Worst nearly new car

cowasaki

cowasaki

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Darren
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Blimey.....

Last week some dozy plank driving a road sweeper drove off the pavement into the side of my new car so Avis delivered me a Ford Focus this morning. Drove it onto the drive and it seemed like a nice enough car then I got a call from them saying that the car had to be serviced and they would bring me a replacement....... Several hours later they turned up with a Peugeot 308 :bang:

Rant mode......

What an absolute pile of rubbish !!!

The most plasticy, cheap and nasty nearly new car I have ever driven. The hand brake lever looks like a walking stick stuffed through the floor and you have to pull it 6 inches up in order to activate the thing. The accelerator and brake are like on/off switches and the controls feel and look like they are from a 1980s binatone stereo.

Rant over......

EDIT: Not only that but it was supposed to have a full tank of fuel and on return they charge you £1.48 per litre. I drove 1 mile to the petrol station and got nearly a gallon in. They got both barrels ;)
 
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neil_g said:
after several years owning french *****, i now own a german car..

breath of fresh air.... :D
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Yes me too! Had a Renault previously and bought a spanking new Volkswagen Golf SE TDI thingy a couple of months or so ago and it is a stonkingly good car. The 308 is literally horrible seriously horrible. If the repairs to my golf were going to take more than a week I would ring them and get them to bring me a trabant as an upgrade or maybe a Ka or a Raleigh Striker :)
 
Last year when our Smart got clouted we were given a Chevy Kalos as a courtesy car by the repair shop. It was an awful underpowered plasticky thing.
 
Mike Jackson said:
Last year when our Smart got clouted we were given a Chevy Kalos as a courtesy car by the repair shop. It was an awful underpowered plasticky thing.
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What do you expect from Daewoo?
Back in 1998 I had an accident in my one year old Mk1 Mondeo. Car was taken away for repair and I was left with a one year old Citroen AX. That Citroen AX (ghastly underpowered car:gag:) was more basic and plastic than a 1976 Fiesta base model I'd had. Couldn't wait to get my Mondeo back.
 
Mike Jackson said:
Last year when our Smart got clouted we were given a Chevy Kalos as a courtesy car by the repair shop. It was an awful underpowered plasticky thing.
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I don't know how Chevy can put their badge on the cars they sell here. If I thought of a Chevy it'd either be a nice big pickup or a muscle car, sure they make the family sedans too but a Daewoo is not even close. Sad thing is they sell some of them in the US too.

Almost as bad as Chrysler Group being saved by Fiat... :(
 
Typical of French cars! A good friend used to work for Citroen as a technician having worked at Merc & BMW and was astounded by how bad the engineering, mechanics and build quality was!
 
I'm so looking forward to picking up my new 308 on Saturday!!!! :lol:

I loved the way it drove during my test drive and really want this week to fly by. Have had a 307 for 4 years and do like my French cars, and I'm not biased cos I'm French either. My Dad had Renaults for 21 years.

:love: my new pug to be :p
 
Oh and my husband doesn't like my car thinks it's a tank! But he drives a 208!
 
martyp said:
I don't know how Chevy can put their badge on the cars they sell here. If I thought of a Chevy it'd either be a nice big pickup or a muscle car, sure they make the family sedans too but a Daewoo is not even close. Sad thing is they sell some of them in the US too.

Almost as bad as Chrysler Group being saved by Fiat... :(
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Chevrolet is GM's budget brand, hence using the name for the Daewoo products, still an own goal imho though :shake:
 
kelack said:
I'm so looking forward to picking up my new 308 on Saturday!!!! :lol:

I loved the way it drove during my test drive and really want this week to fly by. Have had a 307 for 4 years and do like my French cars, and I'm not biased cos I'm French either. My Dad had Renaults for 21 years.

:love: my new pug to be :p
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Sorry, each to their own !!

You must have test driven it so you must like it but I drive Ford Transits, Ford Transit Couriers, Vauxhall Astras and a few other cars at work then at home I have the Golf. I've driven literally dozens of other cars and that includes other Peugeots (I passed my test in a Peugeot back in 1988!) but I really do not like this 308.

Hope you enjoy your car though.
 
Exactly, if we all liked the same thing, life would be boring. I loved it but I know my husband won't - he likes smaller cars that "have balls" (paraphrased) whereas I prefer the bigger car since a lorry drove into me. Feel safer in my 307.

I've driven a mate's little transit and I hated that but I did love the new Astra I had as a courtesy car back in 2006, just couldn't afford one. Love the MK1 Golf too but not the new ones.

And I really can't wait. I'm so excited, it's the first time I've had a nearly new (younger than 6 months) car, all mine have been over 2 or 3 years old when I got them
 
kelack said:
Exactly, if we all liked the same thing, life would be boring. I loved it but I know my husband won't - he likes smaller cars that "have balls" (paraphrased) whereas I prefer the bigger car since a lorry drove into me. Feel safer in my 307.

I've driven a mate's little transit and I hated that but I did love the new Astra I had as a courtesy car back in 2006, just couldn't afford one. Love the MK1 Golf too but not the new ones.

