[Misc] Warrantywise most unreliable cars

[Icy Gull]

Some of you flash gits who buy cars out of manufacturer’s warranty might want to worry.

Tesla, JLR, Porsche and BMW (the last three more than once!) all feature

Fortunately I have no interest in any of the cars featured

 

[chickens]

Nope, Alfa’s are famous for their bulletproof reliability.

I’d still happily have one if I could afford to run two cars.

Every breakdown truck I’ve seen in the last month or two has had a BMW or Mini on the back of it, so they’ve clearly got some sort of quality issue going on there.

 

[Icy Gull]

Nope, Alfa’s are famous for their bulletproof reliability.

I’d still happily have one if I could afford to run two cars.

Every breakdown truck I’ve seen in the last month or two has had a BMW or Mini on the back of it, so they’ve clearly got some sort of quality issue going on there.

It was the reminder of the oft repeated “Alfas are unreliable” mantra from those who’ve probably never even been in one let alone owned one that gave me the most pleasure watching that video

 

[zefarelly]

There are so many factors in 'reliability' most of these type of article are written by people on the same level as 'red top football journalists'

Any car will only be as reliable as its custodian.

Zef jr has his first car. A Suzuki, not a lot of 'news' out there about them, so on the Learner scale a great little car with good performance and features with sensible insurance And not too expensive to buy. It's kind of off the radar in many respects . . . Which is largely due to going about its business un-fussily, and reliably.

 

[chickens]

@Icy Gull The gripes from friends who had 2000s era Alfa’s wasn’t that they were desperately unreliable, but that even the main dealers could struggle to get bits for them, and the cost of parts was high.

The Giulia Quadrifoglio is a car I would dearly love, but my financial situation would have to improve significantly before it becomes a realistic prospect. More for the running costs than the purchase price.

 

[Deleted member 37369]

Interesting that the M3 came in at number 2 with the gearbox fault costing £12k+!

I haven't got an M3 - just a boring low emissions 2011 BMW 320 ED - which I have owned from new (originally company car which I bought when I was made redundant). It's now done over 100,000 miles - serviced at BMW dealer ever year. Other than that it's just been replacement of brakes.

EXCEPT ... I did have a gearbox issue - outside of warranty - when it had done 67k miles. It basically wouldn't go into reverse gear. Was originally quoted around £4,500 to replace ... but on checking with Mr Google I found a number of others with the exact same issue coming at almost the same mileage. So I argued that although out of warranty, there seemed to be something a bit 'odd' going on (I gave them evidence of what I'd found) ... and I'd religiously had my car serviced at BMW. They eventually agreed to speak with BMW who agreed to supply a new gearbox and I 'just' paid labour costs!

 

[zefarelly]

@Icy Gull The gripes from friends who had 2000s era Alfa’s wasn’t that they were desperately unreliable, but that even the main dealers could struggle to get bits for them, and the cost of parts was high.

The Giulia Quadrifoglio is a car I would dearly love, but my financial situation would have to improve significantly before it becomes a realistic prospect. More for the running costs than the purchase price.

I have considrered a Giulia 4cheese recently, but think it's a waste of money. Way too much performance for the road which you'll never be able to use ( I have driven one enough miles to make a judgement ) I lived with a cooking one for a year (10k miles) nand its a wonderful car. Interestingly they all have the 8 speed semi automatic ZF box that is also used by other Italian and German manufacturers . . . .

as for running costs, no worse than anything else, but the quad is a bit juicy if you have heavy feet.

 

[Icy Gull]

I have considrered a Giulia 4cheese recently, but think it's a waste of money. Way too much performance for the road which you'll never be able to use ( I have driven one enough miles to make a judgement ) I lived with a cooking one for a year (10k miles) nand its a wonderful car. Interestingly they all have the 8 speed semi automatic ZF box that is also used by other Italian and German manufacturers . . . .

as for running costs, no worse than anything else, but the quad is a bit juicy if you have heavy feet.

I agree…unless you do this with it!

