Practically Classics Forum

Recently my daily driver, a Ford Galaxy diesel, threw its head gasket after the thermostat failed in the closed posistion - regular occurence on the VAG engine used said the AA man and a bill for around £1000 followed swiftly afterwards for repair of the dammned thing - what can i say its a modern diesel engine and I wouldn't have had a clue.

However, the conversation with the AA man was gave me a fascinating insight into "modern" motoring - Apparently modern cars are generally more reliable but cost massively more to fix when they go wrong and, according to the AA man, VAG product isnt as reliable as they'd like you to think - he reckoned they tow far more VAG engined Galaxys than Ford engined ones: Even as a (classic) Ford fan that did surprise me.

Unless my rose tinted glasses are working overtime I seem to recall that thermostats failed open on our older cars meaning that the heater didn't work and you dropped a few MPG - better than being hit for a grand bill for a £13 part. Failing closed is surely a design fault?

More intertesting, to me at least, was the cost of the injector seals -

Ford / VW dealers charge £100 the set
Audi ~£140
Seat £70

For the same part! Says more than a little about brand perception to me...

Anyway, rant over.

I've met with plenty of VW TDI engines that had suffered from a loose water pump impeller which would allow them to overheat going up long inclines and eventually cause HGF if not recognised or if misdiagnosed. The fix? Fit an aftermarket pump that has an all steel impeller and shaft assembly to replace the o/e, nylon-bladed one.
The parts are only around £70 there, but in cars with their TDI sitting North to South, such as the previous generation of Passat, the labour's the killer as the front bumper, bonnet slam panel, viscous fan, electric fan, engine mounts and of course the timing belt and cover must be removed and replaced afterwards.
In fairness to VAG, both of these faults tend only to occur at intervals of 150,000 miles or more but no, they're no more reliable than anything else these days though I think that's because the Sharan/Galaxy/Alhambra is no less complex than other makers' products.
Not the same as comparing the Beetle to pretty much any of its (water cooled) period competition then. Remove the liquid coolant and you remove the biggest causes of stranded cars.
That, and German electrics of the 1940s/50s/60s/70s, etc. tended not to "leak smoke" the way that Lucas stuff did.

It could be that the number of Galaxies they tow is related heavily to the sheer numbers that exist; Addison Lee have squillions of them all with astronomical mileages, so they can't be THAT bad.

please dont say things like that, ive got a galaxy

I bought a Passat TD estate once when I believed all the hype about VW reliability. Never again. It was easily the most expensive car I've ever run, with almost constant faults needing fixing.

Aren't moderns "throw away" anyway? OK, I'm a VW lover, but I do accept that they have problems like any other car maker. The 2 litre diesel engine is supposed to have a major problem with injectors - so much so that the price has fallen from £450 each to £150 each (or so I have been told!). I hear the latest 1.6 has a similar problem.

I know of a few cars that have been scrapped for what I would think are minor problems (eg a Peugot 205 scrapped because it needed new front shockers/struts). There again, apart from one or two neighbours, I don't know many around here that do their own repairs - or even change the oil themselves! I used to be under my cars' bonnets on a weekly basis, tinkering with something. I think the only reason I opened the Golf's bonnet in the last three months was to check the washer fluid! OK, it had a cambelt and other jobs one at the local garage last month, but as far as "tinkering" goes, I have done nothing since last July, when I changed the oil!

I had a VW Golf GTI Mk 2 and that was probably the best all round car I ever had (Though as a 1987 model, it would now be knocking on the classic door). I think that some of the better cars of that time reached a peak in many ways. They benefited from improvements in materials and design but had not gone over the top. I think they have gone too far now and are trying to cram too much into vehicles (I am reminded of a post I just made concerning greed), in order to satisfy a status obsessed public, who so I understand, feel rather inadequate, if their car doesn’t have electric windows and power steering.

If they had continued to make cars like the aforementioned Golf and had provided spares long term, there is no reason why a car like that couldn’t give 20 years service (I believe Volvo used to design the 140/240 series with that in mind). Cram it full of expensive to repair electronics and you see scrapyards full of what appear to be sound cars (Not the rusted out wrecks of 1970s scrapyards). Whatever the reasons for cars ending up in scarpyards (Accidents excepted), it’s good for business and I don’t know that the average keeping up with the Joneses merchant would want to keep the same car for twenty years anyway (After all that would mean expending a bit of effort in looking after it).

If I were to buy a modern, I think I would consider a Japanese car. The Japanese have been making electronics longer than most and probably have a head start in applying it to the motor car. I have been told by people in the breakdown business, that they get called out to fewer Japanese cars than to others. However there is little chance of my buying a new car, as I have always done my own servicing and am not one of those, who claims to be able to repair an ECU with a tin opener and a multi meter (From whom, amazingly, we are yet to hear ).

Martin Evans wrote:If I were to buy a modern, I think I would consider a Japanese car. The Japanese have been making electronics longer than most and probably have a head start in applying it to the motor car. I have been told by people in the breakdown business, that they get called out to fewer Japanese cars than to others.

The Lexus has all the electrical gadgets & gizmos, and only two noteable faults: the LCD display for the climate control has become sundamaged over the last 21 years, and the central locking/alarm system occasionally takes a double-twist of the key to disarm on cold, wet, rainy, very very early mornings... Other than that, the electric aerial has suffered a broken cog so no longer functions properly; typically, this happened just a month after I bought it Toyota/Lexus still offer replacement parts for it though - for a price!

I think this is the real problem with many moderns, and even 10-20 year old cars... So many companies have changed ownership or management during that time (or even disappeared entirely!), and every time they seem to screw over previous supporters of the marques by discontinuing, price gouging, or otherwise adversely adjusting their legacy spares services.

VAG reliability? Its a myth isn't it!

Can only speak as I find but I've had VW and Skoda (same thing mechanically and electrically) since 2001 and had 100% reliability and the build quality on my latest Golf is just as good as any of my past VWs...

Perhaps its not a myth...

Probably one of those "statistics can be made to prove anything" scenarios depending on who you speak to and shown by watchdog every week!