Car Buying Horror Stories

Bombbastic22

After reading a thread by Limerick Man recently and having had a couple of very bad experiences buying used cars (both of which I managed to get a refund out of, though it wasn't easy) I have heard nearly as many stories about people having very bad experiences with brand new cars.

So, my question is, has the quality of car manufacture gone to the dogs in an ever increasing bid to reduce costs and maximise profits OR is it all these new fan-dangle electric features that provide convenience but really are somewhat temperamental?

Please share your negative experiences on buying crap cars and whether or not you got a refund or just sold it on.

Grecco

Seen a previous thread on these guys closed but heres my story

About 2 years ago the gearbox went on a jap import previa we had, it had been bomb proof up to that but as it was old and gonna cost 7-800 bucks to fix we decided to buy something newer. So after looking about we decided on a Hyundai trajet. We saw a nice few advertised but decided to have a look at what <snip> had as he has a massive selection. So after seeing his selection we picked out a trajet that looked fresh so
Good oul <snip> himself looks me square in the eye and states "this is a genuine car, I know the lady that owned her previously, its 100% a good car"
So with that and the knowledge of a garage guarantee we decided to buy.
so heres the list of faults and failures we had

Month 1: Car gets hard to start, brought it to the local Mechanic who finds that the Diesel filter is clogged with ****e, on top of which he reckons that the car had Tractor diesel in it !!!! and that it wasn't good for the injectors

Month 2 : Part of the Gearbox failed but was covered by the Guarantee but good oul <snip> tried to get Hyundai to cover it but as the car was over 100000 miles they were having none of it.

Month 4: Car still hard to start then begins to cut out on the road for no reason, engine light now on permanent, Car goes to Hyundai garage, they cant find the problem, I ring Good oul <snip> and he tells me its not his problem
Local mechanic ends up changing the Common Rail injectors ( Costs over 1000 )

Month 11: Car begins its cut out and restart refusal !!! Again the engine light is on so brought to the Hyundai garage to plug in to the computer, they cant find whats wrong with it !!!
A local diesel mechanic changes all the injectors at a cost of over 1400 !!!

Month 16: Car is now due for a NCT so I bring it in, guess what it fails
Front suspension is damaged/botch welded / its lethal!!! The guy in the nct center says its was an accident waiting to happen and asks me what did I do to it/ it must have got a fair bang as there was lots of parts replaced/botched!!!
Like for feck sake the car passed the NCT only the year before up in <snip> from <snip> garage How could it pass????
Rang Good oul <snip> who tried to fob me off but guess what <snip>
I wont be haven it
He`s a crook pure and simple
<snip> dealerships are rubbish as well

Grecco

Grecco wrote: »

..................
Seen a previous thread on these guys closed but heres my story

About 2 years ago the gearbox went on a jap import previa we had, it had been bomb proof up to that but as it was old and gonna cost 7-800 bucks to fix we decided to buy something newer. So after looking about we decided on a Hyundai trajet. We saw a nice few advertised but decided to have a look at what <snip> had as he has a massive selection. So after seeing his selection we picked out a trajet that looked fresh so
Good oul <snip> himself looks me square in the eye and states "this is a genuine car, I know the lady that owned her previously, its 100% a good car"
So with that and the knowledge of a garage guarantee we decided to buy.
so heres the list of faults and failures we had

Month 1: Car gets hard to start, brought it to the local Mechanic who finds that the Diesel filter is clogged with ****e, on top of which he reckons that the car had Tractor diesel in it !!!! and that it wasn't good for the injectors

Month 2 : Part of the Gearbox failed but was covered by the Guarantee but good oul <snip> tried to get Hyundai to cover it but as the car was over 100000 miles they were having none of it.

Month 4: Car still hard to start then begins to cut out on the road for no reason, engine light now on permanent, Car goes to Hyundai garage, they cant find the problem, I ring Good oul <snip> and he tells me its not his problem
Local mechanic ends up changing the Common Rail injectors ( Costs over 1000 )

Month 11: Car begins its cut out and restart refusal !!! Again the engine light is on so brought to the Hyundai garage to plug in to the computer, they cant find whats wrong with it !!!
A local diesel mechanic changes all the injectors at a cost of over 1400 !!!

