Bad cars you have a soft spot for?

Ok, now some serious cars, I like, which I shouldnt.
The Opel/Vauxhall Omega
OPEL-Omega-2-2-DTI-Selection--2001-2003-.jpg

My dad has one, a 2.5, and yes, it does have faults, but its comfortable, and some kind of back to basic, RWS, a handbrakeleaver (instead of a button). If I get retired, I want to find myself in that! :D

My dad had two Omegas before he retired. They were surprisingly reliable despite the horror stories I've heard and read about them. You can have one these for very cheap these days and you get a lot of car for very, very little money.
 
My dad had two Omegas before he retired. They were surprisingly reliable despite the horror stories I've heard and read about them. You can have one these for very cheap these days and you get a lot of car for very, very little money.

We got that car here in America as the Cadillac Catera. Everyone was like "oooo, tiny Cadillac...bet it's just a rebadged POS like the old Cadillac Cimarron (see also J-body Chevy Cavalier), and it'll fall apart soon."

Of course some failed miserably, it's GM. I still see a few on the road, though. When they're for sale in used-car lots, they're usually on the cheap. (Anyone know how much it would cost to get a bunch of Opel badges shipped over? :lol:)
 
How tall are you DanRoM? :lol:
 
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I love the old Vauxhall Senator, although the Aussie front end was far nicer than the one we got. I remember the beast that was the 24v Police version, apparently they loved them.

As for the Omega, I like it because it's a bit like our Crown Vic. They haven't made the things for seven or so years yet they are still in service. A black V6 version is pretty badass imho.


Another one I like...
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Rover 75 V8. A completely different car with the power going to the correct wheels and a big V8 under the hood that is older than Jesus. I love it.
 
I love the Isetta. I'd probably hate it if I ever had to drive it, but they're just so goshdarn cute. My mom had one, and thus, I get to give her crap about not letting me have a BMW. (Her response was usually somewhere along the lines of "yeah, well...mine had a top speed of around 50," though. Grr.)

I have a soft spot for big gaudy 80s American cars. The chromier and more ridiculous, the better. We had an '88 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight and an '89 Cadillac DeVille...things like that are <3. Not to drive per se, but they're quite squishy and comfortable to ride around in. If I wanted to be chauffeured in something, you can keep your gottdanged newer Town Car and get me another DeVille.

I have a near-pathological gone-so-soft-it's-rotted-through soft spot for my first car, though. 'Twas a Pontiac Grand Am, and I'd crap bricks to find one just like it. The only problem is that they have a bad reputation for falling apart after about ~70,000 mi., and mine was starting to prove the rule towards the end of its life. It was still fun even when the gas gauge ceased to read quite right and the driver's side window got stuck in the "up" position for a while, though. Still want. Quite badly.

(I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of 'em right now.)
 
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Here comes my entry in this thread and it's from...GM.

I present to you the Chevrolet Beretta.
534455_42_full.jpg


It was a car particularly loved in the south because it looked like a NASCAR racer. You have to admit, as far as looks go - it's not bad for something in the early 90's.

The car however was unbelievably unreliable. The 2.8 and 3.1 V6, although known as sturdy engines, would rarely last more than 60k miles.

Performance was also pitiful, but that's entirely GM's fault with their stupid policies. The Camaro/Trans Am were always compromised, because no car could be made faster than a Corvette. Same applies here - the Beretta was simply not allowed to be faster than a Camaro.

As a result, the top of the line model in the 90's, the Z26 was fitted with a 3.1 V6 producing 160hp and a lethargic 3-speed-automatic. 0-60 was achieved in 9 seconds.

And here is what it could have been...In the late 80's, the Beretta was available for a short period of time in the GTZ trim. It had a 2.4 Quad4 engine with 180 hp and a Getrag 5 speed gearbox. 0-60 in 7.6 seconds and 0.92g on the skidpad. On a tight track it was faster than a Camaro.

GM didn't like that and decided to kill it off.

Even so...the GTZ was not a good car. The Quad4 was notoriously noisy and known to blow head gaskets. The transmission was dodgy, and the interior was crap.

But I still want one...
 
Why do you consider yourself dumb?

