We all know that, by and large, most modern cars are pretty fault-free. While two or three decades ago it was pretty much accepted that cars would break down from time to time, these days we expect our vehicles to act pretty much faultlessly.
But things still do go wrong, it seems, and the folks at Warranty Direct have decided to name and shame the worst bits of the worst offenders in its 'reliability index' and have come up with a mongrel 'nightmare car'. Which is a bit silly.
But buried beneath the PR fluff about a "horror vehicle that would break down every other month and cost an average of £2050 to fix each year" (made up of an MG TF engine, the suspension of a BMW M3, the electric workings of the Renault Megane, the gearbox of a Land Rover Freelander and the braking ability of the Audi A8) there are some genuinely interesting points.
It's perhaps no surprise that the MG TF engine is a bit wet, that the electrics in a Megane are prone to hissy fits or that the gearbox in a Land Rover Freelander gearbox isn't bulletproof (though we don't know whether they're talking about Mk1, Mk2 or both).
But how come the Audi A8 has such flaky brakes? And why do fully 40 per cent of M3s need repairs to axle and suspension components each year (methinks the words 'hoon' and 'circuit' might feature somewhere in the answer to that one)?
Also, wouldn't you have thought that cars created under the searing Spanish sun (the Seat Alhambra and Toledo) would be rubbish for air-con reliability and cooling issues...
We've printed a more detailed list of what goes wrong on what (and how this bizarre image above has been created) in the table below.
| Make and Model |
Car part |
| Audi A8 |
Brakes |
| BMW M3 |
Suspension |
| MG TF |
Engine |
| Land Rover Freelander |
Gearbox |
| Mercedes-Benz V-Class |
Ignition |
| Renault Megane |
Electrics |
| SEAT Alhambra |
Air-conditioning |
| SEAT Toledo |
Heating & Cooling systems |
| Volvo C70 |
Steering system |
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