Paging the amateur car mechanics

So buying a Subaru Legacy with an unproven diesel engine (their first)
might not be a good idea?

Well, Subaru has a reputation for reliability.

There again, so did Nissan.

 

No idea.

I was just generalising, given your current experience, the above might be
worth considering if you want to at least try to avoid ending up in the same
boat in three or four years time.

I believe it was the Forester or perhaps the Outback (or maybe both), that
not so long ago had a reputation for lunching its engine.

Mercs used to be considered extremely well built, then look at the trash
they turned out in the mid 90s.

Whatever, all the time whatever you get is under warranty and you've kept it
serviced, it doesn't really matter what goes pop bar the inconvenience of it
being off the road whilst they fix it.

True... any major probs with the Doctors Clio in drag (1) as of yet?

(1) Or am I wrong again?

 

They also have a reputation for blown head gaskets, as my mate
discovered (unfortunately not in time to stop him buying one).

Not since the Navarra's famous grenading engines.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

Agreed. The warranty list with the Primera, though, was as follows (not
in chronological order):

Recalled several times for engine remaps and handbrake mod.

Entire rear seat back replaced because it fell apart (faulty internal
structure).

Rear screen replaced after it leaked and water ran into the electric
release and fritzed the central locking/alarm system.

Wiring harness inside steering wheel replaced due to faulty earth which
turned the radio volume up and down as you twirled the wheel, and/or
cycled the display through its functions (amazing, that).

Back to dealer two or three times for mystery power loss and engine
going into 'limp' mode.

EGR valve failure.

Complete turbocharger failure.

Out of warranty: fault electrical earth in tail lights, tailgate strut
ejected hydraulic fluid, and now complete turbo failure (again). That is
a lamentable record for a car that's barely four years old.

Yes. Hers is the old shape Micra, and is supernaturally reliable. The
Clio in drag is the current bug-eyed model and, supposedly, is not as
reliable as the model it replaced because - guess what? - it's stuffed
with Renault components and electrics.

 

That's shite - I presume you're going to write to Nissan at some stage to
let them know just why you'll not be looking to replace it with another?

It'll be due a throttle body at some stage if it hasn't had one yet...
unless of course they fixed this bugbear on the very late K11s.

Excellent - can I recommend if one of these ever enters your life, you make
sure it's an auto?

If the 'box is Renault sourced it'll go expensively wrong, be that by way of
its ECU dying, or the box itself doing the same in a four figure spectacular
stylee.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, JackH

I predict they won't GAF.

The Nissan salesman that I encountered a couple of years back was the
single most unpleasant reptile I have ever had to deal with in such a
situation. If Ricky Gervais wrote a factual documentary about the idiot
he'd be criticised for going OTT.

The Toyota guy was such a contrast it was ridiculous. He's sold four
cars to me and my family on the back of it, and he'll sell more.

Nissan will never see any of my money.

 

Maybe not, but I'd have thought their UK HQ are more likely to give a ****
when approached directly by a disenchanted customer than a salesman would
be.

The fact TOG is a journo and happens to have two of their sheds parked
outside his house, is a minor detail. ;-)

Nor mine... but then even if they were reliable and had a really impressive
dealer local to me, I'd still not want one personally.

 

Erm, he pretty much does. I can easily mark the threads he appears in
as 'ignore', and not miss much.

How can you have "other people's threads"? Is this your thread? Am I
invading it?

 

But that's just two guys. It seems a little unfair to characterise
two entire companies based on two human relationships.

 

Nissan UK's Communications Director used to be a journo on CAR and
assorted other EMAP motoring titles...

 

He doesn't elsewhere, from what I've seen.

As can anyone if they choose to do so.

YMMV, I meant threads people have started about one subject, which he's then
apparently only jumped into to get whatever axe it is he has to grind with
TOG back on the menu.

 

Forget the salesmanship involved; out of the two, Toyota produce the better
cars right now.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Bear

Aye, well, that became apparent when we (eventually) managed a test
drive on the "new" Micra. Horrible little thing. We clearly dodged a
bullet there, so I guess we should thank their incompetent salesdroid
for his inability to put the script down and see what the punter wanted.

The Toyota guy (who I saw half an hour later, still seething) read me
like a book and did exactly what he had to do. Perfectly. We bought the
car that day, using his finance (which was cheaper than we could get
from the bank).

When he rang me two days later to say that he'd got a slightly better
(0.5% lower APR) deal, the relationship[1] was cemented.

[1] And that is exactly the word. I like him. I really enjoy being sold
to well, and this guy is a fucking expert. And he's only in his
mid-twenties. The ****.

 

My hill climb mate knuckles is still running a Primera 2.0 Sport he has
had for yonks (possibly pre Renault deal ?) and done Mazda type mileage
in. He's a very fussy type when it comes to reliability and it would
have been dropped years ago if troublesome.

Another marque that hasn't particularly benefited from an alliance deal
by the sound of it.
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Champ

<shrug>

What can you do? I wasted an hour of my life with a Nissan idiot. Not
doing that again, thanks.

I think the high (low) point was where, having got my keys to value my
car, he refused to return them until I spoke to his manager. You know
me, mild mannered to a fault, but he came closer to being punched that
day than he realised. The manager saved him by showing up in the nick of
time, looking me in the eye and asking "What can I do to make you buy
this car?".

"I wouldn't buy from you if you were the last dealer on Earth now GIVE
ME MY FUCKING KEY!"

It speaks volumes for Toyota's approach that an hour later, I was
signing of the dotted line. I was so angry that I only went to see them
at Mrs WUN's insistence. The guy disarmed me, did what he needed to do,
and we bought the car.

Guess where we go when we want a new car now?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Bear

Heh. It does, and it is unfussed.

It's nowhere near quick enough for you, and all the electronic stuff
that I love, you'd hate.

Having said that, you are, of course, welcome to a test trundle. And
it's a *lot* of car for £20K on three years interest-free.

And if you fall in love with it, I know *just* the man to talk to... :^)

 

Which goes totally against my view of Nissans. I've run loads as SOCs
for many winters and never had a moment's trouble from any of them. My
120Y Coupe was nigh on indestructable, and the engine still lives on in
someone I knows boat - I sold him the car in 1989 for 50 quid.

Last one I had was the Maverick, a Ford badged Spanish built Nissan
which drove like it had barely done 20,000 miles, when in actual fact
it was showing 170,000 on the clock.

I like Nissans.

--
Lozzo
SV650S K5, ZX-7R P4, CBR600F-W, SR250 SpazzTrakka, SR250 Project
SpazzCaffer
I see a bright new future, where chickens can cross the road with no
fear of having their motives questioned

 

You like old Nissans... most of the things they've done after the P11
Primera / K11 Micra isn't from the same mould from what I've seen.

My dad loved the battered old Nissan Urvan he had up until about six years
ago.

Bit pricey when it needed Nissan specific parts, but very reliable and more
economical than the shithouse Doblo Cargo he has at the moment, even though
that's much smaller / lighter.

 

But you're assuming that every other person working for Nissan is also
an idiot. And that everyone working for Toyota isn't. Seems too
significant a conclusion to draw from limited data, is all I'm saying.

 

I know zilch about those, but there's a black one round here that looks
the dog's danglies. I just can't get my head past the build quality of
a mate's Hyundai Coupe a few years ago though.


--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)