Rant!!!!! The Plot Thickens

mike_l

professorben said:

I think it is a brand issue. They make terrible vans. Which is staggering considering the ford transit exists, just build one like that and put your name on it. 

Just to point out the current Citroen and Peugeot van are built by Fiat.


I'm fucking glad I no longer work for them.

Motorhate

mike_l said:

Just to point out the current Citroen and Peugeot van are built by Fiat.

Blimey, they really are going for the award of crap car manufacturer with them credentials.

uncledick

professorben said:

Motorhate said:

Why oh why oh why oh why did you buy a Citroen? Worst. Cars. Ever.

I remember talking to a fella in roadside recovery and he stated that hands down, anything French was by far the most unreliable vehicles around at the moment. Japanese by far the most reliable on average.

I didn't. 
The company gave me a brand new Citroen, taking away my 3 yr old Transit.....I'd swap back in a heartbeat!!!

I wouldn't want a Transit more than 3 years old.  If the engine doesn't blow up then the gearbox will seize.  That's assuming they haven't rotted away.  Scrapped a 2006 van yesterday - beyond repair due to corrosion.

ICBM

My Renault Grand Scenic has been the most reliable and cheapest car to run I've ever owned - I've had it eight years and it's only cost a total of just over two grand in repairs in that time, including a quite expensive last couple of months at over £600. If it blew up tomorrow it would be annoying, but still the best car I've ever owned on balance.

My dad has had two Mercs which have been less reliable and much more expensive to fix.

My wife's Suzuki has been slightly better, but it's only six months older than the Renault and it's in worse condition in terms of rust and general wear. It has been slightly more reliable so far, but we've only had it five years and I'm not convinced it will even get to eight with us.

professorben

ICBM said:

My Renault Grand Scenic has been the most reliable and cheapest car to run I've ever owned - I've had it eight years and it's only cost a total of just over two grand in repairs in that time, including a quite expensive last couple of months at over £600. If it blew up tomorrow it would be annoying, but still the best car I've ever owned on balance.

My dad has had two Mercs which have been less reliable and much more expensive to fix.

My wife's Suzuki has been slightly better, but it's only six months older than the Renault and it's in worse condition in terms of rust and general wear. It has been slightly more reliable so far, but we've only had it five years and I'm not convinced it will even get to eight with us.

Also own a Grand Scenic, love that car. 

strtdv

Renaults often have electrical gremlins, some of which can get expensive, but in fairness they don't seem to rust (my dad had 2 crap Renaults with electrical issues and I had 1)

My uncle always ran Citroens but he always got them ex-demo and only ran them for 3 years ago reliability wasn't an issue.

My wife's car is a 10 year old mk 5 Golf diesel which so far has only required a brake calliper in all its years.
We plan to change it this year for either a nearly new Golf GTI or GTD but it's unlikely either of those will be as reliable.

Foster

professorben said:

duotone said:

I won't buy a Citroen then.

At least not a Dispatch van, it's the most miserable 12 months of driving I've ever experienced.

I love my dispatch van! Full of character, reliable and easy to work on. When I bought it I had to replace both wing mirrors - only cost me £30 and an hour of tinkering. That said it is a 17 year old mk1 1.9 non turbo :P

MattBanshee

Dealerships are absolute cock-ends for pretty much all makes of car. I have a work VW Golf, took it in for service, went back to collect at 5pm (had a call at 2pm to say it was done). I walked in, past my car parked in a parking bay. They asked me to wait whilst someone "fetched my vehicle" for FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES. When someone did turn up to "fetch my vehicle", all they actually did was give me the keys and point to it in the car park. 

professorben

MattBanshee said:

Dealerships are absolute cock-ends for pretty much all makes of car. I have a work VW Golf, took it in for service, went back to collect at 5pm (had a call at 2pm to say it was done). I walked in, past my car parked in a parking bay. They asked me to wait whilst someone "fetched my vehicle" for FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES. When someone did turn up to "fetch my vehicle", all they actually did was give me the keys and point to it in the car park. 

Exactly what I'm talking about. 
One day Robinsons Citroen of Peterborough will aspire to this level of customer service.  

professorben

Foster said:

professorben said:

duotone said:

I won't buy a Citroen then.

At least not a Dispatch van, it's the most miserable 12 months of driving I've ever experienced.

