Audi dealer query

jase1

I think the moral of the story here is that modern CR diesel engines are, almost without exception, evil things.

(The only real exceptions being the VW and Kia/Hyundai engines -- and even then the VWs are nowhere near as reliable as the old PD-type diesel engines).

Hard-pressed to name any that are any good. PSA -- crap. Renault/Nissan -- crap (the Laguna diesel's engine reliability was pitiful). Fiat/GM -- crap. Ford -- crap. VW/BMW/Honda/Hyundai -- so-so.

Are there any good ones? And by good, I mean Honda VTEC/Nissan GA good (or indeed, up to the standard of the old VW/PSA diesels of the 1990s)? If any actually existed I'd be all over it like a rash.

I'd have a Subaru Legacy diesel, but feedback on these engines is thin on the ground, and if it did turn out to be poor then Subaru parts prices would bankrupt me.

As it stands, I have stuck with petrol as I don't trust any of them.

jase1

motorguy wrote: »

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.

Yes -- I wouldn't necessarily take motor sales guys' word as gospel when it comes to car quality.

I was put off buying a late-shape Primera petrol by a dealer mate of my father's, but my mechanic couldn't work out why. Turned out the reason the dealer didn't like them was that the petrol version is hard to shift.

The mechanic, who looks at cars from the perspective of where the faults are, saw them as no worse than average (albeit much worse than the earlier models), and at the prices they go for, he thought of them as a decent enough purchase.

motorguy

jase1 wrote: »

I think the moral of the story here is that modern CR diesel engines are, almost without exception, evil things.

(The only real exceptions being the VW and Kia/Hyundai engines -- and even then the VWs are nowhere near as reliable as the old PD-type diesel engines).

Hard-pressed to name any that are any good. PSA -- crap. Renault/Nissan -- crap (the Laguna diesel's engine reliability was pitiful). Fiat/GM -- crap. Ford -- crap. VW/BMW/Honda/Hyundai -- so-so.

Are there any good ones? And by good, I mean Honda VTEC/Nissan GA good (or indeed, up to the standard of the old VW/PSA diesels of the 1990s)? If any actually existed I'd be all over it like a rash.

I'd have a Subaru Legacy diesel, but feedback on these engines is thin on the ground, and if it did turn out to be poor then Subaru parts prices would bankrupt me.

As it stands, I have stuck with petrol as I don't trust any of them.

Again, with you on that totally. "Middle age" diesels scare the bejesus out of me.

I've just got a 9 month old Golf diesel 1.6TDI which i'll run until it starts to give trouble outside of warranty. I'm doing 25K a year and its averaging around 68mpg so far, so its hard to argue with the economy, but once the warranty expires one major bill and your years fuel saving would be gone. :eek:

I've seen some starship miles middle aged diesels that are going great but the common link does seem to be comprehensive service histories. I think thats the trick - maintain them well - but of course if you buy one at middle age most have patchy histories at best.

CKhalvashi

We've had a 2003 Peugeot 406 last about 700k miles (and it's now my niece's car), and also a 2001 Skoda Octavia last 1.1m miles; both were taxis from new, and the 406 was originally my car, before it became company car at 3-4 years old (it was '53', my next was '07').

I had 2 S-Maxes; one lasted 274k (only a taxi for the first 60k of its life), and my second I kept to 106k (and a year). The first S-Max was the car I drove when I first joined the forum.

Incidentally, I've got a Jag XF Sportbrake at the moment, and at £55k list (I didn't pay anywhere near this for it), it's been the most problematic car I've owned, although again, nothing's gone seriously wrong. The worst I've had was an airbag deploy twice; second time when I tire exploded for no apparent reason, and Jag have been brilliant in sorting this out. The Jag pipped 70k this morning (brand new in September last year), and having done about 7000 miles in the last 3 weeks alone, neither me nor OH have had a bit of backache.

I've never had a problem with diesels, however I know that some have. I spend my life either on the M11/M25, or on Europe's 'E' routes, whereas I know most diesels don't.

CK

OddballJamie

CKhalvashi wrote: »

We've had a 2003 Peugeot 406 last about 700k miles (and it's now my niece's car), and also a 2001 Skoda Octavia last 1.1m miles; both were taxis from new, and the 406 was originally my car, before it became company car at 3-4 years old (it was '53', my next was '07').

That's not how I remember it
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=61238571&postcount=21

CKhalvashi

OddballJamie wrote: »

That's not how I remember it
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=61238571&postcount=21

There were 2 of them. SA53 VWW (saloon) had about 204k, and is now scrapped due to turbo failure.

The second, starting LN53, was originally my car, and the only non-factory parts are a new front wing, and the leather interior from a top of the range company model that was written off with 200k-ish, when my old car was at nearly 500k.

We had several '53' and '04' plate 406's (2 of which are still on the fleet whilst it's being refreshed), as we were worried about the reliability of the (then) new 407.

CK

TradePro

motorguy wrote: »

Alternatively he could be telling the truth?

Vaio is a very well respected poster with nothing to prove by trying to 'win' an arguement on the internet.

Good news, I'm back to finish this thread off!

I have no doubts that Vaio generally does tell the truth, but nobody (myself included) could blame him for trying to 'cover up' on this one occasion. It's nothing to do with winning an internet argument, it's a matter of maintaining credibility.

He's been pretty active on the boards since my last comment, hasn't been back to protest further. In fact, we could say he's been 'uber quiet' Haha!

It was his Audi.

TradePro

motorguy wrote: »

And yes the Mk6 is a heavily revised Mk5. Doesnt mean its not a good car.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/golf-vi-2009/?

'Golf quality issues still not resolved'

Honest John

TradePro

motorguy wrote: »

I thought you were on the Jap side of the fence, so why are you quoting a Ford? Cant find an interesting Toyota?? :rotfl:

You seem obsessed with absolute reliability as being the TOP buying factor for most people. Several things

(a) it ISNT
(b) Jap cars arent all absolutely reliable anyway.

People like what they like. If someone wants to drive an Audi then so be it. Its not for us to judge them based on some reliability survey that says Toyotas are X% less likely to have a problem. Thats really not how people think.

Whilst I admit that I do rate Japanese cars, I am more of an 'anti-fan' of VAG products, and have the personal experience to have this informed opinion.

You introduced Toyota to the thread Paul, I was simply being 'MSE' by hinting to the OP that he could buy a better car for less cash - what was wrong with that?

And he definitely can.

TradePro

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"

This latter part of this post was just plain silly Paul.

CK has a fleet of 400 vehicles, is it not reasonable to assume that his people should just call into the respective dealer to have a problem resolved under warranty, without disturbing him? He wouldn't be able to function properly if all he did was take calls about the runnings of 400 motors...