Opinions/experiences with French cars

canhefixit

Just looking to see what peop think of the say 05 onwards or there abouts French cars

I myself would stay clear from experience of the pre 05 cars as man I had some bother and alot of peop I know never went French again, even when looking up online for help the sheer amount of people with the same problems was crazy

My last experience was a 307 diesel 2l rapier and hands down the worst car I've ever had and only for me doing 90% of the repairs I would of been out a fortune on mechanic bills

Maybe the newer model are a lot better? The 1.6 turbo engine that is used in a lot of the cars and vans now can be every costly if not maintained correctly, but are the more modern ones more reliable? Better build quality etc?

fancy pigeon

What pre 05 cars

canhefixit

fancy pigeon wrote: »

What pre 05 cars

Pre 05 was just to give a idea of the age of models I'm on about plus I haven't had a French car since then so just looking for opinions on that era and beyond

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Had an 05 kangoo van, the 1.5 DCI engine goes into a lot of the post 05 diesel French cars and it's a truly rotten engine, the electrics are even worse. From the moment I picked the kangoo up there was always at least one electrical fault with it. One day I'd have no lights, the next my dash board wouldn't work, the next the central locking would go haywire. I wouldn't take another if I got it for free.

Toyotafanboi

I will always remember 2005 as the year that France announced that they were going to start building "good cars".

Dia1988

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I will always remember 2005 as the year that France announced that they were going to start building "good cars".

They were still making this!

ION08

406 1.9 TDI (not HDI) .. absolutely Bomb proof.

galljga1

My father switched from VW to Renault decades ago and bought a Renault 6: the worst car he ever had.
I bought a Renault Laguna in 2003: worst car I ever had.

jimgoose

We've got a 1999 Citroen Xsara with the 1360cc TU3JP engine, and it's hard as nails. Great little bus.

endacl

galljga1 wrote: »

My father switched from VW to Renault decades ago and bought a Renault 6: the worst car he ever had.
I bought a Renault Laguna in 2003: worst car I ever had.

Those who do not learn from history...

:

jimgoose

galljga1 wrote: »

My father switched from VW to Renault decades ago and bought a Renault 6: the worst car he ever had.
I bought a Renault Laguna in 2003: worst car I ever had.

My father used to say, if you've an ass, what'll you have only an ass-foal! :pac::pac::pac:

_Brian

We had a R18TD from new in '83, mechanically it was great but the electrics were akin to a scalectrics set.

I had a diesel R19 for a few years. Was a great car. Comfortable and economical/ reliable.

We had a Citroen C4GP for 4 years, nice car, not much trouble other than dual mass flywheel.

Some say all French cars are bad but my experience was fine. Depreciation is a problem if your buying new.

seagull

I had 12 years of hassle free driving from a 1999 Peugeot 306.

jimgoose

seagull wrote: »

I had 12 years of hassle free driving from a 1999 Peugeot 306.

Was that the 1.4 by any chance? They're a cracking little engine, them.

somebody_else

He he

I have a history with french cars.

First one Renault Scenic from 1998, electric problems all the time, broken belt 20k km before it was due to replacement.

Renault Clio 2000(ish) rented car - broken down 2h after I took it from rental company.
Renault Laguna 2 - 2000(ish) rented card - when we started clutch pedal went down and stay like that. (rented Open astra at the end - two weeks of just driving and pouring petrol in it).

Then purchased another Clio - 1996 (150 euros) - timing belt failed on my way to work after couple of months (was replaced just before I purchased car).
Got the same Clio with good engine but other faults - made one from two and sold it.
Two Renault Meganes from 1999 - one by one (second one was for 100 euros) electric issues - mostly with immobilizer.

After all that I will never ever buy anything french.

Tom

jimgoose

somebody_else wrote: »

...

Renault Scenic...

Renault Clio...

Renault Laguna 2...

Clio - 1996...

Two Renault Meganes...

...

Hmm. Yes, I think I see the problem. Y'see, Renaults are built in 1960's era factories with mud floors by pissed-off Algerians. Citroens and Peugeots on the other hand are completely different - they're built in 1960's era factories with mud floors by pissed-off farmers. The electrics are every bit as mental, but they tend to be fairly solid.

granturismo

2008 C4 Picasso wouldnt start about 1 week after purchasing from new - the nut under the electric brake fluid sump (I think) was fully tightened.

A few months later the switch to open the boot failed. Had to be replaced.

One of the back doors wouldnt close - had to tie both internal door handles together with rope. Electrical fault and was fixed under warranty.

I wouldnt buy Citroen again which is a pity because it was one of the most comfortable driving positions for me anyway. I also liked the dash layout.

