RE: PH Blog: Regretfully Yours
Discussion
Megane RS DCI 175 - had an focus ST and the fuel was killing me doing 350 miles a week, read the evo article where one of these was faster round a track than the ST and hunted one of these rare mongrels down.
It was low mileage and only a month out of warranty yet in 6 months cost me 1.5k in repair bills mainly electrics, aircon pump and a new radiator. Then it started unlocking itself which was the final straw.
Then being rare it was difficult to sell and I had to trade it in at a cost of a 2k loss.
3.5k would of bought me a lot of fuel for the ST
I will never buy a renault again
It was low mileage and only a month out of warranty yet in 6 months cost me 1.5k in repair bills mainly electrics, aircon pump and a new radiator. Then it started unlocking itself which was the final straw.
Then being rare it was difficult to sell and I had to trade it in at a cost of a 2k loss.
3.5k would of bought me a lot of fuel for the ST
I will never buy a renault again
c_seven said:
Rover 214SEI 5 door, nightfire red
£800 to buy, around a million breakdowns and £1,700 later I had to pay for it to be taken away, b****rd
Yes I had one of these too and it was my second worst car ever (after the Metro Turbo). Mine was BRG (well the Rover equivalent anyway)the damn thing was forever over-heating,but I see that wasnt an issue just with mine.£800 to buy, around a million breakdowns and £1,700 later I had to pay for it to be taken away, b****rd
I ended up getting a brand new Ka (I know I know!) from Ford on Options because I figured it would be cheaper than to keep repairing the old dog.....
boybiskit said:
jamieduff1981 said:
We are all idiots who think like that. That's why this site is called "Piston Heads" and not "Boring Hatchback Heads". I have to wonder why someone interested in buying a Ford Focus even bothers coming onto a website like this. It's for car enthusiasts striving for something just that little bit different and a little bit special, and I'd suggest not the natural home of casual car owners who choose cars like kitchen white goods. Or is it just me?
Here here. And in my experience it won't go wrong when people say it will. Fantastic reliable cars I've had with cheap parts thanks to specialists and enthusiasts?- Jag xj8
- Fiat Coupe
- Alfa 166
Unreliable expensive pieces of junk?
- Our old mondeo (after selling the 166 to 'save money')
- Um... my the first Alfa 145. Lowered, phat alloys and the loudest induction kit ever combined with a boxer engine. Gearbox that decided it preferred to be distributed across south london, ate brakes like a good un, couldn't get tracking straight so ate tyres too, wheel bearings, snapped throttle cable. I could go on. But man did I love that car. sold for a...
- 'sensible' R19 diesel. Which was also awful. Knackered alternator boiled the battery regularly. Cabin air went over battery so a lovely whiff of boiling battery acid all the time. Oh, and the engine mounts broke.
Conclusion? We should all buy fun cars which will be 'expensive' to run. Because they're fun and more often than not quite cheap to run.
I once bought a Saab 9-5 2lt turbo Auto - piece of crap. Handled like a super tanker, slow performance and the turbo, then engine then gearbox all went wrong. I figured if I am going to spend this much money on a practical car I dont enjoy driving I might as well spend a little bit more on a practical car I do enjoy driving -the E39 M5 that replaced it has been more reliable, just as practical in sooo much more fun to drive.
My first foray into the world of car purchases came at the tender age fo 17. Armed with a warchest of £200.00 from my summer gardening job I sourced a 1973 Sunbeam Imp Sport. This model came replete with twin strombergs, 4 headlights and rather than being spray painted was finished with a brush or broom in attractive gold hammerite (so rust was at least irrelevent in the sohrt term).
The car actually ran rather well (once my stepfather had fettled the top end in the snow and dark whilst I lay on the sofa) and would rev freely to 9,000rpm - because a bloke I knew told me they could - I purchased a Halfords rev counter to prove it. Handling was improved by the obligatory sandbag in the "boot" and I managed to avoid most hedges....eventually the hammerite was breached and the body failed miserably....but it did run like a top on the way to the dump...my one regret was that I should have kept the engine and stuck it in Lotus 11 rep or similar....
I then sensibly upgraded to a Triumph 2,000 (brown of course)for which I parted with my life savings of £175.00. A thirsty beast, I adjusted the carbs to improve performance but only succeeded in reducing the already "oil tanker" like fuel economy further with no discernable improvement in pick up....I sold it for £55.00 and the biggest haggle of the sale was spent rocking the car to see how much fuel was left in the tank as this had a significant bearing on the overall value (£5.00 of fuel was agreed).
Mother then bought me a red Metro. Nuff said.
Oh I do miss my snotters....
The car actually ran rather well (once my stepfather had fettled the top end in the snow and dark whilst I lay on the sofa) and would rev freely to 9,000rpm - because a bloke I knew told me they could - I purchased a Halfords rev counter to prove it. Handling was improved by the obligatory sandbag in the "boot" and I managed to avoid most hedges....eventually the hammerite was breached and the body failed miserably....but it did run like a top on the way to the dump...my one regret was that I should have kept the engine and stuck it in Lotus 11 rep or similar....
I then sensibly upgraded to a Triumph 2,000 (brown of course)for which I parted with my life savings of £175.00. A thirsty beast, I adjusted the carbs to improve performance but only succeeded in reducing the already "oil tanker" like fuel economy further with no discernable improvement in pick up....I sold it for £55.00 and the biggest haggle of the sale was spent rocking the car to see how much fuel was left in the tank as this had a significant bearing on the overall value (£5.00 of fuel was agreed).
Mother then bought me a red Metro. Nuff said.
Oh I do miss my snotters....
Have 2 entries for this thread.
First car, a 2000 clio on an X plate, bought off my brother 2005, with 37k on the clock, he had bought it from mum who bought it new. So in theory should have been an ideal low mileage car that's been known from new..
Pah, in the 3 year's and 27k i did in it, it was a total arse of a car.
Firstly the brakes, never right and despite being renewed all round, still crap. The handbrake was rebuilt with all new parts and couldn't hold the car on a slight slope. Got rebuilt again to be fixed.
