Cannot really talk about American cars. Seen their average handling, here where I live, I'm glad I cannot buy them (and don't force me to talk about your cars in further posts, dear Americans. Trying strongly to be polite, here).

About European cars I can say I'm glad I never had nor took a ride on a Morris Marina, seen that it has that nasty habit to get pianos dropped on it out of the blue. That is not a car, but a paranormal phenomena on wheels.

Back in 77, when I was eight, my father took in for a prolonged test drive a NSU Prinz... a car I'd rather burn my driving license rather than own or get at the wheel of. Beside the fact that it had a mechanical reliability that could be expressed in imaginary numbers, it had probably a worse handling than even the infamous Chevrolet Corvair, because it managed to do a sudden and unprovoked 90° tail slide on a straight road once (and if you knew how my father has ALWAYS driven, even back then, you'd know that he has always thought a blasphemous thing to do willingly, that, even for fun on a secure and deserted track), barely managing not to kill my whole family putting itself astride a road that was mercifully empty of traffic at the time.

The FIAT Ritmo (outside Italy known sometimes as Strada), because it was UGLY, was mechanically cobbled together with eggbeaters building leftovers, was prone to rust, and it had the electric reliability of a soaked sponge.

The FIAT Regata (name outside Italy may vary), a sedan version of the Ritmo, because it inherited the electrical and mechanical infidelity of the hatchback itself verbatim, to which, perhaps for a show of character, added a chassis so wobbly and fragile to be a public danger.

The modern FIAT Multipla, because it has managed to be EVEN UGLIER than the Ritmo and I would rather walk naked from one end of of Baghdad to the other than been seen at the wheel of one of them.

The SIMCA 1000... a phone booth on its side, with wheels underneath, a squarish long chest on top and the engine in the back to give it unforgettable handling characteristics, perhaps as bad as the already spoken of Prinz, if not worse. I'd rather go barefoot in the snow for the rest of my life than ever see another of those, let alone drive or own one.

The FIAT Stilo, because I drove it once, it had a 16 valves two liters petrol engine and managed to be slower than death by starvation and as much as excruciating, its steering was numb, the gear was worse than a Ritmo's (quite the achievement, that, for a relatively modern car), had the agility of a snail with arthritis, the visibility of a WWI submarine and it was less comfortable than falling head first down a stairwell.

...

...and that's it. They're not ten, merely seven. If I can think of another three, I'll add them later.

I drove a 1970 Ford Pinto during my high school years. Bright yellow, it looked like a big lemon on wheels. But, hey, it was fun to drive. Its rack-and-pinion steering made cornering a breeze. And, as a student on a budget, I appreciated its high mileage. By 5 years its valves were starting to click-and-clack, and my dad got rid of it soon after I left home to join the Air Force.

My ex had a Chevy Vega. Nope, it couldn't hold oil. Rust took it quickly. Not near as nice as the Pinto. I think her foot once went through the floorboard before she got rid of it.

And I remember the first time I saw the Aztec while on a business trip to Chicago. It stopped me and my partners in our tracks with a "What the hell is that?" moment. We couldn't believe our eyes that it  looked like ... THAT! More positive proof that people who work at big corporations often do very, very stupid things, and get paid for it. 

Strategic Retreat wrote on Dec 1^st, 2012 at 10:27pm:



I work at THEE smallest GA manufacturer and I can say safely that if I do anything stupid or make any mistake, everyone at work will know right away what it was and WHO did it 
That tends to keep everyone very honest 

I am really glad my '88 Prelude is not on this list.

wahubna wrote on Dec 1^st, 2012 at 11:57pm:


The Honda Prelude? The version with the 80ies through first 90ies fashionable pop-up headlights?

A little too much angular for my tastes, and the bonnet goes REALLY low at its business end (would not get a lot of points for pedestrian safety, nowadays... but who cares about pedestrians anyway  ), but not a bad design.

Mechanically... never had any first hand experience with any Honda, but they aren't really known to be disasters on wheels, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah, I know the feeling.

Had a BWM 318i year 1984 (one of the first of the second model of the 3 series) up until April 2010. Body in great shape up to the last, though I had to have it repainted about ten years ago since its paint was... not really one solid hue anymore at the times and quite ugly to look at, and very little rust... less than many other cars with half its life, actually. Problematic in the last two years of its life had been the engine that had gone through hell and back, with its WAY more than 220.000Km (136.000 miles) of my not really relaxed driving style.

That April was so soggy and rainy that it wanted to beat London's best, with the great total number of 4 days of days when rain did not fall in the whole month... and the humidity gave the last strike the old warrior into the bonnet of that great car within which I've traveled a good part of Europe ever since 1989 (the year I bought it second hand). It had been a while that it burned more lubricant oil than petrol and when the weather was humid at the start it went on three cylinders before warming up... but a morning of that April the old comrade's heart just gave up, at best working for a little while on two sole cylinders.

Since they asked me 1 grand ONLY TO DISMOUNT THE ENGINE FROM ITS MOUNTS, and then all the repairs were to be added to that sum... plus ANOTHER GRAND to remount the engine back into the car... I literally showed them the two finger salute (that here in Italy almost no one understands its a boost of the one finger salute) and, since the previous November already it gave me problems to the fuel pump, that left me in the middle of the road and had to be replaced (and was not a cheap piece either... 220€ of pump plus mounting and taxes), unwillingly took the suffered decision to bring the old four wheeled friend to its last resting place.

Now I'm driving a FIAT Punto Multijet year 2003. One of the first with the 75bhp 16 valves turbo intercooler multijet 1.3 liters diesel engine... and I must say, even if it doesn't completely measure up to the old warrior I had to inhume that cursed April, it's quite the nice step up for FIAT. I was SO used to the trashy cars of this brand from the 90ies that almost had a heart attack in finding they made quite the good car with this one. Quite sprinty in spite of being a diesel, with a not quite as direct as I would have liked electric servo assisted driving wheel (that is worlds better than the Stilo's I drove some years ago, though, and makes it further up being quite precise as well), a still not perfect but quite better than the old FIATs gearbox, and keeping the turbo in while driving, since the car is lighter, it doesn't make me miss too much the old BMW.

...it has the blessed to have in summer air conditioning, that the old car didn't have... and anti lock brakes too... and other electric gizmos the old car wasn't equipped with... but I still cry the old comrade of thousand battles and roads past, sometimes.

Ivan wrote on Feb 9^th, 2013 at 4:41pm:



I exchanged my BMW E39 525d it was 9 years old and had 340,000 km on the clock. It drove like the first day I picked it up. And I swapped it for........BMW E61 530d.........

As for Fiat, I am pretty sure that Mercedes diesels, Citroen, VW, Audi and of course BMW are all home grown...
http://www.toomanycars.info/CarRelationship/Car_Rel-Image2.html

Matt