Expensive Citroen
 

I was in a local garage reception yesterday & there was a bloke in there had brought his Citroen in for repair. (60 reg automatic, don't know what model) The receptionist told him that he needed new a gearbox cooler at a cost of £749 plus new pipes & labour. The guy was looking very sick & they were trying to source a reconditioned one. Makes me think my reliable old 75 isn't such a bad car as many say it is, cost me relatively little to run (so far anyway)

VERY !!!!!

Took wifes C4 hatch in to get a price for the cracked windscreen. ( 2005 car. )

995 Euros.---In France.

I had to be scraped off the floor.

4 months ago I saw an identical car, colour and year, go at the Bridgwater car auctions for 500 Euros------:eek:


I windscreen in France or two whole cars in Britain.--:duh:

That's french cars for you, money pits!

I live in France and the cost of repairs for FRENCH cars is horrendous more so at Main Dealers:shrug:

A DPF change or replace whatever they do to them was just shy of €600.

Expensive Citroen
 

Renault Modus window regulator £490. Electronic hand brake module £400. A friends C4 Picasso would not start. £1700 plus VAT.
Warranty claims on BMW Mini from 2006 to 2009 sky high, why? Peugeot engine.
There is a pattern forming I think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yet, if you look at the Whatcar 2018 reliability survey, the Peugeot 2008 and 3008 are in the top-5 SUV's for reliability.

If reliability you are after then buy Japanese, nothing gets close, it's all to do with quality of components, especially electronic components, I have electronic equipment from the 70s working as if they were made yesterday when you take the cover off and look inside, then you can see why. However they were not cheap to buy.!!

I am not after reliability - I was just stating a fact.

I prefer British (Rover, Jaguar) and German (Mercedes, BMW) cars. They match my taste and aspirations.

Now, as for reliability, you'd be surprised as to where some Japanese cars are in the reliability league tables these days.

Dont I know it!! Had a Citroen van for just a year, and it was a reasonably expensive (for me) van, the amount of money I spent on it in the first 7 months of ownership, could have bought me a reasonable holiday, or cheap car.I still have to replace cam belt and water pump, both front suspension arms and front discs and pads. Possibly struts too if the knocking noise doesn't stop after changing the arms. ITs worth now 3k less than what I paid for it, and I still owe 3 years loan on it:mad:. My third Citroen van, the last 2 were great never let me down, but I will never buy French again.

Yes they are at the top, German cars are over-engineered, expensive and not that reliable, and there are no British cars, there are cars assembled in Britain, but that is another story, that will not last for long following you know what.
You drive whatever floats your boat, if reliability is not important then good for you.

I think we can still consider Jaguar to be a British car in character. At least for now. Ditto Rover 75.

Over-engineered, expensive and almost British in character in the case of the CLS. That's my aspiration alongside the Sportbrake XFR-S. :}

I've found the Rover 75 diesel extremely reliable, but other members may disagree. It's sometimes a case of identical cars performing totally different.

I'm very impressed with my recent diesel purchase. I just love the 75, and I'm pleased to say the 75 carries the Union flag on the boot lid.
British made....our marque , simply the best.

Some real horror stories above. Spares are widely available for our cars, and compared with many other makes, are cheap. My local independent doesn't mind working on the 75 (just another car) and quotes for labour only 'cos I supply the parts. If you take your car into a garage and just say "Fix it" then I guess you're inviting a large bill.

My local Lloyds Pharmacy scored 100% customer satisfaction after a recent audit yet the service in there is shocking and one member of staff is just plain rude. Reliable audit? I think not.
As for Peugeot, have they got their act together now? Was the quality out of The Ryton factory just not good enough? Is it one of the reasons why it closed?

Totally agree. MY ROVER is the most reliable on this forum.--:D

Just two bulbs and water in the boot during the 15 years I've owned it. ( faults. )

All the mechanical bits are original.----:new_year:

I have finally taken my 2001CDT off the road to replace the clutch and fix the starter motor. And for daily transport in the meanwhile, I have bought a 2003 1.6L Megane convertible, for £575. Drives lovely, everything works ( these cars were very reliable, unlike later ones). If it breaks - well it wouldn't be the end of the world. But for now, it's a great way to enjoy the summer sun, it even has a nice cammy rasp and an eager, light throttle, like wife's old MGF!