The lowering springs my brother fitted shagged the struts and dampers, so had to get a full apex kit bought and fitted. Along with new wishbones, £750 for a mot.
Then, it was involved in a non fault bump, which ment it needed a new front end to be fitted. So it was dropped off at an official Renault repairer in East Kilbride, came back with a bumper that wasn't fitted properly, a bonnet that wasn't lined up properly for any of the 4 corners, the wing wasn't painted right, the fixed handbrake was shagged again and the engine threw out white smoke for 10 minutes after i got it back. Wasn't happy.
Then it got expensive, the gearbox jammed in 5th, so had to be recovered home and a replacement fitted.
Something broke on the water pump, it lost coolant and gave no signs of it as it was mid summer, parked up, went to get an ice cream and restarted on what sounded like 3 cylinder's. £600 for a head skim, new gaskets and pump plus service.
Traded in for £1500 and i threw the keys at the dealer as the power steering pump was on the way out. X975KGD where are you now?
2nd car was my 2nd freelander td4, never right from the first turn of the key. Shat a fuel pump after 0.8miles from the dealer, over 3 1/2 year's. It chewed it's IRD, VCU, diff mounts, 2 propshaft bearings, 3 master cylinders, 1 slave cylinder, 1 propshaft.
I got lied to by a land rover specialist about repair's done, and what was needed, he claimed £400 of suspension work, the MOT next month said all were in perfect order. He ruined the transmission and the clutch system, poorly fitted the first master cylinder which killed the full system.
That was all repaired by another garage, who said they were using genuine parts, (they didn't) so the 2nd replacement master lasted 20k before dying. So i had to get the 4th one, which i bought and it was a genuine one, took to local garage to fit, who couldn't get it to bleed properly, so had to go to yet another garage to get pressure bled.
It also had a engine issue that never got resolved, it would throw a warning light on certain loads at 2-2.5k revs. Never lost power but the injector's were on their way out as the first owner had run it on petrol and they were £1000 for the parts on an exchange basis alone.
I sold it last august with 74k on the clock, bought with 37k. Total lemon of a car, which is a shame as the first freeby which was almost identical to it, was superb in every way till a lorry wrote it off.
Poured a lot of cash into that car to try and get it right, but with incompetent garages and a careless first owner, it was never going to happen.
First car, a 2000 clio on an X plate, bought off my brother 2005, with 37k on the clock, he had bought it from mum who bought it new. So in theory should have been an ideal low mileage car that's been known from new..
Pah, in the 3 year's and 27k i did in it, it was a total arse of a car.
Firstly the brakes, never right and despite being renewed all round, still crap. The handbrake was rebuilt with all new parts and couldn't hold the car on a slight slope. Got rebuilt again to be fixed.
The lowering springs my brother fitted shagged the struts and dampers, so had to get a full apex kit bought and fitted. Along with new wishbones, £750 for a mot.
Then, it was involved in a non fault bump, which ment it needed a new front end to be fitted. So it was dropped off at an official Renault repairer in East Kilbride, came back with a bumper that wasn't fitted properly, a bonnet that wasn't lined up properly for any of the 4 corners, the wing wasn't painted right, the fixed handbrake was shagged again and the engine threw out white smoke for 10 minutes after i got it back. Wasn't happy.
Then it got expensive, the gearbox jammed in 5th, so had to be recovered home and a replacement fitted.
Something broke on the water pump, it lost coolant and gave no signs of it as it was mid summer, parked up, went to get an ice cream and restarted on what sounded like 3 cylinder's. £600 for a head skim, new gaskets and pump plus service.
Traded in for £1500 and i threw the keys at the dealer as the power steering pump was on the way out. X975KGD where are you now?
2nd car was my 2nd freelander td4, never right from the first turn of the key. Shat a fuel pump after 0.8miles from the dealer, over 3 1/2 year's. It chewed it's IRD, VCU, diff mounts, 2 propshaft bearings, 3 master cylinders, 1 slave cylinder, 1 propshaft.
I got lied to by a land rover specialist about repair's done, and what was needed, he claimed £400 of suspension work, the MOT next month said all were in perfect order. He ruined the transmission and the clutch system, poorly fitted the first master cylinder which killed the full system.
That was all repaired by another garage, who said they were using genuine parts, (they didn't) so the 2nd replacement master lasted 20k before dying. So i had to get the 4th one, which i bought and it was a genuine one, took to local garage to fit, who couldn't get it to bleed properly, so had to go to yet another garage to get pressure bled.
It also had a engine issue that never got resolved, it would throw a warning light on certain loads at 2-2.5k revs. Never lost power but the injector's were on their way out as the first owner had run it on petrol and they were £1000 for the parts on an exchange basis alone.
I sold it last august with 74k on the clock, bought with 37k. Total lemon of a car, which is a shame as the first freeby which was almost identical to it, was superb in every way till a lorry wrote it off.
Poured a lot of cash into that car to try and get it right, but with incompetent garages and a careless first owner, it was never going to happen.
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/YRz2jnQH.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/1UpM3vZ8" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1UpM3vZ8.jpg)
My first car was with me for 4 days .... we hadn't paid the seller who said no rush with the cash .... and when my dad got the V5 from the seller on the 4th day he decided to call the previous owner in London ... We're Merseyside so it seemed a bit odd that the car had travelled from London ... This is 1990 btw and a little red/ orange fiesta. So a conversation with the father of the previous owner revealed his daughter has been in a horrendous smash and I was driving the reincarnation .... The seller arrived at 12 midnight and drove it away without knocking on the door .... Obviously my dad had given him a piece of his mind over the phone and told him to get it.
Funnily it was a much better car than the one that replaced it 7 days later.
I could tell you a huge number of stories that took place in the following 12 months of ownership but I'd be writing all night .... Just to give a flavour ....
Y reg escort .... Started to develop a problem that meant once the engine was warm, if it was turned off it wouldn't start again until cold. I needed petrol, my dad told me to go to a garage down the road with lots of room to push the car to one side if it didn't start.
For some reason I preferred the very small garage over the road, not sure why but it just felt better going to the smaller garage .... Obviously it didn't start, I asked the guy on the counter to help push me out of the very small forecourt along with another driver who was filling up. I was part pushing and part steering.
