Stupid car!

[MK-2]

Popped out to B&Q with the wife last night to return some wallpaper. Driving back down the A52 in a section where they turn some of the lights off and the power to my engine just died. It came up on the dash with "Depollution system fault", and everything went, power steering, acceleration. So I'm now coasting along at 60mph in the outside lane of an A road in part darkness!!

 

Managed to get to the inside lane and half on a grass verge before it ran out of momentum. Waited until it was clear and tried the engine again, got about 20ft forward and it done it again. So had to bump it completely on the grass verge, sit and wait for an hour for the tow truck. Luckily we were about 100ft from a layby so he managed to get the car in there to tow it, otherwise we'd have to wait another hour for police to close the lane so we could push the car down the 100ft.

 

He said it sounds like a faulty sensor that will need replacing, but said most cars will either cut to half power, or will carry on until you switch the ignition off then refuse to start again. Mine just decided to give up at 60 and let me enjoy the quiet ride!

 

Having to wait until Peugeot open now to try and book it in, then get towed there, then get a taxi to work. Happy bloody half term!!

[Andrew_C]

Having to wait until Peugeot open now to try and book it in, !

Well, that'll be yer problem... Yes, I too have owed French cars!

[Fatmas]

This doesn't bode well for my other half's 107. It's a year old, when can we expect it to give up?

[laserblazer]

I was driving along the M4 in my wife's automatic when it suddenly dropped down a gear. I came off at the next junction and lost transmission completely in the middle of a very busy roundabout. I was quite concerned as I had my two young grandkids in the back. Luckily, an AA van came along and towed us to safety and then called the RAC for us. The car? A Peugeot 307.

[bossman]

French cars have had a bad reputation for this kind of thing for quite a few years, I personally wouldn't buy a French car for that matter but then again when Britain had a car industry I wouldn't buy British either.

 

I have had only 5 cars in my 30 years of driving, 3 Ford models and 2 VW models, all have been exceptional in their service but I have found the VWs to be a little better quality.

 

I have been warned that future VW purchases may be fraught with problems as the car industry is ever changing in its quest to make vast profit at the expense of the little man and therefore components made outside the companies quality control are sometimes faulty because the third party manufacturers of these components also wants to make a profit and therefore cuts corners.

 

You pays your money and you takes your choice, I personally wish I didn't need to own a car as todays diesel and petrol prices are only destined to get more expensive.

 

Electric cars are possibly the future but I wish someone would come up with a true hydrogen converter which used water as its fuel and expelled only clean water out of the exhaust after the hydrogen has been burnt in the combustion chambers.

 

But then true fission is just around the corner so we would be able to run our electric cars for ever on just a pea sized fuel pellet but what cost the would the pellet be I wonder? ;D

[laserblazer]

Cars I've had:

 

Isetta Bubblecar, Austin A30, Austin A35, Mini, Riley Elf, MG Midget, Ford Escort, Hillman Avenger, Hillman Hunter, MGB GT, Hillman Hunter Estate, Maxi, Cortina MkIII, Datsun Violet, Cortina Estate MkIV, Vauxhall Cavalier SRi, Vauxhall Cavalier CD, Renault 25, Granada 2.9i, Granada Scorpio, Vauxhall Senator CD, Honda Accord, Rover 600 Si, Mitsubishi Road Runner, Modeo, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Primera, Austin Allegro, Primera, Daihatsu Sirion. That's in 44 years of driving.

[creese]

My first car (a Chevette) could be fixed with a set of spanners. Simple. Rust got it in the end. I can weld now, but couldn't at the time, so it dissolved.

 

That was my first car too in the 80's. It used to drink oil, other than that it was great.

[witch]

I think it is all a matter of luck - we have a Peugeot 206 HDI Sport and previously a 306 (which was very old) and neither have given any trouble.

I agree though the newer cars are far more complicated - the 206 tells you that there is an airbag problem every now and again when the temperature drops below 3 degrees.

There isn't - the sensor just doesnt like the cold.

My Fiat has been nearly trouble-free too except for the gearstick linkage snapping and also the clutch cable - but the car is nearly 14.

Previously we have had Vauxhalls - both Cavaliers and Astras and they were very reliable

[Sirbendy]

DPF regeneration failures are quite common...google it, you'll find plenty of instances.

 

I've had 2x renault, 2xRover, and now I'm on Vauxhall #2 and #3 (Astra-f and Astra-g respectively).

 

Renaults were forever glitching, but it didn't bother me...it was "pre-tech" as it were..

 

Rovers..lovely. Lost the autochoke, but that was fairly common anyway. Lost starting one day, AA said "duff engine". After much headscratching it turned out to be shorted crank sensor. No probs after that.

 

Vauxhalls...Astra #1 - perfect. Astra #2 blew the ECU, and the EGR valve failed but since it was fixed and I blanked the valve off and threw it away (euro 4 compliant my arse), no issues. Astra #3 has more issues than the Sun, but I expected it and it's a spare machine anyway as a project.

[gl3nnym]

Ford. Never had a problem with them. Nothing worth worrying about anyway.

[3s-gtech]

307 being mentioned - they have a terrible reputation. I guess most are fine, but a few bad reports have really stuck with these - you can find late 306s worth more than early 307s. The 306 wasn't nearly as bad for reliability, and was far simpler.

[Fatmas]

What needs to be said is that complaints are a lot louder than positive comments. These days, most cars are all pretty reliable but like anything, things can go wrong.

 

People that have bad experiences with a car are going to be more vocal about it than someone who has no problems.

[smitho1990]

hopefully gonna pass my test next week/buy a car/insure it.

Since it's my first car, I guess I'll be posting a similar mechanical fault in two weeks time.

 

My motorbike has never had a major problem in 3 years

[MK-2]

to be fair, in the 2 years ive had the car this is the first problem i've had. it was just annoying that it dies on a busy road, at night, with very little space to bump it up on to a grass verge