Reliable petrol cars?

DustPan12

Hi all,

Looking for some advice. So I currently drive a Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi 2011. However, due to the pandemic and major changes, I no longer drive the distance weekly to justify having a diesel so I’m reverting back to petrol. I noticed due to the years I’m looking at and the diesel-boom, this isn’t an easy task!

I’m hoping as I currently drive a 2011 to stick to between 2010-2013. I have no interest in French cars (which seems to scratch out most petrols). I looked at the Focus as I like Ford but have heard horror stories of the 1.0 Ecoboost. I also like both the i30/ Ceed petrol variants but for some reason their tax appears to be 380 even in the models of 2010/11 whereas others are 280?

So I’ve been looking at the following;

Honda Civic 1.3 I-VTEC (2010-2011).

Opel/ Vauxhall Astra 1.4 (2010-12).

I’m not looking for huge power or anything. The 1.8 Civic petrol which is recommended is like a needle in a haystack, hence the 1.3. I’m primarily looking for reliability and economy. I’ll be doing motorway miles once weekly and the rest will be town/ city. Thoughts on the above? I know the Honda is probably more reliable than Opel. But anything in particular to look for?

I had a Toyota before and loved it. However for the years I can afford, the cars are incredibly boring and offer next to nothing outside of the base model. However if you guys know of other reliable petrol units please let me know! I like the VAG range but have heard nothing but horror stories since 2008. Thank you all in advance!! Also, if you know of decent car dealers along the east/ SE coast that would be great as well!

biko

Top 100 UK cars for reliability
https://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

DustPan12

biko wrote: »

Top 100 UK cars for reliability
https://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

Thank you Biko!

Captcha

biko wrote: »

Top 100 UK cars for reliability
https://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

Not many premium german cars on there... wow

Notch000

Captcha wrote: »

Not many premium german cars on there... wow

and you are surprised wow

Changing a Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi 2011 to a petrol 2010-2013 just because you are no longer doing diesel miles is unnecessary IMO.
You'll likely incurr a cost to change and what's the real benefit?
You'll spend a few quid to land yourself into a 7 to 10 year old car that won't be any better then the car you currently have........

Captcha

Notch000 wrote: »

and you are surprised wow

yes I am surprised... those cars are everywhere and cost quite a lot more!

no BMW on there and only an audi TT on the list... would have figured they would have at least some entries....

Wonder what is not reliable, is it the new more expensive tech or is it the engines, and hard elements....

DustPan12

Augeo wrote: »

Changing a Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi 2011 to a petrol 2010-2013 just because you are no longer doing diesel miles is unnecessary IMO.
You'll likely incurr a cost to change and what's the real benefit?
You'll spend a few quid to land yourself into a 7 to 10 year old car that won't be any better then the car you currently have........

Hey Augeo!

I know I’ll probably face a cost to change and such. But diesels don’t like short journeys and I’ll probably be doing 10,000km-ish a year which really doesn’t warrant the diesel and the issues it’ll bring with the short driving (DPF, injectors, etc etc). I’m also on a budget as I’m a student which is why I have to stick to the years I’m looking at thank you for the response!

Atlantic Dawn

Captcha wrote: »

yes I am surprised... those cars are everywhere and cost quite a lot more!

no BMW on there and only an audi TT on the list... would have figured they would have at least some entries....

Wonder what is not reliable, is it the new more expensive tech or is it the engines, and hard elements....

In the UK the bulk of BMWs and Audi's sold would have been the diesels, probably not as reliable as the petrols and then you had the recalls on the Audi's for Dieselgate.

DustPan12

Captcha wrote: »

yes I am surprised... those cars are everywhere and cost quite a lot more!

no BMW on there and only an audi TT on the list... would have figured they would have at least some entries....

Wonder what is not reliable, is it the new more expensive tech or is it the engines, and hard elements....

