Most reliable unreliable car you've ever owned?
Discussion
What is the most reliable car you have ever owned that is renowned for its unreliability?
One that has been used with expectation something would inevitably go wrong based on others or previous experience?
My example is my daily - I use it for work, short and long trips averaging c15k miles a year. The Maserati GranTurismo S (and one with the MC box)
One that has been used with expectation something would inevitably go wrong based on others or previous experience?
My example is my daily - I use it for work, short and long trips averaging c15k miles a year. The Maserati GranTurismo S (and one with the MC box)
Lotus Elise Series 1 (with K-series engines!).
I've owned two, and both were absolutely faultless in my hands.
TVR Griffith wasn't as bad as its reputation suggested. It blew its exhaust manifold gaskets (which are a b
d to change due to limited access - even with a 'crows foot' spanner you'll get skinned knuckles) overheated once or twice for no apparent reason (airlock suspected, but it seemed to cure itself in both cases), killed a clutch and one of the headlamp fairings dropped out and needed refitting, but those were all pretty trivial, and only the clutch resulted in a trip home on the back of an AA flatbed.
I've owned two, and both were absolutely faultless in my hands.
TVR Griffith wasn't as bad as its reputation suggested. It blew its exhaust manifold gaskets (which are a b
d to change due to limited access - even with a 'crows foot' spanner you'll get skinned knuckles) overheated once or twice for no apparent reason (airlock suspected, but it seemed to cure itself in both cases), killed a clutch and one of the headlamp fairings dropped out and needed refitting, but those were all pretty trivial, and only the clutch resulted in a trip home on the back of an AA flatbed.Mazda RX-8.
3 years, around 30k miles, a dozen track days and nothing but routine maintenance and consumables.
I then sold it to a friend, who had it for 2 years, 15k miles and half a dozen track days with no issues whatsoever.
I did buy from a rotary enthusiast though, so it had been looked after and treated correctly.
3 years, around 30k miles, a dozen track days and nothing but routine maintenance and consumables.
I then sold it to a friend, who had it for 2 years, 15k miles and half a dozen track days with no issues whatsoever.
I did buy from a rotary enthusiast though, so it had been looked after and treated correctly.
A Rolls Royce silver spirit. Bought as a bit of wacky fun, for relatively peanuts, from a random dealer. It wasn't in bad nick, but obviously still assumed it would implode taking my bank balance with it at any moment.
Had it 2-3 years, and it never went wrong, not in the slightest, flew through the MOT with no advisories etc..
I did replace a brake valve o-ring as it was slightly weeping, but other than an oil change it had nothing, and nothing ever broke. Absolutely fantastic car.
It wasn't even absolutely horrendous on fuel (18mpg), but that might have had more to do with the fact that my E38 740 at the time was always broken and delivering <12mpg....
Had it 2-3 years, and it never went wrong, not in the slightest, flew through the MOT with no advisories etc..
I did replace a brake valve o-ring as it was slightly weeping, but other than an oil change it had nothing, and nothing ever broke. Absolutely fantastic car.
It wasn't even absolutely horrendous on fuel (18mpg), but that might have had more to do with the fact that my E38 740 at the time was always broken and delivering <12mpg....
SuperPav said:
A Rolls Royce silver spirit. Bought as a bit of wacky fun, for relatively peanuts, from a random dealer. It wasn't in bad nick, but obviously still assumed it would implode taking my bank balance with it at any moment.
Had it 2-3 years, and it never went wrong, not in the slightest, flew through the MOT with no advisories etc..
I did replace a brake valve o-ring as it was slightly weeping, but other than an oil change it had nothing, and nothing ever broke. Absolutely fantastic car.
It wasn't even absolutely horrendous on fuel (18mpg), but that might have had more to do with the fact that my E38 740 at the time was always broken and delivering <12mpg....
Love it. I really really want a scruffy old Roller to smoke about town in Had it 2-3 years, and it never went wrong, not in the slightest, flew through the MOT with no advisories etc..
