Me and my mate were discussing earlier what is the worst bit of design in a car ever.

I was thinking along the lines of ford bolting a turbo onto the CVH

What do you think is the worst error in a cars design?

 

The positioning of the oil filter on a Transit Connect.
Rich

 

must be the front brake setup on a hyundai coupe, got to luv rice and rust, with the brake disc mounted on the back of the hub, type wheel bearing out jobie.

Almost everything saab is shait..
But lets not forget the front of a fiat multipla! epic fail..

 

got to be k series head gasket problems

 

how can you say that?

if they didnt we would never have had rs turbos.

20 years ago it was ahead of its time

and still a capable engine today with people getting up to and over 300bhp using standard componats such as standard ford headgaskets, exhaust manifold, headbolts etc

so hardly a bad engine really

most problems are down to owners not mantaing them properly

some engines of similar size need alot more parts replacing to make similiar power even by today standards

how many 300bhp corsa vxrs do you see? and there engine are prone to failure and thats by todays standards

 

That's how most discs used to be mounted, if they weren't a complete one piece disc and hub.

 

mk3 fiestas , not thinking of the idea that water gets trapped behind the petrol cap and the inner body panel , using a shitty foam gasket and not using some sort of decent sealant between the panels and on the sills to stop them rusting .
also transit connect pressed steel sump pan rotted through after only 8 months on a brand new van
and ford for not making a new decent 4x4 big powered rs to match the likes of the evos etc as theres still clearly a market for them , someone at ford must not have any business sense


cheers paul

 

Cam belts that drive water pumps.

Cavaliers spring to mind! Water pump fails and takes the engine with it!

Dash/heater bulbs that are always lit, so they eventually burn out. Then they make them a complete arse to change! Combo B van heater bulbs for instance, you have to virtually strip down the complete centre console to get at the tiny bulbs.

 

What a shame that would have been The biggest motoring fail for me has to be the prius, all those precious metals in the huge batteries that are shipped half way round the world to be produced, then half way round the world again to be installed. The batteries are then shagged in less than 10 years and will need replacing at a 4 figure sum. And it still isn't as efficient as a small petrol / diesel family hatchback.

 

At least they tried....unfortunately.

.

 

The worst bit of design has to be Austin / Morris for not using a couple of tubes of seam sealer on the floor / sill seams on the early original Minis.
However by not doing that they made twice as much profit on each car.
Actually thinking about it Austin/ Morris, B.L, /Rover etc have probably made more design errors than any other manufacturer.

 

The new Renault Megane where you have to replace the head light bulb via the wheel arch
with a couple hundred quid charge thrown in for a nice bill

 

the new ones are easy or you thinking of the one with the big rear

 

Not sure they ever made any profit on minis.
The distributor and other electrics on the front of the mini engine very low down with no protection so it all got soaked was a pretty big fail..

 

Taking an oil filter off a 5 cylinder fiat stilo engine.You have to remove the exhaust front pipe/cat to get them off.

 

Renault 19 16v alternators are quite shocking to change, its almost like they made the car and forgot the alternator then bodged it on afterwards.

 

Yeah the ones with the big rear, there is a small hole in the inner arch lining you go through. Not that I know my self from experience, just from what I seen on an episode of 5th Gear

 

Same to change a headlight bulb on a rover 75!

 

Any vauxhaul seats!!!!!

I get the new Vauxhauls quite often to go to head office via Enterprise car hire and after half hour my back is killing me. Not great for a 5 hour drive!
Every one at work gets "Astra back" when going to head office so I'm not alone.

 

Right there vauxhall standard seats are very uncomfertable.

 

Couldnt disagree more

Apart from the oil supply to the cam lobes the cvh is a fucking great little engine and very sturdy.

Worst car design i've come across personally.....the way nearly all VAG group cars suffer from the loom breaking down where it passes from door to body.....never hear anything about other makes having issues in this area

 

you forgot that they used the water pump as a tensioner as well, epic fail when the pump sizes up too

i'm medically exempt (i think) from driving our vivaro's as they really kill my back, several of our drivers have complained about it, but they've just been moaning while i have an actual back/neck issue and a letter form my doctor

 

connecting speedo cable on mini gearbox end

 

Sierra Sapphire indicator units total pish design, the back of them snap off where the retaining spring is located and they just fall out

not good if you're doing 100+mph


Luciano

 

sport ka's are the same, and i think tigras you have to take the front bumper off but i could be wrong.

 

Quite a few cars have stupid headlights that require the wheel/arch liner to come off.

But when it comes to needlessly lengthy routine maintenance work the Citroen DS takes first prize. The front discs are inboard, and can take an experienced specialist 12 hours to swap!!

 

up on a ramp and you need small hands if not bumper off job the new ones the light comes out

 

I think I'd have to agree.

Lee

 

Couldn't agree more

The old C3 was like that. To change the bulb you have to take the battery covers off to get to another pastic cover that houses... a plastic cover. Take this off and you finally get to the bulb (should point out, you cant see anything). Taking it out is piss easy, it's putting the new one in that's annoying, the bulbs will only go in at a certain angle after loads of struggling (trying not to break it) so you decide to take the grill off. All this to change a bloody bulb!

And try changing the air filter and spark plugs

and breathe...

 

mk3 mondeo air con regas means removing the inner wheel arch liner on the drivers side as that's where the refill point is

 

Vauxhall/fiat 1.3 diesel engine..

 

Probably not the biggest motoring design fail, but the rot on a hatchback sierra drivers rear quarter, like mine,the petrol cap area still has loads of rot in!

 

you dont have to take arch liner out.take the 8mm bolt out and there will be two grooves.its like a flap they never made properly.score with a knife and pull back the flap and the point is right there

 

Cambelt change on Fiat Bravo 20v's!!

Lower arm bushes in polo 9n's

DPF filters too... all for euro 5 emissions regs. expensive shite.

 

Lol I was only messing!

Another thing that to add to the list that even when an CVH turbo goes bang they cost peanuts to fix!

 

on both the arches i used, there was no score line, normal and st

and neither was there enough give in the plastic to be able to move it out of the way enough

so now i've cut a big section out and then another to fit over the top of it

 

Rover 600/Honda Accord. Worst car i've ever had by a country mile. That was a pain in the arse to change the headlight bulb but only on one side. The rest of the car was utter shite and was a nightmare to find parts for.

 

Wasn't a fiat coupe turbo as shite design? something with the cambelt?

 

thats why they invented marrigolds to put over the diz and with enough fingers for each ht !

 

This whole car.