by stefan einz » Thu Dec 25, 2014 10:39 am
Conscious that in my reply above I do not actually answer the question - what's the most disappointing car I've driven?
Tough one this, as I have driven a huge variety of cars, from the everyday to hyper sports cars. It would be easy to plug for one of the more everyday cars, as on average these are less exciting to drive than a performance car. But that would be unfair. So instead I've tried to think of the car that has most disappointed relative to my expectations for the car, and its purpose. This is not necessarily the same as the worst car I've driven (which is easy - a Skoda Esetelle).
So my answer is the Mercedes Benz AMG C32. This is a car from the early noughties, which had a six cylinder super charged engine, with a slush box. It was built at the time M-B and Chrysler were bed fellows, to the significant detriment of M-B's legendary build quality. The car itself was of course fast, but the engine was strained at high revs. The gearbox was awful - slow to shift and not smooth. The handling was ok, but in comparison to BMW M-cars on the era, it was nothing special. The steering was especially vague. I didn't own this car, but probably drove it several times on various trips, and even after some considerable wheel time, I could not warm to it.
Interestingly, since then AMG Mercedes have improved dramatically. Today, I think AMG trump BMW M cars in almost every respect - a complete reversal of the position ten years ago.
Cheers