Reliability Survey, no mention of Mitsi though

[adrian]

Shane - still thinking about a TT???!

CAR buyers who opt for expensive, top-of-the-range vehicles do not necessarily get what they pay for, according to the latest Which consumer survey.

Japanese cars and not luxury brands like Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz are the most reliable, says the report which looked at the reliability of 150 different car models in a survey of more than 80,000 owners.

Lexus, which is a Toyota brand, is the only luxury car to "deliver excellent reliability" while the "wooden spoon" went to the Audi TT for the second year running.

Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, Mazda, Suzuki and Toyota made up the excellent league as the most reliable makes with the least number of breakdowns, faults and niggles.

Luxury cars like Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Alfa Romeo and Volvo were among 12 makes in the "average" category, while BMW, Audi, Chrysler, Saab and VW were among the 13 in the "poor" category.

The Which survey describes BMW's decline as "another chapter in the tale of woe for German cars once known for their dependability".

The German make VW is joined in the poor category this year by Audi, which dropped two places in the table in as many years.

Four manufacturers are classified as good: Daihatsu; Ford; Nissan, which is hovering on the border between excellent and good; and Subaru.

Up to the year 2000, Ford had been languishing in the poor category but the survey says it shows how it is possible for a manufacturer to turn its reliability around, with most cars in the Ford range now in the good panel. "Sadly the likes of Citroen, Fiat, Land Rover, Peugeot, Renault, Rover and Vauxhall (Opel in Ireland) show few signs of following suit," the report says.

The survey found the new range of MG cars including the ZR, ZS and ZT, boosted the company's results moving it from poor to average.

Alfa Romeo and Volvo also climbed out of the poor category up to average but Saab fell the other way from average to poor along with Chrysler and Daewoo.

To assess the cars' reliability the survey asked what had happened to the car in the previous 12 months in terms of breaking down or failing to start, replacement and repairing faulty parts and niggles such as squeaks or leaks that could not be traced.

It excluded accidents, punctures or flat batteries - where the lights were left on - and running out of fuel. In addition to car reliability, the survey analysed the breakdown rate of cars up to two years old.

Audi was bottom of the list with one in five Audi TT models breaking down. By contrast, not a single Mazda 323 broke down in the third year of the annual survey.

On average 6pc of cars up to two years old have broken down in the past year and 32pc of cars in this category had parts repaired or replaced - down 2pc on the previous year.

[Speedyboy]

Ah we dont need a survey to realise how reliable mitsubishi are! Its rare to have problems with an FTO and considering most are 9 years old and driven hard regularly thats excelllent.

Theres a 2nd hand 645 in belgard motors for €120k imagine paying that for the barge to break down after a couple of years

[soc]

Shane - still thinking about a TT???!

Audi was bottom of the list with one in five Audi TT models breaking down. By contrast, not a single Mazda 323 broke down in the third year of the annual survey.

Yea, that was a genuine concern I had - reading the posts on the UK TT owners forum there seems to be a lot of niggles for such an expensive car - some of which included coil packs failing, window drop, rattling rear shelf, DSG gear boxes failing....... jaysus at this rate I'll end up in a subaru...

[CJ]

jaysus at this rate I'll end up in a subaru...

Well seeing as you're a married man and you'll want a sensible car for all those sprogs (the TT has even less room in the rear than an FTO), why not get a Subura B4 RSK? 280 brake in a 4 door family saloon ain't bad (as long as you don't mind mediocre looks..)

CJ

[adrian]

"the TT has even less room in the rear than an FTO"

How's you work that out?? Sorry, had to say it!

[CJ]

Sorry, had to say it!

What exactly are you trying to say?

CJ

[Speedyboy]

He did a survey every night for a week standing at the traffic lights on the red cow roundabout with a clipboard,

Every time a good lucking woman pulled up at the lights he asked her would she mind having a roll around in the back of the car with him in the interest of scientific research,

[Dave]

the advantages of being able to edit eh

[soc]

Well seeing as you're a married man and you'll want a sensible car for all those sprogs (the TT has even less room in the rear than an FTO), why not get a Subura B4 RSK? 280 brake in a 4 door family saloon ain't bad (as long as you don't mind mediocre looks..)

CJ

How wierd is that - I was only just spent a half hour looking around the web for info on the Legacy B4 RSK - there's a couple for sale through japimportsdirect.ie but they've got tip boxes and I'm determined to get a manual car this time. There's also one on cbg.ie but it's beige and priced at €33K.

I don't think they look too bad - bit like the lexus GS and some have full leather interior - I wonder how they drive (0-62mph in 5.9 apparently).

Btw, there won't be any sprogs in the next couple of years...... at least that's what wifey says!

[soc]

And this one looks ok.....



http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cf ... rID=140021


wonder would it be worth a look -


but I know what you're gonna say - where's the style (as well as that's pretty different from a TT)....

[kevinod]

"Sadly the likes of Citroen, ..., show few signs of following suit," the report says.

BOOO!!!! My Saxo was absolutely trouble free all the time I had it, and Xsara had a problem when I got it first but perfect since.

Vive la Citroen!! And yes, I am changing to a Mitsi but hey it is an FTO after all!!

Sorry, couldn't let that slander on Citroens go by!
Kev.

[CJ]

Saxo.

Don't get me started on Saxo's!

CJ

[Diddler]

I had a 02 Xsara before I bought the FTO.

Excellent car but the squeal from the brake pads drove me crazy. Sent it to get serviced on 3 different occasions and it came back the same. They said it was a manufacturing fault and if i wanted to do something about it, I would have to do it myself.

Great car though for a first timer!!