Whats the worst "lemon" car you've ever owned?

[Mottie]

Andy

I thought he fell on his own sword?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

He moved to a more sympathetic forum, until they cottoned on to him.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I thought he fell on his own sword?

He fell on something..........................but it wasn't a sword!



Andy

 

[teaboyjim]

Yes at the moment I would, I've not had any unreliability issues or anything that's left me weary, the issues have been pretty minor I think apart from the heater but I can forget about that for another 6 months now. I'd like to keep it for another 5 years or something.

I'd be interested to know how much the heater issue would of cost and did they have any "discount" or "recall offer" to fix it?

I had a Megane before this Golf and a Golf before the Megane. I always regret buying the Megane, that was a lemon, I should have written about that one really, lived for 6 years with a 'Check injection' error on the dashboard and nothing beats the drivers window going down in the middle of a downpour and then refusing to go back up again on the goddamn motorway!

This is the sort of thing I'd heard about - they seem to have been worst back in the 2000's but I've not heard if the French manufactures have sorted out the electrics in recent years. They might well have.

The first few years Renault were replacing the window regulators FOC but then their extended warranty for the issue ran out so the front windows never worked again after that. And lets not forget the door pockets on both front door pockets full of water all the time except in times of drought, it got to the point that I just lined the pockets with a good wadge of kitchen towel every single day and if it had been raining I would be able to lift out the soaking towels and throw it away and then re-line the pocket with fresh towel, naturally it was like a sauna inside the car too. So no I'll never buy French again.

I presume you mean door pockets that are "inside" the car so water was sitting inside the car? You're Megane illustrates unfortunately the type of issues that I heard about in the 2000's. Hopefully they've improved things since then

 

[teaboyjim]

The 1.9tdi was legendary Unfortunately since then the engines have gone down hill. Nissan is Renault with a different badge, they share architecture against much of the range, the pick up trucks and skylines are seperate. Yes Toyota hold their values very well,

I haven't kept up with the corporate mergers in the international car manufacturing scene - Have Nissan started working closely with Renault and has this merger had a positive effect on Renault vehicles such as the Renault Traffic which back in the late 90's and 2000's got a negative reputation for general quality and reliability generally

 

[teaboyjim]

And it is this that seems to be the problem. The general public, at least in the UK, appear to hold VAG (for whatever reason) in high regard. Perhaps this had something to do with an effective PR department and the erstwhile bullshɨt slogan," If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen ..." Yet there has been considerable evidence of malfunctioning engines: breaking cambelt tensioners, defective piston rings, excessive oil consumption probably over the last twenty years and sx’s Audi experience of suspension components is hardly rare if my S5 owning pal’s claims are anything to go by.

I agree with you that the VAG brand is held in high regard here in the UK - Perhaps the reality is now starting to become apparent that they're not all as reliable as they perhaps once were.

Well if you are an armchair student of Professor Kilmer at the Institute of YouTube you will be aware Nissan to have been tagged the rather worrying soubriquet “endless money pit”. It would appear that everything went mammaries-skywards when they partnered-up with Renault in the early noughties. Prof Kilmer maintains that Toyota/Lexus and Honda are the best automotive manufacturers and Ford pretty decent (though probably starting to decline) too.

So does this mean that Nissan has been loosing money if it's a "money pit"? The view of Toyota/Lexus and Honda being the best automotive manufacturers seems to be widespread

 

[sxturbo]

I haven't kept up with the corporate mergers in the international car manufacturing scene - Have Nissan started working closely with Renault and has this merger had a positive effect on Renault vehicles such as the Renault Traffic which back in the late 90's and 2000's got a negative reputation for general quality and reliability generally

no the opposite, renault installed one of there own frencman to head nissan, part of the agreement for renault sinking millions into nissan. unfortunately the components installed in nissans are predominantly renault designed, with very little of the nissan design philosophy making its way to renault.

unfortunately that CEO ended up on fraud charges for embezelment and the japanese are extremely upset about it, and they want there own ceo and possibly a split from renault.

 

[teaboyjim]

no the opposite, renault installed one of there own frencman to head nissan, part of the agreement for renault sinking millions into nissan. unfortunately the components installed in nissans are predominantly renault designed, with very little of the nissan design philosophy making its way to renault. unfortunately that CEO ended up on fraud charges for embezelment and the japanese are extremely upset about it, and they want there own ceo and possibly a split from renault.

So did any of the quality of Nissan enhance the quality of Renault because Renault have been known for being poor quality vehicles for decades - I remember French people telling me how bad Renaults are in the past. Has either of the brands improved due to their interactions and collaborations?

 

[sxturbo]

So did any of the quality of Nissan enhance the quality of Renault because Renault have been known for being poor quality vehicles for decades - I remember French people telling me how bad Renaults are in the past. Has either of the brands improved due to their interactions and collaborations?

No Renault made nissan worse, but Renault have got better but due to general improvement rather than via Nissan's influence, the same way PSA group have improved (Peugeot and Citroen),

 

[teaboyjim]

Particularly the Renault traffic vans used to have a bad reputation about 10 plus years ago but I've not heard similar comments any longer about them so they must have improved them