should i avoid French MPV's?

peter12345678910

Are there any new cars that you can get which do not have electrical problems I mean computers which are under say 5 or 6 years old?

scaredofdebt

We had an '05 plate Renault Grand Scenic.

Nice car to drive and accommodated 7 people in relative comfort, the rear 2 seats were only any good for up to about age 8 though.

Car was bought for £6k when it was 3 years old with 30k on the clock.

Dashboard computer failed soon after being bought, £200 to fix, common fault on these cars, mileage then read incorrect as it was reset to 0 when the new computer was fitted.

The electric ket card failed a couple of years later, £200 to replace and it took 2 weeks to get it from France, so we had a hire car for this time, more expense.

Coil packs failed twice, I replaced these myself for about £100 a time (all 4 coil packs), garage quoted about £300 but it's a simple job to replace, 20 minutes or so it took.

Electronic hand brake failed, cost £500 to replace

One of the rear windows started to open by itself, £300 to fix, Auto Electrician couldn't find the fault so it was a day's labour allegedly.

We had a warning light that caused an MOT fail about2 years ago, this was the airbag and we had to replace some of the wiring in the steering column, £200 to repair.

Eventually the cylinder head gasket went around 100k miles so we scrapped the car as the repair bill was about a grand - Renault GRAND Scenic indeed. We owned the car for 6 years in total, got £120 for it scrap, cost around £3k in that time in repairs - on top of what I listed we had the usual issues, tyres, suspension, lights etc but I've listed the main issues that are out of the ordinary.

So, I would never buy another Renault MPV myself, but I did own a Peugeot that was OK (not an MPV)

You'll get anecdotal evidene that says they are fine, some people will no doubt have owned one with no issues, but according to http://www.reliabilityindex.com/ratings the Renault Grand Scenic has a rating of 95.00 whilst for example the Ford Cmax has a rating of 60.00 ie better.

I would recommend Ford myself, owned a lot of them over the years without any major issues, they are not the most reliable but they are relatively cheap and easy to repair when they do go wrong. You also find they are cheapish to buy in the first place.

If you can afford it then Japanese tends to be most reliable.

German cars are over-priced as for some reason people think they are reliable with good build quality which is no longer the case.

Good luck with the car buying lottery!

motorguy

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Dashboard computer failed soon after being bought, £200 to fix, common fault on these cars, mileage then read incorrect as it was reset to 0 when the new computer was fitted.

That should have been a warranty fix - i believe renault were paying for that?

scaredofdebt wrote: »

The electric ket card failed a couple of years later, £200 to replace and it took 2 weeks to get it from France, so we had a hire car for this time, more expense.

Its normally the buttons that fail. There are people on ebay who will replace the contacts for about £15 on next day return delivery.

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Coil packs failed twice, I replaced these myself for about £100 a time (all 4 coil packs), garage quoted about £300 but it's a simple job to replace, 20 minutes or so it took.

Generally only one coil fails, but as you say its prudent to do the set. Common wear and tear on most petrol cars with coil packs - i've had to do them on VWs Fords Vauxhalls etc.

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Electronic hand brake failed, cost £500 to replace

Thats a bad one and happens too often.

scaredofdebt wrote: »

One of the rear windows started to open by itself, £300 to fix, Auto Electrician couldn't find the fault so it was a day's labour allegedly.

Theres one of two parts fail in the electric windows, both around £30 (its one or the other) and take a couple of hours tops to fit.

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Eventually the cylinder head gasket went around 100k miles so we scrapped the car as the repair bill was about a grand - Renault GRAND Scenic indeed. We owned the car for 6 years in total, got £120 for it scrap, cost around £3k in that time in repairs - on top of what I listed we had the usual issues, tyres, suspension, lights etc but I've listed the main issues that are out of the ordinary.

You were being stiffed if it was £1,000 to do a head gasket

Everything else there sounds like wear and tear.

Dont forget that the "equivalent" age and miles of a Ford or Jap car could be up to twice the price, that is to say you will buy a much much younger Scenic for any given Ford or Jap car price.

Also electricals improved greatly from the new model around 2010, so newer cars should be better.

