What's the most surprising car you've seen broken down on the motorway

[Mr Vlad]

I should have posted this yesterday but I was knackered. On the way back from Edinburgh (new job I deliver there 3-4 times a week) whilst on the M6 on the opposite carriageway on the hard shoulder with a tow truck behind was a Tesla model 3. Blimey I thought, that's unexpected. 

So as the title states what's the most unexpected car you've seen on the motorway hard shoulder?

[royoftherovers]

6 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

I should have posted this yesterday but I was knackered. On the way back from Edinburgh (new job I deliver there 3-4 times a week) whilst on the M6 on the opposite carriageway on the hard shoulder with a tow truck behind was a Tesla model 3. Blimey I thought, that's unexpected. 

So as the title states what's the most unexpected car you've seen on the motorway hard shoulder?

Toyota Corolla

[talaipwros]

16 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

I should have posted this yesterday but I was knackered. On the way back from Edinburgh (new job I deliver there 3-4 times a week) whilst on the M6 on the opposite carriageway on the hard shoulder with a tow truck behind was a Tesla model 3. Blimey I thought, that's unexpected. 

So as the title states what's the most unexpected car you've seen on the motorway hard shoulder?

Unexpected, why?

[Spock66]

Recently saw a Rolls Royce Corniche that had "failed to proceed"

[Mr Vlad]

@T why unexpected? Because I wouldn't expect a very modern electric car being broken down on a motorway especially one which has the very best charging infrastructure out there.

[Arnett]

15 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

@T why unexpected? Because I wouldn't expect a very modern electric car being broken down on a motorway especially one which has the very best charging infrastructure out there.

I mean Tesla are ranked 30ish out of 33 on reliability on a JD power survey I think. I remember reading that and just laughing. Build quality and reliability are  not what have ever come to mind for me with Tesla 

 

Brand new m bmw broken down is what I've seen, was when new grilles had launched and first delivery month and saw it getting out on the back of a flat bed on the a12

[Linas.P]

I have seen many cars but none were very surprising, mostly all sort of **** boxes, small, cheap basic cars which are bought for single reason of being cheap and never see any love (seems to be general trend of british motoring to be honest). Most common issue are underinflated tyres which overheats and blows out, but in summer I have seen few cars which have overheated and even caught fire. And important to say - it does not matter how reliable car is, so Toyotas or Hondas make no difference, if people run them on underinflated tyres it is not cars fault really. Despite how unreliable some German cars are I have seen very few actually broken down on the road, but French cars are most frequent there, but again it is less to do with them being generally unreliable and more to do with how they being used.

So the only truly surprising breakdown I have seen was my ex-IS250 (I have transferred it to the family member). Not going to comment on the care given to the car after my ownership, but what happened was very unusual and it was genuinely surprising because car was completely reliable in my ownership, transferred in great mechanical condition and he only did like 4000 miles in it, so even in worst condition I could not understand how could it breakdown so quickly. 

I came to see what is up, but the Battery was already dead by attempting to start the car for a while and could not figure out what is going on. As such AA was called as I had Lexus Roadside assistance and they were very surprised as well, the technician said they have NEVER seen IS250 broken down and generally very rare to see Lexus overall. Most of the time he said it is flat tyre, few people who embarrassingly run out of fuel, but never really broken down Lexus.

The issue on my Lexus was that engine would not turn over and was even feared seized, the technician literally spent 1.5h as he could not believe engine would just seize whilst driving, engine oil was low, but apart of that all the rest looked fine. Eventually he figured out engine does turn over, but air conditioning puller seems to be seized and accessory belt just slips over it, not allowing engine to get up to speed where it would start. Then he removed accessory belt and engine started right away. Surprisingly belt was strong enough to stall the engine instead of ripping apart.

 

[Malc]

Well Vlad ..........  it was my first Mk1 Ls400 all those years back .......  the power steering reservoir had leaked onto the alternator ( at night ) and I had to stop having no lights to proceed  

Never seen a Lexus broken down since mind you  

does my Ls400 count ?