AMKC

The parents bought a brand new Megane Classic in 1997. It was a great car for a year no problems at all. Then the exhaust fell off and had to be fixed the immobilliser started to give trouble and the remote locking too. It stalled a few times too. Otherwise it was not that bad really. They changed for a Skoda Octavia great car. An Ant ended up buying the Megane and it was going good for her untill her dog got to the wiring loom of the car and pulled them all out. After that it was the scrapyard for it. The wiring loom was a right mess.

seagull

jimgoose wrote: »

Was that the 1.4 by any chance? They're a cracking little engine, them.

It was indeed.

selectamatic

It is inaccurate to look at cars by country of origin when dealing with reliability, it has to be make and model specific. there are many french cars that are pretty dam good and reliable too. I would actually say pre 05 is where the most reliable little gems are to be found as modern cars have more electrics and this has forever been the biggest weakness associated with french cars. As said and dturbo peugeot or citreon will be solid 306, 406 405 xsara etc.. also many small french petrol cars are supper little things for their size and value. saxo's 106's 306's especially the 16v performance models are super fun, 1.6 gti 106 or saxo vts, 205gti is already a beloved classic! we had a straight diesel 1.9 renault extra ex post office van as a farm run about in the 90's and it never missed a beat also had a neighbor with a 106 1.5d van and it was a super run about and ran on the smell of diesel. so to brand them all as unreliable simply doesn't make sense the germans and japs have produced their fair share of lemons too I would say however that modern renaults do have their faults but I like to judge a car I'm buying by its actual condition and service history and known faults associated with the particular model, rather than the badge on the bonnet.

Red Kev

Renault Modus , Jan 05, 251,000km. It's a 1.4 Dynamique which means it has most extras so loads of electrics. Been in the family over 4 years, we got it at 165,000km.

Electric steering replaced at 200,000km.

Water pump and heat gasket done at 220,000km.

Ball joint and tie rod end at 240,000km. (wear and tear really)

That's it apart from usual serviceables such as spark plugs etc. Never broke down apart from the gasket and pump, never failed to start.

The car is driven on rough roads in rural Roscommon, has a tow bar for a small trailer. It has a hard life tbh but is well looked after with regular oil changes, put 4 new Dunlops on it about 8 weeks ago.

I honestly can't fault it at all.

Tzardine

I had a 2005 Renault Megane as a company car for a while and it was hilarious the amount of issues that it developed. To name a few ,

It drank oil.

The windows were possessed. I would often park it and when I returned all the windows would be down and would not come back up.

Speedo would come and go as it pleased. Made driving past go safe vans a fun time.

The seat broke and would not push back.

My favorite though was the headlamp bulbs. They would blow constantly. And when Pierre designed it he decided that in order to change the bulb you would have to take off the wheel and the wheel arch trim to get at it.

I would never spend my money on a French car. I would not even take another one as a company car. Not worth the grief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXCZ2v-nIF4

Guy:Incognito

somebody_else wrote: »

After all that I will never ever buy anything french.

Tom

Maybe you should stop buying cars that are going for less than scrap value?

HandsomeDan

Tard wrote: »

Blah blah blah...

My favorite though was the headlamp bulbs. They would blow constantly. And when Pierre designed it he decided that in order to change the bulb you would have to take off the wheel and the wheel arch trim to get at it.

I would never spend my money on a French car. I would not even take another one as a company car. Not worth the grief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-CxCUZsDHc

That video has been debunked as bs a while now. To change the bulb you just need to lock steering.

French cars consistantly beat german for reliability in the two big european breakdown surveys, Warranty Direct & German ADAC. So make of that what you will.

slimjimmc

Tzardine wrote: »

And when Pierre designed it he decided that in order to change the bulb you would have to take off the wheel and the wheel arch trim to get at it.
[Links to 5th gear revelation]

I always laugh at that 5th Gear clip. Bulbs on that Megane can be changed in less than 10 minutes. It's fumbly and awkward and you're working by feel most of the time but no wheels off, no tools required. Doesn't reflect well on poor auld Stevie.

Tzardine

HandsomeDan wrote: »

French cars consistantly beat german for reliability in the two big european breakdown surveys, Warranty Direct & German ADAC. So make of that what you will.

That will be Open bringing down the Germans no doubt.

Red Kev

HandsomeDan wrote: »

That video has been debunked as bs a while now. To change the bulb you just need to lock steering.

French cars consistantly beat german for reliability in the two big european breakdown surveys, Warranty Direct & German ADAC. So make of that what you will.