Before I had chance to jump in and apply the brakes/handbrake they pushed me into the rear of a car just exiting the forecourt in front of me :-) ...... Old dear jumps out and wants to exchange insurance .... Car starts and I drive to my girlfriends worrying what I'm going to tell me dad .... Decide to turn back home to go and tell him .... I'm on a busy roundabout and it stalls ..... Bugger .....luckily a couple of kind people push me to a pub car park where I use the phone to tell my dad I've broken down ... 'Can you come and tow me please dad .... Oh btw I went to the garage that you told me not to go to and I broke down, two people subsequently pushed me into the back of an old ladies micra' .... Got blasted down the phone :-)
Being towed at about 60 through the tunnel was another funny one .... When we stopped at the end of our road and he was going to suggest I try start it as we went down our road .... Then he said 'what's that noise', 'dunno dad' .... And then he looked at me in disbelief .... ''Dunno dad, think I might have turned the key when we were in the tunnel' ..... He towed me most of the way home with my engine running:-)
Funnily it was a much better car than the one that replaced it 7 days later.
I could tell you a huge number of stories that took place in the following 12 months of ownership but I'd be writing all night .... Just to give a flavour ....
Y reg escort .... Started to develop a problem that meant once the engine was warm, if it was turned off it wouldn't start again until cold. I needed petrol, my dad told me to go to a garage down the road with lots of room to push the car to one side if it didn't start.
For some reason I preferred the very small garage over the road, not sure why but it just felt better going to the smaller garage .... Obviously it didn't start, I asked the guy on the counter to help push me out of the very small forecourt along with another driver who was filling up. I was part pushing and part steering.
Before I had chance to jump in and apply the brakes/handbrake they pushed me into the rear of a car just exiting the forecourt in front of me :-) ...... Old dear jumps out and wants to exchange insurance .... Car starts and I drive to my girlfriends worrying what I'm going to tell me dad .... Decide to turn back home to go and tell him .... I'm on a busy roundabout and it stalls ..... Bugger .....luckily a couple of kind people push me to a pub car park where I use the phone to tell my dad I've broken down ... 'Can you come and tow me please dad .... Oh btw I went to the garage that you told me not to go to and I broke down, two people subsequently pushed me into the back of an old ladies micra' .... Got blasted down the phone :-)
Being towed at about 60 through the tunnel was another funny one .... When we stopped at the end of our road and he was going to suggest I try start it as we went down our road .... Then he said 'what's that noise', 'dunno dad' .... And then he looked at me in disbelief .... ''Dunno dad, think I might have turned the key when we were in the tunnel' ..... He towed me most of the way home with my engine running:-)
Oh one more I'd forgotten about, 3 months ago I saw a car 3 miles away selling for 150 ono, red nissan micra, it had done 100k but it looked good outside, it was dark and peeing down so I never got underneath it, it drove ok apart from the gearstick not centering, and the last MOT had no advisories with a new one due a month later. So I got it for £120, it was ok until 2 weeks in it felt like it lost a cylinder and power was way down, with the MOT looming in two weeks time I decided to try and get it through the MOT, I was mostly worried about emmisions after the lumpy running so I put some redex and prayed and good news! It passed the emmissions test. FAILED everything else though and the tester advised me not to drive it back, undereath was like a cheese grater, still undettered I though, oh well a bit of welding and it's be ok, so we poked around the holes at the suspension to start with, then we prodded some more.... and more until we were worried a compressed spring was going to fly out of it's rusty mountings and impale us.
I've not had any real major clunkers (in terms of list length anyway) the worst of them was probably the 205 diesel when a piston decided to punch a (old) 50p sized hole through the case other than that the car handled great. The early nineties Clio, while great on economy never felt like it was connected to the road and was always a case of feeling like 'steer round the corner and pray that it goes' kind of thing (put me off Renault pretty much for life). My 200 coupe has cost me a wee bit over the eight years of ownership, two head gaskets (though in fairness the first was probably our fault for not tightening the bolts anywhere near enough), driver side door locked and wouldn't unlock come hell or high water other than the usual exhaust, bits etc... she's been pretty reliable (though I'm getting diddled on insurance as a 350Z roadster is only £70 more at £366). As it happens I had a 214SEi for the year previous and it was the most reliable car I've had with nothing going wrong.
I have owned approx 80 cars in the last 7 years or so.
Most have been good, or atleast, reliable as daily drivers.
The one that stands out and was surprisingly bad was my 2002 BMW E46 330d Sport Auto. I was really looking forward to owning this, and paid good money for it.
Now, it might have been a bad example, but it was truly a bag of nails... Looked fantastic, and had a high spec.
Was low on power and would have been sown up by a simila vintage 320d, only did around 25mpg, gearbox felt like it wasn't changing properly (even though it had a £2k rebuild a few years earlier).
In the end I sold it on for a loss, just beacuse I had enough of it. Replaced it with a 330ci Sport SSG (which was better on fuel!).
Also had bad experience with a W124 230E Auto LPG, which took around 10 minutes of cranking in order to start it up. Then had a tendency to overheat when sitting in traffic.
Oh, the joys of older neglected German cars!
The best all round car I have owned was my 2002 530d Touring, which was 100% reliable and did over 50mpg.
Most have been good, or atleast, reliable as daily drivers.
The one that stands out and was surprisingly bad was my 2002 BMW E46 330d Sport Auto. I was really looking forward to owning this, and paid good money for it.
Now, it might have been a bad example, but it was truly a bag of nails... Looked fantastic, and had a high spec.
Was low on power and would have been sown up by a simila vintage 320d, only did around 25mpg, gearbox felt like it wasn't changing properly (even though it had a £2k rebuild a few years earlier).
In the end I sold it on for a loss, just beacuse I had enough of it. Replaced it with a 330ci Sport SSG (which was better on fuel!).
Also had bad experience with a W124 230E Auto LPG, which took around 10 minutes of cranking in order to start it up. Then had a tendency to overheat when sitting in traffic.
