Best designed modern/new car for ease of servicing?

[Rob_F]

Having a bit of a natter today with folks in work about how much of a ball ache it seems to be to do anything on a new car - including some that need bumpers etc removing before you even replace a headlamp bulb!

With that in mind what's the best modern (<5 years old) car for servicing? Have any actually been designed to make it easier for servicing or do none of the major manufacturers care?

Cheers,
Rob

[ewenm]

Caterham

[jbi]

Land Rover Defender

Does it count?

[bazking69]

ewenm said:

Caterham

Winner!

[GaryST220]

If I recall, the oil filter on the Mk6 Golf is situated on the top of the engine (or so), so no need to get underneath the car

[kambites]

GaryST220 said:

If I recall, the oil filter on the Mk6 Golf is situated on the top of the engine (or so), so no need to get underneath the car

You probably still have to take the engine out to change an indicator bulb, though.

[Rob_F]

GaryST220 said:

If I recall, the oil filter on the Mk6 Golf is situated on the top of the engine (or so), so no need to get underneath the car

OK - like this one. Defender and Caterham are cheating a bit eh - 'modern'?!

Seems to be this is a massively overlooked bit of automotive engineering - i imagine as marketing folks change their attentions to warranties and included servicing packages as 'USPS' the car makers might mull these areas over a bit more before they produce new models...

Cheers,
Rob

[otolith]

From another thread, not whatever car these chaps are talking about:

blueg33 said:

VictorMeldrew said:

Anyone changed rear pads on an electronic handbrake model? Am I going to end up back at the dealers anyway?

I believe that you will need VAGCOM to wind back the pistons

FFS, I'm not a luddite who sees crap old cars through rose tinted specs - but you need a laptop to change the sodding brake pads?

[Dr_Rick]

On our MY09 A4 it's controlled by a dinky little switch on the console - there's either on or off, no handbrake turns.

While I've not had to have this task done, I can well imagine that it'll require a geeka nd a cable to get it started.

Dr Rick

[Jonathan27]

My Volvo V50 is quite well set up. Easy access to the oil filer, headlight case pops out.
The only down side is that absolutely everything else seems to break!

[The Black Flash]

otolith said:

From another thread, not whatever car these chaps are talking about:

blueg33 said:

VictorMeldrew said:

Anyone changed rear pads on an electronic handbrake model? Am I going to end up back at the dealers anyway?

I believe that you will need VAGCOM to wind back the pistons

FFS, I'm not a luddite who sees crap old cars through rose tinted specs - but you need a laptop to change the sodding brake pads?

When computers go bad...

[monthefish]

I had to replace a rear bulb on an Audi A3 recently and I was amazed at how easy it was/how much thought had gone into making the process as simple as possible for the customer.

[Rob_F]

monthefish said:

I had to replace a rear bulb on an Audi A3 recently and I was amazed at how easy it was/how much thought had gone into making the process as simple as possible for the customer.

And yet on other VAG cars you need a laptop to replace the brake pads? Madness, innit.

[HellDiver]

Mk3 Mondeo has to be there, especially the petrols. Bean-tin oil filter that can be changed from above or below, proper steel nut for sump plug, lamps come out with two clips on both front and back, plugs are right there on top of the engine.

Took 30 mins to fully service mine last time...including the pollen filter which needs the wipers takes off, which is the only funny thing.

[agent006]

otolith said:

FFS, I'm not a luddite who sees crap old cars through rose tinted specs - but you need a laptop to change the sodding brake pads?

I expect people sounded just the same when they moaned about having to buy these new fangled metric spanners.

[EDLT]

HellDiver said:

Mk3 Mondeo has to be there, especially the petrols. Bean-tin oil filter that can be changed from above or below, proper steel nut for sump plug, lamps come out with two clips on both front and back, plugs are right there on top of the engine.

Took 30 mins to fully service mine last time...including the pollen filter which needs the wipers takes off, which is the only funny thing.

^Those. The Focus (pre-facelift) is almost as easy, I'm not so sure about the newest ones though.

You can buy a third-party tool to wind back the pistons on cars with an electronic handbrake, looks a bit complicated though:

[mcford]

We had to change the rear pads on a Passat. You use VCDS to disengage the motors allowing the pistons to be pushed back and engage and test the motors when the job is done. I liked the warnings, whereby the instructions said 'observe the waiting times between operations or undocumented damage could be caused to the controller'.

[AUDIHenry]

My 08 Civic has a weak horn and I wanted to change it. Turns out I'd need to remove the front bumper to do it! Needless to say, I try not to honk it that much haha