting in the seat.

*No airflow from the rear vents inbetween the front seats (cant figure out where it is blocked)

*Rain "not so sensative" wipers (something i may consider having "tech 2'd out").

* Clutch can be a bit weird there is no definite bite point that you can feel, so sometimes you have not got enough bite and the car goes forward reving away, or you have to much and it struggles to get anywhere but i have kind of got used to.

* Suspension is a bit stiff, and its not that forgiving around potholes

Other than that - no problems


Last edited by: Redviper on Mon 14 Jun 10 at 12:14
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 12:45 
 Your car - the bad bits - Skoda
>> It will show me when I'm doing 140 mph, though !

Whole new meaning to "it goes like a dream" :-P
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 13:17 
 Your car - the bad bits - Snakey
Golf Mk6 1.4

- Its too slow, not bad around town but 50-70 is very sluggish
- If you have the front windows open even a crack all water runs in!
- Not as well built as VW seem to boast
- Economy isn't brilliant. I expected more than 40mpg from a low powered petrol in a fairly light car.
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 13:23 
 Your car - the bad bits - BobbyG
Snakey, a Golf Mk6 a fairly light car?????

Would severely doubt it..
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 13:26 
 Your car - the bad bits - Snakey
Isn't the Mk6 lighter than the Mk5?
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 Mon 14 Jun 10 22:30 
 Your car - the bad bits - PhilW
Dreadfully unreliable these Xantias - ours an "old one " compared to yours - 2000 W with 120k - and the damn thing sailed through its MOT recently so no excuse to get a new(er) car.
Ours is the posh one Rich - an Exclusive, and even all the electric fancy bits work (seats, auto wipers etc)
Oh, and another thing - it's still on its original spheres, which, after having a couple of BXs which seemed to need new spheres every year, seems remarkable!
PhilW
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 Tue 15 Jun 10 12:02 
 Your car - the bad bits - DP
52 Golf GT TDI 130

- Interior rattles. My biggest bugbear with this car, especially as its three year, 30,000 mile older sister is still very tight.
- Heavy diesel engine upsets handling.
- Engine undertray sits very low and grounds quite easily. You see a lot of VWs with undertrays hanging off. This is why.
- PD engine is noisy and rough compared with newer diesels.
- I hate the anti hijack locking. In fairness, I can turn it off with VAGCOM, but SWMBO won't let me.

erm. That really is about it.

------------------------

99(T) Golf 1.8T GTI

- Awful gearbox. On cold oil, it's probably the most obstinate, notchy, baulky, clunky of any car I've ever driven. Better when warm, but still not great.
- Radio cassette player?? I mean come on, even in 1999!!
- A ten yard car. Tidy at this distance, a bit tatty closer.

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 Tue 15 Jun 10 13:41 
 Your car - the bad bits - Dog
>> - A ten yard car. Tidy at this distance, a bit tatty closer. <<

That's what an Anglian D/G window fitter said to me once about their windows!
Motoring link ~ I'm still trying hard to think of more bad bits about my Almera :)
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 Tue 15 Jun 10 15:24 
 Your car - the bad bits - Boxsterboy
'07 Mercedes E280 Sport Estate

Not really a problem with the car, it's just that when I were a lad, Mercs were exclusive and expensive. They aren't any more, but my Protestant work ethic sometimes makes me feel guilty driving such an 'exclusive' car when, really, something far more humble would do the job just as well.

I read somewhere recently that when new a DS Safari was £1,900, when the average price of a house was £7,500. Average house prices are now £180,000 (?). Imagine spending £45,600 on a new Citroen estate these days! Just shows you how much cheaper motoring has become!
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 Tue 15 Jun 10 17:29 
 Your car - the bad bits - commerdriver
Had the car just over 2 months now so a good time to think about likes and dislikes

So, the bad bits - very few really -
main one is the seat adjustment mechanism for backrest and seat height, fiddly to get right after SWMBO or one of the kids has been driving.

very small glovebox and not much oddment space although the cupholders are groovy, according to my daughter.
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 Wed 16 Jun 10 13:06 
 Your car - the bad bits - Snakey
Boxsterboy - I know what you mean. When I used to have a 2004 X Type Jag I felt almost guilty parking it at work.Even though it cost £6k and it was parked next to brand new £12-13k superminis I almost felt like I was being flash!
Last edited by: Snakey on Wed 16 Jun 10 at 13:06
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