Month 16: Car is now due for a NCT so I bring it in, guess what it fails
Front suspension is damaged/botch welded / its lethal!!! The guy in the nct center says its was an accident waiting to happen and asks me what did I do to it/ it must have got a fair bang as there was lots of parts replaced/botched!!!
Like for feck sake the car passed the NCT only the year before up in <snip> from <snip> garage How could it pass????
Rang Good oul <snip> who tried to fob me off but guess what <snip>
I wont be haven it
He`s a crook pure and simple
<snip> dealerships are rubbish as well

So local mechanics/diesel specialists who have repeatedly not fixed a starting issue never commented on the state of it being lethal, NCT guy does and so <snip> is a numpty, ok

johnos1984

I can see this thread lasting a long time and I can't believe nobody picked up on the state of the Trajet until it went for an NCT.

Any decent mechanic would of spotted it

MetzgerMeister

I've only had 1 bad motor experience out of 5 so far. It was my 3rd car, a 1999 E46 BMW 318i.

First problem - coolant leaking all the time. I couldn't keep it topped up. I brought it to a local mechanic and left it with him. He charged me €284. Turned out that he didn't solve the problem but said he did. I kept bringing it back to him over 3 months to sort it but he never did.

So I decided to try another mechanic. I dropped it off at his place one sunday night. He rang me at 9:30 the following morning to tell me that the radiator had a huge hole in it. That cost me €600 to sort.

Second problem - front right caliper siezed. €360.

After fixing everything that I knew was wrong with it, I traded it in. A woman from a town near me bought it and was in town one day and I struck up conversation with her. She had it 4 months at this stage and said that she put over €2000 into getting things fixed. That was 4 years ago and she still has it!

EDIT: I didn't buy this from a dealer, it was a private sale. I was however well aware of where I stood should anything go wrong

Kashkai

My first car could have been my last!!

I scraped my pennies together and bought my first car, an Opel kadett in February 1989. Two days later, it became hard to start, especially when hot. Then it broke down daily, usually in traffic. The handling wasn't great even in my fairly ignorant newbie driver opinion as it would wander off to the left all by itself.

I went to tax it only to be told that this car was an insurance write off and was supposed to be scrapped. I brought it to an Opel dealer who put it up on a lift and he started muttering "holy jaysus" and he called his mates over to have a look. Turns out that the car was actually two cars, the front end of one and the back of another welded, very badly, together. The mechanic called me over and he showed me the chassis spot welded. He shook this with his hand and I could see it coming apart. He said a bad pothole would snap the chassis in two. He recommended I leave the car there and not drive it again.

I rang my Dad who called his mate, a Garda, and we brought the car back to the guy I bought it from. Initially he told me to fcuk off but then my dads mate produced his ID, said he could charge your man with selling a car that was not roadworthy and was supposed to be scrapped. This got me my money back.

-Corkie-

Grecco wrote: »

Month 1: Car gets hard to start, brought it to the local Mechanic who finds that the Diesel filter is clogged with ****e, on top of which he reckons that the car had Tractor diesel in it !!!! and that it wasn't good for the injectors

Month 2 : Part of the Gearbox failed but was covered by the Guarantee but good oul <snip> tried to get Hyundai to cover it but as the car was over 100000 miles they were having none of it.

What a load of crap to be posting. How is it the dealers fault that you are using tractor diesel in your car???

The Hyundai Trajet are well known for notorious gearbox trouble. Why do you think it should be covered under warranty with 100K miles.

EPM

Grecco,

I have removed the name of the garage in question due to the libellous nature of the material posted.

Feel free to outline the problems but please try not to name and shame, especially with the serious nature of the problems you outline as it could open up a big can of worms for both yourself and boards.

Thread re-opened after editing.

