most reliable cars ?

[Rotunda82]

I have got yet another fault on my Laguna diesal estate car and will be part exchanging it in the near future - I will have have in total about £5,500 to spend ( including the £2000 offered for the laguna )
What is best for reliability, performance and economy ?

For example - Diesal or petrol, Manual or auto etc...

I was looking at a vectra 3.2 v6 auto in that price bracket with relatively low miles - Are they any good ? Are there any regular faults to look out for ? I have always driven manual and diesal in the past

Many thanks

 

[djheath]

Well,
A modern diesel is best for economy.
A Big engined petrol is better for performance.
And anything japanese, or german is pretty good for reliability.

Peugeot and Citreon diesels are great for engine reliability and very economical but they are not the fastest cars and they doi have there niggles.

I would go for a german diesel, say a golf, leon, skoda, passat, A4. You should be able to get something decent for that amount of money.

Oh and the V6 3.2 vx'haul will drink petrol like there is no tomorrow but will go like stink!

 

[JohnD]

Toyota and Honda



"Which?" says (2007 survey):
"Honda take the crown this year despite the new Civic’s faltering start, as other models still put it top of the pile in our brand reliability index, with 86 per cent – one point ahead of Toyota."

BMW is nowhere near as reliable. Audi Merc and VW are still worse.

Land Rover, Renault and Fiat were worst.

 

[2scoops0406]

Well, if you look at the JD powers survey, The Lexus IS is number one. Also in the top 10 spots Toyota hold 6 positions (if you count a Lexus as a Toyota) Honda hold 2 spots and Skoda hold 2 spots. The Vauxhall Vetra comes in at 93 position.

I have a Toyota and so far it's not put a foot wrong (apart from when the wife filled it with unleaded, it's a diesel) I also have an Audi, but I haven't had it long enough to really be able to tell you whether or not it's reliable, it's certainly well built.

 

[Thomasthepiperson]

We have a VW Passat 2.0 TDI. It's been largely reliable on the whole. The parking brake (Electronic) has failed a couple of times even worse, oil pump failed causing the engine to seize up! We were very lucky to get it replaced under warranty it was due to expire only 4 days later. They reckon the Japanese, German cars are the most reliable. Not so sure about the French cars though?

 

[Peter.N.]

I would also say Peugeot/Citroen diesels for reliability but preferably before 2004, the 8 valve 2.0. Hdi engine is virtually bombproof. I have a 406 and C5 estate both have covered around 200,000 miles and have their original clutch and DMF, the clutches are both near the top on engagement but have not got any worse in the 25,000 miles I have had them. They will do 60 mpg driven gently, the tax is £140 per year and you can buy them for peanuts. I wouldn't have and auto though, if the box goes wrong it will cost more than the car is worth, manual gearboxes seem to last forever and are more economical.

Peter

 

[Thomasthepiperson]

Newcastle upon Tyne, England should state this on my profile.

 

[Mursal]

Lets face it, anything but Renault

Worth about £500, so 2K is only sweet talk to get you interested.

As already said German stuff is usually better, but they all give trouble

Good luck and stay away from big engined motors (V6), the smaller the better.

 

[JohnD]

Look again

The £2k post was dated Mon Oct 08, 2007

 

[CylonRaider]

Put it this way....

Haynes refuse to do a workshop manual for my 8th Gen Civic because they just don't break down and as such they can't make any money on Honda Civic workshop manuals !

True story dood

I got a message from Matthew minter [email protected] drop him a mail asking for a manual for the Honda civic 8th gen manual, they made one for the 2006 model but only sold 10k with 172k sold cars so they want some serious interest I think before the go forward, so email the guy and add your name to the list so we can get the manual

Follow up reply from Haynes....

I recieved a message from Haynes:

Dear Mr Zl,
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding a Service and Repair Manual for your vehicle. Unfortunately, we do not produce a Manual for this particular model and have no plans to do so within the next 12-18 months.
However, all of our customer requests are recorded and used in the decision making process of future Manual publications/updates.
You could try contacting your local dealer to see if he can be of assistance or looking on the internet at any owners forums.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
Kind regards
Vicky Hall
Senior Customer Services Co-ordinator

http://www.civinfo.com/forum/general-discussion/105432-haynes-manual-fn2.html

 

[CylonRaider]

Look again

The £2k post was dated Mon Oct 08, 2007

Doh!

Thread Necromancy.

I got suckered

 

[gregers]

Put it this way....

Haynes refuse to do a workshop manual for my 8th Gen Civic because they just don't break down and as such they can't make any money on Honda Civic workshop manuals !

True story dood

I recieved a message from Haynes:

Dear Mr Zl,
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding a Service and Repair Manual for your vehicle. Unfortunately, we do not produce a Manual for this particular model and have no plans to do so within the next 12-18 months.
However, all of our customer requests are recorded and used in the decision making process of future Manual publications/updates.
You could try contacting your local dealer to see if he can be of assistance or looking on the internet at any owners forums.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
Kind regards
Vicky Hall
Senior Customer Services Co-ordinator

it took them over 10 years before they done 1 for the mk2 ford galaxy and this was released last year iirc. the tdi versions are about 90% vw and these cars like a lot of others have a multitude of inherent faults.vw were still selling the mk2 shape up to a couple of years ago,the mk3/smax was 1st built in 2006 and there isnt 1 out for them either.so its not just down to certain cars apparently being more reliable then others.

 

[voicey]

I have a Diesel 2007 (8th Gen) Honda Civic and it has been utterly reliable over 100k miles. In that time I have only spent money on servicing, tyres, brakes and one clutch. It returns a decent MPG and is no slouch. Tax is low (I think it was £140). The only thing that went wrong was the built in sat-nav - I sent it back to Alpine for repair which cost £140.

We have thoughts of replacing it but I really couldn't justify it so instead I spent £800 on a respray and £100 on a sports grill to freshen up the look. I want to run it for another 100k miles!

 

[Avocet]

I have a preference for the current crop of VAG vehicles - Skoda, SEAT and, of course, VW. I've been very pleased with my current company Alhambra - 45,000 miles and not a single fault so far - still feels nice and tight too.

 

[appsy]

I think most Japanese cars are pretty reliable. Always a safe bet.