"German cars are amongst the least reliable"

[flyingscot68]

I tried using a 2.0 tdi highline Passat for taxiing. It was only a year old and 20k miles when we bought it.
It was constantly breaking down, warning lights going on and endless visits to the dealer. It was on a 48 month HP deal so as soon as it got to 24 months I handed it back. Worst car I've ever had the displeasure to own.
Having spoken to a few other guys taxiing them it's the same story all the time. Best avoided if you ask me.


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[rossybee]

Thing is, Skoda Octavia and Superb seem to be the taxi cabs of choice, and yet they run on golf and passat underpinnings respectively.

[pete]

Everytime I'm in the local garage he has at least two VAG diesels car in which he is "fixing" for customers so they can be sold. He won't buy VAG diesels now, reckons the local main dealer is selling 2+ engines a week.

[robin]

Duff Passat chat

For what is the most boring car in the world, it is amazing that anybody would spend a second/penny fault finding ... sell/torch as required and move on What you need is a nice '97 Toyota Previa ... mid engined, rear wheel drive, handles like a (slightly wonky) F1 car .... mostly reliable I happen to have such a beast and you're welcome to come test drive it. Please bring jump leads.

Cheers,
Robin

[graeme]

I bought a Golf TDi primarily because my folks bought a mk4 GTi TDi 150 new in 2001, and it's still going strong 14 years and 140k later, and all it's really had is consumables to schedule, disks, pads and a clutch. It's as-new inside, although the paintwork has had a refresh when they decided to keep it as winter hack for another few years.

There was one saga of epic diagnostics with total lack of power and turbo issues and nobody could figure out why... turned out to be a 1 in a million chance bit of gravel stuck in the wastegate mech! Flicked that out, and it was fine again. Can't really blame VW for that.

When looking for a family wagon for the next 8-10 years, that reliability is exactly what I wanted so didn't really consider much beyond VW and the VAG alternatives.

[flyingscot68]

Thing is, Skoda Octavia and Superb seem to be the taxi cabs of choice, and yet they run on golf and passat underpinnings respectively.

That's true, I've got five Octavias myself.
They're all 1.9s, the newer 2.0s are not getting the same reputation for reliability.

I think that's the main difference though, the Skodas tend to run older tech that's been around for a while so problems have need ironed out. Audi take first shout on the new engines etc. then it filters down to VW, Seat, Skoda.
A guy in the office here bought the latest A6 Ultra last year, he has so many problems with it that they eventually replaced it for him, he's now having similar issues with the new one. The Ultra runs the latest tech in fuel efficiency - looks to me like they're using the customers to test it.


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[rossybee]

Thing is, Skoda Octavia and Superb seem to be the taxi cabs of choice, and yet they run on golf and passat underpinnings respectively.

That's true, I've got five Octavias myself.
They're all 1.9s, the newer 2.0s are not getting the same reputation for reliability.

I think that's the main difference though, the Skodas tend to run older tech that's been around for a while so problems have need ironed out. Audi take first shout on the new engines etc. then it filters down to VW, Seat, Skoda.
A guy in the office here bought the latest A6 Ultra last year, he has so many problems with it that they eventually replaced it for him, he's now having similar issues with the new one. The Ultra runs the latest tech in fuel efficiency - looks to me like they're using the customers to test it.


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Tis a valid point.

Wife's (just turned a yr old, 5k miles) Skoda Citigo developed a horrendously annoying chirping noise (think spoon in a bowl) from behind the dash - this morning's school run and dropping her at work was turned into a development drive, removing all contents from door bins/glovebox/trays etc, only for it to disappear once she had got out....reminded me of the squeaky dangly earring golf advert from the 80s

[rawsco]

I've had a few BMW's e46 320d, Z4 2.5si, e92 335d, e92 lci 335i

All only every had minor niggles apart from the 335d which burned through 6 glow plugs, the glow plug module, the throttle valve, seized turbo changeover valve, umpteen replaced EGR and main 'stats, broken front spring which ruined a tyre and an oil leak related to inter cooler plumbing. All over about 2 months. The outcome of most of this were continual DPF regeneration issues and ultimately a knackered DPF. It never left me at the side of the road tho... I got rid of it at that point and bought the 335i which was faultless but I didn't keep it much past the warranty end.... serves me right for buying a tractor!

[martins]

Have had 3 Audi's and am about to buy another. No trouble with any of them other than a sometimes squeaky drivers seat (no not doing that) when passing over speed humps on an 08 plate A4, which was replaced without quibble under warranty....must be the way you drive them.....