Oh, the joys of older neglected German cars!
The best all round car I have owned was my 2002 530d Touring, which was 100% reliable and did over 50mpg.
pSyCoSiS said:
I have owned approx 80 cars in the last 7 years or so.
Hold on, you've had 80 cars in 7 years? thats 11-12 cars per year? Really? or are you just making that up?I've had quite a few, 30 in 12 years of driving, 3 of which I had for 2 years each, so that's effectively 27 in 6 year, or the equivalent of just over 1 per quarter, which is quite a rate of exchange. But 1 per month? for 7 years? Pull the other one.
Or are you a dealer? In which case, that's not really owning 80 cars.
W124 said:
I've driven many infinitely faster and better cars since - but I remember that drive as if it was yesterday - it remains the best motoring memory I have. In practical terms the 3P was by far the least reliable car I've had (against some strong competition) but I've suddenly just realised that I want to buy another one...
Some great stories here, funny how so many are from new or very recent members.
I'll spare you the tale of my first car, an Alfa 33 QV 16V - The Prince of Bork.
WorAl said:
Hold on, you've had 80 cars in 7 years? thats 11-12 cars per year? Really? or are you just making that up?
I've had quite a few, 30 in 12 years of driving, 3 of which I had for 2 years each, so that's effectively 27 in 6 year, or the equivalent of just over 1 per quarter, which is quite a rate of exchange. But 1 per month? for 7 years? Pull the other one.
Or are you a dealer? In which case, that's not really owning 80 cars.
I'm not a dealer.I've had quite a few, 30 in 12 years of driving, 3 of which I had for 2 years each, so that's effectively 27 in 6 year, or the equivalent of just over 1 per quarter, which is quite a rate of exchange. But 1 per month? for 7 years? Pull the other one.
Or are you a dealer? In which case, that's not really owning 80 cars.
I'm serial car buyer who has a 'hit list' of cars to own before I reach a certain age and a soft spot for older German barges and Jags. Feel free to read through my car history.....
Some cars I keep for longer periods, some only for a very short period of time, i.e. 'stop gap' cars. It works out maybe at one per month, but that's not necessarily an accurate representation of how long I keep them.
And so what even if it were one car per month? Are you saying it's not possible?!
There are only a few cars which I have kept for longer periods, which are the ones I want to keep for a very long time...
But, they have ALL been owned by me, and registered in my name.
So, no, I am not making it up. And Yes I have owned them. And I won't be pulling anything, thanks!
All of my Ford Escorts. Three in total all bought when I was between 18 & 20.
No.1 was a Mk1 that had been extensively modified. My first car. It was the second car I looked at. First one was a Mk2 that had been converted from a 1.1 to RS2000 spec. They'd done a really good job on it too. That was perfect as the log book said 1.1 so I'd be paying 1.1 insurance....BUT I didn't buy it because I'd be told don't buy the first car you see. So I bought the second. Bubble arches, 1.7 crossfoww with twin 45 webers, full race cam, racing clutch, noisy exhaust and a passenger seat that was connected to the floor, but the floor wasn't entirely connected to the car, so you'd find the passenger in your lap on most quick left handers.
It was totally unreliable. My pals and I changed most things on it, I even bought a brand new engine from Vulcan for it. We picked it up in a mate's mini! Fitted it, something else went wrong, can't remember what. I think in a years ownership it was on the road for probably two weeks. Sold it at a catastrophic loss.
Went to Brands Hatch to watch Touring Cars. Spotted a lovely Mk2 with a For Sale sign in it. Made enquiries, viewed it the following week. Bought it. Engine had of course been 'tuned' to a similar state to above. More reliable. Then I started doing hillclimbs in it. Smashed it up a few times. Decided to go circuit racing. Thought I'd totally rebuild it to race spec (for the old Toyo Tyres series if anyone remembers that?). Stripped it down to bare components before doing a budget for the build. It never got put back together.....
....as I spotted the Toyo Championship winning car from the previous season for sale (Tony Pocock was the guy the owned it). Problem was he sold the engine to someone else. No problem says I I'll have the rolling shell and go and see Roland Hayes about an engine. After sweeping the floors and making the tea for two weeks Roland built me an engine, a parts bin special. For buttons. We fitted it and it went like stink. A couple of fourth places at Lydden Hill then off for a big outing at Donnington. Qualified 9th, up to fourth by Craners, all going very well. Then smashed the sh*t out of it (and me a bit) at the chicane before the straight on the long circuit. Sold the wreck to a guy from Australia.
All of the above financed by a series of bank loans. Cost a f*cking fortune. I was 20 and very skint. That was all 20 years ago and I don't regret a bit of it! All in all a great life experience and bloody good fun despite the disastrous economics!
No.1 was a Mk1 that had been extensively modified. My first car. It was the second car I looked at. First one was a Mk2 that had been converted from a 1.1 to RS2000 spec. They'd done a really good job on it too. That was perfect as the log book said 1.1 so I'd be paying 1.1 insurance....BUT I didn't buy it because I'd be told don't buy the first car you see. So I bought the second. Bubble arches, 1.7 crossfoww with twin 45 webers, full race cam, racing clutch, noisy exhaust and a passenger seat that was connected to the floor, but the floor wasn't entirely connected to the car, so you'd find the passenger in your lap on most quick left handers.
It was totally unreliable. My pals and I changed most things on it, I even bought a brand new engine from Vulcan for it. We picked it up in a mate's mini! Fitted it, something else went wrong, can't remember what. I think in a years ownership it was on the road for probably two weeks. Sold it at a catastrophic loss.
Went to Brands Hatch to watch Touring Cars. Spotted a lovely Mk2 with a For Sale sign in it. Made enquiries, viewed it the following week. Bought it. Engine had of course been 'tuned' to a similar state to above. More reliable. Then I started doing hillclimbs in it. Smashed it up a few times. Decided to go circuit racing. Thought I'd totally rebuild it to race spec (for the old Toyo Tyres series if anyone remembers that?). Stripped it down to bare components before doing a budget for the build. It never got put back together.....
