Have you ever bought a lemon? How did it go?

5W30

So, has anyone else here bought a lemon of a car before? You know, like the car that has everything wrong with it.

My parents bought a 2001 Citroen Xsara 2.0 HDi about 6 years ago for about €1400. The thing was a disaster, gear linkage popped off and we ended up stuck in fourth gear.

We ended up putting it into second gear through the engine and limped it home. The check engine light disconnected so it wouldn't light up. Gearbox was leaking oil and was missing a heap of bolts. Oil sump needed to be replaced because the rust was so bad it began leaking. It idled really poorly but in fairness the engine pulled great... until the EGR valve packed in.

We ended up blanking the EGR and that brought the car back to life, until the NCT of course. So at this point we were like, "fcuk it, let's sell it" after spending heaps on servicing, gear linkages, etc.

Sold her for €380, it was up on Adverts.ie the next day with a fresh NCT and an asking price of €1200~ :pac:

colm_mcm

The only lemon I bought was a xsara with a heavy clutch for €100. A month later the release bearing went and I sold it to a neighbour for €200.

bazz26

Bought a brand new Opel Vectra back in 1999, got shot of it just over 12 months later. Broke my heart, constantly back to the dealer with electrical problems. Took the hit on it on trade in price but just glad to be rid of it.

drunkmonkey

Bought one in a garage near the xtra vision in tallagh, turned out it should have never went back on the road it was that serious of a crash, took 2mts to get my money back, got thretened with death, burning my house down, travellers wanting on the steps of the showroom to flatten me, had to get the guards involved after the death threat from the garage owner, some poor chap is probably driving around in it now, I'd name the garage owner but I'd probably pay with my life for it. Absolute criminal how these guys can open and shut shop so easily especially with serious criminal records behind them.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

puckmymuskie

Have a 1.4 Xsara atm 2003. biggest pile of scrap i ever owned. almost everything has been replaced in it so far.

Teddington Cuddlesworth

Bought an early 90s prelude 2.2 as my second car. Think I paid 1000 for it which was an absolute bargain as it had been kitted out with tv's, stereo and am alarm that started the engine.
Found out a week later the engine was just about ready to pack it all in.
Sold it some scobey lad on Gumtree for 1600.

The_Honeybadger

Fiesta off done deal for €1500. Engine went very shortly after, along with several other problems. Ended up spending more than the price of the car to put everything right. No bother with it since though.

MuppetCheck

My last Octavia RS...sweet Jesus that thing completely changed my mentality towards cars. After it I only want something warrantied...looking at my photo bucket there's so many tow truck instances. I pity the poor fcuker that bought it. The thing was cursed.

A usual pose...



Only lost a grand on it mind...and my sanity.

fancy pigeon

5W30 wrote: »

So, has anyone else here bought a lemon of a car before? You know, like the car that has everything wrong with it.

My parents bought a 2001 Citroen Xsara 2.0 HDi about 6 years ago for about €1400. The thing was a disaster, gear linkage popped off and we ended up stuck in fourth gear.

We ended up putting it into second gear through the engine and limped it home. The check engine light disconnected so it wouldn't light up. Gearbox was leaking oil and was missing a heap of bolts. Oil sump needed to be replaced because the rust was so bad it began leaking. It idled really poorly but in fairness the engine pulled great... until the EGR valve packed in.

We ended up blanking the EGR and that brought the car back to life, until the NCT of course. So at this point we were like, "fcuk it, let's sell it" after spending heaps on servicing, gear linkages, etc.

Sold her for €380, it was up on Adverts.ie the next day with a fresh NCT and an asking price of €1200~ :pac:

Common Peugeot problems right there

Linkages fail very often, usually left with only 3rd and 4th. Nee linkages spurious are about €20, dealer about €40

Missing bolts is caused by no threadlock, clutch must have been replaced at some stage

EGR is a pure sow, again welding up both ends and ditching everything in between solves that

Sumps are also a poor point but usually the gasket lets go

I too have had several of its predecessors with similar problems

To answer your q, I've never had a daily driver that wasn't f*cked over by tge previous owner. I'll have a heart attack when I finally land into a decent car :eek:

5W30

Lots of Xsaras it seems :pac:

My current car is a bit of a strange one, not a lemon in itself but the dealer changed brake discs and pads before selling. The caliper retaining clips weren't put in properly causing brake squeal. It was doing head in until I pulled all the wheels off yesterday and reassembled everything.

dastardly00

MuppetCheck wrote: »

My last Octavia RS...sweet Jesus that thing completely changed my mentality towards cars. After it I only want something warrantied...looking at my photo bucket there's so many tow truck instances. I pity the poor fcuker that bought it. The thing was cursed.