I love my dispatch van! Full of character, reliable and easy to work on. When I bought it I had to replace both wing mirrors - only cost me £30 and an hour of tinkering. That said it is a 17 year old mk1 1.9 non turbo :P

Hmmm mines a non turbo 1.6
do you not find it sluggish, poorly finished, terrible gearbox, too small, badly laid out, underpowered, uncomfortable and with dodgy electrics?

because mine is. 

Foster

professorben said:

Foster said:

I love my dispatch van! Full of character, reliable and easy to work on. When I bought it I had to replace both wing mirrors - only cost me £30 and an hour of tinkering. That said it is a 17 year old mk1 1.9 non turbo :P

Hmmm mines a non turbo 1.6
do you not find it sluggish, poorly finished, terrible gearbox, too small, badly laid out, underpowered, uncomfortable and with dodgy electrics?

because mine is. 

Sluggish - sometimes, it hates hills. What do you expect from a 1.9 XUD diesel engine? I did manage to get it to a whopping 86mph on the M6

poorly finished - It's a van

Terrible gearbox - I've had no problems with the gearbox, goes into gears easily and never pops out of gear. It could be due to the fact I make sure the gearbox fluid gets changed.

Too small - Mine is a stealth camper, loads of room!

Badly laid out - It has seats at the front and naff all at the back, I fail to see how that can be classed as a bad layout for a van? It's got sliding doors both sides so it doesn't matter if I park next to something.

Underpowered - again it's a 1.9 XUD diesel engine, I didn't buy it to go fast

Uncomfortable - Mine is stupidly comfortable, lovely and spacious in the driving area

Dodgy Electrics - What electrics? The alternator works, the wipers work. Even the fan and the lights work! Beyond that it hasn't got much electronic. I think when it was new it didn't come with a stereo or speakers, you had to buy and fit them yourself.

It's just a great van, just the right size (I can park pretty much anywhere a car can), cheap to maintain and utterly reliable. It doesn't rust like a crappy Ford Transit due to being fully galvanised from the factory. That said it does have a habit of stalling if you're going fast and then brake hard...

It cost me £1k, I can't complain about it at all!

professorben

Foster said:

professorben said:

Foster said:

I love my dispatch van! Full of character, reliable and easy to work on. When I bought it I had to replace both wing mirrors - only cost me £30 and an hour of tinkering. That said it is a 17 year old mk1 1.9 non turbo :P

Hmmm mines a non turbo 1.6
do you not find it sluggish, poorly finished, terrible gearbox, too small, badly laid out, underpowered, uncomfortable and with dodgy electrics?

because mine is. 

Sluggish - sometimes, it hates hills. What do you expect from a 1.9 XUD diesel engine? I did manage to get it to a whopping 86mph on the M6

poorly finished - It's a van

Terrible gearbox - I've had no problems with the gearbox, goes into gears easily and never pops out of gear. It could be due to the fact I make sure the gearbox fluid gets changed.

Too small - Mine is a stealth camper, loads of room!

Badly laid out - It has seats at the front and naff all at the back, I fail to see how that can be classed as a bad layout for a van? It's got sliding doors both sides so it doesn't matter if I park next to something.

Underpowered - again it's a 1.9 XUD diesel engine, I didn't buy it to go fast

Uncomfortable - Mine is stupidly comfortable, lovely and spacious in the driving area

Dodgy Electrics - What electrics? The alternator works, the wipers work. Even the fan and the lights work! Beyond that it hasn't got much electronic. I think when it was new it didn't come with a stereo or speakers, you had to buy and fit them yourself.

It's just a great van, just the right size (I can park pretty much anywhere a car can), cheap to maintain and utterly reliable. It doesn't rust like a crappy Ford Transit due to being fully galvanised from the factory. That said it does have a habit of stalling if you're going fast and then brake hard...

It cost me £1k, I can't complain about it at all!

Nope, it pops out of 3rd, the racking fitted to it makes one side door and 1/4 of the space unusable, the lights DONT work on mine, and one of my colleagues due to shit electrics (except that one time I took it through a car wash and the bumper fell off, then the lights started working again but only for 3 weeks), the wipers work but the water jets don't, it's less than 18 months old and under 45k on the clock. 
Terrible van. 

I had it from 350miles on the clock 12 months ago and it was less than 5k before it started to go wrong, it's now at 42.5k and it's falling apart. 

You are right about the hills, it doesn't like the hills around where I live (the Cambridgeshire fens.......)

Oh oh and none of the storage pockets are big enough to fit an A4 folder, where the fuck are you supposed to keep your purchase order notes?!?! there's no place for your fuel card and pedals are so stupidly close together you can hardly drive it in steel toe boots. 