Kashkai

I don't think he put tractor diesel in it. It appears the dirty fuel was used in the past. As for buying used MPVs, it's a case of buyer beware as these cars are used for hauling kids on short trips to and from schools, friends etc where the interiors get a lot of abuse. They are mostly driven by women who don't generally look after them either (the cars!). I basing this on first hand experience with women I know who drive MPVs. My sister in law has a Trajet and it's falling to pieces, literally. My wifes MPV is a pig sty and it never gets a clean. I gave up trying to keep it as clean as my own car.

L-M

Saab 93 - 14 miles - Engine gone

99 Golf - 120 odd miles - Timing belt snapped

That'd be about it!

TrailerBob

Bought a 01 diesel Passat from an indy dealer near Tallaght about 6 years ago. Never again. It was a lovely car, English import, sports suspension from new, all the toys...

3 days in, the brakes seize up on the road, bring it back, servo is dead - replaced.
1week later, driving over wicklow gap, power steering goes, with abs and aircon, turns out aluminium housing for all the belt pulleys cracked and broke -replaced.
3 weeks later - parked at work and notice a trickle of oil running from under car, get it home and up on ramps, sump was cracked and badly bodged up to keep her going - he'd to get VW to replace it.

After that it was grand but only I hounded and threatened the dealer I'd have been left to my own devices.

Bought my jeep from a main dealer.... Very happy

JimmyCrackCorn

Yes. The only bad car i bought was from an importer.

Moral of the story never trust a car dealer as even though your protected by law its a real pain to have to threaten litigation.

cadaliac

I have bought a bad car but not a dodgy car.
There is a big difference.

Kashkai

cadaliac wrote: »

I have bought a bad car but not a dodgy car.
There is a big difference.

Yes there s.

My last Megane's electric window gave me a lot of bother so that was a "bad car". My Opel Kadett' s chassis could have snapped in two and killed me so that was a "dodgy car".

Pretty black and white to me.

murphym7

My first car was a Meganne - dealer wanted 2,600 for it. He said he would let me have it for 1,400 if I signed a no guarantee waiver.

Young + Stupid = 1 Signed waiver.

Needless to say, the car was a heap. I snapped a clutch cable after a few weeks, turns out the metal guide that the cable runs through was snapped off, botch job took the shape of a piece of old scrap metal welded the engine, with a channel cut out by a hacksaw.

And I am considering getting into Bangernomics!:)

Grecco

-Corkie- wrote: »

What a load of crap to be posting. How is it the dealers fault that you are using tractor diesel in your car???

The Hyundai Trajet are well known for notorious gearbox trouble. Why do you think it should be covered under warranty with 100K miles.

I never said that it should be covered by the warranty it was the dealer who thought it should instead of covering it with his warranty.

The car was driven with tractor diesel before We got it.
None of the local mechanics spotted the underside of the car as they weren't putting it up on a lift to fix the engine. But the Hyundai dealership did but they never said anything but that could be due to the fact that they only seemed to have teenagers and foreigners as mechanics.

pcardin

Grecco wrote: »

...they never said anything but that could be due to the fact that they only seemed to have teenagers and foreigners as mechanics.

cut this bsh1t out. :mad:

EPM

pcardin wrote: »

cut this bsh1t out. :mad:

Report the post:)

Grecco wrote: »

I never said that it should be covered by the warranty it was the dealer who thought it should instead of covering it with his warranty.

The car was driven with tractor diesel before We got it.
None of the local mechanics spotted the underside of the car as they weren't putting it up on a lift to fix the engine. But the Hyundai dealership did but they never said anything but that could be due to the fact that they only seemed to have teenagers and foreigners as mechanics.

Grecco, the nationality of the mechanics has nothing to do with it. Just leave that out of it please.

Also, it seems like the dealer tried to get it under goodwill from Hyundai. That would be normal enough. I have had parts replaced under goodwill in the past despite the car being out of warranty and bought from a dealer that had a different franchise. My father even had a Ford clutch replaced under goodwill when the car was bought from a Skoda dealer.

bijapos

Grecco wrote: »

The car was driven with tractor diesel before We got it.
None of the local mechanics spotted the underside of the car as they weren't putting it up on a lift to fix the engine. But the Hyundai dealership did but they never said anything but that could be due to the fact that they only seemed to have teenagers and foreigners as mechanics.