I’ve heard BMW have horrible electrical issues. Audi, Seat, Skoda and VW all run on the same units and again I’ve only been hearing horror stories about both their petrol/ diesel units. I can’t speak from experience, just from what I’ve read and heard. Pre-2008 and the 1.9 TDI was a true workhorse.

How are the petrols in this bracket from those that have experience?

DustPan12

DustPan12 wrote: »

...... I’ll probably be doing 10,000km-ish a year which really doesn’t warrant the diesel and the issues it’ll bring with the short driving (DPF, injectors, etc etc)............

What was your mileage pre Covid etc?

Back Home

biko wrote: »

Top 100 UK cars for reliability
https://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

reliabilityindex:eek: about as reliable as Irish weather

DustPan12

Augeo wrote: »

What was your mileage pre Covid etc?

Initial figure is wrong, I’ll be doing between 10,000-15,000km annually now. I was doing between 25,000-30,000km. The major change is the majority of work will now be done at home. I think the above is correct, as best as my maths skills will allow! Lol.

Mango Joe

https://www.reliabilityindex.com/

BMW M5 and M6 are 2nd and 3rd worst rated cars on that Site.

I don't actually rate BMWs at all - But a still surprised to see them rated so poorly!

- I've always said I wouldn't accept a gift of a new BMW if it meant I had to pay to keep it on the road......

Also disappointed Dacia is not mentioned there - Curious as to how they actually fare in terms of reliability and content ownership.

theteal

Captcha wrote: »

yes I am surprised... those cars are everywhere and cost quite a lot more!

no BMW on there and only an audi TT on the list... would have figured they would have at least some entries....

Wonder what is not reliable, is it the new more expensive tech or is it the engines, and hard elements....

My old man is a retired* mechanic. If I rocked up in one of these "premium" German cars he'd probably disown me. If it's not Honda or Toyota (Nissan has fallen off the list in recent years) I'd face an inquisition. I did divert from the script a bit with the old Mazda but it's hardly a massive detour.



*own garage, into retirement years but still picks up a job when the mood arises

DustPan12

DustPan12 wrote: »

Initial figure is wrong, I’ll be doing between 10,000-15,000km annually now. I was doing between 25,000-30,000km. The major change is the majority of work will now be done at home. I think the above is correct, as best as my maths skills will allow! Lol.

If you are largely wfh then is it reasonable to assume that most of the kms will be over longish trips rather then short trips?

If so a diesel won't have an issue.............. it's short trips are a potential issue for DPF etc ..... not low miles as such.

DustPan12

theteal wrote: »

My old man is a retired* mechanic. If I rocked up in one of these "premium" German cars he'd probably disown me. If it's not Honda or Toyota (Nissan has fallen off the list in recent years) I'd face an inquisition. I did divert from the script a bit with the old Mazda but it's hardly a massive detour.



*own garage, into retirement years but still picks up a job when the mood arises

Lol! I’ve heard that about Nissan. But haven’t they merged with the likes of Peugeot/ Renault for their units? Which would explain that. How do you think the Civic would fair with the 1.3 I-VTEC unit? Thanks in advance!

OfflerCrocGod

DustPan12 wrote: »

Initial figure is wrong, I’ll be doing between 10,000-15,000km annually now. I was doing between 25,000-30,000km. The major change is the majority of work will now be done at home. I think the above is correct, as best as my maths skills will allow! Lol.

Could you not bring it out on a motorway journey once every two weeks?

bluelamp

DustPan12 wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking for some advice. So I currently drive a Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi 2011. However, due to the pandemic and major changes, I no longer drive the distance weekly to justify having a diesel so I’m reverting back to petrol. I noticed due to the years I’m looking at and the diesel-boom, this isn’t an easy task!

Keep it. They're a decent engine... you're unlikely to run into trouble once it gets a motorway run every couple of weeks. They arent plagued with "diesel" problems like some engines are.

You're more likely to have a problem with the 10 year old car you buy, that you dont know the history of.

bluelamp

DustPan12 wrote: »

How do you think the Civic would fair with the 1.3 I-VTEC unit? Thanks in advance!

