Most unrelieble car?
Discussion
If you defined 'unreliable' as a point-blank refusal to start, then the most unreliable car I ever had was a 1972 Simca 1100 van that my uncle gave me. It was my first car. Eventually I got round the starting issue by taking the air filter off and throwing a capful of petrol down the carb but it wasn't the ideal way to impress birds 
The most horrifically expensive car to fix would have to be the 1986 Renault 25: nothing was ever less than £100. Luckily it rarely broke, and never catastrophically.
My two TVRs and Lotus Esprit have proved to be supremely dependable which is contrary to what a lot of people claim for theirs. All I can say is that I drive them, I fix them.
In similar fashion I owned two Skodas of the 'bouncing Czech' variety which lots of people (usually NOT from experience) claim to be dire vehicles. Neither of mine ever failed to start in any weather. They were also cheap and simple to fix.
The most rotten heap of shit would have to be either the 1977 Mini Clubman or the '79 Vauxhall Chevette. The Chev was so shagged that I only drove it twice: to my house after I bought it and to the scrapyard a wek later when I realised it was a lost cause. But it still started first time and drove well. The Mini was a typical Mini and rotted before your eyes, but it was still 'reliable'.
No car I have ever owned has left me stranded miles from home. The worst breakdown would have to be the R25 with a loose connection that took me hours to find, on a campsite in Scotland. Next would be the TVR Tasmin with the fuel pump that seized after I crashed through a monster pothole... that wasn't a TVR part though, it was a 20-year old Bosch one.
Even the TVR 390SE ECU fault only made the car uneconomical, it would still drive.
None of my bikes have ever broken down either :touchesplentyofwood: - although the Honda chop understandably refused to start after some comedian swapped the plug leads round on a campsite in the Lakes. Pushing the Katana three miles with a puncture wasn't much fun either.
The key thing to me is that mechanical devices thrive on attention. Ignore them and they break. I'm sure that's why you see so many BMWs at the side of the road with the bonets up: because they are bought by people who just want to drive, but not bother to look after them... because it couldn't be that the cars are crap, could it
The most horrifically expensive car to fix would have to be the 1986 Renault 25: nothing was ever less than £100. Luckily it rarely broke, and never catastrophically.
My two TVRs and Lotus Esprit have proved to be supremely dependable which is contrary to what a lot of people claim for theirs. All I can say is that I drive them, I fix them.
In similar fashion I owned two Skodas of the 'bouncing Czech' variety which lots of people (usually NOT from experience) claim to be dire vehicles. Neither of mine ever failed to start in any weather. They were also cheap and simple to fix.
The most rotten heap of shit would have to be either the 1977 Mini Clubman or the '79 Vauxhall Chevette. The Chev was so shagged that I only drove it twice: to my house after I bought it and to the scrapyard a wek later when I realised it was a lost cause. But it still started first time and drove well. The Mini was a typical Mini and rotted before your eyes, but it was still 'reliable'.
No car I have ever owned has left me stranded miles from home. The worst breakdown would have to be the R25 with a loose connection that took me hours to find, on a campsite in Scotland. Next would be the TVR Tasmin with the fuel pump that seized after I crashed through a monster pothole... that wasn't a TVR part though, it was a 20-year old Bosch one.
Even the TVR 390SE ECU fault only made the car uneconomical, it would still drive.
None of my bikes have ever broken down either :touchesplentyofwood: - although the Honda chop understandably refused to start after some comedian swapped the plug leads round on a campsite in the Lakes. Pushing the Katana three miles with a puncture wasn't much fun either.
The key thing to me is that mechanical devices thrive on attention. Ignore them and they break. I'm sure that's why you see so many BMWs at the side of the road with the bonets up: because they are bought by people who just want to drive, but not bother to look after them... because it couldn't be that the cars are crap, could it
Most un reliable I've had was the Passat TDi 97R. Locks siezing, alarm system acting up all the time putting the indicator lights on continuously, melting the lenses! MAF sensor continuously acting up causing loss of power, blah blah blah, gave up after £800.
Three TVR Wedges over the last three years.....not one problem.
Cheap reliable motoring for me. 
Oh, and the most fun you can have with you'r clothes on
Three TVR Wedges over the last three years.....not one problem.
Cheap reliable motoring for me. Oh, and the most fun you can have with you'r clothes on
Edited by pwd95 on Wednesday 15th November 11:40
my vote goes with the vw scirocco... yes the clutch cables go, but not before the bulkhead they go through has a hole the size of your fist... then theres the filler neck, which you can't get anymore, the dodgey carbs etc etc etc... i'd say i'd have another, but the first one is sat at home waiting to be fixed still!
