I had a string of bomb-proof large Peugeots, 504, 505, several 605s and current 406. The 406 is by far my least favourite, it?s way too small and it just doesn?t have my confidence? It?s not stranded me as yet but 2 coil failures in two months, battery failure, exhaust ripped off, drop links... but hey, it?s was a 4-year old, fully loaded V6 bought for a month?s pay and that?s why I keep going back to Peugeot - bangs for buck. I wish I hadn?t gotten rid of my last ultra reliable 605, but it was looking shabby at 9 years old with multi-prangs from neighbours and shoppers.
I?ll probably buy a 607 next when they drop below 3k (there are already about 10 for 4k on autotrader) although I had a rummage round the new Citroen C6 last week and fell in love with it. Huge, luxurious, both ugly and attractive in equal measure and bound to suffer from monster depreciation - a curse for new buyers but a blessing for me.
French cars good.
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I hope French cars are better than they used to be. I just took delivery of a brand new Citroen C4 1.6Hdi VTR+ 5dr hatch today!
1st impressions?
Silent running at 55mph on the M11. Man, it barely whispered and no road noise!
Excellent speed limiter & cruise, punchy for a 1.6Hdi
Comfy seats, great dash and info.
Good materials, good shut lines,
However, rear passenger offside door needs shutting twice. Doesn't seem to catch right. Flimsy glove compartment door.
Car made strange booming sound just once going round roundabout as I touched brakes (probably won't.....I hope....replicate later)
slight high pitched clicking from front passenger seat. Think it might be head rest spars in their holes.
Apart from that, seems ok......ask me next week though and it might be a different matter. I hope not!
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My first car was secondhand Mini 1000 - brilliant little car and very reliable, so in 1979 I decided to splash out on a brand new Mini Clubman. It was delivered to me with a big hole in the middle of the dashboard where the ashtray should have been (eventually delivered a few weeks later) I took the car home anyway and found the gears were really stiff to engage - back to garage - engine and gearbox out and gearbox stripped - new syncro. Then the battery split right across the top (!!) new battery ......Then the floor started to leak....and so it went on.
In utter disgust of BL products and influenced by the fact my folks had bought a Renault 12 I decided to go French and traded in the Clubman for a Renault 18. Great car - utterly reliable. The R18 was eventually replaced by a Renault 11 'Electronique' - superb car with digital dash and synthesised speech (this was early 80s!!) Kept it for years and enjoyed every minute. Then I traded it in for a R21 which I hated and sold after a few months (not sure why in retrospect - just not my kind of car) The R21 was changed for a R19 Chamade - again utterly reliable, though relatively lacking in character.
The R19 gave way to my first Citroen - the Xantia. I first saw the TV adverts for it and felt it had the looks, advanced technology and practicality that put it way beyond its contemporaries. Kept it for 9 years and traded it in for the C5 in 2002.
My favourite was far and away the Xantia - a greatly undervalued car in my opinion and much much more reliable than people would have you think. (My sister still has a Xantia which she bought in 1995 - never gives a moment's trouble.)
What I maybe should say is that I've serviced all my cars myself right up until the C5. Now, because I have much less time and energy (+ a lack of workshop manual!) I have to leave the C5 to the dealer. I firmly believe though that French is fine - provided they are properly maintained and driven.
Abuse or neglect them, however, and they'll bite you where it hurts!
Graeme
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I have had the following:
Peugeot 205 GRD (still got, recent buy)
Renault 18 (very reliable but got rusty)
Renault 20 (as above but also amazingly comfortable)
Renault Scenic MK1 (Reliable but a bit roly poly for my liking)
Renault Laguna MK2 (Awesome V6, 180K miles, reliable and comfortable)
Renault Megane dCi (15K, nothing gone wrong yet except sticking sunroof, fixed quickly in 10 minutes by the dealer)
Brother had a Citroen GS and BX, Both reliable, the GS suffered bad rot unfortunately.
And I have a Renault Dauphine that I am restoring!
The dealers make a huge difference. I am lucky that the Renault dealer I use is brilliant. Unfortunately when I lived in a difference part of the country, the dealer there wasn't nearly so good - although this is quite a few years ago so matters may be different now.
When things have gone wrong, the dealer has quickly diagnosed the problem and repaired it as rapidly.
We also have a Toyota and I also like VW's. I would say the Japanese still are top for reliability but I have found my french cars to be about the same as VW, averaging it all out. You can interpret that whatever way you like but I am happy to buy french.
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I had 6 French cars in a row, a Renault 16 which I bought from my father which blew the bottom seals 3 months later and crocked the engine. (He let me repair on his property, gee thanks dad!)
I replaced the engine with a 16TX engine which didn't quite suit the original gearbox, very short geared but great fun.
This rotted through, despite being Ziebarted from new.
A 16TX which was the most unlucky/lucky car I've ever had, bought from a Renault dealer, the distributor went in a week. The gearbox disintegrated at 6 months and then again at 13 months, just outside warranty and Renault declined to contribute.
I was shunted twice in the car and then ran in the back of some-one else (My lucky day, he was so wasted he couldn't even get out of the car!).
Finally, got written off by a 17 year old who'd passed his test 9 days previously, I knew the car wouldn't pass an MOT and had already arranged scrap it and buy another car.
I was feeling generous and rang the guy to say I wouldn't pursue the claim, his father got the wrong idea and thought I wasn't insured and insisted on going through insurance - £600 later, couldn't stop laughing for weeks.
I moved camp to Citroen with a 2nd hand BX 16TRS which was one of the first in the country, very quirky but quite appealing.
Moved up to a new BX 19RD which I thought was very good for a diesel, relatively smooth, certainly quieter than 16TRS and quite capable.
I then went for a BX19GTI which as everyone knows was a great car, except that this prat went for the auto version which was about the worst engine/transmission match that decade.
The torque converter went at 29k, clouds of smoke and and no forward motion in Bristol's very busy one way system. Can't remember hearing quite so many horns all directed at little old moi.
Clouds of smoke was theme again after a very fast run up to Fort William one Thursday night/Friday morning, I was 4 up with a lot of luggage and I cooked the rings.
Should have gone for a manual Peugeot 405 GTI which handled like a dream.
I then got a pre-reg Xantia Turbo D for a too good to miss price and thought it was the bees knees, had it tweaked by Van Aaken and sold it on at 67k when I entered the world of company cars.
A lot of experience of French cars but not too painful, I still prefer a Megane to a Focus when hiring.
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I love french cars (well peugeot's actually!) i've had a 205GTi, 309 GTi Goodwood, 205 STDT, 306 S16 and now got a 106 Roland Garros.
Personally i wouldn't be seen dead in a ford.
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Personally i wouldn't be seen dead in a ford.
If you were seen in a ford you might well be dead. However, if you were seen in a Ford ..........!
--
L\'escargot.
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