Pistonheads topic - "Most unreliable car you've owned"

[Mincey]

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1884232&i=0

Six pages in and no mention of any Lexus. Lots of complaints about BMWs though....

[rich1068]

An awful lot of German cars full stop.

I was thinking "You know, I don't think I've ever had a truly unreliable car" and then I remembered my MKIV Golf.

[Mincey]

Hmm. I'm on a roll this morning: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/136172/bmw-3-series-compact

[The-Acre]

4 hours ago, Mincey said:

Hmm. I'm on a roll this morning: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/136172/bmw-3-series-compact

Reading that it's high praise for Toyota!

[Bluesman]

Mercedes estate W124,  2 litre it was always in the garage for one thing or another.

Would never have another Mercedes after that. My garage was so disappointed I went from that pile of junk to a Lexus LS 400.

She has only had one breakdown in the 11 years I have her and that was because of the Oxygen sensors and a cat went at the same time, my garage replaced both of them, that was 4 years ago and she is still running today just as though she had come out of the showroom.

Long live my wonderful LS400 

[Vlady]

Most unreliable cars I had:

1. Renault Laguna 1.8, 1999, even Renault garage couldn't find the problem with it, it was draining Battery, not starting and electrical issue constantly!

2. BMW E46, 2.0d Auto, 2001. great to drive but every 3-4 months had to invest £400-500 on it!

I also had BMW e39 and then E60, both were not too bad but e60 was a little more reliable.

Now, 2 years into owning the Lexus and fingers cross it was fine, apart from issues I had with brakes, juddering/pulsing.

[Vlady]

19 minutes ago, Bluesman said:

Mercedes estate W124,  2 litre it was always in the garage for one thing or another.

Would never have another Mercedes after that. My garage was so disappointed I went from that pile of junk to a Lexus LS 400.

She has only had one breakdown in the 11 years I have her and that was because of the Oxygen sensors and a cat went at the same time, my garage replaced both of them, that was 4 years ago and she is still running today just as though she had come out of the showroom.

Long live my wonderful LS400 

2 friends of mine have Mercedes, an E-class (68 plate) and C class (17 plate), and they say they had no problems so far, fair enough the cars are quite fresh and new. 

I thought W124 was one of the most reliable car!

As above, I had a BMW E46 3 series, which at that time (based on internet search at that time) was more reliable than C-class, X-type Jag and Audi A4 (not the Lexus IS200 of course) but I was really disappointed with it reliability wise, may be it was just that one model - temperamental, who knows!

[royoftherovers]

Hillman Imp was my worst "a water pump a month", or so it seemed. Many,many years ago.

8 Japanese cars (Nissan(2) Daihatsu (1) Mazda (3) Toyota(1) Lexus(1) over the years and not one problem.

German cars have never been reliable, people only thought they were.

HJ approx 4 years ago could prove statistically that Fords were more reliable than VW`s !

[The-Acre]

The exception being my 1959 beetle!  What an amazing car that was. But that was "the good old days"

[Mincey]

My car history is pretty boring:

1) Vauxhall Nova 1.2L. Only issues were having to have a new head gasket and a new Battery. I had to call the AA out once as I ran the petrol down to the last sip and got a carb full of gunk. Ran it for 5 years.
2) Rover 623SLi - no faults at all in 2 years of ownership
3) IS200 Sport #1 - no faults at all in 3 years of ownership
4) IS200 Sport #2 - timing belt and water pump changed at the normal interval, other than that, nothing (6 years ownership)
5) IS250 SEL - Battery replaced after 10 years, aircon compressor replaced, exhaust back boxes replaced, water pump replaced (12 years ownership)

So only the Nova let me down, and that was self inflicted.

[JamesIS220]

After a Daihatsu van and driving my Nans Volvo 340, My first car was a.