I did replace a brake valve o-ring as it was slightly weeping, but other than an oil change it had nothing, and nothing ever broke. Absolutely fantastic car.
It wasn't even absolutely horrendous on fuel (18mpg), but that might have had more to do with the fact that my E38 740 at the time was always broken and delivering <12mpg....
My 06 V8V - silly tiny niggles but good as gold as a car. So impressed. The previous owner of many years said the same. In, fire up, go... usually very hard. Expensive to service relatively, but I've done brakes/discs etc and all the other "lets pull his pants down" things like that myself, and easily.
I trust it completely. Some get unlucky with theirs. Mines been great. 2 years, 10k miles, now on 64k.
I was paranoid for a while and looked into every odd noise/worried about anything seemingly untoward - all have turned out to be nothing.
Nearly everything else i've ever owned as been a ballache.
Edited by Krhuangbin on Tuesday 6th February 13:26
V88Dicky said:
Owned five Jaguars over the years, all petrol powered, with V6 or V8 engines.
Nothing of any real note went wrong with any of them.
I've done well over 250,000 miles in various large Jaguars over the last 20 years. In that time I've had two failures to proceed - one from fuel tank straps breaking and one coolant hose splitting. Ford era Jaguars are, by and large, thoroughly well sorted cars.Nothing of any real note went wrong with any of them.
GeniusOfLove said:
V88Dicky said:
Owned five Jaguars over the years, all petrol powered, with V6 or V8 engines.
Nothing of any real note went wrong with any of them.
I've done well over 250,000 miles in various large Jaguars over the last 20 years. In that time I've had two failures to proceed - one from fuel tank straps breaking and one coolant hose splitting. Ford era Jaguars are, by and large, thoroughly well sorted cars.Nothing of any real note went wrong with any of them.
As for a reliable/unreliable - how about a £400 shed Alfa 156 2.4 JTD? Fantastic car that needed a pair of droplinks to pass its next MOT and that's it.
The word "reliable" is an interesting one.
My 20yo Discovery has cost £8k+ to maintain while I put 22k miles on it in the last 18 months, but it hasn't let me down or left me stranded once.
Given their reputation for unreliability, I'd say 22k miles in 18 months without a breakdown is not too bad.
My 20yo Discovery has cost £8k+ to maintain while I put 22k miles on it in the last 18 months, but it hasn't let me down or left me stranded once.
Given their reputation for unreliability, I'd say 22k miles in 18 months without a breakdown is not too bad.
Two Land Rovers:
- a 1998 Discovery 300Tdi GS, bought when it was six years old. Used for a 30-mile round trip commute five days a week, plus general family 'bus' duties, plus towing horse trailers, boat trailers, car trailers and long schleps laden with stuff to Cornwall and abroad. Serviced annually by the local LR independent specialist. Apart from a leaky oil cooler hose and the air-conditioning blowing a seal it never had any faults, just replacement of consumables.
- a 1990 Ninety CSW turbodiesel, bought when it was 16 years old with 130,000 miles on the clock, sold 11 years later with another 80,000 miles on it. While it had quite a lot of age-related work (new steering box, front swivels, full brake rebuild, some replacement chassis sections, four new dampers, a lot of new suspension bushes) it never once had any 'on the job' fault more serious than a blown bulb and never had any unplanned 'down time'.
(For balance I have also had Land Rovers that not only lived up more to the stereotype but seemed to actively revel in it...)
- a 1996 Citroen Xantia, bought when it was 20 years old with 140,000 miles on it and now sitting at 28 years/175,000 miles. Again, it's had required servicing/consumables like replaced suspension spheres and LHM changes but for the reputation it has been epically reliable. A leaky doseur valve that started filling the footwell with LHM and a hydraulic pump that was replaced when it began dripping from from the spindle seal have been the only suspension-related faults.
