Friday Afternoon/Cursed Cars

[Andy]

More posting this as I am wallowing in self pity but was wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences??

 

My Mrs had a 2003 Mini Cooper S, the car was perfect and in the two years we had it, the only thing that needed to be done was a set of brake pads all round and your usual service items. However, we sold this as she needed a 5 door car, being a nanny, and as her mileage was increasing we wanted a diesel to also offset my two V6's.

 

Soooo, we sold the Mini and bought a 2005 Leon tdi. Got the car checked out by a professional mechanic friend who gave it the green light and we got the price down as it was due a cambelt. Since we have had it, we have had nothing but bad luck with it, all 4 tyres have had to be replaced due to 2 punctures/splits, obviously we had the cambelt done. A couple of weeks ago, the flywheel let go even though there had been no signs of it going previously. That went in today for a new dual mass flywheel & clutch only to get a phonecall saying the input spline has a 10mm wobble, you need a new or reconned gearbox. Marvelous. Am off to inspect it myself shortly. Also add to that that there is a problem with the brakes which looks like sections of vacuum hosing need replacing and we have one seriously dead car!!

 

The annoying thing is that I deem myself pretty handy with a spanner but all the things that have gone wrong with it are above my skill level so am having to pay out hand over fist for stuff.

 

German (Spanish) reliability.....MY ARSE!!!

 

Has anyone else kicked themselves over selling a good car and ending up with a lemon?

 

Wallow over...back to work

[Husky]

yes mate,

 

my first car a nissan micra had no end of problems, i bought it brand new and shortly after the rear boot switch locked me out the boot, then the steering wheel came loose and nearly fell off, the engine had major faults one of them being that it chewed through EGR valves. the list goes on.

had a skoda fabia, speakers stopped working, major engine electrical problems, etc etc.

and i wont go into my zed

 

safe to say that general car build quality from any brand isnt up to scratch 100% of the time

[sparky370z]

im glad to say all my cars have been reliable

 

1989 nova 1.2 merit- usual servicing stuff, plus clutch cable in 4 years and 50k of motoring

2000 clio 1.4s usual servicing stuff, new clutch pressure plate. (still got her and running strong at 90k)

2007 fiesta ST. usual servicing stuff. thats it. 17k of miles

2004 350z GT, running well, touch wood.

 

but my father in law is a totally different story!! he is the grim reaper for cars. as soon as he drives it about a week later they break down. he will never drive my cars!!!! lol

 

Sparky

[Zednick666]

Have to say, despite VAG cars generally being known for solid 'built like a tank' quality, and although I loved my Golf very much, I seemed to have no end of bad luck with it.

 

9 months after getting it the radiator pi$$ed itself and needed replacing

A mounting bolt in the gearbox sheered, thing damn near needed replacing but managed to salvage it and build a sturdier mount.

Both driver & passenger door windows fell off rails into the doors - common problem with the golf, plastic motor brackets snap so easily.

MAF sensor - common problem again

Very unlucky with punctures / flats. More so given I was running 235/35/19 Pzero Neros

Turbo died - yep, literally, the exhaust turbine was absolutely f00ked by 90,000 miles and I had to stick a new one in... opportunity to upgrade & remap of course

 

Since joining the elite jap car owners club, have to say (touch wood) I'm thrilled with the reliability & all round good quality of the zed