....as I spotted the Toyo Championship winning car from the previous season for sale (Tony Pocock was the guy the owned it). Problem was he sold the engine to someone else. No problem says I I'll have the rolling shell and go and see Roland Hayes about an engine. After sweeping the floors and making the tea for two weeks Roland built me an engine, a parts bin special. For buttons. We fitted it and it went like stink. A couple of fourth places at Lydden Hill then off for a big outing at Donnington. Qualified 9th, up to fourth by Craners, all going very well. Then smashed the sh*t out of it (and me a bit) at the chicane before the straight on the long circuit. Sold the wreck to a guy from Australia.
All of the above financed by a series of bank loans. Cost a f*cking fortune. I was 20 and very skint. That was all 20 years ago and I don't regret a bit of it! All in all a great life experience and bloody good fun despite the disastrous economics!
My mother bought a new Alfa Spider Lusso in 1998. Very heavily optioned with 5 spoke Momo alloys and all the metal interior options, it looked excellent. It was appalling. Apart from having stodgy handling and absolutely no performance (it struggled to overtake a non-Gti 106 up a hill on one occasion) it had:
- from new, a creased rear window
- a roof that failed regularly
- an alarm that would go off at random
- sticking fuel filler cap
- all sorts of electrical issues
- a radio that would not pick up any stations
As well as this, it was delivered from the Alfa dealer with the tyres on the Momo wheels arranged at random, despite them being directional tyres.
After 5 months, I persuaded her to sell it (at a huge loss) and buy a one year old ('97) low mileage BMW M Roadster in Estoril blue. What a car! What an engine! The M Roadster was kept for about 5 years before being traded for a Boxster S mostly because it had much greater boot space.
If there is a moral to this it is probably not to be seduced 100% by a car's appearance. The M Roadster looked pretty good as did this particular Boxster S, although neither had the concept car looks of the Alfa. They did however have several things the Alfa did not, principally reliability, build quality and meaningful performance, which is a good trade off.
- from new, a creased rear window
- a roof that failed regularly
- an alarm that would go off at random
- sticking fuel filler cap
- all sorts of electrical issues
- a radio that would not pick up any stations
As well as this, it was delivered from the Alfa dealer with the tyres on the Momo wheels arranged at random, despite them being directional tyres.
After 5 months, I persuaded her to sell it (at a huge loss) and buy a one year old ('97) low mileage BMW M Roadster in Estoril blue. What a car! What an engine! The M Roadster was kept for about 5 years before being traded for a Boxster S mostly because it had much greater boot space.
If there is a moral to this it is probably not to be seduced 100% by a car's appearance. The M Roadster looked pretty good as did this particular Boxster S, although neither had the concept car looks of the Alfa. They did however have several things the Alfa did not, principally reliability, build quality and meaningful performance, which is a good trade off.
dek999 said:
1994 Esco. Bought from a 'reliable' dealer 2 years old and £22k! 2 young children in the back.. 'Dad, it's raining on me'.Me "Be quiet.. the headlights have just gone out". It really was raining on them.. Through a 5mm gap between the tailgate and roof. On examination, poor performance was attributed to a 'kink' in the middle section of the exhaust which had not been replaced when it was hit in the rear. The gap between the tailgate and roof was another symptom of the 'quality' repair. Headlight switch packed up.. (On an unlit road at night.. Exciting..). Timing belt cover, and engine lifting eye's were 'missing'.
The dealer 'forgot' to replace the 2 front tyres that had more 'shine' than Bo & Luke Duke.
Dealer refused to take it back..! Said it was 'fit for purpose'. My solicitor concluded 'sharp business practice', but he could do nothing. Eventually dealer offered me a straight swap for a V6 Mondeo, which would have been an OK car had the idiot dealer principle not fitted rims that rubbed the arches and ripped 2 rear tyres out of it.. And he is a well known Clubman rally'er. Numpty.
Also bought an E30 325i from another BMW 'dealer'. It was being PDi'd when I arrived to pick it up, so took the chance to nose round it on the ramp. Rear discs were shot REALLY shot! The salesman was 'out' so I took the car anyway.. After 3 weeks of arguing and the Dealer principle insisting there was no way his workshop would allow dangerous brakes to leave, I replaced them myself. I took one of the discs straight down to the dealership, marched past reception, into the DP's office and dumped it on his leather desk. Most satisfying thing I've ever done. Fair play. They paid for the brakes, AND sent me £500 compensation.
I buy 'sheds' now. Always expect nothing, and am totally delighted when I get a fun car for no money! Currently E36 328i. A £25k car with 90k miles for £1,100! Gotta love eBay. Nothing wrong with it.. At all!
PS.. contributor above who doesn't 'understand' why shed drivers visit Pistonheads, really doesn't understand cars at all.. We're all here cos we love the freedom of 'driving'.. Whatever we have to drive..
I enjoyed reading this! Especially the final paragraph.i have a focus.a 1.8.its never going to set the world alight but its what i can afford and its realiable which right now in my life is what i need.ive had 'ph' cars before(850r rst's a pug 1.9).just because i dont anymore doesnt make me any less of a pistonheader!!The dealer 'forgot' to replace the 2 front tyres that had more 'shine' than Bo & Luke Duke.
Dealer refused to take it back..! Said it was 'fit for purpose'. My solicitor concluded 'sharp business practice', but he could do nothing. Eventually dealer offered me a straight swap for a V6 Mondeo, which would have been an OK car had the idiot dealer principle not fitted rims that rubbed the arches and ripped 2 rear tyres out of it.. And he is a well known Clubman rally'er. Numpty.
Also bought an E30 325i from another BMW 'dealer'. It was being PDi'd when I arrived to pick it up, so took the chance to nose round it on the ramp. Rear discs were shot REALLY shot! The salesman was 'out' so I took the car anyway.. After 3 weeks of arguing and the Dealer principle insisting there was no way his workshop would allow dangerous brakes to leave, I replaced them myself. I took one of the discs straight down to the dealership, marched past reception, into the DP's office and dumped it on his leather desk. Most satisfying thing I've ever done. Fair play. They paid for the brakes, AND sent me £500 compensation.