And I really can't wait. I'm so excited, it's the first time I've had a nearly new (younger than 6 months) car, all mine have been over 2 or 3 years old when I got them
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I have been driving nearly new cars for a few years. Nissan 200sx (chipped with hybrid turbo :)), Mondeo diesel, Fiat Marea 20v, Fiat Punto cabrio, Renault Laguna Sport DCi, Renault Kangoo and now this VW Golf all of them were 2-6 months old when I got them and I saved a fortune with someone else loosing all the money. The Kangoo was my first NEW car although I did have a new Yamaha XJR1300 motorcycle before that and the Golf was new. It is so nice not having to worry about what is going to break next or the next MOT. I always traded them in a couple of months before that was due.
 
i really like the newer focus, but feel the inside is a bit naff, the old focus had a cracking interior (once you get used to the angles)but didnt warm to the new one. the one due next year looks like a nice little sexy pup
 
I know, that's one thing I'm looking forward to....oh and the £30 a year tax :clap:
 
matty said:
i really like the newer focus, but feel the inside is a bit naff, the old focus had a cracking interior (once you get used to the angles)but didnt warm to the new one. the one due next year looks like a nice little sexy pup
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The interior of the new focus is a lot naff!
I have to drive one at work and both the centre console and the gearstick are angled away from the driver. They could have at least made an effort with the RHD models as the angles are perfect when sitting in the passenger seat!

More suprising is the 2010 Golf we have suffers exactly the same thing.
 
matty said:
i really like the newer focus, but feel the inside is a bit naff, the old focus had a cracking interior (once you get used to the angles)but didnt warm to the new one. the one due next year looks like a nice little sexy pup
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i liked the focus that they dropped off but only got to reverse it onto the drive before they took it away. The lack of ISOFIX points was another issue.
 
I once bought a new Punto..............jeez it was bad, every week for 6 weeks it went in for a new exhaust (full system) it seemed that a faulty batch were to blame and some spot welds were missing in one part making them vibrate, in the end they sent me to Kwik fit for one fitting and problem solved with a Mossal one (cheap but much better than original) and a letter of appology from the dealer and asked ne to go back to the showroom to pick a complimentary gift..........the car had all the extras so there was nothing I needed good marketing, next car I bought was a Ford KA......11 years of trouble free motoring
 
I drove the Peugeot home from Bradford to Preston today, and I have to agree with Darren that it's not a nice car. It normally takes me a couple of miles to get used to a different car, but this one took the whole hour and three quarter journey to get used to! The biting point on the clutch is way too high up, and the sweet spot on the accelerator is not in a nice place either, oh and the brake is very sharp too. The car is difficult to keep at a constant speed, so you are constantly having to look at the speedo, rather than being able to feel/hear the appropriate revs for that speed in that gear, whilst keeping your eyes on the road and occasionally looking at the speedo!

I dropped Darren off at home to make tea, while I took my Granddaughter home, and I eventually ended up a little more happy with the car after driving it for a total of about two and a half hours, but I still don't like it. Had we test driven the car, there's no way we'd have bought one, whereas our new Golf was a genuine pleasure to drive right from the first minute we had it (following a great test drive in the same model).
 
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I had one when my mondeo was in for a service

Yuk, orrible plasticky petrol thing.
That and the fact i used a whole tank of fuel doing the daily journey

Not used to petrol cars:gag:
 
I've had many cars on loan over the years whilst my company car ( I'm a field engineer ) has been in for service.
As my car gets at least 2 services a year there's been many.

Peugeot sticks out as a bad one, but the worst I've had was a Skoda Superb TDCi, what was supposed to be superb god knows.

My list of company cars has been
Leyland Montego Td ( yup a Perkins deisel ) it was fast and stuck to the road, no power steering so a good workout every day.
Citroen ZX 1.9 non turbo. Reliable to the nth degree until at 130K the power steering pump died.
Ford Escort estate ( bag of poo ) which was manufactured as a white car but because the company needed 110 red ones it had been stripped and sprayed red.
Vauxhall Vectra early model with rounder bumpers ( superb comfy car )
Vauxhall Astra estate another bag of doo doo
Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDi another engineers castoff that had been in a major pileup. Took me a year to get the bit that didn't work sorted.

I now drive a Volkswagon Passat 2.0 TDi Highline estate with all the toys.

I never liked German cars but boy this one is a good one. It has a full leather interior and only 145ps but it takes me miles and miles every day in comfort and is fairly econimical.

As for Peugeot's someone has to like them, for me they are too plasticy and cheap looking and French people must genuinly have a funny skeletal configuration.

:D
 
I get to drive a lot of French crap, the Spanish hire car companies can't get enough of them. The 308 I had on Sunday was garbage, a 1.8 petrol with the power of a 1.4. I swear it had a lace head gasket and rubber band piston rings. It had the handling prowess of a skip and the road noise on the motorway was deafening.

The deisel c4 I have now is better, but still French;)
 
Well after driving it over to Bradford to collect some loan gear from Garry Edwards (cheers!) I can say that my views have changed :) It is even worse!!

