Really Really Stupid People

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Couldn't possibly happen on a Mercedes, of course...

My brother-in-law has had Kia Cee'ds for about six years now, and never had a problem with any of them. My wife had a Hyundai Coupe (the Mk III - the good-looking one) for four years, only one of them still under warranty, and had no problems at all. If they'd only had a decently powerful petrol V6 in the Mk III, they'd have sold loads of them.

That's a good statistic to me...
My ex had a Hyundai Coupe ( the Mk 1 ) against my better judgement ; it was a couple of years old when she bought it . Weak synchromesh on 2nd gear ; rattling timing chain ( first cam belt driven , second on a chain off the first ) ; erratic central locking , oil leaks from the engine requiring regular top ups , drivers electric window eventually failed , seized brake callipers on more than one occasion . I’m sure more I’ve forgotten ; it was not an image of reliability; she had an equally bad Nissan after that ; then my sister gave her her MkIV Golf , zero issues over 6 years ... zero . Verdict ‘best car I’ve ever owned’ and she is now a VW convert .

As for ‘couldn’t possibly happen on a Mercedes’ , well we have had numerous new and nearly new Mercs - certainly zero defects in the first few years . Same with VW .
 
What are we saying here, that cars form the far east are crap and Mercs are problem free?

I've had numerous problems with various brands over the year and Mercedes are not problem free.
The OM651 before it got out the blocks had issues with it's injectors as I recall and ours had to go back for lengthy and costly mods.

I'm sure if I still had my little Datsun 100A it would still run. ;)
 
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Are we making too much of this.

Rust is one thing that most cars suffer from eventually and I've had to get rid of cars because of that but if we are talking mechanical reliability problems that present a big bill in the £00's or £000's then I have not had one in 50 years of owning motorcycles and cars.

I've had:

6 motorcycles, 3 new and 3 used with no major mechanical faults and not even a puncture which continues to surprise me.

11 cars, 5 new and 6 used with no major mechanical faults other than a head gasket on on a Rover 200 but by then it was my my sons car and he let the coolant level go low on a K series engine so I'm not counting that. Oddly enough it was an MB that had the most minor mechanical faults with a broken front spring, leaking water pump, leaking heater valve and a couple of thermostats but I did keep that the longest by far. Even still the biggest bill for parts was less than £100 for the water pump which I fitted.

Perhaps I'm overdue a big bill and there is no doubt a W204 is capable of providing one, but touch wood only a corroded rear brake pipe so far after 5 and half years.
 
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Let's be honest - when did you last see ANY make of car on the road with holes in the wings/bottom of the doors? It was a common sight when I was growing up!
 
I don't think it matters what you buy - anything from a £10k Hyundai to a £300k Ferrari, and everything in between, can all have issues new and second hand.

As we know, part of the cause is luck of the draw!

Had wiper 'failure' in my CLS. Wipers would randomly stop working, required the ignition to be cycled before they would start again. Never got it sorted..

My wipers my 211 55 would randomly stop.

Needed the wiper switch turning off and on again for them to start working.

Might have been a new stalk switch needed but they never failed to restart so I suspected something more hard work / expensive so just put up with it.
 
Let's be honest - when did you last see ANY make of car on the road with holes in the wings/bottom of the doors? It was a common sight when I was growing up!
That would be earlier today when I looked at the rusty front wing on my W140 , which has a hole about the size of a 10p piece at the back end of the wheelarch . The other three wheelarches are also rusty and covered up by a tasteful set of chrome wheelarch trims .

The front wings will be replaced , and the rear arches repaired in the near future.

Mind you , I also know where , not far from me , where there’s an extremely scabby W220 , pock marked with rust over its entire body , and alongside which my W140 would look immaculate . None of my W126s rusted like that either , despite even at the time I had them being much older .
 
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What are we saying here, that cars form the far east are crap and Mercs are problem free?

I've had numerous problems with various brands over the year and Mercedes are not problem free.
That has been my personal experience
 
Are we making too much of this.

Rust is one thing that most cars suffer from eventually and I've had to get rid of cars because of that but if we are talking mechanical reliability problems that present a big bill in the £00's or £000's then I have not had one in 50 years of owning motorcycles and cars.

I've had:

6 motorcycles, 3 new and 3 used with no major mechanical faults and not even a puncture which continues to surprise me.