I buy 'sheds' now. Always expect nothing, and am totally delighted when I get a fun car for no money! Currently E36 328i. A £25k car with 90k miles for £1,100! Gotta love eBay. Nothing wrong with it.. At all!
PS.. contributor above who doesn't 'understand' why shed drivers visit Pistonheads, really doesn't understand cars at all.. We're all here cos we love the freedom of 'driving'.. Whatever we have to drive..
I bet this turns into a long one so apologies in advance!
Aged 21 I made the stupid mistake of wanting to go travelling with an ex, so I sold one of my best cars, a 2003 Ibiza TDI Sport. Stop the giggling at the back! When I got it at 19, having a car with 172BHP and 298lb/ft was great, it was slammed on KW coilovers but completely driveable thanks to balloon arches, the chicks loved it, and I smoked a few Boxsters and 330s in the 2004 Traffic Light GP Season!
I got £7250 from my local dealer who sold it for £9500. D'oh! I saw it on Autotrader 18 months ago with only 65k on it and at £3k. I was very tempted to buy it for the mrs, but a bit further down I saw a 1.8T FR that was 2.5 years newer and £1k less, so I bought that for her instead!
Anyway she ended it the week before going so I needed a car. I saw another TDI Sport with only 87k on the clock and FSH including cambelt and water pump eBay and thought "TDIs go on forever, whats the worst that can happen? I stuck a £4500 blind bid in and got it for £3700. Bargain! The seller drove from Bordon, Hants to Northampton in it, told me he was a police driving tutor and used it to train them in. I should have said goodbye there and then, but I handed the money over. As soon as he had counted it, he ran into the train station! I then checked it over. All 4 tyres had no names as they had been kerbed that much, the car was covered in dents, there were remains of bird in the radiator and it stank of vomit inside. I drove out of the station car park and it was knocking and banging,I could see the anti roll bar had snapped so I replaced it but that didn't cure it. The local VW specialist couldn't find a fault so I carried on driving it. One bumpy country road caused the glovebox to fall off and interior trim to loosen, Top Gear cobbled road style! I had several garages look at it and they replaced all sorts to no avail. Oh and it lost water quicker than anything. The service book said the cambelt and water pump had been done, and there was evidence as they jubilee clipped plastic intercooler hoses back together. Of course that all fell apart in the middle of nowhere at 2AM, leaving me no choice but to walk home. £250 for those mangled hoses. Anyway no garage around here could diagnose the water loss either, so I flogged it for £2800 after 3 months. About 6 months later I found out which parts were causing the problems, 2x £8 wishbone bushes, and a water pump. Nothing was on the internet at the time, 6 months later they're "common failures". Within weeks , the car was back up for sale fixed up at £6k. Ugh. DVLA says this died in 2009.
The day before the Ibiza "owner" came to pick up the car, I saw a red 91 VW Polo GT in the local paper for £650. I wanted one when I was 17, so I went to see if it was any good. I got there and it was pink, but it had been owned from new by the same family, had 88k on it and lots of paperwork. I checked the oil cap and it was covered in "mayonnaise" so I walked away knowing that normally meant the head gasket was knackered. For the next few hours I couldn't stop thinking about it so I rang him up and offered £300. He said I could have it for £350 so I popped to the factors to get a head gasket kit and went to pick it up. I blasted it round to my mates house, undid the cap to show him the mayo and it had vanished so we drove to the factors, swapped the gasket set for a service kit and gave it a good service and polish. Bar a key scrape down the nearside, it was actually in great shape! I kept it for just over a year, it only cost me that service kit and a set of pads, and I sold it to a mate of mine who saw it for sale on here and gave me the asking price of £600. He had it for a year of trouble free motoring and sold it for £800! DVLA says this is still taxed...excellent!
6 months after buying the Polo, I wanted one of my all time favourite cars, the VW Corrado. And supercharger is an awesome word, my car needs to have one of those!
I watched loads over a couple of months and stumbled upon a G60 locally with ultra rare electric Recaros in immaculate condition. This time I took my mechanic mate with me, a big VW fan so he should know what to look for. "Those seats are cool, buy it" was what he said when we got there, so I did. Even though Mini One wheels were bodged onto the hubs, he assured me it was a good buy, especially after the seller said the charger was rebuilt the year before so £3000 later we're off. The oil light came on about 10 miles from his house so I pulled over and checked the dipstick. It was dry. I limped it to a petrol station and topped it up with 3 litres of oil, it sounded fine and the oil light went out, great! I only need to use the A14 for 1 junction, and this is the time the stainless exhaust system decides to liberate itself and get run over by the lorry behind. By this time I'm working at a garage so I drove it straight there and my mate dropped me home. I let the lads check it over the next day. They all said it was a shed, we were idiots and lots needed replacing. So with that expert knowledge laughed at me, I spent some money. After all, my dream car just needed some TLC! £1250 later and it was fully serviced, cambelt, water pump, oil pump, oil sump, wishbones, Bosch battery, £50 TSW Hockenheims in proper fitment with tyres, brakes including hoses and lines, another stainless system and a nice coat of Waxoyl. After that I let the valeter wash it for me. He says the pressure washer took lacquer off me roof, bonnet and both quarter panels, but it would if you put the nozzle an inch away from the bodywork! A reasonable £500 later and it looked good again! Then the supercharger went just as I put a deposit on a flat. I was gutted, my dreams were shattering before me very eyes! As I was about to be a homeowner, I decided to be responsible. I got a secondhand charger fitted and stuck the car on an eBay no reserve auction that ended at 3PM on a Wednesday. Someone got it for £1400. DVLA says its private plate was removed straight away and it was unregistered soon after, I guess he crashed it or scrapped it.
