Do cars always go wrong?

Originally posted by domfjbrown
Found In A Tip = FIAT

Shame there isn't one for Citroen...
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Does the Found In A Tip thing go for another marque that is part of the Fiat dynasty, namely Ferrari?

As for Citroens, both my parents have been driving BX turbo diesels for the last 3 or 4 years, the old mans has done in the region of 100K in the time since it was bought (for £60, all that was wrong was one return pipe for the suspension fluid had split, cheap and simple fix there.)(265 on the clock now) with nothing needed other than a regular oil change. Mother's on her second and no problems either, only reason she got another was wanting an estate. Either they've been lucky, or maybe it's just the newer Citroen's that suck badly?
 
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.
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I believe that Fiat has been taken over by General Motors, so I am guessing that FIAT are using their parts bin on their new designs, the latest Punto however just looks like the front of the old shape Polo to me.

So maybe we will be seeing them awful old style corsa gearboxes on some of Fiats chreaper cars. The old style Corsa (The one after the NOVA in the UK) were horrible to drive as I was found the gearbox was so sloppy I like to slot the gear in place but you can't do that on them. You can on my dads escort though and on the new Renult Clio my driving instructor had before I gave up on driivng lessons as it was just money down the drain since I have no intention of driving for some years yet.
 
Originally posted by amazingtrade
I believe that Fiat has been taken over by General Motors
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GM owns a large chunk of FIAT shares but AFAIK it's not even close to a majority holding so they are still independent (ie, they haven't been "taken over" by GM).

I think GM had an option to take another huge chunk of FIAT shares at one point but didn't excercise it (it was at the point when FIAT was in serious financial difficulty a year or so ago).

Lastly, for all Ferrari fans, Ferrari has never been part of the GM deal. If FIAT is sold, Ferrari will become an indepenent company again :)

ilockyer: Ferrari build quality was utter shite until the early to mid 90s when they started getting their act together on that front. The 355 and 456 were the first really well built Ferraris with decent quality control. They started to realise that it doesn't matter how good the engine is or what history you have, no one is going to pay £100K+ for a car with plastic FIAT switchgear that falls off after a couple of weeks ;)

Michael.
 
Originally posted by osama
And while you're slagging Fiat and Citroen, Volkwagen is set to close down also I heard. Is this true?
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VW in difficulty - I don't think so! They're one of the auto industry giants, in great shape and going from strength to strength. They've managed to splurge large amounts of cash on getting subsidiaries Lamborghini and Bugatti back on track (spectacularly well in the case of Lambo) and also on getting the first "true" Bentley (ie not a rebadged Rolls) for years (the Continental GT) out the door and none of it seems to be causing even a dent in their finances.

Michael.
 
i just recently sold my cherished mk 1 transit and although a ford there wasent much to go wrong with it. there is truth in the saying, they dont make em like they used to.
 
Aaaaah - that brings back memories of my school's old "Love Truck" Variety Club Sunshine Coach - a 1976 P Reg tranny - the poor thing was totally wrecked from overwork by the time I met it in 1980 - but it managed to go on all the way to 1985 before being scrapped...

That one looks in pretty wicked nick Rob - cool :)
 
i rebuilt the motor twice to get it right but sadly it had to go.
you cant buy them now, ther's just none left.
 
VW own half the decent marques out there, VW, SKoda, Audi, Bentley, Seat etc. They must be one of the top 5 car companies in the world.
 
Originally posted by domfjbrown
Aaaaah - that brings back memories of my school's old "Love Truck" Variety Club Sunshine Coach - a 1976 P Reg tranny - the poor thing was totally wrecked from overwork by the time I met it in 1980 - but it managed to go on all the way to 1985 before being scrapped...

That one looks in pretty wicked nick Rob - cool :)
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Yep and that was replaced with the Yellow B-reg Mk2 Tranny which saw a lot of years, ten tores weekends, field trips and scout camps before the gearbox dropped out the bottom of it around 1990!
 
Originally posted by lhatkins
Yep and that was replaced with the Yellow B-reg Mk2 Tranny which saw a lot of years, ten tores weekends, field trips and scout camps before the gearbox dropped out the bottom of it around 1990!
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Man, that bus did take a serious hammering in the mileage stakes, don't think it hardly ever stopped (apart from on the weekend) in all the time they had it. Surprisingly enough though, it's replacement, a 1991 transit, is still going... despite the maths teacher filling itup with petrol by mistake on a school trip in 1992, can't even remember where it was we were supposed to be going, just that we didn't go, well, no further than the garage anyway.
 
Hactually - that Transit was a 1990 - we took it out just after acquisition, and I remember clearly blasting out the EMI christmas tape of the moment on it on the way back down Topsham Road - the first school bus with a tape deck - way hey!

That yellow B reg - we were the first people (scouts) out in that, in, must have been Feb 1985 - took it up to Haldon Hill forrest ;) I didn't realise the gear box fell out though - so was the engine still in OK nick Leon?
 
Well, near enough! Still surprised that it's going strong even now, although FE has it so it probably doesn't go so far, probably running better than FE's Espace too, mind you, that's taken a fair thrashing in it's time as well. Guess it's like most things at that place, wait 'til it's totally had it, then try and scrounge around and get a replacement.
 
old fords are like that though, they can/will take whatever you throw at them.so whats wrong with ford today? all they seem to build nowa days are rust buckets. from the introduction of the mk3 escort ford have just slid down a steep hill .
 

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