RE: Europe's most (and least) reliable used cars
Tuesday 25th September 2012
In the runup to the unveiling of much shiny new machinery at the Paris Show (we'll be there of course, scooping away), we thought it was worth reminding PHers that you do have a choice apart than new - ie used.
And if it's reliability you're after, a survey of 20,000 warranty policies recently carried out on European cars between 3 and 6 years old by Warranty Direct named the W211 Mercedes E-Class (2006-) as Europe's most reliable used car. Its 10% failure rate was 5% better than the next best car, Skoda's Fabia.
It was a good result for a company that's still trying to shake off the spectre of build quality issues from the early 2000s. Having said that, Mercedes also had two cars in the least reliable top ten, the SL and the CLS.
WD says that 85% of these had faults'Bottoming' the least reliable list is the '04-'09 model Land Rover Discovery 3, with 85% of examples covered by Warranty Direct recording a fault in the first 12 months. The RR Sport didn't exactly cover itself in glory either. With cars from the same company (Jaguar) doing pretty well in customer satisfaction surveys these days, it seems odd that Land Rover should be having such bother. Let's hope the upcoming Range Rover redresses the balance a bit.
The '03-'10 Bentley Continental GT did poorly too - 78% of them needed attention in the first year.
Europe's most (and least) reliable used cars
Expensive doesn't necessarily mean trustworthy
And if it's reliability you're after, a survey of 20,000 warranty policies recently carried out on European cars between 3 and 6 years old by Warranty Direct named the W211 Mercedes E-Class (2006-) as Europe's most reliable used car. Its 10% failure rate was 5% better than the next best car, Skoda's Fabia.
It was a good result for a company that's still trying to shake off the spectre of build quality issues from the early 2000s. Having said that, Mercedes also had two cars in the least reliable top ten, the SL and the CLS.
WD says that 85% of these had faults
The '03-'10 Bentley Continental GT did poorly too - 78% of them needed attention in the first year.
Top 5 Most Reliable (and most common fault)
Mercedes E-Class (axle/suspension)
Skoda Fabia (electrical)
Smart ForTwo (cooling/heating)
Volvo C70 (electrical)
Renault Scenic (axle/suspension)
Top 5 Least Reliable
Land Rover Discovery (axle/suspension)
Bentley Conti GT (electrical)
Renault Espace (engine)
Mercedes SL (axle/suspension)
Land Rover Range Rover Sport (axle/suspension)
Discussion
Disco and RR sport share much. The problems on both seem to be suspension related and are similar on both. The Conti is based on a VW Phaeton. So are we talking about the Dresden made cars (sone early examples were made in Germany) or those made at Crewe. Also are the problems related to non-UK sourced components, ie engine etc?
I make these points before some Clasrkson troll talks about Britich cars of the 70s.
I make these points before some Clasrkson troll talks about Britich cars of the 70s.
Hellbound said:
Beefmeister said:
Is that the only photo you could find of that generation E-Class? One that's been 'slammed and dealt with'?
I know! I wonder why they went out of their way to use that awful pic? Hellbound said:
Beefmeister said:
Is that the only photo you could find of that generation E-Class? One that's been 'slammed and dealt with'?
I know! I wonder why they went out of their way to use that awful pic? B10 said:
Disco and RR sport share much. The problems on both seem to be suspension related and are similar on both.
Apparently a failure of the compressor (both models - the same underpinning as you rightly say - have self-levelling, multi-level air suspension) which is not too costly but does virtually immobilise the vehicle upon failure, as it drops to the bump stops.There is also another issue (in six years of Disco ownership I have had one instance) where the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve fails and puts an oninous looking warning light on the dash. Works okay-ish though and doesn not cause any engine damamge, just an occasional sluggish throttle until valve is replaced.
IIRC in both cases, you're looking at about £400 for parts, plus fitting...
More here: http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/faults-fixes-d3-vf10...
It's either a useless survey or a useless article.
No years for the vast majority of the cars, just a vast generalisation
Espace is a prime example - 1.9 engines had a habit of letting go. not least as Cam-belt change was very expensive - so I bet loads did not bother. Later 2.0 dci has a chain.
Devil is always in the detail, but as this is based on a Warranty Direct press release there will not be much of that...
No years for the vast majority of the cars, just a vast generalisation
Espace is a prime example - 1.9 engines had a habit of letting go. not least as Cam-belt change was very expensive - so I bet loads did not bother. Later 2.0 dci has a chain.
Devil is always in the detail, but as this is based on a Warranty Direct press release there will not be much of that...
Really?
5:00AM BST 26 Jul 2012
"If you're in the market for a used car and crave reliability above all else then seek out a model from Honda, Toyota or Lexus.
That's the advice of an annual survey carried out by What Car? and Warranty Direct, which carried out research based on 50,000 Warranty Direct policies on cars between three and 10 years old."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9426806/A...
5:00AM BST 26 Jul 2012
"If you're in the market for a used car and crave reliability above all else then seek out a model from Honda, Toyota or Lexus.
That's the advice of an annual survey carried out by What Car? and Warranty Direct, which carried out research based on 50,000 Warranty Direct policies on cars between three and 10 years old."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9426806/A...
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