Its quite possible the mechanics saw the problem, told the sales staff/manager and they decided to chance it. No skin off the mechanics nose to tell the boss if they see a problem. Its up to the manager to decide what to do then.

Having said that the blocked or off-colour filter should have been spotted or at least changed as part of a major service or pre sale inspection. This was seemingly neglected by either the sales or mechanics personnel.

Bombbastic22

JimmyCrackCorn wrote: »

Yes. The only bad car i bought was from an importer.

Moral of the story never trust a car dealer as even though your protected by law its a real pain to have to threaten litigation.

You may as well be offering them an ice cream as threatening litigation.

They are not bothered.

Reloc8

Not necessarily.

My partner bought a lemon. The nice man who sold it to her refunded all her money plus legal costs, admittedly some 6 months later, a week prior to the court hearing.

It depends on how you go about it.

That said, I agree that the only way forward when not buying new is either bangernomics, or full independent inspection by a mechanic who you either trust or is good for it if they miss something (AA/motorcheck type).

stealthyspeeder

I have bought an RS6 in Febuary, since then it has needed a full service, gearbox rebuild, coolant pipes leaking and replaced, ATF pipes and an atf oil intercooler rebuild.

car has been off the road longer than its been on the road since i got it, and cost me thousands. Its still off the road at the mo!

Its main problem with it is that when it goes, its so good that I forget about all that ****, forgive it, pump money at it instead of selling it!

Agricola

Bought a Mitsubishi Carisma which broke down on the road 2 weeks after the 3 mth warranty had elapsed. Brought it back to the dealer and they replaced the fuel pump at no cost.

Bought a 318i with 2 shot rear bearings from a private seller. 300 quid to a mechanic 2 weeks after buying.
Recently bought another 318 with 2 completely burned out front brake calipers. I knew what I was getting into buying it, and spent around 300 on replacements which I fit myself. Car is now going grand.

So no major mechanical failures for me so far, touch wood.

Wicklowrider

Remember the Opel Kadette Coupe, round the in late '70's.

I bought a 2nd hand absolutely stunning one in mid '80's.
Everything looked right and a friend checked it over and said it was a good car.
On one particular local bend there was distinct knock. I couldn't find out where it came from and it only ever happened on the one bend.
I gave it to a Mechanic to check over. He told me that not only was it two separate cars welded together but that they weren't even the same model !
Won't go into hows and whys but I got my money back. Two years later there was a two page article about the garage I bought it from and how they'd plead guilty to a number of charges. People had been robbed a lot more than me.
Meantime I was driving towards Naas on the dual carriageway when car passes me at speed. Yep, it was the Kadette. I chased him and tried to get him to pullover, thinking I'd maybe save someones life but the Kadette wasn't pulling over...

Bombbastic22

Reloc8 wrote: »

Not necessarily.

My partner bought a lemon. The nice man who sold it to her refunded all her money plus legal costs, admittedly some 6 months later, a week prior to the court hearing.

It depends on how you go about it.

That said, I agree that the only way forward when not buying new is either bangernomics, or full independent inspection by a mechanic who you either trust or is good for it if they miss something (AA/motorcheck type).

7
Well, in my experience solicitors were not interested and, couldn't get any specific diagnostics from anywhere. I know of cases that spent years in court for nothing - not to mention the stress. Six months was a good result for you - still though - too long and too much hassle.

lomb

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

I have bought an RS6 in Febuary, since then it has needed a full service, gearbox rebuild, coolant pipes leaking and replaced, ATF pipes and an atf oil intercooler rebuild.

car has been off the road longer than its been on the road since i got it, and cost me thousands. Its still off the road at the mo!

Its main problem with it is that when it goes, its so good that I forget about all that ****, forgive it, pump money at it instead of selling it!

