As some of you know I've started a new job as a recovery driver and I I was asked the other day if I had picked a coupe up yet too which my answer was no but this is some of the cars I have;

Mercedes - 7 all 09/59 reg,
BMW - 3 from 02 - 59 reg,
VW - 3 from 02 - 57 reg,
Vauxhall - 3 from 53 - 09 reg,
Ford - 3 from T - 09 reg,
Lamboghini - 1 58 reg,
Audi - 1 56 reg,
Skoda - 1 03 reg,
Lexus - 1 52 reg,
LDV - 1 02 reg,
TVR - 1 G reg,
plus 1 Fiat Punto M reg 213000 miles cam belt snapped the mature lady owner had never had it changed.

What do they say about German reliabity?

213,000 miles on one belt!!! mental!

Bet the lambo was nice - you should start taking sneeky photos... have a hall of shame

I got a pic of the TVR but the owner of the Lambo had me putting a cover over it and came with me to the dealers I was hoping get a sneaky pic.

Mighty Punto!!

Mine snapped at 118,000 miles though I'd imagine I drove my 55s at higher revs than the "mature lady owner"

Interesting list of car that you have ...

I was quite shocked at the number of new Mercs that I've picked up when I got too the dealerswith the last one they just laughed and said another one?

No Honda's yet then? That VTEC is supposed to be one of the most reliable engines in the world isn't it?

I was surprised to see a late reg BMW stopped at temporary traffic lights, hazards going, not moving recently. I don't think he was just a fool who'd parked there (double yellows too)!

Did all those Mercs have the same issue? Electrical gremlins?

And Go Punto, Go Punto, Go Punto!

I have to say, recently when I've seen cars broken down at the side of the road, 90% of the time it's a Merc, Audi or BMW!

im surprised you havent had a few alfas yet either

I bet she thrashed it,for a belt to go so quick!!

Ah so Mercedes haven't quite put their gremlins behind them then?

Only 1 Japanese car in there I notice, definitely teaching the Germans a thing or two I'd say!

Weirdly I also saw a broken Lambo not too long ago, a blue Gallardo.

I did a similar post a while ago about my dad! He was an AA patrol man at the time. The most cars he attended were vauxhaulls! Mainly vectras!

As long as you don't actually need your Toyota to stop

So do old cars not break down then? Or maybe people who have old cars don't have breakdown cover....

What was the TVR Paul - an S?

No Toyotas or Citroens - no surprise there.

Well,

I've had my coupe a 99 20vt6 with 84k on it now for 10 months now and i've not had a single problem with it but heres a list of cars i've owned and had problems with

2001 98 Audi A4 - Fine

2002 99 318ti Compact - Fine

2003 00 Golf 1.6sr - Temperature sensor

2003/4 53 MG ZR 160 - interior started to fall apart
2003/4 51 Golf GTTDi 130 - Cruize control played up a few times quite scarey on the motorway

2004 52 Zafira GSi - Fine

2005 04 Vectra cdti 150 - Kept going into limp mode fixed under warrenty had the car for 2 weeks and cost 2.5k
2005 99 Zsara Vts Coupe - power steering pump pipe blew on the motor way

2006 54 Zafira GSi - Fine
2006 91 R5 GTTurbo - 157,000 miles and not a problem


2007 97 Golf GTi 16v - Fine
2007 till now 06 Vectra V6 cdti - Gearbox blew cost 3k and then limp mode prob as per the last one cost 2.5k luckily both under warranty
2008 till now 99 Fiat Coupe 20vt6 - Fine

Where theres 2 cars together I owned both at the same time with the older being my work runaround.

I now have my coupe and Vectra and have promised my self never to buy a new car again.

To be fair, there are probably a lot more Vauxhauls out there than Coupes... what we need is a breakdown of breakdown by type scaled by proportion.

Quite some mileage for a mature lady owner too - about 13000 a year.

Maybe she lived quite some distance from Wayne Rooney's house

My brother in law is a Sergeant with Essex Police force, he used to be traffic but is now dog section.

He reckons whenever they went to a vehicle fire on M11/M25/A127/A13 it was always an Alfa..... Needless to say we are about to buy a 147 GTA as the family car and he isn't impressed......

Ironically my nephew (his son), had bought a 99 Clio and last summer I came out of Benfleet train station to a strong smell of petrol and found........... His son's clio on fire.....

Having owned 2 alfas for over 2 years and still being active on the Alfa forums and having a mate that works for Alfa, I have never heard of a single Alfa catching fire!

Last week we got a brand a new Citroen Berlingo. It was delivered with 8 miles on the clock and now has just over 100. Within the first few days the suspension started knocking and tonight we had an electrical burning smell comming from the dash.

The car has not yet been taken off the Airfield so hasn't even gone above 20 mph!

2 new Mercs in the last 4 years no breakdowns, did everything well, didn't make me smile like coupé does

Having worked on Alfas' for the past nine years, I've never known one to go on fire either.




Most Alfas' are pretty reliable or will at least get you home, even if there's a fault.
Main failures are belts and Bosch related items.

The list of what went wrong with the berlingos at work is unbelievable from electrics to gear boxes.
A friend of mine was driving back home in a French car he had a few power loss issues and started to pull over it died he smelt smoke she smelt petrol both did a runner and the car burnt to a crisp with all there stuff in it.

During the recent snow crisis there was a picture of a GTV that had caught fire on one of the motorways.

My friends berlingo (its a diesel HDI version) has never gone wrong. I quite like them as a utility vehicle, masses of space, very practical just let down by a poor (bouncy) ride.

I have had my coupe for nearly 6 years and 120k miles with very few problems, due to the usage it gets it rarely goes cold however, and I suspect that helps. Similarly, my wife has a Berlingo which she has had for slightly longer and similar mileage with only one breakdown so far and that was a wheel bearing failure - the sound of it going was masked by a hole in the exhaust when it started so it went quite quickly without the tell tale signs being noticed. Main problem was that we were in France on the way home at the time. Have to disagree with sugerbear about the poor ride - I think the Berlingo has one of the best rides of cars available now, as do some with much more knowledge than I.

i have no comment on coop reliability i wish to make at this moment....

best reliability ive had was from a '91 civic vtec, one set of front discs and pads in two years! sailed through two mot's needing nothing, and boy did i drive it hard!

I've had two coupe and in five years, owning one for five years and
one for four, the only breakdown I have had was the turbo return hose
splitting, and the only jobs I've had to do are brake pipes and handbrake
cables on both cars!