Should I Buy a French Car?

[Silk]

Time to get a new car again. I've had a test drive in the new 308 and loved it. I've not been a fan of French cars since my unreliable 406, but have they changed?

Any thoughts?

[jont]

What-could-possibly-go-wrong?

/big french car fan. Currently using a 306 as a daily, although IMHO that was the last decent car they made.

[Kimosabe]

i used to run one on veg oil back in the early days of bandit runs to the agreeable chippy every week and a 40Gal drum in a mates garage, filtering it into a useable gloop. Then they put the price of supermarket veg oil up so that it's price coincidentally exactly matched bio prices.

As for French cars, i'm convinced that in France, they feed their cars on something better than we get at the pumps because they have such difficulty not parking their Pugs headfirst in verges and other cars...but those who don't, seem to drive them forever. My shed (one of many)was quite comfy and reliable... and I haven't seen an old one for a while.

[Silk]

What-could-possibly-go-wrong?

/big french car fan. Currently using a 306 as a daily, although IMHO that was the last decent car they made.

Until I drove the new 308 I would have agreed with you. Once you get over the slightly weird layout with the small steering wheel and the dials above the wheel rather than through it, it actually looks quite classy inside and drives surprisingly well (I tested the 91 BHP diesel and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - although I'd probably opt for the 150 BHP diesel). I can see it soaking up the miles quite nicely.

The thing I've always like about French cars is they tend to favour comfort - probably helps when you're sat in one waiting for the breakdown service to arrive.

[Ralge]

Loved my 307's and 308 BUT seemed, consistently, to have electrical problems (window switches having a mind of their own) and recurrent emissions/engine management warning light issues (I had a 307 with this and on test-driving another 6-month old replacement car, yep, the same warning light came on).

[gannet]

Im probably going to jinx it now but...

Ive had no problems with my DS3 in the 3 years I've had it...

Comfortable, economical, sporty & quick what's not to like

Had no problems with the previous two 206's I've had previous either

[fungus]

The wifes 306 hdi estate was a super car in all senses apart from the electrics. Rear screen heater packed up, the rear wiper relay packed up and I couldn't get a replacement, the instrument lighting was intermitant, and the headlights had switched themselves off on one occasion.

My neighbours have a 208. They were woried about the image that French cars have with electrics, but were assured that Peugeot had sorted these issues. So far they are very pleased with the car and have nothing but praise for it, which is more than can be said for the Corsa they had previously.

[TheInsanity1234]

Our 57 1.5 Clio was mechanically bulletproof and we never had any problems with it.

The electrics were mostly fine, except for the fact it enjoyed blowing headlight bulbs, and with inaccessible headlight units, meant a £80 trip to the garage every time!
Also, number 4 on the fan speed controller seemed to never work, even from brand new, unless in a Renault garage being looked at expensively.

When it reached 6ish years old, and at about 110k miles, the radio decided to break, but a cheap replacement from the local Halfords sorted that.

The only reason why we got rid of it was because the engine was a lot louder, and there was a strange vibration throughout the car. Mum said that the vibration and sound of engine were very similar to when the engine mount broke on her Mini a long time ago, and since it'd reached 120k miles, mum decided to get rid of it anyway because we could feel some ruinously expensive bills coming up

But y'know, the family and I would definitely recommend the car to anyone else wondering about it.

The only reason we didn't replace our Clio with another Clio was because the boot wasn't good enough for our grandmother's wheelchair, which is a issue that probably won't affect you anyway.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

My "old" 308 has been fine over 2 1/2 years, but relatively few miles. It's done the job it was bought for - provide cheap A-B transport (including annual holidays to the North of Scotland). One of the main concerns with modern diesels is the DPF but I'm sure you know that and IIRC you do interstellar mileage so that shouldn't be so much of an issue anyway. Jcochrane has run 207s and 208s for years and as far as I know, almost trouble free over LOTS of miles.

[Silk]

My "old" 308 has been fine over 2 1/2 years, but relatively few miles. It's done the job it was bought for - provide cheap A-B transport (including annual holidays to the North of Scotland). One of the main concerns with modern diesels is the DPF but I'm sure you know that and IIRC you do interstellar mileage so that shouldn't be so much of an issue anyway. Jcochrane has run 207s and 208s for years and as far as I know, almost trouble free over LOTS of miles.

My impression from this thread is that Pugs may be as they always have been - pretty much bullet-proof mechanically, but prone to unexplained electrical problems. My experience of VAG cars (my last three cars) is probably the reverse, although mechanical problems with the VAG cars haven't really presented themselves until well over 100K miles.

The thing is, I really like the new 308. I'm not sure why exactly. It's not the most desirable brand or particularly good-looking and depreciates worse than almost anything else on the road, but it just feels nice. A bit like my MK1 Mazda 6 did. Sometimes a car just feels right and you have to go for it. My current A3 performs well, which is why I bought it, but I've never really grown to love it, even after well over 100K miles.

[trashbat]

I don't know if this is still the case today but my impression of French cars in the 90s & 2000s, in particular Renault, is that the way they've tended to differentiate themselves and offer a selling point is to integrate a load of kit into their cars.

Lots of stuff started appearing as standard on them when it was at that time only available on Mercs & the like. Of course this meant (a) you were basically an early adopter with all the peril it entails, and (b) it obviously had to be done at low cost. The early Laguna II was quite a good example of this going very wrong.

Like most Euro manufacturers - including VW Group in terms of profit margin on their heavily discounted cars - PSA Peugeot Citroen aren't in rude health at the mo, so I would have vague concerns about cost cutting, but only if borne out by people's experiences.

I don't find national or manufacturer stereotypes very useful rules with cars though. It can turn on its head within a generation or two. Late 90s Mercedes rust bucket, anyone? Or the opposite, a contemporary Fiat Panda?

Dealers and customer service, however, take much longer to change, especially for the better.

[TripleS]

Not directed at anybody in particular. Just

[Silk]

:) Not directed at anybody in particular. Just

Yes, but have you considered that you've got all the reliability in CUBby that has been stolen from every other French car in existence?

That and he rarely takes it above 2000 rpm.

[Kimosabe]

All faults with French cars are to be known as 'characteristics' from now on. That is all.

[TripleS]

:) Not directed at anybody in particular. Just

Yes, but have you considered that you've got all the reliability in CUBby that has been stolen from every other French car in existence?

Yeah, but I deserve it because I treat cars decently, so they serve me fairly well. I know it doesn't always work like that, but it probably helps.