Because i don't know Why the Senator is a bad car? Nah, i was just joking back there. Seriously though why? For what i know, and what i know is a Top Gear piece by Quentin Wilson, senators were pretty good cars but since it was a Vauxhall, nobody bought it.
 
Because i don't know Why the Senator is a bad car? Nah, i was just joking back there. Seriously though why? For what i know, and what i know is a Top Gear piece by Quentin Wilson, senators were pretty good cars but since it was a Vauxhall, nobody bought it.

To be brutally honest, it's not THAT bad.

The problem with the Senator was the horrid grille, the typically drab Vauxhall interior and it was a rust bucket despite having galvanised body. But in its defence: It's spacious, the 3.0 V6 24V is quick enough and it has a cult following, apparently.
 
I think I'll have to give up my petrolhead status after this post, but here goes:

1988-96 Buick Regal coup?
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/ph/phoenixsac/2010/02/27/88-89_Buick_Regal_(Orange_Julep).jpg

When these cars first came out, I thought they were the ugliest of all the GM W-bodies. But when I got a good deal on a 1990 Regal Limited, I ended up buying one and the looks started to grow on me. While my Regal with the 3.1 V6 wasn't a powerhouse of acceleration, it kept up with traffic; and for a car with the same suspension layout and tires as my Cadillac, it felt like a sports car compared to the Caddy. The car also never gave me any trouble.

1998-2007 Ford Crown Victoria P71
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/ph/phoenixsac/2010/02/27/blacked-out.jpg

I don't think it's a bad car per se, but it's not something that your average car enthusiast would own. Even with the upgraded suspension that's part of the P71 Police Interceptor package it's not a car that drives particularly well. But there's something delightfully subversive about speeding down the highway in a police car.

1991-97 Lincoln Town Car
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/ph/phoenixsac/2010/02/27/lincoln-town-car-front-quarter.jpg

Again, not a bad car, but not a thrill ride either. This is a car that - like ninjacoco says - is probably better to ride in than to drive. This is a car designed for American driving conditions - interstate highways with long, sweeping turns and gentle hills. Just beware - the car is attracted to bingo games, buffets, and early bird specials. You also may find yourself wearing your trousers above your waist, asking people to repeat themselves, and yelling at kids to stay off your lawn. :mrgreen:
 
We got that car here in America as the Cadillac Catera. Everyone was like "oooo, tiny Cadillac...bet it's just a rebadged POS like the old Cadillac Cimarron (see also J-body Chevy Cavalier), and it'll fall apart soon."

I had a Catera....I loved it!

Spent a fortune on tires though, but I loved it! I'd actually like another one.....
 
In Australia? Yes. In the UK? No. Though, Opel/Vauxhall had plans to make a Lotus version of it with the twin-turbo engine of the Lotus Carlton (Omega).
My point is wouldn't it just be considerably easier to buy an old V8 Commodore for a pittance and import it to the UK rather than shoehorning a V8 into a Senator?
 
1998-2007 Ford Crown Victoria P71
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/ph/phoenixsac/2010/02/27/blacked-out.jpg

I don't think it's a bad car per se, but it's not something that your average car enthusiast would own. Even with the upgraded suspension that's part of the P71 Police Interceptor package it's not a car that drives particularly well. But there's something delightfully subversive about speeding down the highway in a police car.
I know of several people with one on their list - myself included. When it comes down to it, it's not a fast car. It's not a nimble car. It's not a drag monster. What it is is something else entirely - it's an endurance car. Hundred mile commutes and unending 24 hour a day driver-rotating road trips are its hunting grounds. If the TSA told me I couldn't fly back and forth to California, I'd buy one - and I'd make the trip more often than I do already. Miles to a P71 are what revs are to normal cars.

They carry that same mystique that a proper Jaaaag does - it loosely implies that you're an International Man of Mystery - especially if it's black with the black steelies and silver centercaps, because that's what all the baddies in movies drive.
 
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http://img191.imageshack.**/img191/8417/asdfch.jpg

Chrysler 300M Special.

When I worked as a detailer in high school I got to go out on a service call to pick up one of these, same color and all, '04 model with under 5k miles on it...and I thought it was the coolest car ever at that point.

