The wife's BMW 5 series was a nightmare
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...
Still waiting for Wwaswas to come in and say how good they are as I am about to buy his Grand Scenic...
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.
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.
my renault trafic was an electrical mare.. les bleus and leccy trickery do not good bed fellows make
Buy a car with automatic gear ...
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).
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
Buy a car with automatic gear ...
Yes that sounds logical. Auto box means all your electrical worrys go away.
'So my £300 Clio'
Did you expect it to be in 100% rude health
Like a £300 VW Polo obviously would..
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
My 06 Galaxy seems to have [s]Belgian[/s] 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 😕
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 🙁
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.