Ive had a quick scan through this thread & cant see if anyone has suggested the elise? Im not saying they are unreliable because i own one & have covered many miles without any probs, but i do on occasion meet people & they say "mmmmmm k series engine, they are crap & unreliable" .....
Alfa 156, bloody thing was awful! i wish i'd payed heed to all the warnings in the press!
2 cambelts snapped within a year, trashing the engine, one done under warranty, one at my own expense. both well below the recommended cam belt change interval.
rear brake calipers kept sticking on, requiring new discs, pads and hubs.
new rear suspension arms required due to the bushes failing
camshaft variator needed changing
dash trim fell off
MAF sensor went
and a couple of other niggly little electrical problems.
all this on a car that was 18 months old when i bought it, and nearly 4 years old when i sold it.
add all this in with the famous Alfa customer service, and the whole experience wasn't very pleasant.
2 cambelts snapped within a year, trashing the engine, one done under warranty, one at my own expense. both well below the recommended cam belt change interval.
rear brake calipers kept sticking on, requiring new discs, pads and hubs.
new rear suspension arms required due to the bushes failing
camshaft variator needed changing
dash trim fell off
MAF sensor went
and a couple of other niggly little electrical problems.
all this on a car that was 18 months old when i bought it, and nearly 4 years old when i sold it.
add all this in with the famous Alfa customer service, and the whole experience wasn't very pleasant.
My mates 1.8TDci Focus has cost him a lot of money recently. It wouldn't restart when hot so the Ford main dealer replaced his clutch, battery, all the injectors, crankshaft sensors none of which resolved the fault and eventually (after £700 odd) they replaced his starter motor which did the trick!
Drake Horsepower said:
My mates 1.8TDci Focus has cost him a lot of money recently. It wouldn't restart when hot so the Ford main dealer replaced his clutch, battery, all the injectors, crankshaft sensors none of which resolved the fault and eventually (after £700 odd) they replaced his starter motor which did the trick!
Isn't that more to do with dealer incompetence.
boobles said:
Ive had a quick scan through this thread & cant see if anyone has suggested the elise? Im not saying they are unreliable because i own one & have covered many miles without any probs, but i do on occasion meet people & they say "mmmmmm k series engine, they are crap & unreliable" .....
There are a few k-series cars mentioned though. Friend of mine has an Elise which has given him a few problems (more niggles than anything) but nowt like the trouble he had with the Alfa 156 he had before it.
boobles said:
Ive had a quick scan through this thread & cant see if anyone has suggested the elise? Im not saying they are unreliable because i own one & have covered many miles without any probs, but i do on occasion meet people & they say "mmmmmm k series engine, they are crap & unreliable" .....
Head gaskets and cam belt failures, I keep hearing. Of course repeated occurrences could be down to quality of wormanship and/or poor pattern parts, but that applies to any car.
Trouble is, if say the cambelt breaks, it's ALWAYS a major breakdown (insofar as you can't easily fix at side of the road) and often takes out other components.
Arif110 said:
Can Magic Torch actually clarify what exactly was wrong with the S2000 in terms of reliability?! Has been asked a few times - yet no elaboration, or any details.
Sorry didn't see a post asking.
Ordered the car about a year before it's release so had one of the first ones. Just some of the things I remember:
Alarm, might sound minor but read on. Wasn't supplied with one, but impossible to insure without one. So dealer fitted a Honda one, according to Honda's instructions. Was always going off, and couldn't be turned off. Might sound slightly annoying, was especially so for our neighbours when it went off at 11pm on Christmas eve! You can imagine how popular we were when every child in the entire street was woken up, and probably unable to go back to sleep. Honda eventually revised the location.
Spark plugs, these would foul in any sort of running in traffic. As my wife was using it for her daily commute, it would take between a week and two weeks before needing to go to the dealer. They admitted there were other customers with the same problem, especially someone who's commute was a fast drive followed by 20mins in traffic.
Clutch / Gearbox. Wouldn't select reverse gear when cold. This got worse over time, to the point where it wouldn't select at all. Seeing as it was parked on a street, and you couldn't reverse until it was warm, you had to pick your spaces carefully.
Numerous recalls, including the tonneau cover and roof. Lots of niggly things from the radio cover breaking to rattling heat shields. It'd take me all day to write it all up.
All of this meant we were often without the car for a week, whilst the dealer attempted to make a repair. We'd have it back for a week, then it'd be in again. Got so bad I started a web-site to cover it all.
As this thread is about reliability I won't mention the dreadful handling, lack of torque, stupid gear ratios....
