Thoughts on these cars?

Quinny_2

Strider590 wrote: »

French cars are terrible built quality, Peugeot and Citroen in particular for electrical issues,

Never had any problems with my 406 Hdi and my Renault Scenic DCi.

Strider590 wrote: »

This century the only cars that made them worth the risk, have been the 306 gti/rallye.

Which has the same running gear as the Xsara VTS. (I have one of those as well.)

ashy90

I used to be of the opinion that all French cars are rubbish - electrical faults, poor quality, unreliable etc.

Likewise I had similar thoughts about other makes of car such as Rover's and Skoda's etc.


Why did I think this? After all I had not owned any French car nor any Rover. I guess I had simply jumped on board the band wagon and listened to too many people down the pub etc!

When my parents bought a Rover many years ago it transformed my opinion, so much so that I went out and bought one myself. Now my girlfriend has one too.

I also now realise that some French cars are quite decent - Peugeot 406, Citroen Xantia etc. very comfy and long lasting motors (if you look after them and dont mind the odd bill) The 306, while slightly poorly built (compared to 406 and Xantia anyway) is a good handling car that drives well.

206 I think is hit and miss. Personally not my cup of tea - my girlfriend used to have one and I thought the seats where very hard with no comfort nor support (usually you get one or the other), the driving position was not great with small, off set peddles. Build quality was OK, but not the best - bits of interior broke and fell off. Was a fairly smooth engine and good on fuel, but not quick and handling was quite twitchy. Did need a lot of work too - burnt out valves, head gasket, coil packs, drive shafts etc. where all replaced.

307 is a MUCH nicer, more comfortable car. Differant league to the 206. BUT, early ones where notorious for electrical faults and generally suffered with poor reliability. Later ones (certainly by the time the 2005 facelift was out) where far better IMO.


I would be looking at Vauxhall Astra's, Rover 25 or 45's, perhaps the Ford Focus (although I think these are some what over rated), perhaps Honda Civic's and old Skoda's.

albionrovers

I base my opinions on my own experiences.

Based on the above statement, French cars are utter crap and if a dealer put a brand new one in my driveway, I would phone the police immediately.

steve-L

ashy90 wrote: »

I used to be of the opinion that all French cars are rubbish - electrical faults, poor quality, unreliable etc.

Likewise I had similar thoughts about other makes of car such as Rover's and Skoda's etc.

Why did I think this? After all I had not owned any French car nor any Rover. I guess I had simply jumped on board the band wagon and listened to too many people down the pub etc!

Yep, that bandwagon is a strange thing.
It also allows some serious bargains....

The older Rover's (esp 75) now represent outstanding value and so do the Picasso and Scenic's.

Now, would I prefer a S-Max or Picasso? that's a different question because for a given age and milage I'll get 2 Picasso's to an S-Max.... (rough estimate)...

colino

You really have to work out what you want the car for and what you will (really) do with it. On these three choices it appears you have searched on price and newness of plate. Neither of these are guarantees of getting a good car or one that will fit your own particular bill.

N3WLIFE

Thanks, I was just thinking that a newer plate might cause less problems for the next year hopefully?
Probably not

I just need something medium sized easy to drive and reliable for me and my 6 yr old. I just needed it for the impending winter.

I don't really travel far-Kingston for work, and central London for nights out, plus short trips to the shop....

Maybe I should try and brace myself and try and do without a car this winter-I would save heaps!

I'm trying to save for a c-class for my 30th next April

EdGasket

Quinny wrote: »

And your statement is based on what exactly?

Personal experience plus experience of friends.
My Peugeot spent more time off the road than on and I was the butt of jokes about my 'off roading car'!
The french cars are difficult to maintain requiring special tools for what should be the simplest of tasks.
A friend had the clutch done on his 406 estate. Afterwards the indie couldn't get it started. It had to be towed to Peugeot to have the computer reset. Apparently you can't even disconnect the battery!
Another friend with a Renault Laguna diesel couldn't get it started. After months of trying things just gave up and scrapped it. Too many dubious electrical issues and fussy engine management that can only be sorted out by main dealers at huge cost.
Peugeot ought to be reported to trading standards, especially the issue with disconnecting the battery - I really wish someone would organise sueing them with a class action for a design fault resulting in unnecessary expense for the hapless owners who are forced to stump up money to get towed to Peugeot for a computer reset!

colino

As a short term car, get a Ford Focus 1.6 petrol 5-Dr hatch for well under £1k, forget about the plate snobbishness and make sure it has a long MOT and some history.

steve-L

N3WLIFE wrote: »

Thanks, I was just thinking that a newer plate might cause less problems for the next year hopefully?
Probably not

I just need something medium sized easy to drive and reliable for me and my 6 yr old. I just needed it for the impending winter.