Reliable... and very very slow.

The 1.8 hit a good balance... but like you said, hard to find.

theteal

DustPan12 wrote: »

Lol! I’ve heard that about Nissan. But haven’t they merged with the likes of Peugeot/ Renault for their units? Which would explain that. How do you think the Civic would fair with the 1.3 I-VTEC unit? Thanks in advance!

That era of petrol Civic you're looking at, if well maintained, should be still running for a long long time. We very recently picked up a 2010 2.0 I-VTEC CRV (with quite high mileage to be fair) and it's solid as a rock, thirsty baxtard and slow but not a single concern about reliability.

Also I see the word "Reliable" in the title and then see Opel/Vauxhall mentioned in the OP and I'm a bit

DustPan12

So a lot are telling me to keep the Hyundai as it is a decent car/ engine. But I really am pushed on moving back to petrol. There’s an inkling that the injectors May be starting to cause issues in the Hyundai too.. Most driving will be city based apart from a 100km round trip once weekly on mostly motorway, the rest of the 6 days will mostly be spent driving in a town. But I’ve noticed apart from the Honda, there seems to be little to no reliable petrols? My main concern is reliability and economy (I drove a 1.4 Focus before.. that says enough) so anything better than that economy! Lol. Toyota is a great car but for the money you don’t seem to get a whole lot of ‘car’ compared to others. So again, any advice would be really appreciated!

DustPan12

theteal wrote: »

That era of petrol Civic you're looking at, if well maintained, should be still running for a long long time. We very recently picked up a 2010 2.0 I-VTEC CRV (with quite high mileage to be fair) and it's solid as a rock, thirsty baxtard and slow but not a single concern about reliability.

Also I see the word "Reliable" in the title and then see Opel/Vauxhall mentioned in the OP and I'm a bit

Good to know! I’ve never had a Honda before but have heard nothing but good about them aside from expensive repairs. I’d love the 1.8 Honda but incredibly hard to come across. Anything else you’d recommend? Lol! I knew the comment would appear about the Opel. I thought they had much improved the reliability side of things but maybe I’m wrong? Thanks again!

chicorytip

Stick to diesel but a smaller power unit with better fuel economy.
The Kia Rio 1.4 D or VW Polo TDI, for example.

DustPan12

chicorytip wrote: »

Stick to diesel but a smaller power unit with better fuel economy.
The Kia Rio 1.4 D or VW Polo TDI, for example.

Thanks for getting back to me! Can I ask why diesel though for circa 10,000km a year? They’re all fitted with DPF now and such? Either way, what are the Polo TDI units like? I’ve always liked the Polos back from the 90’s right through until present.

Heres Johnny

Sell privately and buy privately if you don't want to face a big cost to change. A dealer would want a few grand to change a 2011 diesel to a 2011 like for like petrol to cover his overheads etc....

I don't see the sense in changing to be honest, when you have the budget to come up a good few years just buy petrol next time.

chicorytip

DustPan12 wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me! Can I ask why diesel though for circa 10,000km a year? They’re all fitted with DPF now and such? Either way, what are the Polo TDI units like? I’ve always liked the Polos back from the 90’s right through until present.

There is a school of thought that all diesels need to be regularly driven for long distances at motorway speeds to avoid issues such as DPF problems. Most small diesel cars would tend to have low mileage anyway and never suffer from reliability issues. There is a 1.2L (74b.h.p.) unit in the current Polo line up which is very good. It's smooth, quiet, powerful enough and very light on fuel.

James Bond Junior

DustPan12 wrote: »

So a lot are telling me to keep the Hyundai as it is a decent car/ engine. But I really am pushed on moving back to petrol. There’s an inkling that the injectors May be starting to cause issues in the Hyundai too.. Most driving will be city based apart from a 100km round trip once weekly on mostly motorway, the rest of the 6 days will mostly be spent driving in a town. But I’ve noticed apart from the Honda, there seems to be little to no reliable petrols? My main concern is reliability and economy (I drove a 1.4 Focus before.. that says enough) so anything better than that economy! Lol. Toyota is a great car but for the money you don’t seem to get a whole lot of ‘car’ compared to others. So again, any advice would be really appreciated!

