Car Reliability

[kenbo]

I buy the Car Mechanics magazine most months, makes interesting reading about car reliability.

Recent stories of 2.0 Passats waiting on oil pumps which are on back order, the new Fiat Twin air engines failing because the dipstick is so awkward, owners don't check the oil level and, with an 18,000 mile service interval, the obvious happens. There was an interesting snippet about an 03 Mercedes CLK, it was so rusty around the spring seats, there was nowhere to weld to and the car was basically scrap.

Another story relates to someone who has a business reconditioning engines. He's very upbeat, shifting more units than a few years ago.

People keeping their cars longer in these recessionary times?

No! Business is booming in the 2 to 4 yr old age range. Like the Fiat story, longer service intervals, less attention to maintenance, engines are failing due to lack of oil and of course no warranty. Best selling unit was a Ford, timing chain breaks when oil is low.

I had a tradesman at my house yesterday, he has had really bad luck this year, his Nissan jeep had suffered its second major engine failures in 3 years,....it is a well known problem in the trade. I think Nissan paid for one of them to be fair.

He was waiting on a Car Dismantler to call to look at his latest mishap, his wife's 2005 Touareg 2.5 which has just destroyed its second engine as well, balancer shafts he thought. The first one failed and he bought a second hand engine (took nearly 6 months to find it) This engine lasted about 2 months. Today he told me he sold it for breaking...85,000 miles, well maintained but not with the main dealer. He reckons he has lost over £4,000 and has now replaced both vehicles with older Toyotas.

I know these forums give us all a lot of feedback on problems but in my opinion the motorist has never had a worse time re major reliability issues. OK the above are mainly maintenance issues but technology is moving forward too fast. ABS, DPF, DMF, also, to an extent, timing chain failures are a common problem for many manufacturers but it's the poor motorist who is paying the price for shoddy design. Garages don't care, they're happy to take our money. My local VAG specialist refuses to recommend any current brands, he says they're all a lottery to buy!

[Jockdooshbag]

For this reason the missus next 4x4 / suv type thingy will be one with a 5 year warranty as a minimum. Has rav 4 at moment which has been faultless. So toyota, kia and hyundai are contenders at present.

[Aspman]

Friendly indy also told me that it's madness to buy a car without a warranty now.

If there are a million parts in a modern car then a one in a million chance failure is a certainty.

[Grizzle]

Hence my love for Hyundai/Kia and the exceptional warranty.

[cheezemonkhai]

The 7 year warranty is looking super appealing for the next car I have to admit.

Just had a friend who has purchased one and I'll be watching it carefully to see how it fares in year one.

[Gti Jazz Blue]

After a very expensive time with her 3 series - I recommended that my Sister-in-Law looked at a Kia replacement. She bought a one year old 1.6Tdi Ceed hatch. Not a bad motor at all - not my taste but perfect for her with 6 years of warranty remaining. Plenty of toys inside too, including built in BT (Skoda could learn a thing there), the only thing she misses from her 3 series is the heated seats, so she now has one of those cover type heated seats - which does the job for her.

Paul

[M12MKD]

Don't get me started on the twinair.

Coil packs failed already, cimate control unit replaced, stop start programme update (still hasn't solved the fail to restart first time issue). Blue&me issues. Been in the garage 3 times in 6 months so far.

[littleade]

Wish we still had town gas, then I could put me head in the oven when my 3 year SUK warrenty runs out....... We're all doooomed...

[Jockdooshbag]

Don't get me started on the twinair.

Coil packs failed already, cimate control unit replaced, stop start programme update (still hasn't solved the fail to restart first time issue). Blue&me issues. Been in the garage 3 times in 6 months so far.

Well it is only a fiat. What did you expect.

Shame really as i really liked the new panda with the twin air engine. The missus will be getting a new 4x4 in a few yeras so a small car like this may well have been on the cards for a commute car for me. I was kind of hoping fiat had sorted out their reliability issues.

[Tinaphps]

WOW!!! Nice Post!Kind Regards

[MillsyVRS]

I think Korean cars like the Kia and Hyundai used to be the equivalent of what the Skoda name used to be. But now their cars come with very good length warrenty, are quite well built, and aren't expensive either.

When I bought my car I mentioned the warranty on the Korean cars and the Skoda dealer said that it gets worse as the years go on, so first few years its a full warranty, then after that it covers less and less each yeah. Anyone know if this is true?

[Aspman]

When I bought my car I mentioned the warranty on the Korean cars and the Skoda dealer said that it gets worse as the years go on, so first few years its a full warranty, then after that it covers less and less each yeah. Anyone know if this is true?

