Should I Buy a French Car?

[Silk]

Steve, still impressed you went from rock like Audi to delicate Pug.. hope it goes well for you.. in your parallel universe...

I just fancied a change. Had 3 VAG cars in a row and got a bit bored.

[pete g]

That's probably 2 more than I would live with... I had the stellar Mk1 GTI.. they went a bit porky after that ... have to accommodate those sausage eating Germans you see... Mk1 weighed about 820 kg the current Mkxxx getting on for 1400 - that's why it needs all that power...

The 205GTI was the natural inheritor of the GTI crown, then the 106, then the Clio RSs and now the FiST and even that weighs 1160kg - light by modern stds!

I am sure the French will be back... look fwd to it.,.

[Silk]

I am sure the French will be back... look fwd to it.,.

I think the new 308 is the car that could do it for Peugeot. The only thing likely to stand in its way are lazy motoring journalists who insist on comparing everything to a Golf - one of the most over-rated cars of all time, IMO.

All being well, I'll be showing it off at Cheddar.

[slicknic]

Another vote here for French motors.

We've had 3 Citroen C4s in the driving school since 2005,and not had any real problems with any of them. The dipstick broke on the first one, and the sump had to be removed to retrieve it. Everything else was fine.

I took a Pug 407 to 100K miles. It stranded me on the M25 once, but when the RAC man turned up it started again and I drove it home. The fault turned out to be a crank position sensor.

My Citroen C5 is now on 64k miles, with no problems at all apart from its appetite for wheels and tyres.

I have no loyalty to any particular brand. I've had 3 Mondeos which all went to the far side of 100k miles. The biggest pain on the early ones was a 6000 mile service interval. I was having them serviced every 5-6 weeks.

The Saab 9-3 I had in 2002 was a lovely car, but a bit cack reliability wise - Timing chain, general fit and finish problems.

The 2 VW Passats I had were merely average. One was ok, the other had a new engine at 7000 miles,and various electrical problems in the engine bay following that. The biggest problem with VWs was the dealer in Bristol who were completely sh*t.

In conclusion, my French cars have been fine. Drive enough cars and you'll eventually find a lemon. Hopefully that will be a car paid for by someone else!

[triquet]

Some years ago I had a couple of Renault Laguna estates as company cars. No problems with them. Nothing particularly inspiring but they did exactly what was written on the tin and they lasted reasonably well. The second one I bought out at the end and ran up to about 140K before it finally expired with some mysterious gearbox defect.

[Silk]

My Citroen C5 is now on 64k miles, with no problems at all apart from its appetite for wheels and tyres.

I almost forgot about your C5. Very nice car with fantastic ride quality - what French cars are famous for.

[slicknic]

You can still order them brand new. The dealer in Wickwar always has a highly specced one in the showroom which he normally sells for a largish discount.

[Silk]

You can still order them brand new. The dealer in Wickwar always has a highly specced one in the showroom which he normally sells for a largish discount.

I've got the 308 now. It's very nice - for as long as it keeps working.

I'll have a better idea of what it's like quality wise once it's gone "'round the clock" in a couple of years' time.

LED headlights are awesome, by the way.

[sussex2]

Another vote here for French motors.

We've had 3 Citroen C4s in the driving school since 2005,and not had any real problems with any of them. The dipstick broke on the first one, and the sump had to be removed to retrieve it. Everything else was fine.

I took a Pug 407 to 100K miles. It stranded me on the M25 once, but when the RAC man turned up it started again and I drove it home. The fault turned out to be a crank position sensor.

My Citroen C5 is now on 64k miles, with no problems at all apart from its appetite for wheels and tyres.

I have no loyalty to any particular brand. I've had 3 Mondeos which all went to the far side of 100k miles. The biggest pain on the early ones was a 6000 mile service interval. I was having them serviced every 5-6 weeks.

The Saab 9-3 I had in 2002 was a lovely car, but a bit cack reliability wise - Timing chain, general fit and finish problems.

The 2 VW Passats I had were merely average. One was ok, the other had a new engine at 7000 miles,and various electrical problems in the engine bay following that. The biggest problem with VWs was the dealer in Bristol who were completely sh*t.

In conclusion, my French cars have been fine. Drive enough cars and you'll eventually find a lemon. Hopefully that will be a car paid for by someone else!

'The Saab 9-3 I had in 2002 was a lovely car, but a bit cack reliability wise - Timing chain, general fit and finish problems'

We fell foul of a couple of those as well - basically an Opel Vectra in drag, and pretty tatty drag as well
I've had a Peugeot 205 diesel do more than 200k with good reliability; back in the distant past when I taught ab initio.
We have a couple of Citroen Nemo vans at the moment and both have been pretty much faultless. The 1.3 diesel being surprisingly good to drive!
The least reliable cars we've owned in general looking back over the years have most probably been from the VW group. I don't say they were complete dogs just that they demanded more attention and we knew we would be returning to the dealer for this and that.

These days you can't take the badge on the front at face value eg; A Citroen Nemo is a Fiat in all but name being based on a Punto and with a Fiat engine (all built in Turkey).
The latest range of Fiat vans are more PSA than Italian.

As mentioned if you are involved with vehicles for long enough and sufficient pass through your hands then you know one thing! They can all go wrong.