Looking back, knowing a bit more..Chrysler trying real hard to have a European touring-style car, but with an FF layout on 255hp, cheap looking fancy-wannabe clock, faux-carbon fiber trim, supposadly "sport tuned" but still soft suspension with "performance tuned steering" special to the 300M Special.

But I can't help but want one, and it sounded sooo nice to my ears for a V6
 
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My point is wouldn't it just be considerably easier to buy an old V8 Commodore for a pittance and import it to the UK rather than shoehorning a V8 into a Senator?


If it would have been that easy, everyone would do, Australia is on the other side of the world. ;)
 
My head is spinning around the fact that the Isetta was available in the United States of land yachts. Or did your family optain it another way?
I have no idea, but my grandpa had (...and still has) a bizarre knack for finding random things.

He had to improvise a lot of the parts for it from motorcycles and such, though, so I doubt it was imported on a very large scale at all. (There wasn't a BMW dealership in Wichita Falls at the time, that's for sure.)


ETA: I knew I'd think of more. The G-Body post made me smile 'cause I was brought home from the hospital in an Olds Cutlass. I'm not a big fan of 'em myself, but I can understand the appeal. My mom and her best friend both had 'em.

There was one of these badass bricks at my high school:

https://pic.armedcats.net/n/ni/ninjacoco/2010/02/28/volvohearse.jpg

Ohhhhh yes. It probably doesn't qualify as a "bad car" on here, but I always get a lot of odd looks whenever I admit that I kinda like Volvos. And this one--in black--looks like a hearse. I guess that's why a lot of people didn't like 'em, but mmmm. I could've pulled it off. There's just something sinister and appealing about the old blocky Volvo wagons. "Hi. My name is ninjacoco, and this is my hearse." Mwahahahahaaaaa.

(Also, I had a bit of a morbid streak in high school. That might explain a lot.)

And I like the newer ones, too. (Okay, not the newest one they've come out with that looks like a gottdanged Hyundai with a diagonal bar across the front grille, but you get the point.) Of the two "almost-hads" for my first car--a Volvo 850? sedan and a late '90s Mustang--I wanted the silly Volvo much, much more. To this, I got a lot of "eeew old people/turn signals left on/BALLARD." The Volvo just seemed a little more...subversive. For one, I had to ride around in the back of it 'til I got my license, and the 'Stang's dinky back seat would've been the ultimate uff da. Two, my dad is a hardcore American car guy, and making him get me a car made by "k?ttbullar-eating ice monkeys"...yes please. And three, the Mustang seemed so...common. Not so much in WA, but seeing how I wanted to get back to Texas and pretty much any ol' redneck drives 'em here...yep.


Another odd like: the S-Type Jaaaaaaag.

2008.jaguar.s-type.20114613-396x249.jpg


It's so kitschy and "stuck in the past" that I like it. I rarely hear anything good about 'em, but...but......look at it. It's adorable.


I also kind of like the BMW 1-series, even though they're prohibitively stupidly priced here. I just never, ever see 'em. 'k, I know there's good reason for that, but...awwwww it's just so tiny and cute and awwwwwwww.
 
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If it would have been that easy, everyone would do, Australia is on the other side of the world. ;)

So? It doesn't make much of a difference. Shipping takes longer and costs more, thats all. A few weeks and around ?900 is still probably easier than converting an existing car. You're not rowing the ship. ;)
 
ninjacoco, I was having serious dilemmas before getting my 850. People who have known me long enough here will confirm that I had thoughts about many different cars.

At one point I was considering Ford Probes and Mustangs, along with some F-Body Pontiacs. I almost bought a 5-speed 1996 Honda Accord. After I test drove it...I didn't feel a thing. I was numb. It was so bland and boring.

Despite my hatred of automatic transmissions, I test drove a very dodgy 850R...bad turbo, bad struts, power steering leak, oil pressure problems...despite all this, I loved the car!
The more I read about 850's, the more I wanted one. It didn't have 4 cylinders...it had 5! The transmission was controlled by a computer and had a Sport button...in 1994! I loved the brick-looks. And I also loved the interior (one thing that stopped me from buying an F-body or a Fox-body was their interiors...My God! What were they thinking?)
 
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