Nissan Note clutches

I have had 3 Nissan Note courtesy cars in the last 6 months (on going issue with my vauxhall zafira that I love)
The first one was fine but rubbish for acceleration I didn't drive it that often as it was summer holidays but I noticed the clutch would take a bit of a beating. The car had to work very hard going up hills. You would be doing 40 miles an hour max.
second one i got seemed wrong right away, even though they told me it was only 6 months old. It was rattly and took a long time to build up speed.
going up a hill to traffic lights I had to stop. Put the hand break on and put the car in to first (or what thought was first, was actually 3rd)
So tried to pull away the car wouldn't go forward but it didn't stall and it took me a second to realise I was in the wrong gear and basically I burnt out the clutch.
It drove ok for about 3 or 4 days after that and then going up a hill died.
So my point is I got another one to replace this one. This one is fine (for a rubbish car)
But the same thing happened on a hill though I was in first pulled off the car stalled but still got the burnt smell.
Have I ruined another car and should it be that easy to burn out a clutch?