 

[WATFORD zero]

I think that if your customer base buy 'the badge' rather than the car, then there is absolutely no need to worry about reliability

 

[chickens]

I have considrered a Giulia 4cheese recently, but think it's a waste of money. Way too much performance for the road which you'll never be able to use ( I have driven one enough miles to make a judgement ) I lived with a cooking one for a year (10k miles) nand its a wonderful car. Interestingly they all have the 8 speed semi automatic ZF box that is also used by other Italian and German manufacturers . . . .

as for running costs, no worse than anything else, but the quad is a bit juicy if you have heavy feet.

If you don’t mind me asking, why did you get shot of the ‘cooking’ Giulia?

 

[Icy Gull]

I think that if your customer base buy 'the badge' rather than the car, then there is absolutely no need to worry about reliability

Best buy a Range Rover, keep your kids safe, park on double yellows outside schools. If it doesn’t break down it’ll probably get stolen. What’s not to like?

 

[WATFORD zero]

Best buy a Range Rover, keep your kids safe, park on double yellows outside schools. If it doesn’t break down it’ll probably get stolen. What’s not to like?

Case rests, m'lud

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Tesla's have absolutely terrible build quality, wouldn't touch one with a barge pole.

 

[Live by the sea]

Nope, Alfa’s are famous for their bulletproof reliability.

I’d still happily have one if I could afford to run two cars.

Every breakdown truck I’ve seen in the last month or two has had a BMW or Mini on the back of it, so they’ve clearly got some sort of quality issue going on there.

Alfa I think have a bad reliability rep but ive driven both BMW’s & the new Mini’s & never had a reliability issue . You must get them serviced regularly though .

 

[beorhthelm]

electronics and over-engineering for emissions compliance or ecking out performace have screwed cars. doesn't explain dodgy gearboxes and such, though in case of BMW M series you're basically buying a race car. German cars seem to generally lost their high quality after decades of reliable service from blocks and components designed in the 70's. Japan seems to have found a way through this, so maybe its how engineers approach things?

 

[Icy Gull]

electronics and over-engineering for emissions compliance or ecking out performace have screwed cars. doesn't explain dodgy gearboxes and such, though in case of BMW M series you're basically buying a race car. German cars seem to generally lost their high quality after decades of reliable service from blocks and components designed in the 70's. Japan seems to have found a way through this, so maybe its how engineers approach things?

Korea and Kias seem to be where Japanese cars were back in the day. Decent looking good value cars. I have never owned one but I have mates who buy cars to get from A to B, who have, and they have little interest in cars so I guess you could say they are probably not cherished, but seldom seem to have problems. German reliability is definitely not what it was it seems.

Give their reliability record I am shocked so many people lust after Range Rovers, although if you buy new and change when the warranty runs out it becomes someone else’s problem.

 

[Gabbafella]

I bought my first car almost a year ago now, a very well looked after 2013 SLK AMG, it's now done almost 100k. It's just gone through its MOT and service with only needing a seal changing on the front suspension. I've looked over the previous service and MOT's and it's required very little doing to it. Seems pretty reliable.
I know that if something goes badly wrong with it then it will empty my bank account quickly, but I'm hoping with a certain level of care that can be mostly avoided.
I'll keep it for a few years and upgrade, seriously hankering for a Nissan GTR, but at 15mpg it's rather thirsty.

 

[Live by the sea]

Best buy a Range Rover, keep your kids safe, park on double yellows outside schools. If it doesn’t break down it’ll probably get stolen. What’s not to like?

If you can afford a new Range Rover then I doubt whether you will be parking outside the school, you will probably park in the car waiting area of your kids private school

 

[GOM]

Tesla's have absolutely terrible build quality, wouldn't touch one with a barge pole.

The earlier ones were poor but not any more. Keep up, times and info are moving on.

PS I wouldn't have one either but not for that reason.

 

[happypig]

Zef jr has his first car. A Suzuki, not a lot of 'news' out there about them, so on the Learner scale a great little car with good performance and features with sensible insurance And not too expensive to buy. It's kind of off the radar in many respects . . . Which is largely due to going about its business un-fussily, and reliably.

I've bought five Suzukis, an SJ & Jimny for fun, a Wagon R to teach my son to drive in, an Alto when he passed his test (he still has it 6 years later and it's not put a foot wrong) and my current drive, a Vitara. All of them were reliable and sailed through MoTs.
I've also had Honda and Toyota and wasn't impressed with either. I've had Saabs which were middling reliable but a hoot to drive.