Why don't I listen to myself?

[Jamie]

@GBJ what you crying about on my post? 

[Jamie]

I imagine if you compare a peugeot 508 and a passat now list price there isn't much different in cost so look into 'premium brands' what you will 

[GBJ]

3 minutes ago, Jamie said:

@GBJ what you crying about on my post? 

That car makes me feel sad.

[FakeConcern]

19 minutes ago, Magic said:

😉

Then with under a week of warranty left something failed in the gearbox, and created a 3 inch hole in the casing while seeking it's freedom. Replacement 'box started slipping about 2 days after I got it back ... duff seal so it was leaking oil onto the clutch. 'Box replaced again and a new clutch.

 

This made me decide to post my (only) experience of VW owning. i bought my mate's MK3 Golf GTI at two years old with 82k miles. It was the 8v with 5 doors and in Dragon Green, I loved it and so did Mrs Concern who drove it much more than I did as we had one car and I commuted by bicycle. Not much went wrong with it and despite a fair bit of rust on the front edge of the roof and the rear doors around the windows when a Clio Williams smacked into it on a roundabout spinning it through 180 degrees (Mrs Concern driving) it got fixed by the insurance even though this was 2000 and the car had over 100k miles. At about 150k miles in 2004 the gearbox did the above described explode trick (Mrs Concern driving) and was recovered home. I found a VW breaker about 30 miles away who fixed it by fitting a used box & diff from a mk2 GTI. They collected it and drove it back to their yard with no oil in the box and amazingly it got there without a problem!

Anyway it turns out the Mk2 diff has lower ratios and the acceleration was so much quicker, much more fun to drive, true a bit less refined on the motorway, but worth it. Finally got written off when a Vectra drove up the back of it in 2005 at 175k miles.

[Matty]

2 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

Sorry, I missed your reply earlier,  it's a 2006. You're right about Transits of course, they rust if you just look at them the wrong way.

I'm just about old enough to have had a 2.5 di (pre smiley) as my first work van. Mechanically indestructible but God the rot. I reckon the mk6? (Last of the floor change) with the 2.4 duratorq) was as good as they got. Good vans but still rotten.

The current ones which I've had two of dont seem to rot but are a bag of shite mechanically. How can they not tie the two things in? And who the fuck decided those were sensible gear ratios? A van that can't pull 30 in fourth on the flat? Come on

[Matty]

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

This made me decide to post my (only) experience of VW owning. i bought my mate's MK3 Golf GTI at two years old with 82k miles. It was the 8v with 5 doors and in Dragon Green, I loved it and so did Mrs Concern who drove it much more than I did as we had one car and I commuted by bicycle. Not much went wrong with it and despite a fair bit of rust on the front edge of the roof and the rear doors around the windows when a Clio Williams smacked into it on a roundabout spinning it through 180 degrees (Mrs Concern driving) it got fixed by the insurance even though this was 2000 and the car had over 100k miles. At about 150k miles in 2004 the gearbox did the above described explode trick (Mrs Concern driving) and was recovered home. I found a VW breaker about 30 miles away who fixed it by fitting a used box & diff from a mk2 GTI. They collected it and drove it back to their yard with no oil in the box and amazingly it got there without a problem!

Anyway it turns out the Mk2 diff has lower ratios and the acceleration was so much quicker, much more fun to drive, true a bit less refined on the motorway, but worth it. Finally got written off when a Vectra drove up the back of it in 2005 at 175k miles.

Liked mine too. Good car. Went to France in the end. A Cockney expat got a plane then a bus to Accrington paid me in cash then drove it back to France. A fitting end I thought

[Barry Cade]

The gearbox issues on VWs mentioned above are the rivets holding the diff together breaking up  which get flung offand go through the gearbox casing. Had it happen on my daughters 1.4 Golf, which was a tale and a half... anyway  VW sell a repair kit for this problem which are..... bolts.  I shit you not. 

[1duck]

8 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

  I drop the whole engine/gearbox/rack/subframe, as that's how they are designed. Its all bolted in in 3 mins, rather than 4 hours to do it bit by bit. Its so obvious cars are built and designed for ease of assembly rather than ease of repair..