1986 Volvo 740 GLE Estate 2.3 carb manual. Bought it in 2002 for £425.00. Around a year later had a few running issues, driving from the Midlands to Normandy France  and had a weber carb fitted and still not running right. Turned out to be the fuel pump relay! Even asked Volvo dealer and said it didn't have one!

After around 5 years ownership, started cutting out and revving high. Cleaned carb jets and fix for a while. Grandparents wanted a new car in 2007 as needed something dependable as lived in a rural area. Never left us stranded or recovered.

Bought a 2007 Toyota Corolla 1.4 D4D hatchback and got 2,500 euros off by part exchanging my Volvo 740 which was French registered. Had to wait 2 weeks for the new car and my 740 ran perfect!

Had the Corolla for 30 months and decided to sell up in France and move to the County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland.

My Sister saw a Volvo estate in Sparkbrook, Birmingham for sale for £350 and I, along with my Nan flew from Dinard to east Midlands/ Birmingham Airport and went and looked at the car.

It was an elderly disabled couple, husband who drove, had died and wife didn't. One tyre low. No oil leaks, 2 tyres perished, started good, bought it for full asking price of £350.

It was a petrol 1989 240 GLT auto estate in Silver with 159,410 miles on clock. Next day sorted out road tax and had fitted 4 new budget tyres then drove it back to France that evening. Drove fantastic and did the 200 miles without an issue. Arrived home around 1am.

I had the 240 for 10 years. 8 as my only car then sold it 18 months ago with 4 months MOT for £500 and 234,000miles.

2 years prior to selling the 240 I bought a petrol 1996 Volvo 940 estate Auto for £250. Still have this 4 years later. Now on nearly 203,000

My worst car was a 2006 Lexus IS 220d as headgasket went. Should of gone for the IS250. It was high mileage at 187,000 when scrapped.

Now apart from the Volvo 940 have a 2015 Toyota Auris Hybrid estate, now on 29,000miles, Good MPG, zero tax but AC packed up Friday! Going to Toyota dealership tomorrow to see what the issue is. Hope it doesn't cost me dear.

Most expensive Volvo repair was £400 for used auto gearbox tail output bearing, gearbox crossmember and gearbox mount.

James.

[The-Acre]

I know I've mentioned these two before but my worst, and most unreliable cars ever, a VW Variant and an NSU Prinz, both ancient when I brought them.  One of the best, a MK1 Cortina bought for £50!  Oh, and I mustn't forget, my Volvo 740GLE, what a rock solid car!

[royoftherovers]

16 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

I know I've mentioned these two before but my worst, and most unreliable cars ever, a VW Variant and an NSU Prinz, both ancient when I brought them.  One of the best, a MK1 Cortina bought for £50!  Oh, and I mustn't forget, my Volvo 740GLE, what a rock solid car!

Never had the Variant Phil, but I had 2 Fastbacks and Dad had a Notchback.

[The-Acre]

29 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Never had the Variant Phil, but I had 2 Fastbacks and Dad had a Notchback.

As long as he didn't have a hunchback! I think it was called a Variant because daily it varied as to whether it would play ball or not.  Plenty of fresh air though due to the rust holes!

[olliesgrandad]

My absolute worst car was a 1976 Austin Allegro. 

Cylinder head gasket at 700 miles, paint falling off the side, upholstery falling apart, in the garage for 6 weeks in the first 12 months. Replaced with a mk2 Escort which is currently showing as SORN. 

1990 Vauxhall Cavalier Sri was reliable but was reshelled by Vauxhall when 7months old due to rust. 

2014  current shape Mini Cooper diesel - the last time I bought new. Absolute disaster, dreadful fuel consumption despite having updated software. Collision avoidance system randomly trying to kill me by seeing a phantom head on collision. Final straw was a steering failure with no parts available and bodywork damage caused by recovery. 

BMW customer non service made me go to Mercedes after 6 months of unhappiness. 

