car problems...

[VJ]

Umfriend: my parents' previous car was a Renault 25, but after 10 years it really started showing all kinds of stupid problems (doorlocks that stopped working, boot-hinge that broke off, water leaking in throught the sunroof, ...) to the point where they just had to sell it due to the many annoyances. The Volvo now is the same age as the Renault then, and shows no sign of wear...

But I think one just has to be lucky with cars; one can have good experiences and bad experiences with every make. (but I do tend to believe that Japanese cars are more reliable)


Jörg

[Umfriend]

He, the 25 was produced until what, 1992? And yes, mid-80s produced 25s had issues. Long time ago though.

[Nowhere]

Another vote for Renault - 9 year old Megane here, it's so flawless I still somehow consider this car to be "new". Apart from one battery change & tire changes only two problems were:
a) original dashboard was replaced early in life (had some fault manifesting itself in intense heat: fuel indicator, etc. not showing anything)
b) Renault came to conclusion that, in some circumstances, hydraulic line of front left brake could be damaged, they rerouted it for free in every Megane that could be affected.

And I'm not sure I'd trust Toyota - after all, electric cabling of Avensis and Yaris is made in my home city, I'd have a hard time trusting it (call it anti-local-patriotism )

[VJ]

It was a great car to drive though, and well ahead of its time...
(2.2 liter 4 cilinder with Renix injection => very sporty performance, speech synthesis to SAY error messages, onboard computer, radio cassette with controls on the steering weel and automatic frequency changes - this is before RDS: it had 4 banks of 6 presets, and swapped between banks when reception was bad, ...)
(of course, it was the top of the range, as this was the only way to get an automatic gearbox, but still, this all is about 25 years ago!!!)

Jörg

[VJ]

The startproblems have been solved!!!

One morning, my gps/radio refused to do anything. I went to the dealers and sure enough: it the car had two blown fuses due to a short-circuit behind the gps system. There could well have been a loss of current there, causing the fuel-pump to not get enough juice (I've heard that the fuel pump is quite critical when it comes to electricity).

Either way, gps cabling was fixed, new fuses were fit, and I haven't experienced a start problem in the last two weeks.


Jörg