Modern VAGs are a problem waiting to happen. I wouldnt touch a DSG , Stronic, Multitronic or any VAG automatic gearbox. Most legitimate dealers in the UK wont either as the words out they are dirt. Electronic Power steering is the other problem area on them.

You should get a Jag XJR , a supercharged v8 with a Merc Automatic , they dont give any real trouble.

Nonoperational

lomb wrote: »

Modern VAGs are a problem waiting to happen. I wouldnt touch a DSG , Stronic, Multitronic or any VAG automatic gearbox. Most legitimate dealers in the UK wont either as the words out they are dirt. Electronic Power steering is the other problem area on them.

You should get a Jag XJR , a supercharged v8 with a Merc Automatic , they dont give any real trouble.

That's a huge generalisation I must say...

David09

My boss was once driving his jeep on a country lane when he came to a bend. The road was muddy and he skidded into the side of a 3 year old diesel Vectra.
Since he was totally to blame, coupled with the fact he was looking to sell the jeep and buy a car, he offered the pre-accident value for yer mans car and bought it.

Then the trouble began.
A few days after getting the car repaired, he was driving down the same lane, in the same place, but in the opposite direction when his neighbour ploughed her Yaris into the side of the Vectra which has just been repaired. They battled it out and refused to repair his car and he'd to cough up again for it.
Then the head gasket blew and was repaired. It blew again and the entire engine had to be replaced.
After this it was constant visits to the garage for starter motors, alternators, clutch slave cylinder, turbocharger....
Loads of components failed on it in repetition and it was hardly a fortnight out of the garage before it was back in for something else.
The last incident to happen it was when it failed to start 150 miles from home where he had been working.
He bought a new car and passed the vectra to his wife who drove much lower miles than he did.
Alas the problems continued with breakdowns and failures and she was stuck on the side of the road many times that they had to give up and sell it for scrap.
A few thousand euro worth of parts and labour had been spent on the car and the only reason they didn't bail out earlier was the fact they had spent more on the car than it was worth.
Perhaps it was just an unlucky car that was made on a Friday evening, but it was definitely a bad car aswell as a dodgy one.

dgt

A certain car dealership (I wont mention names) outside ashbourne (since closed down for selling clocked cars) sold my dad his current daily driver over 3 years ago. Was a cheap car as it was being used as a courtesy car when customers cars were being fixed or serviced. The seller told us that the hg, timing belt and other belts were done. An nct was an extra €200 (make your own minds up :rolleyes:)And as we are somewhat specialised in the particular car we decided no job was out of the question, snapping the car up the next day

Timing belt done? Belt yes. Tensioner fell to bits when disturbed :eek: not even used the tools to do the job, marks on the head, block and timing advanced

NCT for an extra €200? We worked out to the everyday man on the street at least €600 was needed, rotten tyres broken lights all round and faulty lock units all needed replacing. Not to worry we had them all anyway

Final nail in the coffin: 6 months later its Christmas day. The car never had the same power as the other ones we drove. Then, BANG! And lots of smoke. Staggered home and stuck in a new engine and box the next day. Took the engine apart. HG done? Ha! And as a result of neglect, the bottom end is destroyed too ie the shells need replacing and theres a posibility the oil squirters may be blocked :rolleyes:

Since the engine swap weve never looked back and the miles have racked up quickly and flawlessly

Lesson from that: Never going to a garage for a car ever again

Syllabus

surely if people just brought someone with them when buying the car that knew how to check a car there would be no need for this thread..........

Bombbastic22

Syllabus wrote: »

surely if people just brought someone with them when buying the car that knew how to check a car there would be no need for this thread..........

If all garages and everyone else were adherent to the sale of goods and supply of services act and ensured cars were roadworthy and the NCT provided assurance that a car was sound (which people like me used to believe) - there would be no need to bring someone with you.

EPM

gpf101 wrote: »

That's a huge generalisation I must say...

In my experience it's not too far from the truth. My last car, a Seat Leon, needed some expensive repairs at low mileage. Air Con compressor at 30k km and a gearbox at 100k km.