PS The worst thing about modern French cars are the dealerships. I've heard many horror stories of poor service, dodging accountability and warranty claims, and charging the earth for spares and repairs. But I would happily buy a good second hand one, that someone else has suffered all the 'new car' pain with. My last Renault Cabriolet was still running beautifully at 140,000 miles. My big mistake was trading it in for a "reliable Audi diesel", which cost more in repairs in 2 years than the Renault had in the preceding 10!

The world of motoring claims are built on people’s stories often untrue or bits added to for affect. I owned Citroen cars for eighteen years and couldn’t fault the dealer in Forres. Parts guy Nick was brilliant as was Ian in service. The Renault dealer in Forres at the time had the same reputation. People’s experience with dealers is usually associated with an attitude that people have when they first go in. Seen it too many times with people thinking they know better than the staff do and it only gets worse

Agreed - the only reason we do not hear about poor Rover dealerships is that there are none.

Also, the prices mentioned for French car parts above are nothing out of the ordinary for any car - French, German, Korean, Japanese. It's just that we are accustomed to low prices on our cars. Often for poor quality pattern parts.

For reasonable parts prices and general motoring experience, you cannot beat the modern Vauxhall e.g. Insignia, Astra, Corsa....

Hopefully Vauxhall dealerships will not suffer from the same, whingeing customer base as their PSA corporate partners, although, apart from 1 experience on behalf of a female friend of Peugeot trying to dodge work that should have been carried out under warranty, most of the reported claims of bad attitude have been against a variety of Renault dealers. Last time I used a French car dealer was the Citroen dealers in Blackburn to do a full service including all belts and check on my recently purchased second-hand Xantia. The car was returned on time, fully valeted, at the quoted price (no "unforseen extras") and ran without problems for the 3 years I owned it. With top spec, and full leather, that VSX TD was as comfortable and luxurious as the Rover.

You can design 'audits' and surveys to tell you what ever you want them to!!, so please don't rely on these to guide you to purchasing anything, go with what you know for yourself. I can over engineer anything, it doesn't make it reliable, because you can over engineer poor reliability BUILT into the product.!

Reliability is for boring people who lack ambition, aspiration and the desire to push boundaries. Ditto Japanese and Korean cars. They lack excitement and class. Perfectly fine if that is all a person desires in life. :p::cool:

If you can't break it you need to try harder......some would say.

No my friend reliability means I will be home having a cup of tea, whilst you are waiting for the recovery van on a dark wet cold November's night, on some slip road, or on a French motorways, with a car full of disappointed kids, holidays ruined, as for excitement, well if you get yours by driving a car, clearly you have a great deal of growing up to do.

The Japanese build cars to a philosophy, they can build and they DO anything the Germans do and better, they just choose not to. A nation that is capable of building a train that can travel at over 200mph, reliably as long ago as 1964 ( whilst the rest of the world was using steam is capable of doing anything.!
Enjoy your day, and try not to get too excited.

If you are happy with your Honda Jazz or something similar - great.

I'll stick to my aspiration to drive an XF, CLS or an E63.


Tell me - do you work in a library?


:D

Can't agree. I always pretend to know nothing and most times it results into people trying to sell you nonsense.



Besides, many mechanics don't seem to care one bit about the work they deliver. Hence I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.

Whilst some mechanics would undoubtedly fall into the category you describe, I have always managed to find a good mechanic, plumber, builder etc. and build up a long-term trusting relationship.

Most people respond to how the public deals with them in a like manner.

Equally, if you want to see people trying to take others for a ride and generally behaving like complete ignorant idiots, just send a day listening to calls into any service centre or sitting in a repair shop of some sort. Most reasonable people would be shocked at the appalling behaviour of a significant percentage of the public.