My mechanic friend does similar but often unbolts the front panel and rolls it out the front of the car. His logic is the same though, that it is simply the reverse of how they put it together. Sort of explains how you see cars with shoehorned engine designs with fuck all space to work on them. 

[1duck]

11 hours ago, HMC said:

It’s a funny one isn’t it. When new vehicles have certain perceived qualities (marketing/ societal and our own direct perceptions) and after 15 years of so we can look back and with hindsight assess how valid they were. 

I think the modern equivilant of a VW is a kia.  Just because they are willing to back their shit up with a 7 year warranty and they aren't priced as 'premium' 

The problem is if you're buying brand new, you don't know if you've bought a bulletproof k11 micra, which will give you no grief for 150k miles or a timing chain stretching 1.5 almera that will shit itself at 30k miles. 

It's one of the things that attracts me to older cars, I know I can go out and buy a car with a good idea as to its foibles, whilst being the poor sap who discovers that a dsg box will melt at 7k miles and need replacing at massive expense doesn't appeal to me. 

[New POD]

1 hour ago, 1duck said:

I think the modern equivilant of a VW is a kia.  Just because they are willing to back their shit up with a 7 year warranty and they aren't priced as 'premium' 

The problem is if you're buying brand new, you don't know if you've bought a bulletproof k11 micra, which will give you no grief for 150k miles or a timing chain stretching 1.5 almera that will shit itself at 30k miles. 

It's one of the things that attracts me to older cars, I know I can go out and buy a car with a good idea as to its foibles, whilst being the poor sap who discovers that a dsg box will melt at 7k miles and need replacing at massive expense doesn't appeal to me. 

If you understand the "Reliability Bath Tub curve" you will understand how little extra cost adding an additional 6 years of warranty should be. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

That is if you design a part to last 150k and 10 years, and test it in development to prove the design at all extremes of use and then build the part as per the design intent, there's no reason your warranty should cost anything. 

For a company like Kia, they had nothing to loose. They just won market share and a great reputation. 

For VW, and BMW they already had the reputation, and market share, so they forgot to design and test those designs properly.  And they clearly fucked it up in some well documented cases. 

If I ever did buy a new car, it would simply be the brand with the longest warranty period. 

 

[Magic]

13 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

This made me decide to post my (only) experience of VW owning. i bought my mate's MK3 Golf GTI at two years old with 82k miles. It was the 8v with 5 doors and in Dragon Green, I loved it and so did Mrs Concern who drove it much more than I did as we had one car and I commuted by bicycle. Not much went wrong with it and despite a fair bit of rust on the front edge of the roof and the rear doors around the windows when a Clio Williams smacked into it on a roundabout spinning it through 180 degrees (Mrs Concern driving) it got fixed by the insurance even though this was 2000 and the car had over 100k miles. At about 150k miles in 2004 the gearbox did the above described explode trick (Mrs Concern driving) and was recovered home. I found a VW breaker about 30 miles away who fixed it by fitting a used box & diff from a mk2 GTI. They collected it and drove it back to their yard with no oil in the box and amazingly it got there without a problem!

Anyway it turns out the Mk2 diff has lower ratios and the acceleration was so much quicker, much more fun to drive, true a bit less refined on the motorway, but worth it. Finally got written off when a Vectra drove up the back of it in 2005 at 175k miles.

 

11 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

The gearbox issues on VWs mentioned above are the rivets holding the diff together breaking up  which get flung offand go through the gearbox casing. Had it happen on my daughters 1.4 Golf, which was a tale and a half... anyway  VW sell a repair kit for this problem which are..... bolts.  I shit you not. 

The Bora had under 30k on it when it went to pieces. My ears had picked up a bit of what sounded like diff whine, which got mentioned when it was in for service a few weeks previously. They allegedly checked, saying it was fine and they couldn't hear anything.

I made very plain that it had dumped a good half pint of gearbox oil on the driveway at home. They refused to recover it. So up for a challenge I drove it 10+ miles to the dealer first thing the next morning with it making ever more concerning noises due to lack of oil. Service manager bid me a cheery hello, got me a brew and had someone take a quick look at it. He was back 5 minutes later, ashen faced asking "How far did you drive it?"

