What is the most unreliable car you have owned?
Discussion
morgrp said:
WeirdNeville said:
Audi 80 Avant, 1.9 Tdi.
Stupid, stupidly designed cars.
Aux belt tensioner arm was steel into an alloy block - the block wore, re-postioning the roller into an angled blade across the aux belt. The block was also a bracket that held the alt etc on, and was a £400 part. £800 fit, because you had to dismantle the front end of the car to do it.
It ate wheelbearings, had an ABS fault, Never went through an MOT for less than £500, suspension arms went, and had an intermittent but horrible engine fault whereby it would loose power and stutter occasionally on acceleration. I gave up attempting to overtake, it was too much of a gamble. The car would then go into some kind of unsignaled "low power" mode, and then the problem would disappear for a week, a month, however long it took for you to convince yourself that it had fixed itself and it was worth buying those two new tyres.... then it would crop up again.
A truely hateful, spiteful, vindictive car. It's put me off audis for life.
Really? Mine did 300,000 with only a wheel bearing, an oil cooler and and some corroded diesel return lines - easily one of the toughest cars I've ever owned - never heard of another with an aux belt prob and I've serviced loads of them over the years - yours must have either been a pup or worked on by someone who doesn't know their arse from their elbow Stupid, stupidly designed cars.
Aux belt tensioner arm was steel into an alloy block - the block wore, re-postioning the roller into an angled blade across the aux belt. The block was also a bracket that held the alt etc on, and was a £400 part. £800 fit, because you had to dismantle the front end of the car to do it.
It ate wheelbearings, had an ABS fault, Never went through an MOT for less than £500, suspension arms went, and had an intermittent but horrible engine fault whereby it would loose power and stutter occasionally on acceleration. I gave up attempting to overtake, it was too much of a gamble. The car would then go into some kind of unsignaled "low power" mode, and then the problem would disappear for a week, a month, however long it took for you to convince yourself that it had fixed itself and it was worth buying those two new tyres.... then it would crop up again.
A truely hateful, spiteful, vindictive car. It's put me off audis for life.
The Tension arm problem was a well known fault though - I used a good independant garage, and it was them who alerted me tothe problem. They said they check them routinely, because it was a common failure point. Of course, I opted not to swap the part out pre-emptively, and it failed a few months later leaving me stranded.
Renault Clio 1.8 RSi, 1 year of ownership
- Ate wheel bearings
- Rusty rear arches
- Alternator conked out in the middle of a 300 mile journey
- Gearbox basically broke in half in the middle of a 300 mile journey - just scrapped the car after that.
Turbodiesel1690 said:
Mark 1 Clio many moons ago, put me off Renault for life
Snap! Edited by MarkRSi on Tuesday 6th September 19:08
10 years ago I fancied an S13 200SX.
Bought one, 80k miles, mechanically and cosmetically sound, with none of the 'usual' S13 snags on it at the time. Drove it for a few weeks, then....
1) Head gasket failure. Recon head fitted. Engine starts.....but big-end bearings now knackered.
2) Fit warrantied used engine. 15 miles later turbo oil hose splits, oil press light, rattling!
3) Engine fixed under warranty. Manage a week of driving. Another HG failure.
4) HG fixed under warranty.
5) Drive 200 miles from garage. Engine blows up, coolant everywhere, turbo runs bearings dry.
6) Dumped car at side of road in Leeds and got the train home.
Even now I can remember driving that POS waiting for the temp gauge to shoot up and the coolant start to boil out of the expansion tank after every successive 'rebuild'. The hoses and radiator were fine on the car, was probably unlucky to have two different engines let go.
Bought one, 80k miles, mechanically and cosmetically sound, with none of the 'usual' S13 snags on it at the time. Drove it for a few weeks, then....
1) Head gasket failure. Recon head fitted. Engine starts.....but big-end bearings now knackered.
2) Fit warrantied used engine. 15 miles later turbo oil hose splits, oil press light, rattling!
3) Engine fixed under warranty. Manage a week of driving. Another HG failure.
4) HG fixed under warranty.
5) Drive 200 miles from garage. Engine blows up, coolant everywhere, turbo runs bearings dry.
6) Dumped car at side of road in Leeds and got the train home.
Even now I can remember driving that POS waiting for the temp gauge to shoot up and the coolant start to boil out of the expansion tank after every successive 'rebuild'. The hoses and radiator were fine on the car, was probably unlucky to have two different engines let go.
G reg BX19GTi.
Fairly fast, well equipped for the time, comfortable.
It only broke down, oh, every 5 minutes..
Coolant leaked.
Oil leaked.
Valve stem seals wore and it smoked like a barbecue.
Green suspension fluid leaked.
Distributor shaft failed.
I'd get one leak fixed only for another, unrelated, one to start.
My garage floor looked I'd melted a massive pack of sweets, there were so many stains in so many colours.
Traded it before I'd finished paying off the bank loan on it. Didn't care. Bought an Astra Sri which was brilliant in comparison. Mind you, a pogo stick would have been an improvement, but the Astra actually was a sound little car.