11 cars, 5 new and 6 used with no major mechanical faults other than a head gasket on on a Rover 200 but by then it was my my sons car and he let the coolant level go low on a K series engine so I'm not counting that. Oddly enough it was an MB that had the most minor mechanical faults with a broken front spring, leaking water pump, leaking heater valve and a couple of thermostats but I did keep that the longest by far. Even still the biggest bill for parts was less than £100 for the water pump which I fitted.

Perhaps I'm overdue a big bill and there is no doubt a W204 is capable of providing one, but touch wood only a corroded rear brake pipe so far after 5 and half years.
My one motorbike , Honda CB125T , HGV had one puncture , then the engine blew up ( piston through the side of the block after an oil seal failed and dumped all the oil onto the road ) j just shy of 100000 miles .

My two worst cars were my new Austin Allegro , which was back in the dealership every week for the six months I kept it ; and my W203 , which needed all five injectors replaced , as well as numerous smaller things ; my first and last CDI car . I bought that car with 115K on the clock and traded it for the SL 18 months later .

I likewise changed a water pump on one of my 190s at 200 000 miles , had the gearbox go on my SL , also at 200 000 miles and 27 years old , and had a diff fail on one of my W124s at 250 000 miles . I wouldn’t expect any car to be problem free at multiple hundreds of thousands of miles and 20+ years old , but these cars are at least still around and common sights on the roads .
 
I don't think it matters what you buy - anything from a £10k Hyundai to a £300k Ferrari, and everything in between, can all have issues new and second hand.
Did you see the pic a couple of days ago of that written off 20-minutes-old Lambo which broke down in the outside lane and was rammed up the rear?
 
Saw the smashed Lambo. Just stopped itself dead in lane 3 by all accounts , only to be rear ended and written off by a van (obviously , lane 3 is for vans only :p) All just 20 minutes from being collected from the dealership :eek:.

Please tell me it came with a full tank when collected new and it didn't just run out of fuel ....
 
Did you see the pic a couple of days ago of that written off 20-minutes-old Lambo which broke down in the outside lane and was rammed up the rear?

Yeah, saw that yesterday.

Ouch.
 
I wonder about the insurance claim, as the van rear-ended the Lambo - which normally means the van would be held liable. If so, his insurance is facing a hefty bill! Lambo's must be repairable though, years ago we were on a PCGB Kent Region visit to Tonbridge Repair Centre and they had a complete Lambo body in a box ready to fit to one that had crash damage!
 
Repairable - possibly. If there's major damage to the engine/gearbox too, though, it might be beyond economic repair; the cost of the parts needed will no doubt be astronomical, then there's the labour cost on top.
 
The “Goonsquad Boys” could sort that no problem.
 
I wonder about the insurance claim, as the van rear-ended the Lambo - which normally means the van would be held liable. If so, his insurance is facing a hefty bill! Lambo's must be repairable though, years ago we were on a PCGB Kent Region visit to Tonbridge Repair Centre and they had a complete Lambo body in a box ready to fit to one that had crash damage!
Repairable - possibly. If there's major damage to the engine/gearbox too, though, it might be beyond economic repair; the cost of the parts needed will no doubt be astronomical, then there's the labour cost on top.

Yes repairable - but the costs would be huge as the parts are ridiculously priced.

Most policies say they'll provide you with a brand new car if its written off within the first 12 months anyway.
 
Saw the smashed Lambo. Just stopped itself dead in lane 3 by all accounts , only to be rear ended and written off by a van (obviously , lane 3 is for vans only :p) All just 20 minutes from being collected from the dealership :eek:.

Please tell me it came with a full tank when collected new and it didn't just run out of fuel ....
presumably if it did just run out of fuel the insurance could refuse to pay out as it was the drivers own fault
 
presumably if it did just run out of fuel the insurance could refuse to pay out as it was the drivers own fault
Nope ; in law , you can’t be negligent towards yourself; also they can’t refuse a third party claim on the basis of their insured being at fault .
 
Is it illegal to run out of fuel on a UK motorway ? Or is that just an urban myth 🤷‍♂️
"Is it illegal to run out of fuel?
It might be careless but it’s not illegal to run dry. In fact, the law cites it as one of the reasons you’re allowed to use the motorway hard shoulder. That said there have been cases where drivers have been fined £100 and given three penalty points for careless driving if they’ve needlessly run out, leaving their car in a dangerous position. And in some countries such as Germany it is illegal. The overall message is, it’s much easier NOT to run out in the first place."
 

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