[rich1068]

Remembering the MKIV Golf, I recall the look of horror on the dealer's face every time I walked in with yet another complaint. It got a bit embarrassing to be honest. It was on a 3 year contract hire agreement with VWFS and they ended up swapping the car for a new one after 18 months. Most memorable incident was one of the rear doors swinging open as I went round a corner on my way in to work one morning. As they put me in a courtesy car the service guy asked me what happened to mine, I told him and he said "Not another one!" 

[PCM]

Ford MK 4 Cortina - would randomly stall.

Ford Sierra - No first gear and no 'block' from 5th to Reverse.

Ford Granada - would randomly rev really fast, when in neutral.

Apart from that, they were great 😂

[dutchie01]

In my student days i owned 3 different 2CVs that were all completely worn out and junk really, but they were cheap! when the Battery went dead i bought a new car for 50 euro! ( no MOT in those days). I then went into alfas, an adventure in itself. Brakefailure on a GTV, jammed gearbox in a 75 ( in Paris rush hour stuck in 3rd), and the most comical was in an 164 when i had the complete gearstick in my hands. Oh and rust rust on the older models could not even jack the car up anymore. Then came Audi, an A2 and A3 both sold rapidly due to a string of electrical gremlins with the A2 shutting down whilst driving regularly. BMW 3 series i had 4 recalls in 2 years. Never had an issue with Saabs though had 93 s and 95 great cars. Lexus? drove them for 7 years not even a lightbulb went wrong. Currently own a Volvo V60 which has some vibration issues seems to be a design fault. Hope to be baxk to Lexus one day..

[royoftherovers]

13 hours ago, olliesgrandad said:

My absolute worst car was a 1976 Austin Allegro. 

Cylinder head gasket at 700 miles, paint falling off the side, upholstery falling apart, in the garage for 6 weeks in the first 12 months. Replaced with a mk2 Escort which is currently showing as SORN. 

1990 Vauxhall Cavalier Sri was reliable but was reshelled by Vauxhall when 7months old due to rust. 

2014  current shape Mini Cooper diesel - the last time I bought new. Absolute disaster, dreadful fuel consumption despite having updated software. Collision avoidance system randomly trying to kill me by seeing a phantom head on collision. Final straw was a steering failure with no parts available and bodywork damage caused by recovery. 

BMW customer non service made me go to Mercedes after 6 months of unhappiness. 

Mercedes Dealers are hardly shining lights Les. In fact Mercedes Dealerships have been responsible for the growth in Mercedes Indies !

[rich1068]

I can remember a bizarre incident with my local Mercedes dealership a few years ago. I was in the market for a brand new large SUV type vehicle. Business lease, had to be able to get 3 child seats in the back, that sort of thing. On my list was the M class or GLE or whatever it's called. So I went to have a look, took one for a spin and rather liked it. So I asked the sales person to give me a CH figure but they were clearly out of their depth and it was like trying to get blood out of a stone. In the end I was told I had to commit to ordering one before they could give me a price. Excuse me? I order one and then you'll tell me how much it will cost me? I'll pass thanks.

Ordered an XC90, had it 4 years, brilliant.

[royoftherovers]

49 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

In my student days i owned 3 different 2CVs that were all completely worn out and junk really, but they were cheap! when the battery went dead i bought a new car for 50 euro! ( no MOT in those days). I then went into alfas, an adventure in itself. Brakefailure on a GTV, jammed gearbox in a 75 ( in Paris rush hour stuck in 3rd), and the most comical was in an 164 when i had the complete gearstick in my hands. Oh and rust rust on the older models could not even jack the car up anymore. Then came Audi, an A2 and A3 both sold rapidly due to a string of electrical gremlins with the A2 shutting down whilst driving regularly. BMW 3 series i had 4 recalls in 2 years. Never had an issue with Saabs though had 93 s and 95 great cars. Lexus? drove them for 7 years not even a lightbulb went wrong. Currently own a Volvo V60 which has some vibration issues seems to be a design fault. Hope to be baxk to Lexus one day..

Golly gosh, what a really sad motoring tale that is. French, Italian and German hardware all "down the pan."