G649 WMJ. Good riddance!
May not have been typical but I have never considered a French car since then.
Fairly fast, well equipped for the time, comfortable.
It only broke down, oh, every 5 minutes..
Coolant leaked.
Oil leaked.
Valve stem seals wore and it smoked like a barbecue.
Green suspension fluid leaked.
Distributor shaft failed.
I'd get one leak fixed only for another, unrelated, one to start.
My garage floor looked I'd melted a massive pack of sweets, there were so many stains in so many colours.
Traded it before I'd finished paying off the bank loan on it. Didn't care. Bought an Astra Sri which was brilliant in comparison. Mind you, a pogo stick would have been an improvement, but the Astra actually was a sound little car.
G649 WMJ. Good riddance!
May not have been typical but I have never considered a French car since then.
Land Rover Discovery 3.9 V8. A fantastic car let down by build quality that would make a Trabant look good. Special trick, engine cutting out, usually whilst in outside lane of motorway leaving you with no power and no power steering. It went back to lease company and was stolen from their compound. Jinxed I reckon.
t, just look at my garage if you don't believe me!2002 Renault Laguna IDE. Unfortunately I didn't read all the horror stories about the IDE engine before I bought it..... With only 55K miles on the clock what could go wrong?
Occasional misfire when driving along.
Bad misfire aboue 5500 rpm.
Rough idle.
Tyre pressure sensors constantly going off.
Sunroof leak (blocked drain holes caused by poor design)
CD player constantly skipped.
Sat Nav would just turn itself off.
Broke down with a fuel pressure regulator problem (Common problem with this engine)
Various other electrical gremlins that would come and go.
Every time I started the car I would hold my breath that all the warning lights would go off. It also had a talking computer that would tell you as it was about to break down. The worst thing was the warning chime when it was about to breakdown was the same as when the fuel was low. This caused much stomach tightening everytime the fuel was low as I thought it was about to die (again)
Bought it for £2900, sold it on ebay 4000 miles and 11 months later (with the fuel pressure regulator problem) for £850. Very happy to see it leaving.
Had a mark 1 laguna for 3 years and that was perfect. This will be my last French car.
Occasional misfire when driving along.
Bad misfire aboue 5500 rpm.
Rough idle.
Tyre pressure sensors constantly going off.
Sunroof leak (blocked drain holes caused by poor design)
CD player constantly skipped.
Sat Nav would just turn itself off.
Broke down with a fuel pressure regulator problem (Common problem with this engine)
Various other electrical gremlins that would come and go.
Every time I started the car I would hold my breath that all the warning lights would go off. It also had a talking computer that would tell you as it was about to break down. The worst thing was the warning chime when it was about to breakdown was the same as when the fuel was low. This caused much stomach tightening everytime the fuel was low as I thought it was about to die (again)
Bought it for £2900, sold it on ebay 4000 miles and 11 months later (with the fuel pressure regulator problem) for £850. Very happy to see it leaving.
Had a mark 1 laguna for 3 years and that was perfect. This will be my last French car.
A very well used and badly maintained Volvo 850 T5. Went wrong every week for 2 months and then died. The RAC actually told me I'd run out of free call outs and would be charging me for any more.
More evidence if ever it were needed for a full service history. Although, this was a freebie, so can't complain
More evidence if ever it were needed for a full service history. Although, this was a freebie, so can't complain
StottyZr said:
I like how BMW hasn't been mentioned yet 
(just bought one)
318 on page 2. (just bought one)Despite owning mostly Vauxhalls for the last 12 years, the most unreliable car I've had must be my first, a Nissan Sunny 1.3DX. Had 3 head gaskets in a year. I had to top it up with oil and water every week. I just didn't know any better. It also stopped on me when the points failed. Didn't even know about them, or changing oil or servicing.
2nd most unreliable car has to be a 205 I never even got on the road. Was givin a 1.6 GTi that had stood for 4 years after a couple's son died. It actually started with just a fresh battery. I started doing routine work ready for the MOT but the bloody thing would randomly refuse to start; no spark present, including when a guy came to collect it. Reinforced my hatred of pathetically engineered French cars. Even simple jobs on it were a pain the arse.
Edited by Astra Dan on Tuesday 6th September 22:45
2002 MG ZS 180
clutch master cylinder failed 4 times, cambelt broke at 29000 miles and 3 years old.
Engine fell off its mounts (well the mounts snapped). Thought the clutch had failed again, went to look under the bonnet and noticed the angle of the engine.
numerous electrical faults including heater matrix several times
issues with the brakes
Sold it to my brother for next to nothing and he got 3 years of uneventful motoring out of it
clutch master cylinder failed 4 times, cambelt broke at 29000 miles and 3 years old.
Engine fell off its mounts (well the mounts snapped). Thought the clutch had failed again, went to look under the bonnet and noticed the angle of the engine.
numerous electrical faults including heater matrix several times
issues with the brakes
Sold it to my brother for next to nothing and he got 3 years of uneventful motoring out of it
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