I think you might be wrong on that. ADAC stats for breakdowns are here:

https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/unfall-schaeden-und-panne/pannenstatistik/pannenstatistik_detailergebnisse_2014/pannenstatistik_untere_mittelklasse.aspx


TUV (NCT) stats are here:

http://www.tuv.com/media/01_presse_2/all_languages_pressemeldungen/TUeV_Report_2013_Zahlen.pdf


The only consitent there are that Japanese cars are top of the league, Toyota by some distance the most reliable despite all the negative press. The French still have reliability issues.

CIP4

I have a 2011 Megane and I couldn't say anything against its reliability. Granted it needed a front wheel bearing recently but they go on all cars. 125k km on it I'm actually quite confident in its reliability. Everything in it electrical works anyway.

We had a high mileage 2007 one again couldn't fault it. We had a 2004 Megane and its electrics were a disaster but there was 150k miles on it. Only kept that one for a year.

I don't think French cars are as bad as they once were electrical issues wise. They have their issues so does every other car on the road.

slimjimmc

My Meg II has had the famed window regulator failures caused by moisture inside the German made Temic module. A warm radiator & a dose of WD40 seems to have sorted that out, no recurrence in last few years. Replaced pencil coils twice in 10 years, cheap consumable, easy to replace. No discernable oil usage either @ 275,000km.

Guy:Incognito

ION08 wrote: »

406 1.9 TDI (not HDI) .. absolutely Bomb proof.

Presumably you mean the XUD engined ones as there wasnt a VW engine in a 406:)

selectamatic

I'd imagine that's what he meant alright. think they could have been badged td on some models. Most refer to them as dturbo's. Great yokes many a one has had the pump screw'd and driven hard and took there abuse well! There was a yellow 306 dturbo up around the midlands that was genuinely quick had an upgraded pump and turbo along with a big fook off intercooler. As far as i remember it was running around the 160-170bhp mark and was a torquey lil thing used to put it up to the usual dohc vtec brigade :pac:. Agri-spec Ftw

ianobrien

To say all French cars are bad is like saying that all Italian wine is bad due to one bad bottle.

One of the best cars I had was a Citroen AX GT. Yes it had its foibles but that was both due to age and previous owners. The only time I got stranded was a dead coil that was over 20 years old. I should never have sold that car.

Nekarsulm

If I didn't like a fellow, I'd advise him to buy a Citroën.

I had a Xantia for two years, and spent about 2000 punts on repairs in that time. I almost believed the garage was sabotaging it to drum up business. Disaster of a thing.
Comfy mind.

Celly Smunt

Sometimes they give you a free multimeter with french cars.

I've had a few lagunas and have always found them just OK, they're comfortable and I've never had any mechanical issues with them (engine wise), but stuff like clocks, windows, heaters have all given me hassle. Not expensive repairs really once you know your way around a soldering iron and a few little motors etc.

I can see how they can frustrate your average owner and can rack up bills if you are entirely reliant on a mechanic, but that comfort mmmmm.

slimjimmc

Nekarsulm wrote: »

If I didn't like a fellow, I'd advise him to buy a Citroën.

I had a Xantia for two years, and spent about 2000 punts on repairs in that time. I almost believed the garage was sabotaging it to drum up business. Disaster of a thing.
Comfy mind.

You must have got one that was badly abused, because your experience is so far from my experience and a few others I know. For us the Xantia was/is bullet-proof (I know a few still knocking around).

Lord Riverside

canhefixit wrote: »

Just looking to see what peop think of the say 05 onwards or there abouts French cars

I myself would stay clear from experience of the pre 05 cars as man I had some bother and alot of peop I know never went French again, even when looking up online for help the sheer amount of people with the same problems was crazy

My last experience was a 307 diesel 2l rapier and hands down the worst car I've ever had and only for me doing 90% of the repairs I would of been out a fortune on mechanic bills

Maybe the newer model are a lot better? The 1.6 turbo engine that is used in a lot of the cars and vans now can be every costly if not maintained correctly, but are the more modern ones more reliable? Better build quality etc?

This is a bit like asking what is peoples opinion of red cars or blue cars, are they reliable ?
Or what's your opinion of Irish people or English people, are they reliable ? It's a worthless exercise in categorisation.

The notion of a cars 'nationality' is a poor guide to do by. Make is not much better. Some 'French' cars are excellent, some are not. Some 'German' cars are excellent, some are not. Some 'Japanese' cars are excellent, some are not. Even if it was a guide, cars are also rarely manufactured and assembled in the parent country of the manufacture anymore, and even if they are, most of their components are almost certainly not.

