When it comes to British cars, there are many good ones out there. There's automotive awesomeness such as the Jaguar E-Type, McLaren F1, Aston Martin DBS, and Range Rover to name a few. Then there is the fact that many racing teams are based in the UK, such as Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team and the Subaru World Rally Team.
There's no doubt the UK has many prestigious cars, brands, and racing teams under its belt, and they sure do know how to make a good car. Unfortunately, they also know how to make terrible cars, including some classic cars we wouldn't even want to be caught dead in. Here are ten British cars you are better off avoiding.
10 Morris Ital
Now, you may be thinking about where the Morris Marina is on this list. Well, what if we told you British Leyland actually made the Marina again with some help from Italian car designer, Italdesign? It must have been the trainee who designed this one though, as it was beyond woeful.
Words can't even describe how bad this car is. The real achievement was that British Leyland had actually managed to make a worse car than the already bad Marina. The Ital is so bad, it really deserves all the spots on the worst cars of the 1980s list.
9 Austin Allegro
Next, we have the Austin Allegro. Where do we even start? It is a truly woeful car. In fact, calling it a car is an insult to the whole invention of the car. The Allegro was a car made by British Leyland that directly rivaled the Morris Marina and the Ital. Both cars made by the same company, rivaling each other. What a strange decision.
The Allegro was meant to be a funky car, but due to the fact that British Leyland was lazier than a dead dog, it meant that the production model was far from funky. The people who built them were more interested in going on strike outside the factory than working inside. A terrible car made by an even worse brand.
8 Rover CityRover
This was the car that killed one of the greatest marques in the world, Rover. Imagine how embarrassing it must be for a manufacturer to go from cars like the magnificent P5, P6, and 75 to this tin on wheels. It was made in India as a Tata Indica, and in no way shape or form was it a car for Europe.
It was cheaply built, it drove like trash, and it made you feel like an absolute fool. It didn't look too bad to be fair. But the build quality is just beyond terrible!
7 Triumph Acclaim
The Triumph Acclaim was a measly effort between Honda and Triumph. When you hear that Triumph, a manufacturer of exciting sports cars is going to collaborate with Honda, one of the kings of reliability, that's good news, right? It was so bland in every single way, it was just like nobody put any effort into this car at all.
It was reliable and somewhat well-built, but it was just so undesirable. People would rather crawl to work on their forearms than drive this. It was so depressing this car that most of them were crushed.
6 Rover SD1
The Rover SD1 is a brilliant-looking car. In fact, it should not even be on this list because it genuinely is a good car. It even won car of the year when launched in 1976. However, the issue with this car was that it was horribly built. It was made when British Leyland strikes were at their prime. This was when Britain really was like a communist state, and their cars prove that.
The SD1 would rust faster than bare metal in seawater. Bits would fall off a new car after a week of ownership it was that bad. Even Magret Thatcher didn't want anything to do with the SD1 after she refused to have any SD1 models in her fleet.
5 British Leyland Princess
You know a car is going to be bad when it's called the "Princess." The Austin Princess showed the world just how bad Britain was at making cars in the 1970s. The Princess was built under many British Leyland brands, but none of that mattered. It was terribly built, and it looked like a proper turd on wheels.
No real gear head will actually respect this car. It is laughable and a complete embarrassment to a great nation. This car came from the same nation that did the Jaguar E-Type and the McLaren F1.
4 Triumph Stag
The Triumph Stag would have been a proper hairy-chested car if Triumph had used the excellent Rover V8. Instead, they welded two Dolomite sedan 4-cylinder engines together to make an absolute abomination. No point talking about its performance, as the Stag would have broken down before it reached 60.
It was one of the most unreliable cars ever made, and it is a complete waste of car, money, and time. If it had the Rover V8 it would have been amazing, perhaps one of the best British cars ever?!
3 Jaguar X-Type
The Jaguar X-Type really was the start of a downfall for Jaguar. It was essentially a posh Ford Mondeo. A Ford Mondeo is basically a European Ford Fusion sedan. It was terribly built, and it looked like a cheap tribute act to the Jaguars of the past. This was built when Jaguar kept using their old cars as inspiration for their new cars.
This made Jaguar cars look like old-man cars. The X-Type could have been something to really rejuvenate the brand. Instead, it made Jaguar look like the British Cadillac.
2 Triumph TR7
The Triumph TR6 was a brilliant-looking sports car. The TR7 on the other hand wasn't anywhere near beautiful. It was a wedge on wheels, and it is probably one of the ugliest sports cars ever. The man who designed this also designed the British Leyland Princess. What did you expect a sports car to look like coming from that guy?
Letting that man design a sports car was the stupidest decision the company has ever made. In fact, the same guy was responsible for all of these horrid British Leyland designs from the 1970s.
1 Rolls-Royce Camargue
This was the world's most expensive car of its time, and it is hideous. Pininfarina designed this, and Rolls-Royce certainly didn't get their money's worth. The wheels look too small for the body, and the build quality was poor. It was slow, handled like a fridge, and it was way too overpriced.
Rolls-Royce thought they had made the best car in the world. How wrong were they? This is the worst Rolls-Royce model ever and thankfully, they don't make cars as bad as this these days. Mainly because they're owned by BMW.