My last dream car was the MK5 Golf GTI. I fell in love with the concept car and wanted a red one from that day on. My mum had an MX5 2.0 Sport with 8000 miles on it that she couldn't get in or out of anymore, so I swapped. She got my Ibiza Cupra TDI, I got to have some fun. Unfortunately I got it at the wrong time of year, so it got stuck wherever I went. Oh and the boot space was so poor that I had to put £30 of groceries in there and the rest on the mrs. She persuaded me it was impractical and that I had a nice car to PX, so I should go get that car I always point at. 2 red ones appear at the VW dealer 15 miles down the road, so off I went. The DSG was nicer to drive but the manual would be a safer bet "knowing my luck". The tyres were new Dunlops so that would "save some cash" so we struck a deal. The car was 3.5 years old with 55k on it. The turbo started playing up so I took it back to VW who refused to help. Even though the VW used warranty covers turbos, they said "its sensor related, go away". It wasn't as it went bang on the way home. It was a nightmare getting them to admit liability and fix it. Over the next 2-3 months the following parts broke, and none of them were covered under warranty: AC compressor, radiator, xenon ballast, airbag wiring. MOT time and the CV boot is split. Hooray, its covered! I take it in and they replace it. My MOT retest fails on the same boot that they hadn't even secured the clips! I take it back and they fix it but wash it after I write in big letters on the job card "DO NOT WASH". There go the detailing products put on professionally the week before. They refused to pay up. The MOT man advised me of a rattling cam chain and guess what, VW again refused to look at it. This time its because the car has a cambelt. I say "yes, but answer this...how is the oil pump driven?" His reply was "I'm not here to answer your technical questions!" After going back with printed information from the workshop manual showing the chain I'm referring to (freely available on one of the American VW fansites), he got stroppy and said that I had illegally obtained confidential information and VW had to be informed! I told him to go ahead, and quote the website on the bottom of the page to them. 10 minutes later he came back all red faced and gave me a loaner Golf 1.6 TDI (which is one of the worst engines I've come across in years!)
After that, enough was enough. I sold it cheap and lost £3k. Luckily for me I saw it on eBay a few months later, the bloke had the gearbox go on him 2 weeks after buying it (£2800) and the cat went shortly after (£800)
I should've kept that MX-5, which despite having 3 bodyshop claims in 4000 miles, was a lovely little car. I'd love another one but I don't think I'll get the chance any time soon
NEVER MEET YOUR HEROES!
Right I'm done. I need a rest!
Aged 21 I made the stupid mistake of wanting to go travelling with an ex, so I sold one of my best cars, a 2003 Ibiza TDI Sport. Stop the giggling at the back! When I got it at 19, having a car with 172BHP and 298lb/ft was great, it was slammed on KW coilovers but completely driveable thanks to balloon arches, the chicks loved it, and I smoked a few Boxsters and 330s in the 2004 Traffic Light GP Season!
I got £7250 from my local dealer who sold it for £9500. D'oh! I saw it on Autotrader 18 months ago with only 65k on it and at £3k. I was very tempted to buy it for the mrs, but a bit further down I saw a 1.8T FR that was 2.5 years newer and £1k less, so I bought that for her instead!Anyway she ended it the week before going so I needed a car. I saw another TDI Sport with only 87k on the clock and FSH including cambelt and water pump eBay and thought "TDIs go on forever, whats the worst that can happen? I stuck a £4500 blind bid in and got it for £3700. Bargain! The seller drove from Bordon, Hants to Northampton in it, told me he was a police driving tutor and used it to train them in. I should have said goodbye there and then, but I handed the money over. As soon as he had counted it, he ran into the train station! I then checked it over. All 4 tyres had no names as they had been kerbed that much, the car was covered in dents, there were remains of bird in the radiator and it stank of vomit inside. I drove out of the station car park and it was knocking and banging,I could see the anti roll bar had snapped so I replaced it but that didn't cure it. The local VW specialist couldn't find a fault so I carried on driving it. One bumpy country road caused the glovebox to fall off and interior trim to loosen, Top Gear cobbled road style! I had several garages look at it and they replaced all sorts to no avail. Oh and it lost water quicker than anything. The service book said the cambelt and water pump had been done, and there was evidence as they jubilee clipped plastic intercooler hoses back together. Of course that all fell apart in the middle of nowhere at 2AM, leaving me no choice but to walk home. £250 for those mangled hoses. Anyway no garage around here could diagnose the water loss either, so I flogged it for £2800 after 3 months. About 6 months later I found out which parts were causing the problems, 2x £8 wishbone bushes, and a water pump. Nothing was on the internet at the time, 6 months later they're "common failures". Within weeks , the car was back up for sale fixed up at £6k. Ugh. DVLA says this died in 2009.
The day before the Ibiza "owner" came to pick up the car, I saw a red 91 VW Polo GT in the local paper for £650. I wanted one when I was 17, so I went to see if it was any good. I got there and it was pink, but it had been owned from new by the same family, had 88k on it and lots of paperwork. I checked the oil cap and it was covered in "mayonnaise" so I walked away knowing that normally meant the head gasket was knackered. For the next few hours I couldn't stop thinking about it so I rang him up and offered £300. He said I could have it for £350 so I popped to the factors to get a head gasket kit and went to pick it up. I blasted it round to my mates house, undid the cap to show him the mayo and it had vanished so we drove to the factors, swapped the gasket set for a service kit and gave it a good service and polish. Bar a key scrape down the nearside, it was actually in great shape! I kept it for just over a year, it only cost me that service kit and a set of pads, and I sold it to a mate of mine who saw it for sale on here and gave me the asking price of £600. He had it for a year of trouble free motoring and sold it for £800! DVLA says this is still taxed...excellent!
6 months after buying the Polo, I wanted one of my all time favourite cars, the VW Corrado. And supercharger is an awesome word, my car needs to have one of those!