It's been asked before and the answer was that the warranty is really pretty good for the whole term and doesn't decrease. Servicing is expensive at the dealers was the minus point.

[silver1011]

Up to two years / 20,000 miles on the same oil was always going to end in tears.

[mdon]

I think Korean cars like the Kia and Hyundai used to be the equivalent of what the Skoda name used to be. But now their cars come with very good length warrenty, are quite well built, and aren't expensive either.

When I bought my car I mentioned the warranty on the Korean cars and the Skoda dealer said that it gets worse as the years go on, so first few years its a full warranty, then after that it covers less and less each yeah. Anyone know if this is true?

The skoda dealer is telling lies. Hyundai offer a full 5 year unlimited mileage warranty that covers everything apart from wear and tear for the full five years, even the exhaust is covered!

With regards to the fiat, we've ad a grande Punto for two years and to be honest it's never missed a beat, more reliable than our old Hyundai. I think it just depends I you get good one or not.

[silver1011]

The skoda dealer is telling lies.

Not quite, Kia's 7 year warranty does reduce as the car ages as some items have a natural limited life/durability and are therefore covered for less than 7 years.

The vehicle battery is warranted for a period of 2 years. The audio system is warranted for 3 years/60,000 miles and vehicle paint is warranted for 5 years/100,000 miles.

The 7 year warranty is still attractive though and importantly all 7 years are covered by the manufacturer, not like Skoda with two years covered by Skoda UK and the final year being covered by their dealer network.

Skoda's warranty does have an unlimited mileage for the first two years, whereas Kia's 7 year warranty has a limit of 100,000 miles.

For me doing 30,000 miles a year I'd be out of warranty in a Kia after just three years.

[mdon]

Not quite, Kia's 7 year warranty does reduce as the car ages as some items have a natural limited life/durability and are therefore covered for less than 7 years.

The vehicle battery is warranted for a period of 2 years. The audio system is warranted for 3 years/60,000 miles and vehicle paint is warranted for 5 years/100,000 miles.

The 7 year warranty is still attractive though and importantly all 7 years are covered by the manufacturer, not like Skoda with two years covered by Skoda UK and the final year being covered by their dealer network.

Skoda's warranty does have an unlimited mileage for the first two years, whereas Kia's 7 year warranty has a limit of 100,000 miles.

For me doing 30,000 miles a year I'd be out of warranty in a Kia after just three years.

Did realise that about Kias as I haven't owned one, but I have had two Hyundai's (a battery is a consumable part so wouldn't be covered beyond a maximum of 5 years anyhow on any warranty).

You'd be out of warranty in just two years with skoda.

I really can't understand why skoda aren't offering longer warranties as they'll soon start to loose out if they don't.

[MattyD]

Not quite, Kia's 7 year warranty does reduce as the car ages as some items have a natural limited life/durability and are therefore covered for less than 7 years.

The vehicle battery is warranted for a period of 2 years. The audio system is warranted for 3 years/60,000 miles and vehicle paint is warranted for 5 years/100,000 miles.

The 7 year warranty is still attractive though and importantly all 7 years are covered by the manufacturer, not like Skoda with two years covered by Skoda UK and the final year being covered by their dealer network.

Skoda's warranty does have an unlimited mileage for the first two years, whereas Kia's 7 year warranty has a limit of 100,000 miles.

For me doing 30,000 miles a year I'd be out of warranty in a Kia after just three years.

This is true, we are Hyundai, Lexus and Toyota at work. Hyundai 7 years, tho it has many exclusions after the first three years as things start dropping off the warranty. Toyota is 5 years with everything covered for the full 5 years or 100k, and the Lexus is 3 years or 60k. Speaking to our warranty department last week, the Hyundai is the worst to get claims passed on, the manufacturer does not like to pay out on claims unless they can't get out of it. The Toyota and Lexus ones are dead easy to get claims out of. Even the Lexus ones out of warranty will often get sorted under goodwill

[sharkrider]

I bought a fiat grande punto sporting in 2007 (1.9 multijet deisel) and that had 18,000 mile service intervals, and a 90k cambelt change....

it ran perfectly. never broke down. never used a drop of oil. I changed the belt at 90k... it looked new.

I ran it to 110,000 miles... alot of them with learner drivers driving it... the gearbox and clutch got some abuse, but both were "as new" at 110k..... still felt like a new car.

oh... and I remapped it at 4,000 miles :p

brilliant car......

current (what I replaced it with) fabia II vRS... 42,000 miles, no issues, not a drop of oil used....

previous to the fiat didn't do so well, fabia I vRS... new gearbox at 40k....., numerous suspension bush (the dreaded wishbone lower bush) issues, that skoda flat REFUSED to fix, EGR failure at 60k.

don't judge a book by its cover..... if the twinair has failed due to oil needing topping up... its the owners fault for not checking it.... many fabia II vRS engines have failed, and thats due to the engine... not the owners, they are starting to get anal about checking oil levels....