What problems did you have with it?

Bebo stunnah

Girlfriend bought a Mazda 323 a while back for 250. Should have expected it was gone. There was rust on the chassis that couldnt have been seen by a normal inspection but NCT could. She was quoted 10 times the price of the car to fix it!
It's been lying at the garage she got the quote at since being too lazy to pick it up for scrap.

TrailerBob

Bought a Passat back in 2007.. it was a 01 TDI, comfortline, factory sports pack, charcoal grey.. a really nice example at a time before they started to get lowered laaad.

My big mistake was buying it from a dealer that no longer exists who was a bit of a Mike Brewer

Brake servo seized up twice.... Replaced under warranty
Air con pulley bracket cracked and broke.... Reluctantly replaced under warranty
Water pump gave up... 25k after a change... Whole kit needed.
Sump cracked on a speed ramp... Not the cars fault entirely..
Emissions failed test with 110k miles on it... Methinks there was a lot more actual miles on it. EGR and fuel pump worked on.

It broke my heart, and cost me nearly 3 grand in parts.
Sold as a trade in 90 miles from home. Ended up 5 miles from me and still going, just to taunt me!

5W30

TrailerBob wrote: »

Bought a Passat back in 2007.. it was a 01 TDI, comfortline, factory sports pack, charcoal grey.. a really nice example at a time before they started to get lowered laaad.

My big mistake was buying it from a dealer that no longer exists who was a bit of a Mike Brewer

Brake servo seized up twice.... Replaced under warranty
Air con pulley bracket cracked and broke.... Reluctantly replaced under warranty
Water pump gave up... 25k after a change... Whole kit needed.
Sump cracked on a speed ramp... Not the cars fault entirely..
Emissions failed test with 110k miles on it... Methinks there was a lot more actual miles on it. EGR and fuel pump worked on.

It broke my heart, and cost me nearly 3 grand in parts.
Sold as a trade in 90 miles from home. Ended up 5 miles from me and still going, just to taunt me!

Diesel cars in particular are a pain in the ar*e to buy though compared to petrols. There is so much more to check which makes it easy to forget. Turbo, DMF, EGR, DPF etc.

TrailerBob

5W30 wrote: »

Diesel cars in particular are a pain in the ar*e to buy though compared to petrols. There is so much more to check which makes it easy to forget. Turbo, DMF, EGR, DPF etc.

Its all the emissions technology, older gen diesels were so reliable.. My current one is a good compromise of common rail efficiency and low computer/electronic interference

CIP4

A 2007 focus 1.6tdci. Oh god would be quicker to say what was right with it. 100k km on it I kept it for 30k km in it kept it for 13 months nearly put me off cars altogether. When I first got it thought it was grand but so many hidden issues.

I brought it to my mechanic and he would normally complement how well my cars were and he looked at this for ages put it on the lift needs this that etc after looking at it for 15 minutes and struggling to come up with anything he says ah sure looks like there are new brake pads on the front of it :pac: that trip cost me 800 euro for parts !! And that was buying them right.

Most notable disaster it it was coming how from college at 6pm this Thursday wet wet winters day dark. I was just after going past the toll bridge on the m8 cork end heading to Kilkenny in the overtaking lane with cars all around me cars looses all power engine stall pull in. Car wouldn't start for love nor money only then did I discover I had no breakdown assist 4.30 hours waiting for a tow truck to come from Kilkenny and bring me how you can only imagine what that cost me.

Tbh by the time I sold it I had most of the problems sorted and disclosed what problems were left and he had a head ford mechanic look it over and was chuffed although I let it off cheap just to get rid of it.

stanley1980

Wouldn't say the car was a lemon but I bought a Saab 93 for €5200 in 2007 from a dealer.....ended up selling it for €650 3 years later post-crash! I'd imagine quite a few people have similar stories.

power pants

almost bought a lemon of a forummer on here, thankfully paying 50e for a garage to tell me to run away was the best money spent

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

vectra

Bought an alfa sud in February 1987 for 2.5k Pounds,
By November the thing was standing me close on 6k

Was so glad to be shut of it I sold it for 1600 Pounds that November and bought a Bmw 520 .

MuppetCheck

dastardly00 wrote: »

What problems did you have with it?

Dpf (repeatedly - on a car doing Cork to Carlow daily, shock mounts, air con, aux belt, random sensors...essentially it was a turd. Small things at once but when youre paid by the hour the hidden cost of it sh1tting itself can be felt in the pocket.