I got a 2.0 Bora as a loaner. Must have been a new demonstrator as it had about 25 miles on it. Hardly any quicker than the 1.6, but more relaxed at a cruise. Their first offer was a basic Lupo, which got refused as I was off to Scotland for a few days. With the double repair saga, it went back with over 1000 miles on it, nicely run in. 😂

 

[rickvw72]

Bolting the diff instead of factory rivets is a common mod all the way back to Mk2 golfs. As the power rises, he diff rivets become the weak spot. The green end cap Mk4 era box was crap, although rest of the range not so affected. 
Problem is, manual boxes seem to be weaker as time goes on. The Vauxhall 6 speed fitted to a massive number of things, Megane, Laguna, Traffic, Vivaro, Vectra, Saab etc has serious weakness with bearings etc, I’ve changed more of them than VW boxes. At much lower mileages too. 
Ive personally got an Accord diesel as a daily. Honda put another gearbox in that I think in 2013 at about 100k. Cost was north of three grand, according to the receipt in the history. Glad I didn’t pay. It’s a 6 speed manual too, not a fancy auto.

 

[rickvw72]

The bathtub curve applies to maintenance too. 

New car: on warranty, dealer serviced by a teenager (I teach them) Many things missed or not replaced. Warranty issues dealt with parts darts approach pissing off first owner. First owner will never check anything, cos it’s under warranty.

Mid life: From a about a cars third birthday, it’ll be on finance and it’s owner can’t afford maintenance and the monthly repayment. Suspension and stuff wears, tyres are switched to cheap Chinese rubbish, driven till it stops, owner thinks it’s shit, so won’t spend money. Owners mate drives it once, unimpressed by a never serviced, bald chinese tyred, probably tottally sloppy, loose and pulling to one side she’d,  owners mate takes the piss. Owners mate is now an expert, and tells the world that cars shit, handles like boat. This expert will tell ebveryone for years model such and such is shit. Owners mate (expert) will obviously own  the worlds greatest handling car, regardless of make model Or type.  I remember a pub expert telling me the Golf chassis was crap. His benchmark, a mk5 Escort. 
 

Old age: where I buy cars. All the past neglect manifests itself as major failures. If something has limited major fails in this era, it’s a good car. Whatever you buy will need tyres, breaks, suspension bushes etc, you’ll be lucky if the wheels are even pointing in the right direction if you dare to track it up. It won’t, under any circumstance have any air con gas in it. Several internet experts, who all have race driver skills and the worlds fastest best handling car, will tell you your cars shit.

This applies to all cars. Even Rolls Royce, see flying spares website.

Theres exceptions, but there rare as unicorn teeth. 
 

The enthusiast: looked after right, either by themselves, or a well known specialist. Every thing is done right, washed, polished and waxed, warmed up down, over maintained. You can’t buy this car sadly, the owner won’t ever sell it.

the old boy: drives 8 miles a year. Slipping clutch all the way. Drives into every piece of road furniture from cows to bus stops. All at 7mph, which doesn’t destroy the car, but sort of reshapes all corners. If old boy was an enthusiast, he will repair all its damage, with brown emulsion and masking tape. When old boy gives up driving or snuffs it, car is “detailed “ and sold as one Owner minter. Never been off choke, into third gear, or had the rear seats used. Just about ready to go wrong massively, especially if you dare drive it different.

High mileage hero: my favourite, ridden harder than a Skegness donkey, bounced off the redline, commuted 5000 miles a week at 125mph. Don’t get cold started often though, and you can’t do big miles if it’s always on a recovery truck. Usually serviced, and repaired as needed. It won’t do 125 mph in limp mode, so sales rep demands its fixed immediately dare it go wrong. Dealer actually will fix these, as don’t wanna lose fleet customers.

[Jamie]

Seems like the perfect thread for it... 

 

Anyone wanna buy an A3? 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Have you lowered it?

[Jamie]

2 minutes ago, marm said:

Have you lowered it?

No its bone stock 

[Barry Cade]

1 hour ago, rickvw72 said:

The bathtub curve applies to maintenance too. 