I watched loads over a couple of months and stumbled upon a G60 locally with ultra rare electric Recaros in immaculate condition. This time I took my mechanic mate with me, a big VW fan so he should know what to look for. "Those seats are cool, buy it" was what he said when we got there, so I did. Even though Mini One wheels were bodged onto the hubs, he assured me it was a good buy, especially after the seller said the charger was rebuilt the year before so £3000 later we're off. The oil light came on about 10 miles from his house so I pulled over and checked the dipstick. It was dry. I limped it to a petrol station and topped it up with 3 litres of oil, it sounded fine and the oil light went out, great! I only need to use the A14 for 1 junction, and this is the time the stainless exhaust system decides to liberate itself and get run over by the lorry behind. By this time I'm working at a garage so I drove it straight there and my mate dropped me home. I let the lads check it over the next day. They all said it was a shed, we were idiots and lots needed replacing. So with that expert knowledge laughed at me, I spent some money. After all, my dream car just needed some TLC! £1250 later and it was fully serviced, cambelt, water pump, oil pump, oil sump, wishbones, Bosch battery, £50 TSW Hockenheims in proper fitment with tyres, brakes including hoses and lines, another stainless system and a nice coat of Waxoyl. After that I let the valeter wash it for me. He says the pressure washer took lacquer off me roof, bonnet and both quarter panels, but it would if you put the nozzle an inch away from the bodywork! A reasonable £500 later and it looked good again! Then the supercharger went just as I put a deposit on a flat. I was gutted, my dreams were shattering before me very eyes! As I was about to be a homeowner, I decided to be responsible. I got a secondhand charger fitted and stuck the car on an eBay no reserve auction that ended at 3PM on a Wednesday. Someone got it for £1400. DVLA says its private plate was removed straight away and it was unregistered soon after, I guess he crashed it or scrapped it.
My last dream car was the MK5 Golf GTI. I fell in love with the concept car and wanted a red one from that day on. My mum had an MX5 2.0 Sport with 8000 miles on it that she couldn't get in or out of anymore, so I swapped. She got my Ibiza Cupra TDI, I got to have some fun. Unfortunately I got it at the wrong time of year, so it got stuck wherever I went. Oh and the boot space was so poor that I had to put £30 of groceries in there and the rest on the mrs. She persuaded me it was impractical and that I had a nice car to PX, so I should go get that car I always point at. 2 red ones appear at the VW dealer 15 miles down the road, so off I went. The DSG was nicer to drive but the manual would be a safer bet "knowing my luck". The tyres were new Dunlops so that would "save some cash" so we struck a deal. The car was 3.5 years old with 55k on it. The turbo started playing up so I took it back to VW who refused to help. Even though the VW used warranty covers turbos, they said "its sensor related, go away". It wasn't as it went bang on the way home. It was a nightmare getting them to admit liability and fix it. Over the next 2-3 months the following parts broke, and none of them were covered under warranty: AC compressor, radiator, xenon ballast, airbag wiring. MOT time and the CV boot is split. Hooray, its covered! I take it in and they replace it. My MOT retest fails on the same boot that they hadn't even secured the clips! I take it back and they fix it but wash it after I write in big letters on the job card "DO NOT WASH". There go the detailing products put on professionally the week before. They refused to pay up. The MOT man advised me of a rattling cam chain and guess what, VW again refused to look at it. This time its because the car has a cambelt. I say "yes, but answer this...how is the oil pump driven?" His reply was "I'm not here to answer your technical questions!" After going back with printed information from the workshop manual showing the chain I'm referring to (freely available on one of the American VW fansites), he got stroppy and said that I had illegally obtained confidential information and VW had to be informed! I told him to go ahead, and quote the website on the bottom of the page to them. 10 minutes later he came back all red faced and gave me a loaner Golf 1.6 TDI (which is one of the worst engines I've come across in years!)
After that, enough was enough. I sold it cheap and lost £3k. Luckily for me I saw it on eBay a few months later, the bloke had the gearbox go on him 2 weeks after buying it (£2800) and the cat went shortly after (£800)
I should've kept that MX-5, which despite having 3 bodyshop claims in 4000 miles, was a lovely little car. I'd love another one but I don't think I'll get the chance any time soon
NEVER MEET YOUR HEROES!
Right I'm done. I need a rest!
Edited by tab84 on Tuesday 8th January 23:01
Edited by tab84 on Wednesday 9th January 21:09
worst and best cars :
worst :
1/ A Fiat Strada .. mechanically fine and fun to drive, but shoddy Italian workmanship - the seats split and all the paint crazed on one door only [weird].
..sold it on without an MOT to a teenager next door. He spray painted it matt black then caused a 3 car pile up in less than a week [end of car ..]
2/ Rover 820i - company car. knew it was a bad choice in less than a week : crap handling and noisy barge. and wiper linkage kept failing.
3/ Rover Montego Turbo in BRG. I was told by my PA this was going to be a very unlucky car as it was dark green - pahhh ! I said.
Over 2 years it had been stolen twice, broken into to steal the stereo, crashed into a queue of traffic [3 other cars crunched] , driven into by a Winnebago [6 body panels replaced] , and had to go back to replace the gearbox.
It had more 'incidents' than any other car in the fleet of several thousand.
Best:
1/ Alfa 164 - bought for 2600GBP at 60k miles , run for 7 years until nearly 150k then scrapped [need a grand or so spending on it ... should have kept it] only non routine work in 90k miles was rear calipers, a clutch part, a section of brake pipe and brake modulation valve. So much for unreliable Alfas.
2/ BMW 520i E39 ... from new ..lovely car.
worst :
1/ A Fiat Strada .. mechanically fine and fun to drive, but shoddy Italian workmanship - the seats split and all the paint crazed on one door only [weird].
..sold it on without an MOT to a teenager next door. He spray painted it matt black then caused a 3 car pile up in less than a week [end of car ..]
2/ Rover 820i - company car. knew it was a bad choice in less than a week : crap handling and noisy barge. and wiper linkage kept failing.
3/ Rover Montego Turbo in BRG. I was told by my PA this was going to be a very unlucky car as it was dark green - pahhh ! I said.
Over 2 years it had been stolen twice, broken into to steal the stereo, crashed into a queue of traffic [3 other cars crunched] , driven into by a Winnebago [6 body panels replaced] , and had to go back to replace the gearbox.
It had more 'incidents' than any other car in the fleet of several thousand.
Best:
1/ Alfa 164 - bought for 2600GBP at 60k miles , run for 7 years until nearly 150k then scrapped [need a grand or so spending on it ... should have kept it] only non routine work in 90k miles was rear calipers, a clutch part, a section of brake pipe and brake modulation valve. So much for unreliable Alfas.
2/ BMW 520i E39 ... from new ..lovely car.
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