Dealer was fantastically good mind. Their name can be seen on the reg;)

vectra

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Dpf (repeatedly - on a car doing Cork to Carlow daily, shock mounts, air con, aux belt, random sensors...essentially it was a turd. Small things at once but when youre paid by the hour the hidden cost of it sh1tting itself can be felt in the pocket.

Dealer was fantastically good mind. Their name can be seen on the reg;)

Ya but you drove the hole out of it :pac:

hairyslug

A crx, wanted it for ages, was my first car, all the things needed to make an impulse buy.
On the drive home I noticed the Speedo wasn't working, seller told me how to gauge it thru the revs. I can't remember anything else that was wrong,just that things kept on going wrong. So bad that I was brought into a separate room at the nct centre to tell me how bad it had failed

Pugzilla

Sour

MuppetCheck

vectra wrote: »

Ya but you drove the hole out of it :pac:

I'd laugh...but...I'm actually too easy on cars!

Clareman

Very first car, piece of terrible sh1t, 4 speed .9 litre VW Polo Fox, bottle green, the clutch was terrible, the gearbox was failing, was the only car I could afford at the time, I was never going to be able to rid of it (tried a few times) until someone hit me from behind and wrote it off, I thanked them for hitting me at the time and told them not to worry about a personal injury claim I just wanted rid of the car, they actually bought the car off me rather than having to claim off the insurance

Led to my best ever car afterward, 4 door Honda Civic, still miss that car.

Vicxas

My first car. A 2002 seat ibiza.

The think was cursed. Heres a list of what i can remember.

The ignition coils failed twice on it
The fan belt 'slipped' off on my way to work
When she was in getting serviced by the dealer who sold it the timing slipped and they tried to get me to pay for it.
The bushings went on the front more times than i care to remember.
I later found out that the car had been crashed.

So glad that it was wrote off

bear1

The car I still have now - accord diesel.
I've had so many things changed on it I may as well try and sell back to Honda as a new car.
The chain started failing the day after I bought it (10/14). I knew the engine was known for this issue but not a noise out of it when I was testing it.
Brought it to an "expert" which ended up costing more in other repairs.
Injectors snapped while doing the chains.. Needs two chains.
Got the car back 2 weeks later and the rattle off of it when you'd accelerate.
Queue 7 months of fighting with the mechanic who kept trying to convince me it was normal to Honda themselves being stumped.
I was going mad, I was down 2k at this stage and it still wasn't right.
Then in June I brought it to one last place and the diagnosed the injectors being shagged.
4 reconditioned injectors later and over 4k now spent on just the engine I thought id have a break.
Ac stopped working which cost me another 100e to fix, then the car lost all power to the point where to get it back you'd have to depress and repress the accelerator to get it back... That was another 500 quid to fix which still hasn't cured it.
Now the eml light randomly comes on and I'm pretty sure the alternator is starting to let go.
Bearings, wishbones, discs and brakes. And now the arbs are knackered.
Cant wait to get rid of it.

vectra

MuppetCheck wrote: »

I'd laugh...but...I'm actually too easy on cars!

Sure don't I know.

colm_mcm

Bought this one at 9 o clock, it's in bits already. I got stung.




car keys out in to prove I didn't just post an internetz pic of a lemon, for increased smartarsery

Sh1tbag OToole

Cork Dry gin, good choice

Lord Riverside

A VW golf, and later an Audi A4, both turds that cost me a fortune in rip off dealers and parts. I hate VAG with a passion since. Rip off merchants of the highest order.

mhackett102

Nearly bought one during the summer. Vw Polo 1.4tdi. Looked great online and seemed the business but paying €15 for a history check and bringing a mechanic with me to view it certainly saved me.

I still remember the reg of it, the tax is out this month and NCT was out last month, according to the NCT website. Would be very interested to see where it is now :rolleyes:

Tommyboy40

A BMW E36 convertible, the most expensive car to own I've ever had. Spent thousands on it but every week something was wrong with it. 1.8 but drank more on the Dublin run than. 5.0. It owed me €14k and I sold it for €1500. I will never own a BMW again
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fullstop

Bought a second hand Astra with about 50,000 miles on it 7 or 8 years ago. 6 months later, the coolant pipe burst on the motorway and with there being no temperature gauge to tell me it was overheating I kept driving. Engine seized and ended up having to get a new one. Opel quoted 3.5k but i did't have the money for that so got a reconditioned one up north for about 2k. That was only the start of the problems. 2 blown turbos and another seized engine later I got rid of it with no engine. Never again will I buy an Opel.