New car: on warranty, dealer serviced by a teenager (I teach them) Many things missed or not replaced. Warranty issues dealt with parts darts approach pissing off first owner. First owner will never check anything, cos it’s under warranty.

Mid life: From a about a cars third birthday, it’ll be on finance and it’s owner can’t afford maintenance and the monthly repayment. Suspension and stuff wears, tyres are switched to cheap Chinese rubbish, driven till it stops, owner thinks it’s shit, so won’t spend money. Owners mate drives it once, unimpressed by a never serviced, bald chinese tyred, probably tottally sloppy, loose and pulling to one side she’d,  owners mate takes the piss. Owners mate is now an expert, and tells the world that cars shit, handles like boat. This expert will tell ebveryone for years model such and such is shit. Owners mate (expert) will obviously own  the worlds greatest handling car, regardless of make model Or type.  I remember a pub expert telling me the Golf chassis was crap. His benchmark, a mk5 Escort. 
 

Old age: where I buy cars. All the past neglect manifests itself as major failures. If something has limited major fails in this era, it’s a good car. Whatever you buy will need tyres, breaks, suspension bushes etc, you’ll be lucky if the wheels are even pointing in the right direction if you dare to track it up. It won’t, under any circumstance have any air con gas in it. Several internet experts, who all have race driver skills and the worlds fastest best handling car, will tell you your cars shit.

This applies to all cars. Even Rolls Royce, see flying spares website.

Theres exceptions, but there rare as unicorn teeth. 
 

The enthusiast: looked after right, either by themselves, or a well known specialist. Every thing is done right, washed, polished and waxed, warmed up down, over maintained. You can’t buy this car sadly, the owner won’t ever sell it.

the old boy: drives 8 miles a year. Slipping clutch all the way. Drives into every piece of road furniture from cows to bus stops. All at 7mph, which doesn’t destroy the car, but sort of reshapes all corners. If old boy was an enthusiast, he will repair all its damage, with brown emulsion and masking tape. When old boy gives up driving or snuffs it, car is “detailed “ and sold as one Owner minter. Never been off choke, into third gear, or had the rear seats used. Just about ready to go wrong massively, especially if you dare drive it different.

High mileage hero: my favourite, ridden harder than a Skegness donkey, bounced off the redline, commuted 5000 miles a week at 125mph. Don’t get cold started often though, and you can’t do big miles if it’s always on a recovery truck. Usually serviced, and repaired as needed. It won’t do 125 mph in limp mode, so sales rep demands its fixed immediately dare it go wrong. Dealer actually will fix these, as don’t wanna lose fleet customers.

This is spot on!

[artdjones]

2 hours ago, rickvw72 said:

High mileage hero: my favourite

Exactly, my wife's Mégane, ex Chubb's service engineer vehicle, 118k at 4 years old. Now done 160k and the only non routine replacement was a number plate light and two front shocks replacing the original ones as one had started knocking slightly.

[FakeConcern]

2 hours ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

That will be a crownwheel bolt snapping off and being punched through the casing.  Some have the crownwheel rivetted to the diff as a proper quality job* and they loosen, allowing the crownwheel to rattle.

 

 

*Not to save 50p on a few bolts.

A colleague's Corrado did the same thing (rather embarrassingly) in the works car park at around the same time. I believe the oils stain evidence is still to be seen in the tarmac...

[rickvw72]

Whilst summarising 20 years of motor trade experience I missed off another type of owner. The shiter:

A mixed breed of weirdos, some loving basic, slow rubbish, others genuinely amused that buying cars better than brand new models, for less than a grand is actually possible, purchase at the end of mid life part of the tub.

the shiter loves to spend money rectifying decades of abuse and misuse, new tyres, fixing issues even the dealer can’t, maybe the odd upgrade.

Of course this is all in vain, as unless your cars Japanese to start with, it’ll explode anyway regardless. Obviously if you have a Japanese car, your not immune, expect an 807 page MoT fail for corrosion before it’s 15th birthday. It wont make 15 years if petrol cos some fuckwit will nick the cat. After it’s mot fail, it’ll be banger raced for three seasons, then crushed. Bastard will still start though.