The wipers are set to give the driver a better view BUT that driver is a French person and in the RHD conversion they have not reversed the wipers so the wiper swipe area is too low on the drivers side !!

The hand brake is hideous to such an extent that I couldn't be bothered to use it and just relied on balancing the clutch (it isn't my clutch :))

The steering wheel adjustment wouldn't go high enough for me to read the speedo.

Minor thing - the location of the accessory power socket (cigarette lighter) was right back near the handbrake and coupled with the angle of the dash meant that any power lead going to the windscreen to a sat nav goes for ages touching the dash and flopping about getting in the way of the gear lever and hand brake and being a general nuisance.

The wing mirrors are strangely located 8 inches back from the front of the door and are smaller than I would want although Mrs_C felt they were fine.

I couldn't actually find anything at all that I liked about the car other than the anchor location for the child safety ISOFIX was near the back of the boot as looked at from the rear ie just behind the seats rather than the other end. :bonk:
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
I once bought a new Punto..............jeez it was bad, every week for 6 weeks it went in for a new exhaust (full system) it seemed that a faulty batch were to blame and some spot welds were missing in one part making them vibrate, in the end they sent me to Kwik fit for one fitting and problem solved with a Mossal one (cheap but much better than original) and a letter of appology from the dealer and asked ne to go back to the showroom to pick a complimentary gift..........the car had all the extras so there was nothing I needed good marketing, next car I bought was a Ford KA......11 years of trouble free motoring
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I bought a Punto Cabrio that was 3 months old. It did not feel like the normal Puntos and actually felt like a really decent build quality! I really did like that car until it had been vandalised 3 times!!
 
Citroen was the most unreliable new car I've owned.
 
cowasaki said:
That is what I have now, a new Golf but not noticed that.
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It is quite possible that is only limited to certain spec interiors (read lower ones) but the angle is definitly there. Also on one of the 2010 hire cars we had (again, poverty spec)
 
RichardtheSane said:
It is quite possible that is only limited to certain spec interiors (read lower ones) but the angle is definitly there. Also on one of the 2010 hire cars we had (again, poverty spec)
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We have the SE TDi model. It feels really nice, I'm missing it :(
 
I have to admit the interiors on both my Fords leaves a bit to be desired once you've sat in any German car costing upwards of £12k, but that said I'm usually looking out of the windows and screaming at other drivers to notice the upholstery...:D
 
Peugeot stopped making good cars when the 106 and 306 went out of production. I had the misfortune to have as a hire car a 407/8 estate (can't remmeber which) and it was the nastiest car I had driven in a very long time. also, for a company who used to make very nice looking cars, every single design now looks like it fell out of a very tall ugly tree. Twice.
 
Come to think of it the Peugoet 3/4009 jacked up estate thing I had once was a pile of crap too.
 
I had a 2005 Focus ST. The interior was fine, it was very comfortable and it was a pleasure to drive (although that 5 cylinder 2.5L turbo is a very thirsty motor).

I now have a MINI Cooper S and I love it to bits. It's well made, it drives well, has enough power (well, you can always do with more power!) and it's very comfortable. It's the first car I have bought new, as I have a family member working for a BMW dealer and got it at a really good price.

I have tried French cars, had a Citroen BX as a company car many years ago, but I can't get on with them. Renault have a couple of very quick models, but I still don't like the interiors or much of the styling and the build quality is that of 1970's Leyland cars...

Fords are very good for the price, but German engineering is certainly worth paying for if you can afford it...

Steve
 
When I was 21 my parents got me an Audi A4 1.8, best car I ever drove. The grunt from the engine was just beautiful. I now have a more modest Mondeo 2.0 TDCI, which I have grown to love too. Its realiable, nippy and economical.
 
hsuffyan said:
When I was 21 my parents got me an Audi A4 1.8, best car I ever drove. The grunt from the engine was just beautiful. I now have a more modest Mondeo 2.0 TDCI, which I have grown to love too. Its realiable, nippy and economical.
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Get rid of the catalytic converter, fit a decat pipe and you'll find it a tad quicker, more economical and love it even more.:thumbs:
 
There's quite a lot of mods around for the Ford TDCi engines these days.....
 
menthel said:
Peugeot stopped making good cars when the 106 and 306 went out of production. I had the misfortune to have as a hire car a 407/8 estate (can't remmeber which) and it was the nastiest car I had driven in a very long time. also, for a company who used to make very nice looking cars, every single design now looks like it fell out of a very tall ugly tree. Twice.
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I wouldn't mind a 3L V6 406 .
 
Jelster said:
There's quite a lot of mods around for the Ford TDCi engines these days.....
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I know, I've got silicone boost pipes and intake pipe K&N panel filter so far, next will be decat, probably a performance stainless exhaust, a bigger intercooler which should all increase the 155bhp to 185bhp or their abouts. A remap should push it to 200 possibly even 200+, plenty of torque and even more mpg.:thumbs:
I've also got a set of eibach springs to go on and ebc performance discs and redstuff pads all round.
 
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