The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

Driving to work on Tuesday and the car cut out, so had to pull into the hard shoulder, which was grand.... rang the missus and she picked me up and dropped me off to work. I arranged for a recovery guy to collect the car and drop it off to my mechanic!!

Mechanic rang me at twelve that day asking why was I dropping my car all crashed to him!! Turned out that while the car was parked WELL in on the hard shoulder of N7, someone (probably truck), crashed into it, rear bumper, quarter panel, two doors, front quarter and front bumper all needed to be replaced....so it's now going to be a write off!!

Just waiting on the pre-accident value to see what I'm going to go for next, car was a Skoda Octavia diesel, in saying that, I'm not really bothered about the car, just a pain in the ass!!


Anyone got any suggestions for a work commuter? Gotta be diesel and half decent, only half decent though! Got a lend of a company car to tide me over until all is sorted, Opel Vectra, not a bad yoke but feels a lot heavier than the Octavia... I'm not sure what the insurers will give for the car, somewhere between 4-6K I'd reckon....

Only saving grace out of all of this was that I wasn't in the car when it was hit, that and the insurers have been excellent in getting this resolved, I know we all complain about having to pay for insurance, but you only really see the value of it when something like this happens...

That's a balls.

Also a pity that after you see value you don't really get value, as now your premium increase is going to pay for it over the next couple of years.

Protected bonus should help to reduce this inflation!!!

Just got off the phone to the assessor and alegedly the car's timing belt snapped, hence why it cut out on the motorway, even though the belt was only replaced a couple of months ago, sounds very suspect to me!!

MG ZT 135 CTDi auto without a shadow of A doubt.
UK obviously.

Bit of a bummer alright.. Just pray the insurance don't try to wimp out on you.
Similar thing happened to a mate of mine a few years back. He had a sticky thermostat. Car overheated on the M27 in UK. Pulled onto the hard shoulder and was sitting half way up the embankment waiting for the AA.
Huge bin wagon ploughed into him, write off. The insurance tried to tell him that the car hadn't been serviced regularly, and if it had, the thermostat would not have failed, and he would not have broken down.
It was the bin wagon insurance doing this, not his BTW. Took an awful lot of hassle trying to sort it out.

You can get insignias for next to sod all in the UK now...

How much is V-anal raping-T on them?

They are a lovely car.

Would something like this suit? - http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2306607

Or if you really need 4 doors - Alfa 159 JTDM / BMW320D or 330D.

Also have a soft spot for these Vectras - I mean Saabs - http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2252984

Early insignia Diesels are supposed to be troublesome enough. What's the cheapest one you've seen muad?

Really, what kind of problems?

colm_mcm wrote:Early insignia Diesels are supposed to be troublesome enough. What's the cheapest one you've seen muad?

Think it was 6k gbp..

VAT is dear enough though - varies a bit depending on milage..

optical illusion wrote:Really, what kind of problems?

I've heard a lot about particle filters not regenerating, dealers having to do forced regenerations (there's only so many of these you can do before it needs to be replaced) a lot of electrical gremlins like problems with central locking, radios, info displays,
The factory pads and discs are said to only last 30k, panel fit pretty dodgy up front.
clutches going before the first service. I think the electronic handbrakes fitted to some models are troubles too..

An inconvenience on a new car but bloody scary on used. I heard of some early ones being bought back by vauxhall as they couldn't find a fix for some engine fault. I can't remember the specifics though. It has to be said that vauxhall uk are a lot more than opel for issues as they're such a big player in the fleet market.

Jaysus, that's a bit too much stuff to be going wrong in fairness!

Sorry - this is OT - but I need to address the negativity expressed...

colm_mcm wrote:

optical illusion wrote:Really, what kind of problems?

I've heard a lot about particle filters not regenerating, dealers having to do forced regenerations (there's only so many of these you can do before it needs to be replaced) a lot of electrical gremlins like problems with central locking, radios, info displays,
The factory pads and discs are said to only last 30k, panel fit pretty dodgy up front.
clutches going before the first service. I think the electronic handbrakes fitted to some models are troubles too..

An inconvenience on a new car but bloody scary on used. I heard of some early ones being bought back by vauxhall as they couldn't find a fix for some engine fault. I can't remember the specifics though. It has to be said that vauxhall uk are a lot more than opel for issues as they're such a big player in the fleet market.

The entire new range of diesels come with specific instructions into what to do when a specific dash-light comes on indicating that the particle filter needs a cleanse. I know this because there's a New Model Astra sitting in the drive.

If it has failed under warrenty it would have been replaced - verify this when you research the car.

Panel Fit is something you'd be able to visually inspect.

Pads & disc is something I personally would replace with larger equipment regardless of age (Have v6 discs, calipers and pads on the vectra) if at all possible...in any case replacing like for like (if that's your want) the cost is minimal, and not a reason (imo) to discount an otherwise good deal.

Clutches going before the 1st service I believe would be covered under the manufactures warranty - which on a car imported from the uk is longer than the one provided on vehicles purchased in Ireland (and it was transferable last I checked). Make sure it's been addressed on any vehicle considered.

Yes - issues with a new cars happen - but jaysus - even toyota are having them these days - and also in general there are more things that can do wrong with Diesels than Petrol cars..does that mean we all drive Petrol cars?

There is no such thing as a faultless car - fact!

Agreed - it's important to do the research before buying a car - BUT should you be put off when you learn that things aren't all roses?
Personally I'd be far more alarmed if I wasn't able to find any imperfections/flaws because I wouldn't have confidence in the results.

When issues are identifiable they can be addressed.

I guess there are different ways of buying 2nd hand cars - I know I'm tempting fate here, and I'm knocking on wood just now - this far I haven't had any issues that I hadn't expected.

/2cents