That 100km a week round trip will keep the DPF etc reasonably blown out. Keep the car and when it actually starts to give trouble get rid and do a proper upgrade. Pointless changing to save a few quid when you aren't going to save anything in reality.

ingalway

I went from a 1.6 diesel, because I was doing mostly short journeys and was having DPF problems, to a 1.2 TSI Golf and have not regretting it at all. I barely notice any difference in speed/power on motorway journeys and I like to put the foot down.

I've had the Golf 5 years now, it's a 2010, and it has never gone wrong, I just keep it serviced.

Would never go back to diesel unless doing regular long journeys.

ianobrien

biko wrote: »

Top 100 UK cars for reliability
https://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

Geez how old it that list!

I see Rover 25 on it with an average age of 5 years old. Rover stopped making cars in '04 or '05. There's a Nissan Almera Tino at #7 (known for timing chain troubles and a soft gearbox), A Chevrolet Kalos and the Tigra makes the list.

I'd not put much faith in that list.

User1998

DustPan12 wrote: »

So a lot are telling me to keep the Hyundai as it is a decent car/ engine. But I really am pushed on moving back to petrol. There’s an inkling that the injectors May be starting to cause issues in the Hyundai too.. Most driving will be city based apart from a 100km round trip once weekly on mostly motorway, the rest of the 6 days will mostly be spent driving in a town. But I’ve noticed apart from the Honda, there seems to be little to no reliable petrols? My main concern is reliability and economy (I drove a 1.4 Focus before.. that says enough) so anything better than that economy! Lol. Toyota is a great car but for the money you don’t seem to get a whole lot of ‘car’ compared to others. So again, any advice would be really appreciated!

100km roundtrip on the motorway is more than enough to avoid diesel related issues. The car isn’t going to self destruct from you doing a bit of city driving during the week. Theres no one on earth who does 100% motorway mileage. Why do you have an inkling that the injectors are on their way out?

Fair enough if you just want a change or if you want the the smoothness and quietness of a petrol, nothing wrong with that. But changing to petrol primarily to avoid issues that will probably never happen isn’t wise, especially when your not even upgrading.

3d4life

DustPan12 wrote: »

....So I currently drive a Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi 2011. ....

Did the Irish 2011 version of this car come with DPF ?


OP, would you need something bigger than a Honda FIT / Jazz ?

selectamatic

Lexus ct200h could be worth considering. But personally I'd be in the keep the i30 camp too.

Stallingrad

The 125bhp 1.4tsi in the VAG range is a great petrol engine, just make sure the timing chain has been done. Had one for 7 years (had chain done outside of warranty), other than that is was utterly reliable, refined and frugal. We now have 2 of the 150bhp 1.4tsi ACT engines and they are even better.

DustPan12

User1998 wrote: »

100km roundtrip on the motorway is more than enough to avoid diesel related issues. The car isn’t going to self destruct from you doing a bit of city driving during the week. Theres no one on earth who does 100% motorway mileage. Why do you have an inkling that the injectors are on their way out?

Fair enough if you just want a change or if you want the the smoothness and quietness of a petrol, nothing wrong with that. But changing to petrol primarily to avoid issues that will probably never happen isn’t wise, especially when your not even upgrading.

Hey! So the 100km weekly would blow out the DPF/ help avoid the ‘short journey’ issues? In regards to the injectors, I’ve had trouble starting the car and a very rough idle (jumpy, stuttery) unless I press the accelerator, I then hear a gush of liquid from behind the wheel and all is fine, bit jerky in first too at times. But the oil level in the car seems to have risen a bit above the F marker. Mechanic told me to keep an eye as it can be an indicator of an injector issue, mixed with the trouble starting and rough idle.