Malc

[Mr Vlad]

Having one's own car break down on the motorway doesn't count, sorry Malc and Linas. Cars that you have seen whilst in motion are what I'm on about.

I remember a good few years ago seeing a S type merc on the hard shoulder in flames but I don't count that as surprising as it was an old car.

[dutchie01]

Well, i saw an alfa giulia stranded some weeks ago and thought how surprising, with so few about i finally see one!

to be honest i almost never see cars broken down these days think its called progress. Used to be quite different in the old days. People working on their cars with the hood open was also common practice. As were flat tyres. When was the last time you had one? I cannot even remember

[Linas.P]

1 hour ago, Mr Vlad said:

Having one's own car break down on the motorway doesn't count, sorry Malc and Linas. Cars that you have seen whilst in motion are what I'm on about.

I remember a good few years ago seeing a S type merc on the hard shoulder in flames but I don't count that as surprising as it was an old car.

It does - because the car wasn't mine at the time 😅

[Malc]

5 hours ago, dutchie01 said:

When was the last time you had one? I cannot even remember

flat tyres ......... a few weeks ago I noticed over a week or so, getting more under inflated, rear offside ..  took it to the garage tyre place and it was simply leaking around the rim .....  sorted but at £20 

 

7 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Cars that you have seen whilst in motion are what I'm on about.

many years back an elderly Porsche, maybe a classic 60's car, coming off the M20 at Ashford Kent and I was just behind it, soon galloping past it as I was so close and didn't need the grief of being engulfed in his imminent flames  ..... as the front end ? or maybe the rear, escapes me now, burst into flames .....  guess he stopped and did summat serious ....  there were others behind us who would have had to stop and call 999 I'm sure 😈

Malc

[b4u2]

On 5/14/2022 at 7:32 PM, Spock66 said:

Recently saw a Rolls Royce Corniche that had "failed to proceed"

@Spock66

don't beleive you, it doesn't make any sense😂

kidding anything is possible

[Redsteve]

I saw a Tesla of some type on the back of a recovery truck last year. Nothing too unusual about that but the truck with the Tesla on it was on the back of another recovery truck!

[Malc]

many many years ago when my Mk1 Ls400 had the alternator pop from the power steering reservoir leak, on the M20 motorway at night and in the rain ...  the    One-Time  breakdown truck that came to rescue me arrived very late .....  his lame excuse was  ............ " my brand new breakdown truck broke down as I was leaving to come to you "  ......  had to laugh ..  a little 

Malc

[javadude]

On 5/14/2022 at 8:48 PM, Arnett said:

I mean Tesla are ranked 30ish out of 33 on reliability on a JD power survey I think. I remember reading that and just laughing. Build quality and reliability are  not what have ever come to mind for me with Tesla 

Build quality is a lottery. When I bought (Sept 2020) mine had a list of cosmetic issues that they fixed under warranty as did many others but plenty had no problems at all. These days the UK ones are built in China and soon Germany and the quality is meant to be much better.  Reliability wise after purchase mines been great and any electric car should be way more reliable than a hybrid or pure ICE as there's far less to go wrong. (My breakdown cover reduced when I changed from Lexus to Tesla.) Just waiting for Lexus to build a class leading EV. (Sadly the UX300e and RZ450e aren't 😢 )

Most surprising to see broken down: any Lexus. I've seen a few but not many over the years.

[Malc]

5 hours ago, javadude said:

Just waiting for Lexus to build a class leading EV.

may be the next generation of EV from Lexus wil be the magic   Nio    type to just swap the rechargeable Battery in minutes at a typical petrol filling station  ..  and woosh .  off ya'go

Malc

[Redsteve]

Hello guys.

I wish I hadn't got involved in this thread.

I posted on Wednesday about some poor guy that ended up on the back of two recovery trucks only to find my own LS460 on the back of a truck on Friday evening!

As you can probably see in the picture the rear suspension has collapsed.

Not as serious as I first thought though, all it turned out to be was a tiny link bar attached to one of the rear height sensors had broken.

My beloved LS is now back on the road again.