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Most of my cars have been bland and/or downright awful. Ones that come to mind are:
2002 Nissan Almera 1.5 van - truly an uninspiring drive made all the more complicated by the fact that I made a rookie mistake of trusting the seller to post the logbook without getting any details (met him in a conspicuous rural car park). Lost contact with the seller and couldn't tax the car as a result. It didn't last long.
2002 Opel Combo van - it was driven into the ground and billowing black smoke but I didn't want to return home empty handed after travelling across the country to buy it. The smoke used to enter the cabin through a grate in the floor (it was previously used by Guinness so I guess the grate was for air circulation or something?) and one would often feel dizzy after a few minutes of exposure.
But, there were a handful of decent motors along the way:
1991 VW Jetta - Probably my favourite for its retro appeal, lowered stance and BBS alloys. It also had a 1.9TDi AAZ engine put into it which gave it more grunt than the original 1.6 straight diesel would have. Escalating insurance costs meant I had to sell it after a year.
1995 Fiat Cinquecento - a very fun car which I bought for buttons as a run-around when I didn't want to use my work-van (Renault Master). It got burned out within 24 hours of purchasing.
2003 Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon - really nice to drive and to look at. I had it for about 8 or 9 months then the clutch failed and was going to cost an absolute bomb to fix. I got a quick job done on it (didn't replace the dual mass flywheel) and then promptly swapped it for something cheap and reliable with the disclaimer about the clutch.
Currently driving a 2004 Suzuki Liana. It's definitely one of the most vanilla cars I've ever driven especially in my hilly locality. But, it's bulletproof reliability and for someone with low income and the need of a reliable car on a daily basis, I have to live within my means for the moment!
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