- a 1998 Discovery 300Tdi GS, bought when it was six years old. Used for a 30-mile round trip commute five days a week, plus general family 'bus' duties, plus towing horse trailers, boat trailers, car trailers and long schleps laden with stuff to Cornwall and abroad. Serviced annually by the local LR independent specialist. Apart from a leaky oil cooler hose and the air-conditioning blowing a seal it never had any faults, just replacement of consumables.
- a 1990 Ninety CSW turbodiesel, bought when it was 16 years old with 130,000 miles on the clock, sold 11 years later with another 80,000 miles on it. While it had quite a lot of age-related work (new steering box, front swivels, full brake rebuild, some replacement chassis sections, four new dampers, a lot of new suspension bushes) it never once had any 'on the job' fault more serious than a blown bulb and never had any unplanned 'down time'.
(For balance I have also had Land Rovers that not only lived up more to the stereotype but seemed to actively revel in it...)
- a 1996 Citroen Xantia, bought when it was 20 years old with 140,000 miles on it and now sitting at 28 years/175,000 miles. Again, it's had required servicing/consumables like replaced suspension spheres and LHM changes but for the reputation it has been epically reliable. A leaky doseur valve that started filling the footwell with LHM and a hydraulic pump that was replaced when it began dripping from from the spindle seal have been the only suspension-related faults.
Another vote for an Elise. 7 years and 80k miles as a daily and never let me down. A little pin on the clutch pedal broke once, but I fixed it with a bit of fence wire I found at the side of the road and a Leatherman multi tool.
To be fair, there’s actually very little to go wrong on them really.
To be fair, there’s actually very little to go wrong on them really.
ex plod driving school Honda engined Rover 827, facelift manual.
Bought at 5 years circa 80k miles and ran it for about 5 years, serviced very regularly by me, the cambelt change i left to the dealer, complicated.
Superb, went like hell and never put a foot wrong, part of the reason for that must be the previous in house service regime of plod workshop, the printout of work done had to be seen to be believed.
Its one failing was the brakes were undersized for the performance (was it breathed on i don't know, but it was still pulling at 140) and would warp the front discs every year without fail, must have been half a dozen sets of front discs/pads in the print out too, no danger of the discs rusting to the hub.
Bought at 5 years circa 80k miles and ran it for about 5 years, serviced very regularly by me, the cambelt change i left to the dealer, complicated.
Superb, went like hell and never put a foot wrong, part of the reason for that must be the previous in house service regime of plod workshop, the printout of work done had to be seen to be believed.
Its one failing was the brakes were undersized for the performance (was it breathed on i don't know, but it was still pulling at 140) and would warp the front discs every year without fail, must have been half a dozen sets of front discs/pads in the print out too, no danger of the discs rusting to the hub.
Land Rover Discovery - many people have reliability issues but there's one in the family that is getting on for 200k miles and 23 years old now and has never broken down!
There have been times with various warning lights in the dash, but it's still kept going.
It's required some maintenance at service time, but is still going on original engine/auto gearbox/etc. It has one of the standard TD5 engines.
There have been times with various warning lights in the dash, but it's still kept going.
It's required some maintenance at service time, but is still going on original engine/auto gearbox/etc. It has one of the standard TD5 engines.
Mini R53 - bought with 120,000 miles on it, eventually let it go with 198,000. Never broke down. Never failed to start (except the time I left the door slighty open which drained the battery over night).
Also had a 2011 RR Sport - over 15,000 miles and only had one issue. The water pump failed (common failure on the V8's) and nothing went wrong, failed or anything like that.
On the other hand, 2012 Porsche Cayenne S - over 15,000 miles and went through two differentials, one transfer box and a number of other odd issues. Loved it, but wow, that thing nearly broke me. They are supposed to be reliable!!!
Also had a 2011 RR Sport - over 15,000 miles and only had one issue. The water pump failed (common failure on the V8's) and nothing went wrong, failed or anything like that.
On the other hand, 2012 Porsche Cayenne S - over 15,000 miles and went through two differentials, one transfer box and a number of other odd issues. Loved it, but wow, that thing nearly broke me. They are supposed to be reliable!!!
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