The other thing i would say is, you're talking about a car that was built 10 years ago, based on a model released 12 years ago, and designed 15 years ago. Thats a bit like saying i wouldnt buy a new Focus because i'd a mk1 one that suffered from rear arch and tailgate rot.

The_Groat_Counter

Wary of Renault after experience of Scenic problems (as mentioned by others).

Citroën fine. Like the Picasso.

dannyrst

My parents had three children and owned an S Reg Ford Fiesta. Cramped is an understatement.

motorguy

I'd have no qualms of this...

2010 Scenic

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510027431864?postcode=bt622hb&make=renault&fuel-type=petrol&search-target=usedcars&model=scenic&sort=default&maximum-age=up_to_5_years_old&radius=1500&maximum-mileage=up_to_50000_miles&page=1&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&logcode=p

or this 2010 Picasso

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510017405420?maximum-mileage=up_to_50000_miles&fuel-type=petrol&page=1&maximum-age=up_to_5_years_old&model=xsara_picasso&sort=default&search-target=usedcars&radius=1500&postcode=bt622hb&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&make=citroen&logcode=p

or this 2010 Zafira

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201508286420595?model=zafira&maximum-age=up_to_5_years_old&page=1&maximum-mileage=up_to_60000_miles&maximum-seats=5&price-from=0&radius=1500&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&minimum-seats=2&fuel-type=petrol&make=vauxhall&postcode=bt622hb&search-target=usedcars&minimum-mileage=from_0_miles&sort=default&logcode=p

scaredofdebt

motorguy wrote: »

The other thing i would say is, you're talking about a car that was built 10 years ago, based on a model released 12 years ago, and designed 15 years ago. Thats a bit like saying i wouldnt buy a new Focus because i'd a mk1 one that suffered from rear arch and tailgate rot.

I am merely giving the OP my experience of owning a French MPV, which is the point of this thread.

I wouldn't buy another as it was by far the most expensive and unreliable car I have owned out of the dozen other cars I have owned over 30 years.

motorguy

scaredofdebt wrote: »

I am merely giving the OP my experience of owning a French MPV, which is the point of this thread.

I wouldn't buy another as it was by far the most expensive and unreliable car I have owned out of the dozen other cars I have owned over 30 years.

Of course. Absolutely. And i merely responding to that, which is also the point of this thread - to give multiple views and to put views in context - your experience was of one built 10+ years ago.

The O/Ps budget will put them into a new model car from 2010 onwards for a lot less than the equivalent Ford or Toyota.

I've had bad experiences and expensive repairs on cars 10-15 years ago, however i wouldnt like to broad brush all current cars the same way.

splishsplash

I have a Citroen C4 Picasso (petrol) which I bought from new 7 years ago. I've never had a problem with it. I never had a problem fitting three car seats in it either, well, various booster and car seat combinations.

I've had a Mazda 5 (new) which I kept for a few months and dropped it like a hot thing. I lost count of the number of time I shouted 'stupid plastic piece of cr&p' while I was driving that car. I actually HATED it. It aged me. It probably psychologically scarred my three children also.

I'd had fords (fiesta, escort and focus) before that and vw (golf,jetta, passat) but the Citroens (I also had a Xsara Picasso which I loved) have easily been the least expensive and the most pleasant to drive. I would definitely recommend them.

patman99

I have had 3 citroens over the years. The first was a BX and was a money pit. The 2nd was a Zantia diesel which I owned for 4 years.
Only expense was £57 for a new door lock (car was ex-lease with 179,000 on the clock).
Latest is an 08 Berlingo MS with the 90bhp 1.6 diesel.
Costs (so far) new back box needed for MOT due to corosion of strap hanger (should have just got the thing welded to the back box rather than replacing a perfectly good back box), horn stopped working when ignition was on (easy fix) and con2000 stopped working (cost £45 for a 2nd-hand unit and £60 for my mechanic to fit it).

Next expense will be timing belt in a couple of years.

As for electrical issues, my mate's BMW 535d had to ave part of the wiring loomb replaced due to the boot hinge chaffing through the insulation (according to the indie BMW specialist he uses, BMW designed the cable to fail like this as it is a simple fix they can charge a lot for).