Do cars always go wrong?

My dads clutch may go soon then as its still on the original, although there is no sign of slippage yet. The problem is my dad does 10k miles a year which is stop start as he is a carpet cleaner. This is not good for the car, particualy the exhaust as it expands in the heat, then shrinks, then expands, is is one of the things that causes holes.

 

10,000 is within the average mileage range. One other way you could save money is use the mot as the service and ask the garage to change the oil and filters. Better still change the oil yourself every 6months, always use a good oil. if you have a rover dealer go to the unipart trade counter around the back and ask for the oil there. you will get top grade oil at 1/2 the price ( thats if they still use esso top grade).

GAZZ

 

Today its catalytic convertor that has failed (well its ratelling anyway). Oh well its not my problem, I have a weekly bus ticket (they rarely go wrong ) the car is just handy for heavy stuff.

 

just because it is rattling doen't mean it needs replacing.

GAZZ

 

are you sure it's the cat and not the baffles in the silencer gone rusty and knocking about inside. i had this happen on one of my motor bikes. also check one of the mounts hasn;t come adrift from the rubber hanger. if one of these falls slips off you can get some mad banging noises that sound awful when you start the engine, all you need to do is pop a bit of metal back into the rubber hanger.
cheers


julian

 

I thought it was that at first but two machanics have said it was the cat that was loose, as longs as it dosn't fall off I suppose it won't be a problem until the MOT. How I miss the Fiat Punto, nothing seemed to go wrong at all with that, although before it was written off it did start whining a little bit which is sometimes an indicated of tranmission failure.

 

It's an old one but here goes:

FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily

Michael.

 

I am beggening to think you are right! Even the lada didn't cause so much trouble! (although the engine did fail on that at 60k)

 

Found In A Tip = FIAT

Shame there isn't one for Citroen...

 

Thats very unfair for FIAT!! My dads punto hardly ever went wrong, it was 7 years old when he had the accident in it, the peogouet 106 he went into has all over the road, the driver was uncontious, we just got out the car without a single bruise. The ambulance man said that Fiat Punto's are one of the safest small cars out there, he said out of all the accidents he's seen puntos seem to be stronger than a lof of other small cars.

As for Fiats of the 1980's, yes they were horrible unreliable rust buckets, I still have bad dreams about my grandparents old fiat panda.

I think Citreons are the most unreliable french maker, its quite common to still see even newish ones not starting in the winter (usualy the diesel ones)

 

I was just recounting what a mate told me (cool acronym) - note I personally have nothing against modern FIAT.

However, and this is apparently true - did you know "Punto" means "small penis" in Brazillian? Might be an urban legend, but made me laugh...

Fiat Pandas, Unos and the four door ones (dunno what they were called) from the mid-late 80s are pure unadulterated shite. The only nice thing I can say about them is that at least they advertised the Panda right in one set of adverts:
"Frocks?
Box"

Box is about right alright!

 

Brazilian isn't a language, they speak Portuguese in Brazil Living in Portugal, I speak Portuguese aswell and "punto" in Portuguese means "point", as in, the point of a needle. It's possible that "punto" might mean "small penis" in Brazilian slang but I don't know.

Here's another one: the reason why the Vauxhaul Nova was called "Corsa" in the rest of Europe (now it's called Corsa here aswell) is because Nova (No va) means "no go" in Spanish . Funnily enough, "nova" means "new" in Portuguese.

Michael.

 

Look up the spanish meaning of "Pajero" then....

Nissan did one car in japan, the name of which translates to "pantry boy". That's worse than the Nissan Cedric even...

 

lmao.

"what car do you drive, Pedro?"

"Oh, mine's a Pantry Boy..."

 

Citreon It Truely Represents Outstanding Engineering Naff-ness

Not my personal view as I've no direct experience of the brand, but the acronym just sprang to mind.