Foster

I drive mine everyday in steel toe boots I think the real difference here is the age - yours is less than 18 months old, mine is 17 years old. The only jobs that are on the 'to do' list is a headlight has a hole in it and the rear suspension bushes need changing (waiting for a decent day before I do that job, means removing the rear axle).

We've a toyota whatever at work - essentially a rebadged citroen/peugeot that is a few years old. Because loads of stuff on it is electric it has loads of faults. On my van I have manual windows, wing mirrors and I don't even have central locking. Makes it more reliable as there are fewer things to go wrong on it. 

Get a VW transporter, they're hilariously crap. Want to plug in a sat-nav? Best get used to the ashtray drawer being out all the time. Also being a VW it'll probably die before it hits 80k

professorben

Foster said:

I drive mine everyday in steel toe boots I think the real difference here is the age - yours is less than 18 months old, mine is 17 years old. The only jobs that are on the 'to do' list is a headlight has a hole in it and the rear suspension bushes need changing (waiting for a decent day before I do that job, means removing the rear axle).

We've a toyota whatever at work - essentially a rebadged citroen/peugeot that is a few years old. Because loads of stuff on it is electric it has loads of faults. On my van I have manual windows, wing mirrors and I don't even have central locking. Makes it more reliable as there are fewer things to go wrong on it. 

Get a VW transporter, they're hilariously crap. Want to plug in a sat-nav? Best get used to the ashtray drawer being out all the time. Also being a VW it'll probably die before it hits 80k

I realise I'm bitching about essentially a 'free' van and I never used to have a works van as a subbie, but it's just soooooo crap I can't believe it ever got made. 

professorben

Foster said:

I drive mine everyday in steel toe boots I think the real difference here is the age - yours is less than 18 months old, mine is 17 years old. The only jobs that are on the 'to do' list is a headlight has a hole in it and the rear suspension bushes need changing (waiting for a decent day before I do that job, means removing the rear axle).

We've a toyota whatever at work - essentially a rebadged citroen/peugeot that is a few years old. Because loads of stuff on it is electric it has loads of faults. On my van I have manual windows, wing mirrors and I don't even have central locking. Makes it more reliable as there are fewer things to go wrong on it. 

Get a VW transporter, they're hilariously crap. Want to plug in a sat-nav? Best get used to the ashtray drawer being out all the time. Also being a VW it'll probably die before it hits 80k

Don't get me started on the built in SatNav...... best thing that ever happened was someone breaking into the van and stealing it. 

robgilmo

All car manufacturers manufacture shite, not just Citroen. All cars are shite, even the good ones ,

Paul_C

pfft @ modern vans, you should have tried a Sherpa, or for the full experience, a Sherpa Luton.

The old VW LT28s were fun, especially when the throttle cable broke (which happened more than once) - we (Kennings) used to get them back to the depot for repair by taking the engine cover off (between the front seats) tying a bit of string to the carburetor and using that to control the throttle with the left hand, right hand for steering (and gear changing).

professorben

Paul_C said:

pfft @ modern vans, you should have tried a Sherpa, or for the full experience, a Sherpa Luton.

The old VW LT28s were fun, especially when the throttle cable broke (which happened more than once) - we (Kennings) used to get them back to the depot for repair by taking the engine cover off (between the front seats) tying a bit of string to the carburetor and using that to control the throttle with the left hand, right hand for steering (and gear changing).

Are you my dad???

DrJazzTap

I feel your pain.

I used to work alongside a fifteen car workshop. So i used to be able to just ask one of the guys to have a look at my car after work etc. I took that for granted.

When I moved on I only realised just how shite some franchise dealers are. I rang Bristol vw to get my car in for a service. I was told nothing available for the next six weeks! The car was displaying a cat warning light and according to the hand book I shouldn't be driving it.
Bristol vw said "do you have the use of another vehicle?".....I rang bath vw and they managed to book me in for the upcoming weekend. 

Paul_C

professorben said:

Paul_C said:

pfft @ modern vans, you should have tried a Sherpa, or for the full experience, a Sherpa Luton.

The old VW LT28s were fun, especially when the throttle cable broke (which happened more than once) - we (Kennings) used to get them back to the depot for repair by taking the engine cover off (between the front seats) tying a bit of string to the carburetor and using that to control the throttle with the left hand, right hand for steering (and gear changing).

Are you my dad???

Not as far as I'm aware . . .