Good bad / Jap Cars?

Tim Robbins

Hi,
Was looking to pick up a small second hand car?
A lot of people are telling me to get a jap car. I was looking about and noticed they are certainly a little bit pricer second hand than french cars. Now I was just wondering are all jap cars good or is it a case that Toyota's are more much more reliable than Suziki's?
Also, I am quite tall so is there any small ones to stay away from for that reason?
Cheers

TomMc

You will find that most cars from the East will be more reliable compared with their European counterparts. At least if they are relatively modern. The lesser jap marques may have been a distant second to Toyota many moons ago but since then they have caught on as have the Koreans. Toyota have a reputation bit like VW (of course, something of a myth nowadays) for relability but I would put my faith in a Honda or Subaru even quicker. If you look at the amount of older cars around the place (say micras) compared with Fiats, Opels or the French posse etc you get the picture. Up until a few years ago Renaults, Peugeots, Opels, Fiats had a life span of about 10 years, then they were uneconomical to repair when something major went wrong. Then they were fit for the scrapheap. So I say stick with the Japs (Civic or the like) or else may be a Ford Focus, if you want to go European.

anthony4335

I can't speak for the french cars ,never had one . But I have had Skoda Mitsubishi , ford and lexus. Other than my first car an orion they have all been very good , I did love the Skoda, never let me down and I had it 5 years, the longest I have ever kept a car.

Jonny303

Go Jap and you'll never go back. very worth giving Mazda a look

colm_mcm

small Mazda is likely to be a 121, which is a Fiesta, which isn't Japanese

Jonny303

demio which is Jap, horrible looking car but if its reliable you want...

Guy:Incognito

TomMc wrote: »

You will find that most cars from the East will be more reliable compared with their European counterparts. At least if they are relatively modern. The lesser jap marques may have been a distant second to Toyota many moons ago but since then they have caught on as have the Koreans. Toyota have a reputation bit like VW (of course, something of a myth nowadays) for relability but I would put my faith in a Honda or Subaru even quicker. If you look at the amount of older cars around the place (say micras) compared with Fiats, Opels or the French posse etc you get the picture. Up until a few years ago Renaults, Peugeots, Opels, Fiats had a life span of about 10 years, then they were uneconomical to repair when something major went wrong. Then they were fit for the scrapheap. So I say stick with the Japs (Civic or the like) or else may be a Ford Focus, if you want to go European.

If something major goes in a 10 year old car of any make, it's pretty much uneconomical to repair (does depend what you class as major though) and is pretty much down to how badly the owner wants to keep it on the road rather than scrap it and replace.

YOu;ll see loads of early 90's micras I'd imagine because they werebought by relatively old women and probably only broke 30,000 miles when they moved on to their 2nd or 3rd owners. Dont get me wrong, they are reliable but it's helped by the owners (my mates dad had an early 90's starlet hat died a death about 9 years go, but that was driven)

Jonny303 wrote: »

Go Jap and you'll never go back. very worth giving Mazda a look

Cant say I agree based on my experience. The missus bought a new micra in 1999 and if reliability was you ONLY requiremet (Although she traded i in in 2001 so never really had a chance to be anything but) the maybe. Cant say anything else nice about it. Small, uncomfortable and not nice to drive. I boiught a new clio the following year that was light years ahead for comfort and drive, it's also not given a minutes trouble o this day.

JHMEG

There is a pecking order among the Japanese makers. Usually Nissan at the bottom, which still puts them above every Euro maker bar Porsche and maybe Skoda iirc.

Guy:Incognito

JHMEG wrote: »

maybe Skoda iirc.

Would that not put them below VW and Audi by default hen?

colm_mcm

Audi, SEAT, Skoda, VW seem to have differing reliability, even on non subjective pure reliability surveys.

Green Hornet

Definitely worth going with the Japanese. Preferably Honda or Toyota. You'll pay a little more but theres a reason for that - trouble free motoring. Honda have a little more personality than Toyota and newer models are better equipped but the ride tends to be a little hard.

Whatever you do stay away from Renault. Horrific piles of junk and costly to maintain.

eringobragh

Green Hornet wrote: »

Definitely worth going with the Japanese. Preferably Honda or Toyota. You'll pay a little more but theres a reason for that - trouble free motoring. Honda have a little more personality than Toyota and newer models are better equipped but the ride tends to be a little hard.

Whatever you do stay away from Renault. Horrific piles of junk and costly to maintain.

^ What he said. My mates got micra in bits (bodywork) its a 1990 car and he hasn't started it in a few months went out the other day and it turned without hassle. If he leaves his corsa for 2 weeks it struggles to start:eek:

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

Audi, SEAT, Skoda, VW seem to have differing reliability, even on non subjective pure reliability surveys.

+1
With Skoda near the top (fair play) and VW and Audi at the bottom.

pclancy

Ive had Honda and Nissans and never had any serious bother with either, just normal wear and tear. I had a VW for two years and the turbo gave me nothing but trouble.