Who's had the most breakdown's in a year?

[Diderot]

Worst car I had was while I was at uni in the early 90s. Renault 5 mk1. My dad warned me not to touch it with a barge pole but of course I knew best.

First issue was one Christmas Eve on the A31 - heard a bang and major rattling and my brakes didn't seem to be working well. Driver's side calliper had bRoken and was flailing around. Got recovered by the Rac home to London. The RAC truck nearly crashed on the way back too - we came over a blind crest too quickly and there was a queue of stationary traffic the other side. Big, big lock up.

Then one Sunday with a mate in the car, we heard a bang from the back as we went round a corner. The car seemed ok but maybe a little soft on that offside rear. Turned out that the shock had punched through its mounting and was now poking into the boot. Had to get some welding done on both sides after that.

Then in January 1991 it turned pretty cold and snowy. The car completely froze. The radiator split and a fair few hoses as well.

After various overheating and coolant loss episodes, the car decided to blow the head gasket on the M3 in a bloody awkward place. Police arrived (they were great). Car was proclaimed dead after that.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Had an Audi 80 when I was a student and skint, was rock solid never missed a beat, but was brown and tatty. Was rock solid, but heater didn't work, so for 18 months I drove with no heater and froze my ass off, being skint I assumed the matix was fcked. Sold it and the guy phoned me later and said it was a 15 minute fix for £15, the last owner fitted the wrong thermostat...bit gutted.

Got my first job, had disposable cash so thought I'd be sensible and get a newer Audi 80, bigger engine, better wheels, nice colour, looked pretty good I thought. Except it broke down about 20 times in six months!!! Usually it would break down, wouldn't start. If you left it for an hour - 2 hours it would start and drive fine, no garage could ever diagnose it! I'd wait 2 hours for a tow truck only for it to start first time when it got there and drive fine!

Then I got fed up and bought a battered 306 GTI and drove everywhere like a hooligan, never broke down but would regularly destroy its cooling system leaving me stranded on the side of the road while I refitted hoses. Then it leaked fuel everywhere! I got fed up so paid a garage lots of money to replace the radiator and every major hose to try and sort it....except they forgot to refill the coolant properly so on the hottest day of the year one mile down from the garage it overheated again after paying them £600!

Got fed up and bought a MX5, which bar the rust and sticking callipers was OK

Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Monday 5th October 09:30

[MrBarry123]

Only had 2 true breakdowns (2013 and 2014) however my cars have had 7 visits to respective garages over the past 4 years in total for non-scheduled work i.e. something needed fixing.

2011 - Golf 1.4s - leaking radiator
2012 - Golf 1.9TDI - replacement DMF
2013 - BMW 320d *breakdown* - water contact with battery causing car to become non-responsive
2014 - Scirocco R *breakdown* - DSG eats itself
2014 - Scirocco R - rear shock replaced after seeping fluid
2015 - Scirocco R - new injector after one is confirmed as faulty
2015 - Scirocco R - new aircon compressor unit after previous one showing signs of wear (excessive noise)

[bungz]

Never really had a spectacular breakdown or owned a car that was particularly unreliable.

Worst was a old Escort estate when a self adjusting clutch pedal mechanism ate itself, made of cheap flimsy plastic.

Left it parked for 3 days so my newly purchased RAC cover would kick in to get it towed.

Prob jinx myself now but all cars I have owned have never given me engine problems meaning I can usually limp home with other issues.

[Rude-boy]

My Yellow 8v Mk3 was beyond doubt the worst car i have ever owned for this.

At least 4 recoveries on the back of a truck and three trips by the nose on a tow rope.

That's not counting the number of times it just would not start in the first place.

I really wanted to love that car and treat it as it should have been in it's last years but after blowing nearly £1k at fixing it over 6 months I gave up.

[C.A.R.]

poing said:

C.A.R. said:

Coming up to 10 years of motoring and I've only ever broken down once. About 6 years ago, in a stop-gap car which had elusive battery problems. I say elusive because in the short time I owned it I had replaced the battery and alternator and still didn't solve the drain on the battery!

The car was a VW polo - coming from a string of French cars which never let me down I think that's not bad!

Boot light, it was on my Mums Polo!

I wonder if it was - probably never opened the boot more than a couple of times in the short term of ownership!

Just hope it got the poor lad from Stevenage back to his home in Cambridge without breaking down, it was his first car purchase and I'd feel guilty if part of that experience was spent on the hard shoulder!!