 

Ah-ha, I seem to have stumbled across the Citroen appreciation society . No I wouldn't have one, or anything from the sister company Peugeot, but it's not because I think they are inherently bad cars, I just don't like them, the compromises they use are not the ones that best suit me.

They do make some cracking diesel engines though, and Peugeot make shock absorbers (or used to) for many different cars on the road as OE, and are about the best ones to have. They're not badged as Peugeot of course. The problem I have with them is they (particularly Citroen) tend to be overly complicated for the price they try to build them down to. This causes problems with relaibility due to cheap installation. The actual technology itself is usually sound. Rolls Royce have been using Citroens hydrolastic suspension for years, and yet, not many make reference to their silly unreliable suspension. Given the budget, proper execution is possible.

The sheer amount of testing that goes into most cars is incredible, both by the manufacturers themselves and their parts suppliers for specific bits. As someone who plays in this area, it's very interesting seeing the different approaches apparently taken by different companies. Ford and VAG for instance, (Note: this being more a personal observation rather that a substantiated fact, but my take on what I've seen is...) take for instance, things like switches, Ford's approach is the make them as simple and cheaply as possible, and then spend ages testing them to make sure that they will forfill the intended life without problem. Whereas VAG seem to specify that they are built to a higher standard using higher quality materials in the first place, lessening the emphasis on the lifecycle testing. Of course, the VAG unit cost per switch might be higher, but then they will use them in more models and hence have to develope fewer different (Silly, moulded, and model specific in the case of Ford) designs.

At the end of the day you pays your money. We may not have much of "our" own car industry except Rover, and we would be hard pressed to prove that anything they sell is entirely their own design at present, or indeed for some time (Rover 800 anyone? Tone? ), but we sure do make a large number of cars in this country, with Honda, Nissan, Ford, GM, Toyota, Peugeot, BMW's Mini, and Land Rover amongst others, all churning out cars over here. Even more so though, are the sheer numbers of companies here supporting the car industry both here and abroad, from the servicing of the plants etc, to the number of OE parts suppliers from everything from pumps, switches, lights, instruments, sensors, windows, brake linings, etc. etc. Personally I think that all this adds up to a sucessful industry to be proud of.

Sorry, seem to have deviated into a rant....

Cheers

 

Now theres a company thats gone downhill if ever there was one. What the hell happenned? They used to make cars, which although were always a bag of shite, actually used to have character. They used to have decent models, which were good looking and fun to drive. Now though, they have neither, and the cars are still a bag of shite. They no longer have a couple in the range, their mainstream cars (Stilo and Punto), which used to be the best looking in their class, are now bland and outgunned by other companies with ease, and even Italians would rather drive a Seat Ibiza or Leon over a Punto or Stilo, and who can blame them.

The next victims in the auto industry? Theres a good chance IMO. Nissan probably wont be far behind...

 

I must be one of the "not many" then. The suspension in my Citroen has annoyed me since we got it last year. A constant squeak which the dealer seems unable to fix.

Got my CD changer back from "repair" yesterday (only bought it a couple of months ago) - they said it would take a week to repair, but it took a month. And it's not repaired, CDs still skip constantly.

Can't wait to get rid of this car. Anyone know where I stand legally (Sale of Goods Act etc). Can I get my money back on anything (CD Changer at least) - I don't want anything more to do with them if I can help it.

 

Well FIAT is Fix IT Again Tony and ALFA is Always Left For Antony, which I spose is apt, I i used run a intailain car specialists
Citroen in my book aint much cop for sure, says he driving a Xantia (in my defence I'll would like to point out, I have 'readjusted' the mi-16 mototr in to give a creditable 177 bhp , but it's high mpg,comfort and reliability are plusses, can't be arsed with cars anymore, can borrow the Porsche form the other half's old man if pushed.
Cars, just merely a tool now, unlike Rover 800's, that do a jolly good job of doubling up as a skip. WM

 

This is true - I heard this before as well...

Pity they didn't do their market research better though - "Corsa" in English means "shit".