My current Octavia has been a complete and utter disaster, to the point where I dipise the sight of thing.

Bought it the end of Jan with 38k km. 09 Octavia vRS diesel.

@ 44k km the DPF clogged, refused to regenerate and as a result required replacment. This is despite me using thecar for long distance driving for the 6k km before this point which should have been more than enough to regenerate it. This meant going into limp mode.

@ 55k km the Air Con compressor gave up the ghost. Around this time I also noticed a knocking from the steering. Upper shock mounts replaced.

@ 56k km the aux belt failed. Car died as the battery wasnt getting charged.

@ 58k km I noticed a knocking the knocking back again in the steering. Back to garage for a nosey. Heat shield apparantly. The noise still remains but I decided to wait until the next service as by this point there was enough time spent travelling to and from the garage and in other cars for a while.

@ 65k km the DPF light came on again leaving work one evening. Shouldnt have happened after a long drive to get there that morning. Took me 2 hours to get the car back to the dealer (usually an hour and a bit spin from where I was).

Currently on 67k km and due a service plus the sorting out of the slight knock in the steering at low speeds. Not really what it expected of a new-ish car.

So in under 30k km the car has needed all that. I have had the car 6 months, it's been off the road a month alone for repairs. And I do 90% motorway driving so it's not as if it's been worked too har either.

Unlimited mileage warranty and quick sale when it's up FTW:D

Bombbastic22

EPM wrote: »

In my experience it's not too far from the truth. My last car, a Seat Leon, needed some expensive repairs at low mileage. Air Con compressor at 30k km and a gearbox at 100k km.

My current Octavia has been a complete and utter disaster, to the point where I dipise the sight of thing.

Bought it the end of Jan with 38k km. 09 Octavia vRS diesel.

Eh, would you not be wanting a refund after all that hassle and crap?

I bet I know where you bought that

I would not personally feel good about selling on a problematic car like that.

Great to hear someone else had problems with Skoda's. I had two and they were rubbish - and didn't even have much mileage...mind you, it transpired one of them had been crashed.....

EPM

Bombbastic22 wrote: »

Eh, would you not be wanting a refund after all that hassle and crap?

I bet I know where you bought that

I would not personally feel good about selling on a problematic car like that.

Great to hear someone else had problems with Skoda's. I had two and they were rubbish - and didn't even have much mileage...mind you, it transpired one of them had been crashed.....

PM me if you know something;)

I had it for sale but personally couldn't sell it when I knew it wasn't 100%. It will probably be fine after the knocks sorted and to be fair the garage has gone above and beyond what's required on this too.

Regarding a refund, I'm doing a lot more mileage than I originally envisaged which complicates matters. And for the money I won't get a similar spec/condition/age car.

Bombbastic22

EPM wrote: »

PM me if you know something;)

I had it for sale but personally couldn't sell it when I knew it wasn't 100%. It will probably be fine after the knocks sorted and to be fair the garage has gone above and beyond what's required on this too.

Regarding a refund, I'm doing a lot more mileage than I originally envisaged which complicates matters. And for the money I won't get a similar spec/condition/age car.

Some cars seem to be like that, fix one thing and something else goes. It seems a lot of new cars I've heard about from the auld VW gang are not too good. Seems there name isn't what it used to be.

I guess it's sound that they fix it, but should a car of that age and mileage need that much fixing?

I dunno, that would wreck my head.

EPM

Bombbastic22 wrote: »

Some cars seem to be like that, fix one thing and something else goes. It seems a lot of new cars I've heard about from the auld VW gang are not too good. Seems there name isn't what it used to be.

I guess it's sound that they fix it, but should a car of that age and mileage need that much fixing?

I dunno, that would wreck my head.

No way should it need it. Makes a scary longterm ownership proposition. Have an unlimited mileage warranty so fingers it's more an inconvenience at the moment. The failures have been the common ones for that particular car as it happens so while it's nice to have them out of the way I'm stunned that they still happen given the publicity some of them have received.

gs300

My horror story was about 18 months ago.