I’d like the ease and lack of complication that a petrol tends to offer. But after reading all the above it seems most reckon to stick with the i30. But the issues above are still persistent.

DustPan12

Stallingrad wrote: »

The 125bhp 1.4tsi in the VAG range is a great petrol engine, just make sure the timing chain has been done. Had one for 7 years (had chain done outside of warranty), other than that is was utterly reliable, refined and frugal. We now have 2 of the 150bhp 1.4tsi ACT engines and they are even better.

Really? I’ll take a look. I must have been wrong in my judgement regarding VAG’s reliability! I’m guessing they’ve pulled back up? Thanks so much for the recommendations!

DustPan12

selectamatic wrote: »

Lexus ct200h could be worth considering. But personally I'd be in the keep the i30 camp too.

I’ll take a look but it seems many are of the judgement of keeping the i30. Thanks for the suggestion!

DustPan12

ingalway wrote: »

I went from a 1.6 diesel, because I was doing mostly short journeys and was having DPF problems, to a 1.2 TSI Golf and have not regretting it at all. I barely notice any difference in speed/power on motorway journeys and I like to put the foot down.

I've had the Golf 5 years now, it's a 2010, and it has never gone wrong, I just keep it serviced.

Would never go back to diesel unless doing regular long journeys.

Noticed a few recommend VAG engines which surprises me but again I’m only basing my opinion on what I’ve heard! Good to hear they’re back to being reliable. I guess I am worried about problems starting if I’m doing mostly short drives. But apparently most are saying the i30 CRDi engines don’t generally give much of the common diesel issues so.. but I’ll keep a look! Haven’t read much about the TSI engines.

DustPan12

bluelamp wrote: »

Keep it. They're a decent engine... you're unlikely to run into trouble once it gets a motorway run every couple of weeks. They arent plagued with "diesel" problems like some engines are.

You're more likely to have a problem with the 10 year old car you buy, that you dont know the history of.

Yep, the 1.8 are hard to find but I guess if living up to their reliability it makes sense that people want to keep them. I’ll be doing roughly 100km a week of motorway driving with the rest being short/ city driving. I’m hoping if I keep it the 100km will be enough to regen the DPF and keep it clean? Thanks for getting back to me!

2ndcoming

ianobrien wrote: »

Geez how old it that list!

I see Rover 25 on it with an average age of 5 years old. Rover stopped making cars in '04 or '05. There's a Nissan Almera Tino at #7 (known for timing chain troubles and a soft gearbox), A Chevrolet Kalos and the Tigra makes the list.

I'd not put much faith in that list.

+1

There's a load of bangers on that list. Like a lot of UK motor journalism there also seems to be a heavy skew towards UK built models. In reality you could fill the top 50, or maybe more, with various Jap yokes before you got to anything European/American.

Presumably you want to take economy into the equation as well. The 1.8 Civic would cost a lot more to run than the 1.6d Hyundai, even if you were carrying DPFs to it.

I've recently gone from a 1.6HDI Citroen C4 to a 1.4 Hyundai ix20 (swapped with herself for the mo due to travel requirements) and you'd forget how thirsty some petrols can be.

Any 1.3/1.4 Honda or Toyota - Civic, Corolla, Auris and you'll be laughing economically and reliability wise. Boring info maybe, but true.

FrankC21

Why change the car? Just keep it, no point wasting money. Don't fix if ain't broken.

vigos

Sorry to hijack the thread a little but am in a somewhat similar position i.e. working from home for foreseeable future with maybe 1 motorway journey every other week. I don't currently have a car as it got scrapped just after lockdown lifted. Was going to go diesel but this thread has got me thinking, would you still recommend a petrol in that case or still go with diesel?

FrankC21

vigos wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread a little but am in a somewhat similar position i.e. working from home for foreseeable future with maybe 1 motorway journey every other week. I don't currently have a car as it got scrapped just after lockdown lifted. Was going to go diesel but this thread has got me thinking, would you still recommend a petrol in that case or still go with diesel?