Definitely the worst car I've ever owned, easily beating a MG Maestro 1600. My understanding is these issues were addressed in later cars, probably because we did the development.
wheeljack888 said:
Drake Horsepower said:
My mates 1.8TDci Focus has cost him a lot of money recently. It wouldn't restart when hot so the Ford main dealer replaced his clutch, battery, all the injectors, crankshaft sensors none of which resolved the fault and eventually (after £700 odd) they replaced his starter motor which did the trick!
Isn't that more to do with dealer incompetence.
But to him it's been unreliable.
I can't believe he just kept shelling out for work like that. Forgot to say they also said initially that it was his cambelt and replaced that
He said they were being kind in not charging him full whack for labour, I'd have been pretty p1ssed tbh!
For the record My 350i, in six years of ownership, has only left me stranded once and that was probably down to my not recognising the yokes were worn the last time I did the driveshaft UJs. It can be left for months at a time and always starts on the button or can be used every day without worry of letdown (nearly four years as my only vehicle!). Parts are cheap and available and there don't seem to be any inherent design flaws which cause breakdowns.
I don't subscribe to the idea that a TVR needs any more maintenance than any other types but I do believe that any car pushing twenty years old will require corrective action to compensate for wear and tear. My only failure in the car was due to me not replacing a part which had shown obvious signs of wear (lesson learnt)
It's a real shame that some people have experienced problems with these fantastic vehicles which have left a bad taste in their mouths but All I can say is unlucky you and all the more for the rest of us!
To say something is unreliable because it breaks when you (or the previous owners) don't maintain it properly is equivalent to saying it breaks down when you forget to put petrol in it!
Now a Renault Laguna which has been dealer service from new which has required most of the suspension and half the brakes being replace within two years of low mileage, light driving, really does constitute designed in unreliability! The car has been in and out of the dealers nearly twenty times in two years!
The last time the Laguna broke down was due to it's geeky key-less key-card deciding not to play ball. Never mind I thought Tiv to the rescue! (starts thunderbirds music Dum diddy dum d d.....)
Anyone want to buy a Renault? 'cause the Tiv is not for sale!
I don't subscribe to the idea that a TVR needs any more maintenance than any other types but I do believe that any car pushing twenty years old will require corrective action to compensate for wear and tear. My only failure in the car was due to me not replacing a part which had shown obvious signs of wear (lesson learnt)
It's a real shame that some people have experienced problems with these fantastic vehicles which have left a bad taste in their mouths but All I can say is unlucky you and
all the more for the rest of us! To say something is unreliable because it breaks when you (or the previous owners) don't maintain it properly is equivalent to saying it breaks down when you forget to put petrol in it!
Now a Renault Laguna which has been dealer service from new which has required most of the suspension and half the brakes being replace within two years of low mileage, light driving, really does constitute designed in unreliability! The car has been in and out of the dealers nearly twenty times in two years!
The last time the Laguna broke down was due to it's geeky key-less key-card deciding not to play ball. Never mind I thought Tiv to the rescue! (starts thunderbirds music Dum diddy dum d d.....)
Anyone want to buy a Renault? 'cause the Tiv is not for sale!
pwd95 said:
Most un reliable I've had was the Passat TDi 97R. Locks siezing, alarm system acting up all the time putting the indicator lights on continuously, melting the lenses! MAF sensor continuously acting up causing loss of power, blah blah blah, gave up after £800.
Three TVR Wedges over the last three years.....not one problem. Cheap reliable motoring for me.
Oh, and the most fun you can have with you'r clothes on
Three TVR Wedges over the last three years.....not one problem.
Cheap reliable motoring for me. Oh, and the most fun you can have with you'r clothes on
Edited by pwd95 on Wednesday 15th November 11:40
Yep, we had one with the same problems. Any many visits to the dealers VAG ended up changing all 4 door solenoids (one per visit)!
cinqster said:
pwd95 said:
Most un reliable I've had was the Passat TDi 97R. Locks siezing, alarm system acting up all the time putting the indicator lights on continuously, melting the lenses! MAF sensor continuously acting up causing loss of power, blah blah blah, gave up after £800.
Three TVR Wedges over the last three years.....not one problem. Cheap reliable motoring for me.
Oh, and the most fun you can have with you'r clothes on
Three TVR Wedges over the last three years.....not one problem.
Cheap reliable motoring for me. Oh, and the most fun you can have with you'r clothes on
Edited by pwd95 on Wednesday 15th November 11:40
Yep, we had one with the same problems. Any many visits to the dealers VAG ended up changing all 4 door solenoids (one per visit)!
I've heard about these problems with the locks and the MAF.
The MAF was OK on mine but the locks did play up once, I found it was just a simple case of cleaning and lubing up the push button dorr pin thingy. Never had a problem when i did that every 2 to 3 months. On the whole it was pretty reliable.
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