I had saved up as all I had for about a 3 years and decided to get myself a newish car, it would have been my first car I was 19 at the time.

Any way seen a Seat Leon 2008 sport it had it all sun roof sport seats leather steering wheel the works I loved it at first sight. Any way took it for a test drive and felt great, dealer admitted thee was a tappet noise on startup for about 2 sec but said it was due a full service and it would be done before I got it, so went ahead 10k and bought it.

Collected the car the car 2 weeks later because of the location of the dealer. Started to drive it and it was great then a few hours later the tappet noise came back. Asked them to look at and after all the running about they agreed.

After a week they said they didn't know what was wrong so they sent it to a Seat dealer. So after another 2 weeks I got a phone call saying that the small end had gone in the engine and it needed to get a brand new engine on a 2008 car.

It then took another 3 weeks to get my money back from the dealer after many heated arguments.

Bombbastic22

gs300 wrote: »

My horror story was about 18 months ago.

I had saved up as all I had for about a 3 years and decided to get myself a newish car, it would have been my first car I was 19 at the time.

Any way seen a Seat Leon 2008 sport it had it all sun roof sport seats leather steering wheel the works I loved it at first sight. Any way took it for a test drive and felt great, dealer admitted thee was a tappet noise on startup for about 2 sec but said it was due a full service and it would be done before I got it, so went ahead 10k and bought it.

Collected the car the car 2 weeks later because of the location of the dealer. Started to drive it and it was great then a few hours later the tappet noise came back. Asked them to look at and after all the running about they agreed.

After a week they said they didn't know what was wrong so they sent it to a Seat dealer. So after another 2 weeks I got a phone call saying that the small end had gone in the engine and it needed to get a brand new engine on a 2008 car.

It then took another 3 weeks to get my money back from the dealer after many heated arguments.

Good result just the same! You must be a rather assertive fellow

gs300

Yep, ha

19 first car, saving for years, and passing my full test.

Last thing I wanted was to be waiting ha so wanted to be back on the road asap

fryup

yes as a young greenhorn i bought a lemon

it was a Fiat Uno, bought it off a culchie "tis mighty on the petrol"

everything that could go wrong did go wrong

apart from it breaking down every forthnight..

• the indicators lit up like a xmas tree
  
• wiper motor went
  
• radio went
  
• even the horn went:rolleyes:

greatest heap of sh*t ever

guyfo

Well in fairness you did buy an old fiat! I don't really think u bought a lemon sure weren't they all like that from new! Especially the electrics!

So far I've been fairly lucky on my second car now and all I've had to replace are a set of disks and some suspension bushings. And people say e46 3 series are ****e!

Bombbastic22

fryup wrote: »

yes as a young greenhorn i bought a lemon

it was a Fiat Uno, bought it off a culchie "tis mighty on the petrol"

everything that could go wrong did go wrong

apart from it breaking down every forthnight..

• the indicators lit up like a xmas tree
• wiper motor went
• radio went
• even the horn went:rolleyes:

greatest heap of sh*t ever

Lol, my first car was a FIAT and same thing. Except I was told it ran on air

It wasn't quite so economical as all that though, lol.

Only positives were that I didn't care about banging it off stuff and you learn quite a bit about problems cars have.

JimmyCrackCorn

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Yes there s.

My last Megane's electric window gave me a lot of bother so that was a "bad car". My Opel Kadett' s chassis could have snapped in two and killed me so that was a "dodgy car".

Pretty black and white to me.

97 Megane bought while unemployed from an uncle in law for 500 quid. Fresh nct and owned by a granny (my arse it was I found out later)

Lasted about 6 months if even that.

1. Wheel bearing
2. Rattly cat
3. Ghosting indicators
4. Random battery not charging or sticking relay
5. Random overheating when fan decided not to come on sometimes

I couldn't fix it quick enough as something else would break. I had a multimeter hard-wired watching the battery at one stage. :rolleyes:


So I came up with a plan as I got a new job. Bought 4 good tyres and drove the absolute **** out of it everywhere until I heard the timing belt squeal.