How much mileage will you be doing?

DustPan12

FrankC21 wrote: »

Why change the car? Just keep it, no point wasting money. Don't fix if ain't broken.

Hi Frank,

I’m having issues with the i30. Possibly injectors or a fuel issue. I’ll tell you what’s happening and maybe you’d have an idea? This is a copy/ paste as I told another user in the latest thread.

- car struggles to start in morning, is better if facing downhill. If I’m on a flat or uphill it’ll struggle and once started it’ll chug a bit and if press the accelerator in neutral at start up, I hear a gush of liquid from behind the wheel, this then smooths out the idle, otherwise it can be a bit ‘chuggy’ alongside the Rev count. Only happens for the first start of the day, if I leave it a few hours it’ll then start first time.

- On takeoff, mainly when engine is at running temp the car stutters and shakes intermittently as if I’m in the wrong gear or something.

- again intermittently if I come to a stop at lights, the car starts to chug. I can feel the shake and chug when stopped, generally goes away again once on the move.

- oil level has risen on its own above the F mark by about 3-4mm.. possibly injectors? This has only happened once and I’m keeping an eye on it.

So I’m not sure but all of the above sounds like it’s going to be €€€. I have regularly serviced it, had the clutch changed about 20k ago, tyres are good & the battery. Any ideas? Sorry for another long post but these are all the issues I’m having.

vigos

FrankC21 wrote: »

How much mileage will you be doing?

Motorway journey would be around 250km but maybe only every 2nd week, so I'd be probably in the 10 to 15km range regarding mileage yearly for next year at least, who knows after that!

DustPan12

2ndcoming wrote: »

+1

There's a load of bangers on that list. Like a lot of UK motor journalism there also seems to be a heavy skew towards UK built models. In reality you could fill the top 50, or maybe more, with various Jap yokes before you got to anything European/American.

Presumably you want to take economy into the equation as well. The 1.8 Civic would cost a lot more to run than the 1.6d Hyundai, even if you were carrying DPFs to it.

I've recently gone from a 1.6HDI Citroen C4 to a 1.4 Hyundai ix20 (swapped with herself for the mo due to travel requirements) and you'd forget how thirsty some petrols can be.

Any 1.3/1.4 Honda or Toyota - Civic, Corolla, Auris and you'll be laughing economically and reliability wise. Boring info maybe, but true.

Sorry for the late reply but thank you for getting back to me! I would like to take economy into equation and I remember how thirsty a 1.4 Focus was. My mother drives a Fiesta which is a miser on fuel! But it’s definitely something I’m accounting for. That info isn’t boring, in fact, it’s exactly what I’m looking for! Civic, Auris, etc that would be reliable and somewhat economical. I know none will match the economy of the diesel but the town driving doesn’t do the diesel consumption any favours either. I had a ‘03 Corolla, 1.4 VVTI and for what it was it was bulletproof... until it absolutely fell apart lol.

dvdman1

Like others have said...hold on to your i30...you won't save any money in this scenario....thats if cost is the motivation for change.

Idbatterim

DustPan12 wrote: »

Initial figure is wrong, I’ll be doing between 10,000-15,000km annually now. I was doing between 25,000-30,000km. The major change is the majority of work will now be done at home. I think the above is correct, as best as my maths skills will allow! Lol.

Id stick with car you have...

Leonard Hofstadter

Why are there 2 threads on exactly the same thing?

DustPan12

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

Why is there 2 threads on exactly the same thing?

Very similar threads. This was for a generic “reliable petrol cars with a couple of my preferences”. The other thread had been narrowed down to the two cars in particular I was looking at, Auris and Civic where I wanted direct opinions on those cars.. that’s all! Sorry for inconvenience or repetition, I’m happy to delete one or the other if I’ve broke a rule or something

Leonard Hofstadter

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

Why are there 2 threads on exactly the same thing?

Less repetitive then yourself and your smooth 6 cylinder spiel :pac: