My Next Car

[screenman]

Tyred, what personal experience of VW do you base your views on, I would say from professional experience they are not worse or better than most other cars in the same bracket.

I drive many different cars each day 7 in fact today alone, I have been seriously considering changing the B6 for the last year but I am yet to find something better for the amount I wish to spend.

 

[asterix]

I don't rate modern VWs at all tbh. Yes they are nice, but just way to expensive to maintain from what I see. The MK1, MK2 and to a lesser extent the MK3 Golfs were fine cars, well built, well engineered, nice to drive, generally bulletproof and very simple to fix if it did go wrong. Same can be said of things like the original Seat Toledo or the Audi 80. Nowadays, I honestly believe the VAG group are trading on past glories, but they have a good image and reputation so people buy them regardless. Perhaps it will catch up with them eventually.

Merc certainly lost the plot with build quality towards the end of the 1990s but I understand they are better again.

WRT VW I'd agree, I had a MK1 (GTI Campaign model) and MK2 (GTI 8 valve) Golf and both were good cars, also had 2 VW Campers, T2 and T3 (air cooled). All very solid but not a patch on a Hiace, unsurprisingly perhaps due to the age of the design. However, I have gone over to 'Jap Cr4p' as I think it is better VFM these days. German stuff is too sophisticated for me, we did try out an Up! recently but Mrs A panned it as she didn't like seeing herself all the time in the glossy dashboard and we preferred the Toyota Aygo altho' bought neither. My brother had several Audis as company cars in recent years and found they were unexpectedly fault prone.

 

[Over The Hill]

12yr old Fiesta with 80,000 on the clock, cost me £600

Has been washed 6 times in two years, MOT'd twice without as much as an advisory,I'm hoping it will be 3x in January . Bulletproof!

Posh!
12 year old Pug 406 Estate. Just run in on 101,000 miles, Everything works (climate control is brill), Had it nearly four years 35,000 miles and it has been trouble free and cost probably £200 in maintenance. Cost me nothing (was father in laws car and he was offered next to nothing for it as trade in for his new Golf so he gave it to me when I sold my merc when made redundant. It is more reliable than my C class was (broke down and went rusty). Car is on all original parts including exhaust.
Funny thing is it is worth not much more than its scrap value but probaby would be perfectly good for another 100k and 12 years.
Cars tend to be made to last much longer than the owners expects so they flog them off cheap simply due to their age and some odd 30 year old idea that they have come to the end of their life at this point.
I use the car for trips to France and everything and it tows my caravan brilliantly.
I had a Fiat Croma (they sold about 5 in the UK and were on same platform as the Saab 9000) It was a great car and happy on 170,000.
I saw a Merc E class ad where the car was 7 years old and had done 260,000.
Seems to be more problems with the fast versions of cars that are tuned up near the limits and driven harder.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I recently saw a Chelsea tractor woman pressing a button to lower the tailgate. I'm sure she was very pleased not to have to use her arm, whereas the only thing it made me think was: more stupid technology that's pushed up the cost, added 3kg to the weight you cart round everywhere, and will no doubt cost £648.40 (plus VAT) to fix when it goes wrong. WHAT'S WRONG WITH USING YOUR ARM?

...and breath....

My car's got one of those, and a button on the key that automatically opens the boot.

 

[Norm]

My car's got one of those, and a button on the key that automatically opens the boot.

Yup, mine too, fabulous devices.

 

[screenman]

Over The Hill, I must have owned every Croma in the UK then as I had quite a few, I used to deal a lot in Fiats in the eighties.

http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/fiat_croma_cht

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I used to deal a lot in Fiats in the eighties.

I thought most people dealt in BMW's with blacked out windows.

 

[screenman]

 

[Hicky]

Uncles 406 tdi has about 230,000 last time I looked, bodywork is perfect as it is left under a car porch/leanto(the word escapes me!! D'oh). The biggest expense has been cam belts!

 

[Over The Hill]

Over The Hill, I must have owned every Croma in the UK then as I had quite a few, I used to deal a lot in Fiats in the eighties.

http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/fiat_croma_cht

Wow - not many left.

They were really loaded with goodies that many cars did not have back then. Aircon and a sunroof!

I bought my one really cheap. When I test drove it there was a horrid juddering which I said was the clutch and so knocked the seller down to half the price. I had however seen that there was a top bracket holding the engine in place that the rubber had gone on and it was just the engine wobbling about. I filled the bracket with rubber sealant and it was perfect.

Only 25 Renault Fuegos left !!

 

[Over The Hill]

Uncles 406 tdi has about 230,000 last time I looked, bodywork is perfect as it is left under a car porch/leanto(the word escapes me!! D'oh). The biggest expense has been cam belts!

My one has lived outside and is fine. All my engine has had in its life is a new belt. I have all the receipts for it and over 12 years it has not had £1000 spent on it in non routine work.

 

[Archie_tect]

Only 25 Renault Fuegos left !!

Not bad, since they only sold 32.

 

[tyred]

Only 25 Renault Fuegos left !!

Is that a good or a bad thing?

 

[gbb]

Ref the Rovers and VWs,
I always liked the Rovers, not as good as the competition, but they were like many British cars, rusty, unloved by some, but they kept going. There are plenty of 600s still around, 75s are still a common sight, (we have two at work), mind they were fookin expensive to service. I remember taking a company 820 to the dealers for a service, saw the rates on a board and thought, how the hell can a private buyer afford that. They got away with it of course, companies pay regardless.

The 4motion Golf i used as an example, mentioning reliability and repair costs in the same post, does seem a contradiction, but ALL cars will cost you at some point, i was simply highlighting how expensive they can be... the Germans dont generally do cheap.

 

[Over The Hill]

Is that a good or a bad thing?

We moan today that cars are bland euroboxes and all look the same, so I quite like it when someone sticks their head over the top of the trench. They perhaps dont date well and were generally heaps of rust with a very poor engine but in the days of Morris Itals they looked great. Back window hatch was a fantastic design.