• This topic has 59 replies, 44 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by Yak.
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  • French Cars and Electrical Faults – Are They *Really* That Bad?
  • cheburashka
    Free Member

    Honda Jazz owner here, ’04 (Japanese built) owned since new. 150k miles, manual.

    -both rear wheel bearings needed replacing, all brake calipers needed replacing due to binding, air con currently U/S, either needs new compressor clutch or maybe even compressor, air con compressor clutch relay went after 70-80k, easy and cheap to replace though. Clutch has been very squeaky for last 70k and radio has been completely dead for last 50k, CD works though. Handbrake is useless and needs adjusting constantly.
    Gearbox is now making a slight ‘click’ noise as though there is play developing in something, gearbox bearings are notoriously made of cheese.

    On the plus side – it doesn’t seem to suffer from the leaking tailgate due to dodgy adhesive that most early Jazzes get, and it is still on all its original exterior lights, except headlights and front sidelights.

    dmorts
    Full Member

    Had a Pug 306 which was great, no major issues and was at 200k miles when sold.

    Currently have a Renault Scenic which has had the driver window motor/switch etc. replaced twice, although Renault pay 90% of the cost. The engine fan was also going mental for a while, but this seems to have been fixed by a cambelt change (possibly as a sensor has now been reconnected or the belt wasn’t actually moving the water pump much!). Renault garage couldn’t actually tell me what the fault was.
    My parents had a Renault Megane that had numerous electrical issues, radio, dash and not starting in cold/damp.
    My partner’s parents have the latest Scenic which sometimes develops a mind of its own and accelerates off (electronic throttle). Renault currently being very lax over fixing this, blaming driving style, car floor mats etc.

    My advice? Don’t buy a Renault. Peugeot/Citroen seem ok

    However I did also have a Seat Leon FR TDI which I nearly scrapped because of the DPF issues or some unknown fault killing the DPF.

    brassneck
    Full Member

    My Peugeot has been extremely gallic. Random unlocks, other lights flashing when indicating, interior lights stopping working then mysteriously starting again some days later…
    A couple of mechanics have said it’s likely a wire break in the loom thorugh the door, but it’s just not economic to fix it. I don’t leave anything vlauable inside 🙂

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    Always seem to be French cars in front where the brake lights flash when the indicators should be going, or the brake lights randomly flicker while driving on the motorway.
    The electrics just seem fragile; I suspect they use cheaper wiring, connections, earthing hardware to save costs (equivalent to cheap BB & cassette on bikes specced with XT rear mechs).
    Generally, you get a lot of kit on French cars for not a lot of money, so the money has to be saved somewhere.
    Friend of mine has just bought a Megane Coupe GT spec and it’s got so many toys; head up display, sat nav, climate control, auto folding mirrors, cruise control, Bluetooth telelphony & music streaming, keyless entry etc…..3 years old with around average miles for £9k.

    My Wife’s 308 was a horrible car; she really like the idea of getting a Peugeot having had a 106 Graduate years before that was faultless.
    But I think the 308 put her off Peugeot for life in a matter of months.

    langylad
    Free Member

    Only cars i have had that never really had any problems are Puntos (so we have had a few), and a Mazda 6 which was great.
    Currently have a Scenic and the electrics are made of cheese and spaghetti, other than that it has been mechanically spot on (5 mot’s and not a thing wrong, even though it gets abused).

    langylad
    Free Member

    The wife’s BMW 5 series was a nightmare

    Stoatsbrother
    Free Member

    and my 2008 3 series, steering wheel switches and reversing warnings would stop at random…

    Subaru on the other hand – no issues with 3 of them. Built like brick shithouses…

    TimP
    Free Member

    Still waiting for Wwaswas to come in and say how good they are as I am about to buy his Grand Scenic…

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    I don’t know if French cars are more susceptible to electrical faults, it’s just that if the electrics do go wrong it’s generally a right pain in the hoop to sort out.

    Case in point was our old X-reg Clio. The immobiliser ring around the ignition barrel failed. You’d think it would be a simple case of replacing the immobliser ring, maybe £30 from autoparts?
    No. In their wisdom, Renault decided to code the key, immobiliser ring, immobiliser, and the ECU together. You have to replace the whole lot. So my £300 Clio required double that to be spent for what was the failure of a sub-£50 item. I sold it instead.

    disclaimer: someone may have been able to do the work cheaply, I don’t know. I was told by the local garage it was a dealership job, and to prepare for a dry-bumming on the price.

    mrmonkfinger
    Free Member

    Mate had a 205 gti years back. Perenially going wrong with varying mechanical issues.

    Meanwhile, I had a 3.0 406 with as many electrics as you could get, which had nothing other than tyres and oil and whatnot for 3 years.

    totalshell
    Full Member

    my renault trafic was an electrical mare.. les bleus and leccy trickery do not good bed fellows make

    chewkw
    Free Member

    Buy a car with automatic gear …

    YoKaiser
    Free Member

    I’ve two Citroens, C4 Grand Picasso and C4 hatchback. Hatchback electric windows switch is knackered and the air con too. The GP has a utter mince electric handbrake that has cost me £600 and three trips to the dealer to not fix(brake goes on and off ok but all manner of faults light up).

    orangeboy
    Free Member

    The vw golf tdi we have is always having odd electric issues and some mechanical ones too
    The citrone c2 that we’ve had for 10 years is perfect , it all still works nothing has fallen off inside
    Had a some suspension bushes and some
    Springs but nothing serious

    Also have a peugeot expert van and that works fine inc the electric windows and heated mirrors

    Worst car was the Audi A4 I had a few years ago constant warning lights and power loss

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    Buy a car with automatic gear …

    Yes that sounds logical. Auto box means all your electrical worrys go away.

    hora
    Free Member

    ‘So my £300 Clio’

    Did you expect it to be in 100% rude health

    Like a £300 VW Polo obviously would..

    back2basics
    Free Member

    had vw’s, audis, toyotas and a merc and 2 citroens and 1 pug and 1 renault
    the french ones were/ARE awful for electrical issues and the usual “its a common problem but you pay haahahahahaa” attitude,
    no issues with vw/audi
    1 issue with toyota that was a car well out of warranty but the “its a common problem and we’ll fix that for you right away sir” attitude
    merc – well, dont get me started – lilke french but on steriods for faults and issues – but , i didnt pay a penny to get it fixed either, and they give great courtesy cars………..

    so in a word to the original title – YES

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    My 06 Galaxy seems to have Belgian French approach to electrics, with the airbag warning light deciding on a weekly basis to change its mind, which somehow is related to the parking sensors and rear right door central locking, which all seem related to what key we use 😕

    hora
    Free Member

    My 2007 Xsara Picasso was the top model so had auto lights, auto wipers and auto mirrors.

    I felt abit lost when I realised I’d have to sort out my own lights and wipers after I changed cars 🙁

    Yak
    Full Member

    In my limited experience of 1 French car, a Renault megane, it was about as good as the Honda civic that I had after. I had both from about 30k miles up to 105k. Over and above normal servicing, these were the extra items needed doing:

    Megane:
    3 wheel bearings and a electrical fault that made all the rear lights come on when the brake pedal was pushed. (5min fix for that).

    Civic:
    Front suspension arms/joints. 1 no. rear brake caliper.

    I think the overall cost of the above was about the same. Maybe slightly less for the megane.

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