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May be true, but do I really want to drive forever in a cheap feeling car?
At least you will be driving!
Any Landrover with Independent suspension has a poor reccord in my experiance. However the proper Landrovers with axles (ok not the P38a!) just keep on going if you look after them i.e My 300 Discovery on which I have put on 117000 of its 156000 miles. In the decade or so i've owned it the only thing it has needed other than service items is a power steering pump that cost about £60.
been very disappointed by by newer Nissans even more so by the main dealer customer service which has been shamefully bad
Don't buy the first models of anything we have an Alfa 156 20v turbo diesel done 140,000 miles in it over the last 6 years it's had a couple of boost problems easily fixed and a clutch and a couple of suspension arms. Other than that it's just tyres and fuel.
We also have a merc clk late model on a 08 plate. Just add fuel and rubber, only really done 50000 in it though.
A D mentioned a Nova, I had one I spotted by the side of the road for £500, it was a 'C' prefix, probably twelve/fifteen years old when I bought it, it was a 1.0, and I found a set of three-spoke alloys from an SL which looked neater than the steels.
Had it for around five or six years, tended to treat it gently in case it broke, then I bought my Puma.
Tried to sell it for £150, nobody was interested, couldn't even sell it for scrap, the Vauxhall spares bloke I got the alloys from would take it off my hands just for the alloys, so I was resigned to giving it away, then a woman from down the road called in and asked about it.
Needed a cheap car for her son who'd just passed his test, offered me £100, which I gladly accepted.
Forward six months, and I see the lad and a mate trying to cram a rabbit hutch in the back, so I pulled in and he came over grinning like mad, chuffed to bits with the car, best thing he'd ever had!
Turned out the little car I'd treated with kid-gloves he'd driven 16,000 miles in in the six months since I sold it, with only an alternator going on the fritz, and putting oil and petrol in it!
Goes to show, you can never really predict what's going to be reliable or not, that little Nova was a lot of fun to drive, and never cost much to keep on the road.
.VAG - Feels really good quality, but doesn't last
Jap - Feels cheap, lasts forever
My experience too. Had 3 Passats; although solidly built, there was barely a month when I wasn't fixing something. My current car is an '09 Mazda 6, and although some of the plastics are not as nice as those found in Passats, it is so much more enjoyable to drive than a '01 Passat, especially on windy roads.
my 12 year old 147 has 225k on the clock. 2.0 TS, manual.
the trick is to ignore the warning beeps as various things shut down.
the electrically heated wing mirrors work beautifully, and provide a cosy home for spiders.
Based on the experiences of the 25 or so people who i work with (many of whom have company cars and do lots of miles) I'd say Vauxhall.
Mate who sits oposite me had a 58 plate Zafira that was known as triggers broom.. by the time it was scrapped at 140k pretty much everything had been replaced.
However my manager has just bought a new MG (AKA the Chinese Rover) which has spent quite a bit of time back at the dealers..
However my manager has just bought a new MG (AKA the Chinese Rover)
Someone actually buys those? With money? 😯
that little Nova was a lot of fun to drive, and never cost much to keep on the road.
Same experience I had with my C plate 1.2 Merit. I ragged it everywhere and it never broke down...the rear arches just rotted away though.
Mk2 Astra the same. Had a German one (great engine, crap body) and an English one (crap engine, great body).
The German one became the victim of winter. Such as shame as the engine was brilliant.