Audi dealer query

motorguy

jase1 wrote: »

Why are people comparing Audis with Toyotas anyway?

Audis are posh VWs. Lexuses are posh Toyotas -- so either compare Toyotas with VWs, or Lexuses with Audis.

You raise an interesting point. TradePro has went for the 'better available for less' argument RE: Audi, but as you say, when you actually compare premium brands - Audi v Lexus - there probably is little in it in price.

jase1 wrote: »

Regarding VW vs Toyota, I have driven both the Auris and the Golf, and frankly there isn't a gnat's hair's breadth between them. Both are very ordinary, tin box shopping carts. Very little to recommend about either of them, or the Focus for that matter.

Yup. All are a combination of various factors - some drive a little better, some have more spec, some have a longer warranty, some have better perceived quality, some have better perceived reliability.

You pays your money...

My golf is the household 'grunt'. Its going to do 25K miles per year back and forth to work. So bearing in mind the above, it was merely a matter of picking out the nuances from an unexciting range of "worthy" diesel hatchbacks that best suited me. I am sure any one of them would have been capable of the same task.

motorguy

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Now more than ever the badge means very little, other than the price premium the car carries disproportionate warranty period and a fair guide to the arrogance of the dealers.

I think VAG are a prime example of this - Skoda = Budget, VW = middle ground, Audi = premium. But its getting increasingly hard to justify Audis prices, particularly on the common or garden models.

BMW and Merc not so much because there is no non premium brands to compare.

jase1

Personally I don't think reliability is a concern for a brand-new car buyer anyway. Few cars on the market give significant trouble over the first few years (unless you buy a lemon, and that's luck of the draw -- there may well be fewer Honda lemons than Renaults statistically but that's no help when you're stuck with the duff Honda).

It's their performance as they get older that bothers me. I've not owned a Toyota so I cannot really comment on long-term for them, but I do know that the Mitsubishis and Nissans I've owned past 10 years old do seem to continue to plod on without significant faults developing well into old age, and they seem to generally last better than Fords and Vauxhalls.

If I was buying new, would this influence me? Not really. I'd be after the deal. And that probably means one of the mass-market cars that doesn't have VW, Toyota or Honda written on the front, as it's harder to get money off these cars.

CKhalvashi

motorguy wrote: »

Why would someone who is driving a fleet car not report a problem?

Or do you think that those individuals are sitting there thinking "hmmm - i cant let people know there are faults with my car as that would change perception of VAG cars, so i'll say nothing"

If you don't let me know, and I later find out about it once it's got expensive, you will be paying for it to be fixed.

We took the first batch in March, and (some have 30k+ miles on them now) the worst we've had was a couple of engine management lights on, and a rear seatbelt that wasn't locking properly, both of which Trans City have sorted out at no cost to us, and no hassle.

What I meant, was we've had nothing major go wrong with them yet.

CK

motorguy

CKhalvashi wrote: »

If you don't let me know, and I later find out about it once it's got expensive, you will be paying for it to be fixed.

We took the first batch in March, and (some have 30k+ miles on them now) the worst we've had was a couple of engine management lights on, and a rear seatbelt that wasn't locking properly, both of which Trans City have sorted out at no cost to us, and no hassle.

What I meant, was we've had nothing major go wrong with them yet.

CK

Are you sure you're not lying??

TradePro will be gutted that none have blown up and that people DO tell you when something goes wrong...

motorguy

jase1 wrote: »

If I was buying new, would this influence me? Not really. I'd be after the deal. And that probably means one of the mass-market cars that doesn't have VW, Toyota or Honda written on the front, as it's harder to get money off these cars.

Indeed. Very hard to get a 'decent' deal on new from one of the main players, much easier with those companies that have to support their cars in the marketplace with incentives such as big discounts and finance offers like Renault and Peugeot.

Actually hard to justify new in the mass market as there are usually so many 9-12 month old ex lease cars at £6,000+ off new price.

CKhalvashi

motorguy wrote: »

Are you sure you're not lying??

TradePro will be gutted that none have blown up and that people DO tell you when something goes wrong...

We've got a brilliant fleet manager, who deals with ours, as well as several local small companies fleets (as we're cheaper than the fleet management with leasing companies; we don't lease externally.)

The rules have always been clear within our trading group; if in doubt, tell us, and we'll put it right without it (hopefully) getting expensive.

CK

motorguy

TradePro wrote: »

Congratulations! We finally have a thread about a fault on a Japanese car, the last 500 have been focused on German motors...

I exaggerate slightly, but c'mon, are you really trying to say that an Audi is a safer proposition than a Toyota?? I have NEVER yet happened upon an Audi that hasn't at least had warning light issues, often much much worse - they're terrible cars.

p.s. check post #25 CASE CLOSED! Haha.

Just came across this over on pistonheads.. 3 year old mazda diesel, turbo blown.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1318712&mid=101804&nmt=Mazda+3+Turbo+blown%21%21

Presumably he is lying about this and its really an Audi hes got but hes posted just so i can pick up the thread and post it on here?

EDIT : its actually quite common if you google mazda turbo failure.

Seriously - the lengths these guys have went to just to make it *look* like Mazdas are unreliable. Some of their threads go back years.

Do you think its a global conspiracy and they all lying too?

Do you suspect they're really talking about an Audi?

jase1

In fairness, the Mazda 3 is just a Ford Focus with different sheet metal, and the engine used is the 1.6l PSA unit which is known to be troublesome. So in effect the above is a "French car = crap" complaint

That said, the Mazda 6 (which uses a Mazda-modified version of the Ford TDCI used in the Mondeo) is very fault prone, and I (as a Jap car fan) wouldn't touch one with yours to be honest. The Ford version is bad enough!

Generally, when people refer to Japanese reliability it predominantly refers to the petrol engines -- Mitsubishi and Honda petrol lumps in particular very rarely give trouble (with the notable exception of the late 1990s Mitsu GDI which was a dog if fed the wrong fuel).

motorguy

jase1 wrote: »

In fairness, the Mazda 3 is just a Ford Focus with different sheet metal, and the engine used is the 1.6l PSA unit which is known to be troublesome. So in effect the above is a "French car = crap" complaint

That said, the Mazda 6 (which uses a Mazda-modified version of the Ford TDCI used in the Mondeo) is very fault prone, and I (as a Jap car fan) wouldn't touch one with yours to be honest. The Ford version is bad enough!

Generally, when people refer to Japanese reliability it predominantly refers to the petrol engines -- Mitsubishi and Honda petrol lumps in particular very rarely give trouble (with the notable exception of the late 1990s Mitsu GDI which was a dog if fed the wrong fuel).

The one in question there was a 2.2D not the 1.6, but i take your point - that 1.6 PSA engine is a horrid little thing.

The Mazda 6 doesnt get a good name in the motor trade, but that might be as much to do with it being a slow seller as it is to do with reliability issues.