That would make a good introduction to Grimms fairy Tales!

[royoftherovers]

2 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

I can remember a bizarre incident with my local Mercedes dealership a few years ago. I was in the market for a brand new large SUV type vehicle. Business lease, had to be able to get 3 child seats in the back, that sort of thing. On my list was the M class or GLE or whatever it's called. So I went to have a look, took one for a spin and rather liked it. So I asked the sales person to give me a CH figure but they were clearly out of their depth and it was like trying to get blood out of a stone. In the end I was told I had to commit to ordering one before they could give me a price. Excuse me? I order one and then you'll tell me how much it will cost me? I'll pass thanks.

Ordered an XC90, had it 4 years, brilliant.

Merc Sales people haven`t changed Richie.They do not want to sell, they want people to buy !!

[dutchie01]

12 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

I can remember a bizarre incident with my local Mercedes dealership a few years ago. I was in the market for a brand new large SUV type vehicle. Business lease, had to be able to get 3 child seats in the back, that sort of thing. On my list was the M class or GLE or whatever it's called. So I went to have a look, took one for a spin and rather liked it. So I asked the sales person to give me a CH figure but they were clearly out of their depth and it was like trying to get blood out of a stone. In the end I was told I had to commit to ordering one before they could give me a price. Excuse me? I order one and then you'll tell me how much it will cost me? I'll pass thanks.

Ordered an XC90, had it 4 years, brilliant.

I think we can start a separate thread called = The Art Of Trying To Buy A New Car = as i predict we all have similar stories.

Every 3 years i have to enter the world of car sales and this sometimes is like entering a parallel universe. Rich, as your example i wanted to buy a new BMw 3 series estate, had it all specced out, color, goodies and all. the only thing i needed was an official offer from a BMW dealer to hand over to my accounts dept. I entered the dealer asked for an offer told them i would wait on it only to be asked if i could come back another day as they were redecorating the showroom ??? I left and thought why am i leaving i am trying to buy a 60k car but it doesnt work. Or another one, a fine 1 yr old audi A6 with only 4000kms from dealer with warranty. Needed a car now not next week and there it was on a saturday in the shiny dealers palace. Can i take it out for a quick spin, if its ok i take it. No sir, you need to make an appointment. But hang on, the car is here, i am here you are here? No you need to make an appointment are you available next Thursday?   The sales prevention department at work. I can go on for hours!  

[royoftherovers]

3 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

I think we can start a separate thread called = The Art Of Trying To Buy A New Car = as i predict we all have similar stories.

Every 3 years i have to enter the world of car sales and this sometimes is like entering a parallel universe. Rich, as your example i wanted to buy a new BMw 3 series estate, had it all specced out, color, goodies and all. the only thing i needed was an official offer from a BMW dealer to hand over to my accounts dept. I entered the dealer asked for an offer told them i would wait on it only to be asked if i could come back another day as they were redecorating the showroom ??? I left and thought why am i leaving i am trying to buy a 60k car but it doesnt work. Or another one, a fine 1 yr old audi A6 with only 4000kms from dealer with warranty. Needed a car now not next week and there it was on a saturday in the shiny dealers palace. Can i take it out for a quick spin, if its ok i take it. No sir, you need to make an appointment. But hang on, the car is here, i am here you are here? No you need to make an appointment are you available next Thursday?   The sales prevention department at work. I can go on for hours!  

Great Post Bernie, which shows that none of us is alone in the car buying universe.

[rich1068]

Astonishing isn't it? During the same round of dealer visits as the Merc and Volvo I called at the local Audi dealership, enquired about a test drive and was asked if I'd bought a car from them before. My face didn't betray the Anglo Saxon in my head but I turned on my heels and walked out. Incidentally the same dealer chain as Mercedes.

Now I stick to my £850 Saab, £500 Lexus and £1000 Volvo. I also take great pleasure parking them right outside the showrooms if I have to visit for any reason.