Bought a 3 year old 30,000 mile C4 grand Picasso for £9000 6 months later air con compressor fell off £350,then a suspension airbag failed £200 then the other failed & took the compressor with it £1200. Modern cars are too fragile and over engineered. The V6 duratec engine isn't known for frying head gaskets. The mk2 had a fault where they put the electrics controlling the secondaries on top of the engine which fried them. The mk3 mondeos are pretty tough tbh not much goes wrong, hatchback chews thru rear subframe bushes. Had a Focus company car in 99 after 500 miles battery failed, 50 later discovered a bulkhead grommet hadn't been fitted so aircon electrics got fried after that palace Rd busseys knew me, my car registration, phone number & address. Car went in once a week for aircon faults. 76,000 miles driving down Acle straight heard tapping noise, drove to busseys slowly in 5th. Day later got shown piston 3 shell bearings were shot noise was piston slapping the engine. New short engine fitted. 78000 miles head gasket failed Worst car I've ever owned or driven, complete dog. Come to the conclusion buy a banker cheap as poss with long mot then he prepared to scrap it at end of that mot. I've done newish cars & old cars, old is definitely the better bet. Having said that bought a Shogun recently after 500 miles autobox failed. I'm now suing the garage who claim I broke it, goes to court soon....
German cars are terrible these days too. Japmobiles do ok but we're just getting to the point where cars are so over engineered to hit emission targets (like EGR & DPF on diesels) that when they go wrong they cost a fortune & they go wrong more often. Turbo failure on the 2.0 & 2.2 DCi's that destroys the engine. You also focused on the French car despite the fact the Japanese one I mentioned failed far more spectacularly costing way more to put right (ok it was older). Modern cars are just **** with expensive rubbish like dual mass flywheels. Too much computer controlled stuff & engineering tolerances that are too tight. Wish I'd kept my Estima that I ran on used veg oil, smelt like a chip shop
The A5 has done well. Zero problems and it gets a bit of a hard life (mostly when City lose). It's a 63 plate and I have put 42k on it since new and it hasn't put a foot wrong. The worst car I had was a Vectra estate, this was also new and it must have been back 10 times in the first year alone. Air con failed, Clutch after 24k, gearbox problems, electrical issues......everything!
True I did, but my father before me and I have both trodden the path of the banger for many years. I think his worst was a Rover, mine was either a Land rover or the Mondeo. My cheapest experiences have been the Proton Persona meridian and a Corolla, both excellent over 3-4 years with very little wrong with them. An Escort I had many years ago might have been a contender too had it not had a dirty great Mercedes park in the back of it on the A12! But through friends experiences and the mechanic friend car buyer my Dad has used one mantra has been set in stone. Never buy French! Too many friends have had lots of problems with them. I agree with you re-german cars and the modern trend for over engineering. But quite honestly they really don't want them to last, because they want you to buy another ASAP! Bah!
The Vectra went off to auction as I didn't have the heart to sell it privately. Some poor bastard must have it.
I actually missed one. My cheapest motoring came when just before Xmas the Mondeo's head gasket went. I needed a car fast for festive travels and a friend down the pub that night mentioned that his mum was looking to get rid of her old Metro and that she'd only want £100. It had 6 months on the MOT and a coat hanger for an aerial. Well come the summer all it needed was wiper blades, so I had another year out of it before the rust final took it to a place where too much money was needed to justifiably keep it going. My Mrs hated that car, but cheaper motoring you could not get! Bah!
My first car was Metro, bless it. My friend Terry bought a MG Metro Turbo, this was in the late 90's. What a strange car it was. It was a bit like being naked going down hill on skateboard with fireworks strapped to it.
My first was a nova, which probably due to being very, very basic, was not the unreliable clusterwotsit that modern Vauxhalls are! Bah!
A Nova! I had one of them as well. It was B reg. Something B252 BRP I think! It was a 1 litre and had an overhead valve engine. This was reliable but the body work let it down.
You know said never buy French. When I was 22 I purchased a black, 1979 Renault Gordini Turbo with red corduroy seats! This was the fastest most unsafe car I have ever owned. please log in to view this image http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/56148/renault-gordini-turbo-1195ono-slinford I can't get images to work on here
Mine was an E something reg. Someone got 102 out of it going down the steep hill on to the Humber bridge (Though it definitely wasn't me and I'm quite sure the speedo read at least 32 mph quicker than its actual speed officer!) Bah!
Nice cars, my first was in 1994 a B plate Renault 11 TXE Electronic, had electric everything (no aircon) digital dashboard ,voice synth absolutely brilliant car, got split fuel line week after I bought it garage fixed and suffered from design flaw where the carb overheated and Base warped allowing air into the mix that aside never serviced it & it just went & went. Had the 1.7 litre engine they put in the Volvo 400 series. Replaced that with an 88 plate Rover 216 I replaced brake pads that aside I never even did an oil change on it it was indestructible, again though had the Honda engine in. After that got a fully expensed Combo van so drove around on that everywhere. Bored one Saturday night so drove to Blackpool lol. I bought a Citroën XM at that point, best car ever dealer replaced all the spheres under warranty again indestructible car & like driving a sofa. Swear the seats were a foot thick. Unlike modern crap where everything is made of plastic & aluminium.
Oh I got a brand new Volvo V70 mk2 D5 as a hire car for a month I put 8000 miles on it, hire Co not happy. I might have exceeded the speed limit on the A1122 near Swaffham where the road is so straight & nowhere for coppers to hide got it to just under 120 I think lol. For legal reasons I am of course lying. I had a VW Passat in 2002 lovely car but drank as much oil as petrol & dealer fitted towbar so car arrived with electrical fault. Can't fault VW showroom in Norwich tho go to fridge & help yourself to free cans of coke, loan car was a bright green lupo which are crap.
