Lets have a straw poll. My father says that he never sees Japanese cars stuck on the hard shoulder or clearly broken down elsewhere, whereas he always sees other cars. I don't disagree but one does see Toyotas of a certain age, use and driver ethnic origin indicating lack of mechanical sympathy and heavy use I would suggest (mind you that could also be my mother-in-law!).
So, what cars have you seen clearly broken down recently?
My most recent was an almost new Merc CL500, parked up with a Merc Service Van next to it and the mechanic looking very worried.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Bloke over the road from me had his 2004 VW Touraeg 4.2 break down infront of his house on the road. the bonnet was up and there was a VW service van parked behind it.
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Well i use the M11 and M25 most days, and i tend to see a lot of BMW's and VW's, strangely enough
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One needs to take into account the numbers on the roads of each make, and average mileages. Otherwise it's biased. Also driving style is a factor, a Mondeo being driven by a rep will probably have a harder life than an OAP pottering down to Sainsbury's in their Micra.
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And therefore QED BMWs are unreliable. There are more 3-series than Mondeos and you see more on the back of a truck than Fords!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Porsche Cayenne being winched onto a recovery truck last week.
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Mine last weekend. Peugeot 605, failed petrol pump. I?d parked it as close to our little summer house as possible. i.e. weaved it through trees in thick grass and shubbery. Took eight men an hour just to get it to a position where it could be towed.
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Once saw an accident damaged BMW 1-series on a truck looked only a few weeks old! Possibly the first one to be written off in this country?
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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I'm always keen to see what cars are broken down at the side of the road. I seem to see a lot of VWs, but maybe I just notice them more because "if only everything in life ..." springs into my head every time I see one.
I did see a Toyota in the last week, though. A corolla. It was a pre-91 model, though, so I won't hold it against them too much :-)
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I suppose if anyone thought it worthwhile the members of this forum could conduct a statistically significant survey. Someone could produce a standard form, and there would be an agreed start date, to run say for a month. Participants would have to record all broken down vehicles seen, and also their own mileages.
Personally I've more interesting things to do, but the result might be interesting to read.
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Yes, but why do cars break down? I have heard from many with company cars that they never check the oil or open the bonnet. Maybe most japanese cars are privately owned, by people who will therefore take some care over maintaining/checking them. Whereas many mondeos, VWs and 3-series are company cars and may be neglected.
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Don't tar all company car drivers with the same brush, most leasing companies are neurotic about servicing etc being done on time, fair play it affects their resale values. Also according to our fleet documents a major breakdown due to lack of oil would probably be a disciplinary matter
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My 3 year old Jaguar X type with a full Jaguar service history broke down last week....and it took the AA 2 hours to rescue me. I was not happy, a coolant hose had popped off dumping coolant all over the road.
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Don't tar all company car drivers with the same brush, most leasing companies are neurotic about servicing etc being done on time, fair play it affects their resale values. Also according to our fleet documents a major breakdown due to lack of oil would probably be a disciplinary matter
Yeah, quite right !
I have now opted out of the co-car sheme, but for the previous 12 years or so, I looked after my company cars better than most owner-drivers. The simple fact is I dont like driving around in a mobile chicken-shed !!
I have to say though, that I do think that employees who wilfully neglect their cars should be penalised, ie not allowed to order such a high-spec car next time around or suchlike.
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They may be obsessive about getting the servicing done, but they do use main dealers.
Throwing a large amount of money at a dealer who takes your business for granted does not necessarily ensure that a car is well-maintained.
Remember also that a lot of the 'breakdowns' you see on motorways will just be punctures.
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>>Throwing a large amount of money at a dealer who takes your >>business for granted does not necessarily ensure that a car is >>well-maintained.
Agreed but in our case the leasing company give the garages a hard time, they know to the last farthing what jobs or items should cost because they have records of thousands of them.
As to whether the job is properly done, that's up to the user to complain if he/she thinks there is a problem. I have, in the past, got the leasing company involved when I had a problem with a vauxhall garage, with a lot of business to take away and direct contact with vauxhall they had more success than I had.
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Agreed, a quick word from the user to the leasing company and the dealer will jump through some very high hoops indeed.
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Oh yes
Failure to adhear to servicing schedule resulting in problems is career threatening. As is failure to keep vehicle roadworthy (ie Tyres)
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Colleague had a broken down car outside his house on the road side. His. A Brand New (day old) Toyota Avensis Verso. Central locking/imobilisor went haywire, had to be recovered to Toyota
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A Brand New (day old) Toyota Avensis Verso. Central locking/imobilisor went haywire, had to be recovered to Toyota
Typical unreliable electrics on French cars, innit? :)
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But where is the Avensis made nowadays?
