Ok. I have no idea what you mean. It has been a good reliable car, people say that German cars are unreliable but my A5 has been fine.
I'm on my second Mercedes, first was a 1997 E class which used to belong to my dad. Ran absolutely fine, eventually traded it in at 14 years old for a C class coupé which is now around a 10 year old car and you would never know it. Drives like a dream. I'm pretty sold on the Germans. We had one of the original Xara Picassos. Was a terrible car, died in less than 5 years. Only the French are stupid enough to buy French cars.
I bought an automatic 05 Octavia diesel 3 years ago and it has been excellent. Had a slight disagreement with the service department at Robinsons a few weeks after I bought it, but it all got resolved and I love the 2 year service interval. Went to Gloucester for a few days at the weekend and got over 50mpg on the way back. The climate control works like a dream on even the hottest days and I'll certainly buy another one when this one pegs out.
My dad's had 2 C4 GPs never had a mins trouble, thing is all well & good saying don't buy French but C4 GP is best in class by a mile. MiL when she was with us had a Grand Scenic for 5 years had one problem at 4 years radio broke & flattened the battery. It's not all horror stories. The crap German things relatively new, the cars being mentioned are old enough to have avoided the drop in quality. The new mercs coming out are terrible, then there's the Discoveries the most unreliable cars on the road pmsl. Personally I think all cars have their faults, all companies churn out bad designs at one time. Remember the 16v 1.4 vauxhall engine that used to eat cambelts causing £4000 in damage? Featured on watchdog any times. I'll say this about the air suspension fault on the C4,Citroën admitted it was a problem and setup a fixed price repair of £70 for that they replaced both bags & compressor & said they would continue to do so until car was 10 years old. How many German companies would replace worn suspension parts for a minimal price until 10 years have passed? Had one bag done at my local non-citroen garage, Citroën then wrote me a cheque to cover that too, without me asking! Zafira new one is horrible no room in with 7 seats, horrid engines Grand Zafira as above but boot for a handbag Grand scenic - french C4 GP - French Touran - over priced & poverty spec, crap engines, ugly Other than those you then talk about going up to Galaxy size which altho have 7 adult seats, too expensive & minimal boot space.
I've driven loads of hire cars in the last five years and the best is VW Golf. Worst is a Reneult clito.
When I had my little Combo van (merit spec not even power steering in 1996) it was always breaking down I must've had over 3 years around 200 hire cars (including servicing) nicest drive was Volvo V70 D5 & Toyota Carina e, Passat 2000 model, one of the nicer ones was actually the 1st edition megane scenic 2.0 very pokey & nice drive height. Most practical was Toyota Estima 7 seater absolutely huge yet drove beautifully. worst ones lupo, 106, escort van, smaller Toyota forget which one mid size was horrid & probably the most horrid car I've ever driven was one I've just had a Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 auto. Auto box was nice but maybe was because it was Sri model but seats were too hard, not wide enough, boot was TINY for a big estate, doors were big & heavy it was just well - yuck! Sorry don't get out much hence my rambling on. PS I hate clios too Pps if anyone has any suggestions for a decent size 7/8/9 seater that goes for under £3500 at a dealer/garage that is not a bloody Zafira I'd be really grateful at suggestions (pref that is available in auto as wife's pref & with my illness it makes my life easier too lol)
