13 worst makes of cars not to buy.

[steve50]

I always hankered after a Robin or a Regal but prices are a bit steep these days.

i thought they stopped building robins years ago, don't see many of them about these days.
i have owned four reliants in their various guises many years ago as i was restricted to them by my motorcycle licence, as a winter alternative to a motorbike they were brilliant, at least i was dry and warm and as long as they were driven carefully they were good little cars.
these days i swear by vauxhall, I own an Astra estate 1.6ltr , great load lugger / family car and very economical.

 

[Drago]

That's disputable as the actual breakdown data is for cars out of manufacturers' warrantee and doesn't state if the data includes breakdowns not covered by the extended warrantees.

That's the best data available, as for some reason some manufacturers aren't keen to publish data for cars covered by their new car warranties. In any case, the study provide a pleasant snapshot of slightly older cars, so is arguably a more telling measure of the vehicles true long term characteristics. As it stands it's still better than "How would you rate your car's reliability on a scale of 1 to 5?", which is essentially the method that Auto Trader and JD Power use - they're asking for opinion, not gathering factual data.

I'd be keen to see such a a study analysing breakdown data for newer cars if you know of one.

 

[slowmotion]

Based on nothing more than endless frustration and a terrible desire for revenge, I have come to the sober, non-peer-reviewed opinion that......

























........Fiats are utter sh!te.

Thank you.

 

[sight-pin]

How things have changed over the years with French makes, they were a nightmare to work on, with rusting and seized brake pipes etc, and sounded like a bag of nails.

 

[Markymark]

I own a BMW and an Audi. One of the numerous reasons I'm better than everyone else.

 

[Andy_R]

I own a BMW and an Audi. One of the numerous reasons I'm better than everyone else.

For those days when you just can't decide whether you want to be a nobber or a w@nker, you've got both bases covered. Chapeau Sir!

 

[steve50]

I own a BMW and an Audi. One of the numerous reasons I'm better than everyone else.

Thats the tag that bmw and audi owners carry proudy, Oh and I do beleive you have your own roads where indicators are a non requirement.

A day from the diary of a BMW driver...

"The other day I was cruising along as usual coming onto one of my motorways, which was very busy with inferior cars.

First off, I couldn't believe that the volume of traffic DIDN'T slow down for me AT ALL as I came off the slip road! I had to squeeze into a barely big enough gap between two cars in order to get onto my motorway!

The driver of the car behind me did realise his mistake though and honked an apology to me with a long blast of his horn.

Unbelievably, I had to do the same again before I could get to the BMW lane.Anyway, once I was in the BMW lane and posing along at 110 mph enjoying the adulation that the inferior car drivers were giving me, I noticed an inferior car ahead of me which was not only in the BMW lane of my motorway, but was driving at a ridiculous 70 mph!Naturally, I got within a foot or so of his rear bumper and flashed my headlights to remind him he shouldn't be in the BMW lane of my motorway and to get out of my way.

Of course, once he realised it was a BMW behind him, he did just that, but I could hardly believe it when he pulled straight back out behind me!He also tried to keep up with me and when he realised I would out-run him, he put on some blue lights in his front grill and urged me to get onto the hard shoulder so that he could congratulate me on my excellent car.Needless to say, I was eager to oblige and when we had stopped, the man gave me a piece of paper confirming what I already knew - that my car goes fast!

Apparently he wants everyone to know what a superior car I have, so I had to take my drivers licence to a police station to be sent away to have some points put on! (They're not free points either - they're £20 each and I was only allowed 3.) But the man at the police station said that because I drive a BMW, it won't be much longer before I earn the full 12 points, and then I won't even NEED a driving licence, so they will take it off me!

See, now THAT'S the sort of respect you get when you own and drive a BMW!

 

[Markymark]

Your jealousy amuses me.

 

[Hip Priest]

You can afford cars that are still covered by warranty? What luxury!

 

[steve50]

I used to own a bmw, had to get rid, my wife hated it and i couldn't handle the humiliation and p#ss taking from my workmates.
Come to think of it why in the Uk is the bmw and audi so highly prized, in germany a bmw is the equivelant of our humble ford escort, evey man and his dog owns one.

 

[gavroche]

Obviously, people who buy BMW and Audi have more money than sense. There are a lot of cheaper cars , cheaper to run and more reliable too. I feel sorry for their huge ego and lack of plain common sense.

 

[Drago]

My ex wife bought me a new 7 series. All very nice, but simply not me at all. It spent a lot of time in the workshop for a car that cost £58,000 when she bought it back in 2003. Ironic cos I sold it along with my beloved Rover P6 to fund my divorce, and the beaten up 1989 Proton 1.5 I replaced it with for £300 ran for 2 years with zero faults and thus spent zero time in any workshop. On the measure of £££ v reliability is was several thousand times superior to BMWs flagship model.

 

[screenman]

Obviously, people who buy BMW and Audi have more money than sense. There are a lot of cheaper cars , cheaper to run and more reliable too. I feel sorry for their huge ego and lack of plain common sense.

Or maybe their sense give them a salary that allows them to drive a better quality of vehicle, of course that is percieved quality in some cases.

From my own experience of personal ownership I never once broke down or had major problems in over 20 years of French car ownership, the same cannot be said of the last 5 driving a German make.

 

[NorthernDave]

I'm on my second Citroen.
Colleagues scorned when I bought the first one, but in 10 years it did 160,000+ miles and cost me virtually nothing on top of routine maintenance and consumables, while returning 65 mpg and costing just £20 a year to tax.
I've owned German and Japanese cars and found them to be much more troublesome / expensive to maintain than either Citroen.

 

[Levo-Lon]

kia ceed 7 yr warranty so far its a superb car

had many makes of car all self serviced bar the last 15 that were all bought brand new and only kept for 2 yr. the 4 Renault's and 3 seat's were rather good as it happens..
i had a nearly new vw jetta and the 78 k miles were full of woe..
Fiat Strada and a talbot sunbeam win hands down on all things unreliable in my car history ..i had a rover 214 with 160k on the clock amazing little car