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Mitsubishi Shogun on back of tow truck.. today.
madf
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IIRC the UK (near Derby?) but not sure if the Verso is made there - or from what country the electronic modules are sourced.
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I dont think the Verso is made on the same line as the regular avensis
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The Avensis is made at burnaston but the avensis verso is still made in japan and is based on the old model avensis.
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I seem to remember a thread along these lines just before my hols last year so decided to do a count. On way down to Dover (200 miles)saw about 10 "broken down" cars on road/motorway side - can't remember exactly what but one was a very new BM and another a newish Range Rover, rest were an assortment. Then drove about 2000 miles in France and only saw 1 - a rather aged Renault 5 near La Rochelle. Conclusion? 100% of observed French breakdowns were French, therefore French cars are unreliable. Cars driven in Britain break down far more often than cars in France. Therefore British drivers don't look after their cars. Or, British roads break cars.
Impeccable logic, as always, from me!!!
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Would it be fair to say that most people would notice cars (broken down or otherwise) that are the same make/model of their current-or previous-car, rather than just any old car?
Perhaps this would tend to skew results of such a survey a bit.
WTM
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PhilW,
Great empirical analysis! Are you an ITN researcher by trade?
Stokie
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Who do they AA and RAC (and others) call out if they break down?
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Hi,
My company Nissan Primera 2.2SVE Turbo D broke down last year. When I put my foot down and the turbo cut in the engine managment would go to limp home mode. Turned out to be a wire which had broken. Nissan RAC came out and fixed it at the road side?
Reading the coments further up I noticed an X type Jag broke down due to coolant pipe comming adrift. Funny this is one of my work colleugues had exactly the same thing happen to his X type?
Cheers
Jlo
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Forgot to mention I saw a broken down Mini one (BMW Type) broken down today. guy was busy refilling the engine coolant with water so guess he over heated.
Cheers
Jlo
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Todays breakdowners as seen by me on my travels were a Ford Escort van, H reg and a Renault Laguna, M reg. Both owners looking thoroughly cheesed off!
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>>but the avensis verso is still made in japan and is based on the old model avensis>>
Isn't the Verso based on the Corolla? Never heard of an Avensis verso or have i missed something?
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There are three types of Verso - Yaris verso, Corolla Verso and the Avensis Verso.
The only decent one out of the three is the corolla verso - the other two are carp.
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Well that proves how little i know about Toyota!
Don't have any dealings with them at all.
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"Great empirical analysis! Are you an ITN researcher by trade?"
Used to be but was headhunted for my superb transport analytical skills and now split my time between Transport for London and Transport 2000.
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There was a Nissan at the side of the M1 southbound on Thursday, something in the Wakefield area. The bonnet was up and someone stood beside it, looking fed up.
None of my Japanese bikes or cars has ever broken down. On BMW bikes I have been recovered twice.
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Coming back from the Cairngorms yesterday, and saw a Volvo S40 in a lay by with a blue nylon rope attached to the front towing eye.
Saw a lot of Peugeots at the roadside not so long ago. Or at least those who made it to the side, because the last one I saw was in the outside lane of one of the exits of Newcastle central motorway. Nearly all (well ok, 2 of 3) were 307s. Haven?t seen a Citroen broken down for a while though?
Also saw a mk 1 Focus on the back of a recovery truck too the week before last.
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My new van at 2 days old went into limp home mode.
Similar to another Nissan, traced to a bad connection - never happened again.
I often see older cars broken down in the South West. Favorite seems to be the fiestas - Mk 3.
Close seconds are under maintained commercial vehicles - my Renault Trafic that stripped a diff is a classic example!
Don't see may Alfa's at the side of the road - or on the road for that matter ;)
H
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On my drive home from work on Friday, I have NEVER seen so many broken down vehicles on the short Thames Valley stretch of M4 (J8/9 to J12).
They were all oldish and probably badly maintained types, one being an old Fiat Panda another a Renault people mover, but I can't remember what the other 3 or so were. I put it down to the hottest May day for 50 years agravating any cooling or lube system weeknesses.
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I agree, but look at it another way ... it's a minor miracle that these cars made it to hard shoulder with the lack of maintenance and money spent on them!
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Anyone on the A66 a couple of weeks ago would have seen my chum's 1997 Discovery chucking out an emulsion of coolant and oil and then then lose drive to the camshaft (belt or chain I know not). He claims to had had it serviced regularly by an independant.
That means 50% of the Discoverys he has owned have broken down.
The car was later recovered on the end of my towrope to his barn near Richmond.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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