I don't really travel far-Kingston for work, and central London for nights out, plus short trips to the shop....

Maybe I should try and brace myself and try and do without a car this winter-I would save heaps!

I'm trying to save for a c-class for my 30th next April

From where to Kingston?

As for saving heaps....possibly?
Depending where you live and with a 6yr old .... you can also save on groceries having a car ... but obviously its Insurance and fuel costs vs train and bus.

Overall, I'd recommend an estate with a 6yr old.

If you are able to manage without a car then it gives you a lot more options. If it's not 100% reliable you can live without it you have a odd reliability problem.
At the same time, if you have your daughter in you want something safe! (However you define that)

If you do few miles then that's a different matter to doing lots....
but I also find I do more miles with a kid to do 'cheap things' at weekend that fuel economy does play a part in.

Examples (from Kingston area) being ... trip to blackwater to do mountain biking.... trip to Poole/West Wittering in summer for the beach. Countless trips to NT properties....
(I have a boy so trips to castles is popular..... )

Short trips:
And trips to Sainsbury's/Asda/Morrisons depending what's cheapest....
Bushey/Richmond park for free play....

Over the last year we have been to Longleat, Poole a few times, West Wittering a few times... visit Granny in Lancs.... friends in Hastings, Horely, Sutton....
Shorter trips to Guildford, Dorking and NT walks and free or very cheap days out.

Overall... I think we get a lot of value from the car although I don't actually REQUIRE on.
A lot of this value is in providing healthy and cheap things for my child AND keeping them away from consumerism as a way of life. (i.e. there are a lot of things to do in Kingston area but many are simply demonstrating to your child that having a good time means paying someone....)
My partner has also benefitted by being more mobile and seeing other mum's more and my son sees his friends more and develops more interpersonal skills.

I'd kinda chuck these in the balance of to buy or not.....

Equally minimise the risk.... why not get a old estate? (older than you were planning).... If you spend less than £1000 and it lasts a year thats £83/month .... if it lasts 2 (without something making it non economic to fix) then its £42/mon.... etc.

There is no reason an older car won't last you 5 years.... but no guarantee of course.

Estates are great for kids but also save on hiring vans for things like Ikea....

steve-L

EdGasket wrote: »

Peugeot ought to be reported to trading standards, especially the issue with disconnecting the battery - I really wish someone would organise sueing them with a class action for a design fault resulting in unnecessary expense for the hapless owners who are forced to stump up money to get towed to Peugeot for a computer reset!

This is hardly something limited to Peugeot.
More likely is that the Indy didn't have the right tools and documentation to reset the ECU.

Most cars of a certain age have similar issues, the fuel economy and performance are the result of complex onboard electronics.
The certain age is between use of ECU's and standardisation on ODB ports.

Search ebay and you will see loads of convertors for different manufacturers diagnostics ports to a standard port.

However, I have yet to find a car that doesn't have a physical reset by pressing a certain sequence of buttons.

Indy's may not have the correct tools to do the reset through the port because they have not invested in them but that is hardly the manufacturers fault.

My BMW requires a rather weird sequence to reset ... you would never guess it. If I took out a seat with the battery connected and replaced it then it would bring up the airbag warning.
I can then switch that off by wither having the correct software and ODB or spending some time on the internet to find the reset sequence.

The other half of this that applies to all cars is that car repair and maintenance has somewhat changed over the last 20 years.
Mechanics are now required to deal with onboard computers as much as sockets and spanners.

In some way's that is progress, it's why we have 70 mpg cars today instead of 30mpg.... but it also adds a layer of complexity that many old school mechanics are uncomfortable with.

When they ignore it they are out of their depth.

When I had a clutch change in my 306 I actually got it done by Mr Clutch..... hardly a Peugeot garage and suffered no such problem.... could it be they had the right computer software to reset the ECU or they were lucky?

This reminds me somewhat of an old Watchdog programme where they were criticising French cars for having the spare wheel under the boot. I couldn't see why it had any relevance, surely people realise this BEFORE buying? You gain boot space at the expense of having a spare that someone could steal if you don't lock it....