A much better guide to what you can expect is not nationality or make, but model. This is true even more so today, as so many manufactures now obtain the vast bulk of their constituent components from a common range of sub suppliers rather than manufacture everything in house.

The question you should really be asking is whether a particular model is known to be generally reliable or unreliable, and what issues to watch out for on that particular model. All models have weaknesses as well as strengths.

BeatBoxing Blowfish

One of the best and worst cars we had when I was young was a citroen XM 2.1TD
Best - Mechanically bulletproof.
Worst - Electrical gremlins, that car was abandoned around kildare more times than I care to remember.

Unfortunately since I live in a house of just females (relatives, so no jokes please) I ended up learning the mechanical basics out of necessity. In that way, the car was also a positive!!

Brother has a 03 (Renault) Megane hatchback. Since he's had it (about 6-7 years, I think) the two front windows stopped working. Passenger side was a regulator, and driver side required a whole new wiring loom. Both of them fixed cost approximately €600.

His wife had an 01 (Citroen) Xsara for about 10 years and it never gave any trouble, with the exception of the exhaust, but apparently that was more owing to it's lack of mileage. The car was rarely used.

I had an 06 (Peugeot) 407 for about 6 months and it gave a never ending spiral of troubles. Everything was fixed before it was sold on. So that's a bit of an odd one. As someone said above, it's hard to judge these things, cos that 407 broke my heart, but the chap that bought it off me probably thinks it's a great car (cos I fixed everything before selling it, so it's likely it didn't cause much hassle for him).


Brother's wife sold the 01 Xsara and got a (Peugeot) 207. She loves it. So far no problems, but she's only in it about 3-4 months.

I recently bought a (Citroen) C5. So far no issues, but again, only in it about 3 weeks, so early days yet.



Ultimately, of the lot, the 407 was the only one that seemed to be a trouble car, and that could be more than likely down to previous owners neglecting it.

Mycroft H

Two Xantias, a BX and and two C5s have been in the house at one point or another. Mechanically they were all great. The Hdi Xantia had the only electrical gremlin; the starter relay failed and it had a blinky airbag light. It did have over 180,000 miles on the clock so it was entitled to have a few issues I suppose.


Oh. I had a MK1 Clio. Grand wee car. Leaky sunroof. Spark plug once rattled itself loose and wouldn't start. Easy fix...


I would certainly buy a french car again .

fancy pigeon

selectamatic wrote: »

I'd imagine that's what he meant alright. think they could have been badged td on some models. Most refer to them as dturbo's. Great yokes many a one has had the pump screw'd and driven hard and took there abuse well! There was a yellow 306 dturbo up around the midlands that was genuinely quick had an upgraded pump and turbo along with a big fook off intercooler. As far as i remember it was running around the 160-170bhp mark and was a torquey lil thing used to put it up to the usual dohc vtec brigade :pac:. Agri-spec Ftw

95 MH yellow bucko? I think know that car.... Quick, but ain't a patch on this machine

selectamatic

fancy pigeon wrote: »

95 MH yellow bucko? I think know that car.... Quick, but ain't a patch on this machine

Could be I don't know the reg but twas yellow and slammed on volcanes so it sorta stood out I think it may have been on donedeal a year ago looking a bit sorry for itself but it used to be a grand clean car.
That's some build thread on the 406 that buck put some work in! It's not often ya see tyre irons used anymore :P Do ya know him? I may have a job for a knowledgeable XUD mechanic in the future. I have the possibility of getting me hands on a 3dr 205 straight diesel car but its basically a shell, twas canabalised for its back axle :mad: which was a shame as diesel car versions are much rarer than the vans. I'm toying with the idea of getting it back on the road with a td lump in it, nothing mad just a slightly tweeked version of a standard engine anything over 100bhp would be sound in a 205 since they're such a compact lil car.

fancy pigeon

selectamatic wrote: »

Could be I don't know the reg but twas yellow and slammed on volcanes so it sorta stood out I think it may have been on donedeal a year ago looking a bit sorry for itself but it used to be a grand clean car.
That's some build thread on the 406 that buck put some work in! It's not often ya see tyre irons used anymore :P Do ya know him? I may have a job for a knowledgeable XUD mechanic in the future. I have the possibility of getting me hands on a 3dr 205 straight diesel car but its basically a shell, twas canabalised for its back axle :mad: which was a shame as diesel car versions are much rarer than the vans. I'm toying with the idea of getting it back on the road with a td lump in it, nothing mad just a slightly tweeked version of a standard engine anything over 100bhp would be sound in a 205 since they're such a compact lil car.

Oh you bet I know him well