[silver1011]

Speaking to our warranty department last week, the Hyundai is the worst to get claims passed on, the manufacturer does not like to pay out on claims unless they can't get out of it. The Toyota and Lexus ones are dead easy to get claims out of. Even the Lexus ones out of warranty will often get sorted under goodwill

Good post, this is really the only way to determine how good a warranty is, not necessarily how long it is or how many miles it covers.

I've had over £4,000 of goodwill gestures from Skoda UK on my vRS outside of the warranty period.

Fantastic customer service.

Searching the forums you'll find lots and lots of evidence of how Kia and Hyundai try to wriggle out of genuine warranty claims.

[mdon]

This is true, we are Hyundai, Lexus and Toyota at work. Hyundai 7 years, tho it has many exclusions after the first three years as things start dropping off the warranty. Toyota is 5 years with everything covered for the full 5 years or 100k, and the Lexus is 3 years or 60k. Speaking to our warranty department last week, the Hyundai is the worst to get claims passed on, the manufacturer does not like to pay out on claims unless they can't get out of it. The Toyota and Lexus ones are dead easy to get claims out of. Even the Lexus ones out of warranty will often get sorted under goodwill

Hmmm, I've never had a problem claiming through hyundai and just to note try offer 5 year warranty with unlimited mileage along with 5 year RAC cover. I don't know where you got your work hyundai's from as they have never done a 7 year warranty.

[littleade]

Good post, this is really the only way to determine how good a warranty is, not necessarily how long it is or how many miles it covers.

I've had over £4,000 of goodwill gestures from Skoda UK on my vRS outside of the warranty period.

Fantastic customer service.

Searching the forums you'll find lots and lots of evidence of how Kia and Hyundai try to wriggle out of genuine warranty claims.

I agree with silver- his experience also backs up my belief that it's better to use the dealer to do your service so if something goes wrong out of warrenty you're more likely to get a positive outcome. Personally I buy my cars because of how they drive, what period of warrenty they have is secondary and if previous posts saying Kia's servicing costs are expensive (which I've no reason not to believe) then it aint such bargain afterall. If you want the ultimate warrenty buy a new vauxhall.... go on I dare you!!!!

I'll stick with my vRS thanks...

[MattyD]

Hmmm, I've never had a problem claiming through hyundai and just to note try offer 5 year warranty with unlimited mileage along with 5 year RAC cover. I don't know where you got your work hyundai's from as they have never done a 7 year warranty.

Sorry was a typo, I did mean 5 years. All I can go on is what I'm told at work by the people that deal with them. We've trying to get Hyundai to pay for a new door on a brand new unregistered Veloster in the showroom that has a rusty door. In contrast Lexus have just replaced some alloys on a 56 plate IS250 as they were all corroded. No charge to the customer as it had a full service history with us and he paid £1500 for the wheel upgrade when it was new.

[cheezemonkhai]

People used to say the same about skoda and how vw were better for honouring warranty.

[Mr Ree]

Trouble with these 5 and 7 year manufacturer warranties though is that you are tied to their rip off serving costs surely?

My youngest has a Hyundai i20, and the service he's receiving, or NOT in his case is truly awful.

He's had an intermitant a clutch judder, just like his previous i10, for months now, and he's been told that they can't find anything wrong when they drove it, and basically told to swivel.

I rang them to complain and was told the same too....and they are one of my customers!!

"Leave it with us...AGAIN...overnight, and we'll drive it when it's cold (the most common time for the judder)) but if it doesn't do it for us, we're NOT looking into it any further. It must be your sons 'driving style" :(

Hyundai customer services listened but have done absolutely sod all.

Edited 16 December, 2012 by Mr Ree

[mdon]

Trouble with these 5 and 7 year manufacturer warranties though is that you are tied to their rip off serving costs surely?

My youngest has a Hyundai i20, and the service he's receiving, or NOT in his case is truly awful.

He's had an intermitant a clutch judder, just like his previous i10, for months now, and he's been told that they can't find anything wrong when they drove it,

Not at all, you can have them services anywhere as long as its done within guidelines, mine was serviced at a independant garage.

With regards to the clutch, does it do it at the same revs each time, and is it always when under load or acceleration? I had a diesel hyundai that did it at 2500 revs once past this it was fine and it turned out to be a worn clutch.