I then drove the **** out of it some more till one day it finally let go. I pushed it into an estate and rang recovery to scrap it.

Stevie Dakota

Years back make the mistake of buying a black car on a dark rainy night. It looked like new until the sun came up, every panel was dinged or badly repainted, It was a Fiat Punto too, insanity.

Cuddlesworth

fryup wrote: »

yes as a young greenhorn i bought a lemon

it was a Fiat Uno, bought it off a culchie "tis mighty on the petrol"

everything that could go wrong did go wrong

apart from it breaking down every forthnight..

• the indicators lit up like a xmas tree
  
• wiper motor went
  
• radio went
  
• even the horn went:rolleyes:

greatest heap of sh*t ever

Exact same thing on a 00 Punto. If the engine was on it would have to be a constant 4k plus rev's to keep it alive. If the engine wasn't on I would have to walk away and come back in a couple of hours. Hated that thing.

conzy

Another first car disaster story..

Saw a nice 1.9dci Laguna for sale in Clare, it was an english import so it had the top spec 17" alloys leather seats etc etc..

The main problem was after travelling for 3 hours with money in my pocket to buy my FIRST car I would have bought it in almost any condition and most people would i think

There were some minor problems like the clutch pedal not returning fully and scratched alloys but I took it for a spin and it was very smooth and no smoke or anything.

Had it home a few days and discovered oil on the driveway, had a closer look and saw lots of oil around the intake manifold, brought it to a mechanic and he said the turbo was failing. Looked online then and found it was a common problem and is probably one of the most notorious heaps of ****e of a car you can buy. How come its only after you buy it you find out these things?

Anyway after spending 1800 on it It wasn't worth spending another 1000 for a reconditioned turbo so i just decided to stay driving it until it fell apart. I got another few weeks out of it until the gearbox / DMF failed on the N7 I had just put two new tyres on it and had to get the alloy welded and straightened and everything

Eventually sold it on DoneDeal as "Needs Turbo / GearBox" and I got 650 for it.. Saw it re advertised on DoneDeal then a few weeks later and felt sorry for whoever was going to buy it, but who knows maybe the guy did a wonderful job :P

Anyway I chalk the whole thing up as one of the stupidest things I have done. Looking back on it, it was such a heap of **** and I should have fled back to Kilkenny the second I saw the car

Bombbastic22

conzymaher wrote: »

Another first car disaster story..

mechanic and he said the turbo was failing. Looked online then and found it was a common problem and is probably one of the most notorious heaps of ****e of a car you can buy. How come its only after you buy it you find out these things?
sorry for whoever was going to buy it, but who knows maybe the guy did a wonderful job :P

Anyway I chalk the whole thing up as one of the stupidest things I have done. Looking back on it, it was such a heap of **** and I should have fled back to Kilkenny the second I saw the car

Bill Cullen wouldn't like to hear you say that! He's made his fortune on these lovely cars ;-)

Funny, one is blinded very easily when buying a one's first car...... and second and third in my case....lol....the second one was great though.....


Love is blind and driving the f***** for a week is an eye opener! lol

jumbone

conzymaher wrote: »

Another first car disaster story..

Saw a nice 1.9dci Laguna for sale in Clare, it was an english import so it had the top spec 17" alloys leather seats etc etc..

Bombbastic22 wrote: »

Bill Cullen wouldn't like to hear you say that! He's made his fortune on these lovely cars ;-)

Bill didn't make a penny on this one...

Yawlboy

bought a brand new Land Rover Discovery 3 in 07 - it broke down 17 times in 2 1/2 years, then the dealer went bust..... Traded it at a huge loss :mad: before the warranty expired.

Bombbastic22

Yawlboy wrote: »

bought a brand new Land Rover Discovery 3 in 07 - it broke down 17 times in 2 1/2 years, then the dealer went bust..... Traded it at a huge loss :mad: before the warranty expired.

Woah, that's a lot of breakdowns! Cars are money suckers!!