Mr Peas

I put reliability and performance at the top of my priority list when choosing a car, hence I bought an Octavia after reading many positive reviews.
Don't get me wrong, I still rate it as the best value for money I have spent as far as the whole package goes, but for a 3-4 year old car I have been very unhappy with the reliability.

In 1 year (8K) I have had :-

New clutch at 45K (never had to replace one before in 15 years of driving)
Water pump failure
Thermostat failure
Trapped wire in the ignition
Blown turbo hose
Rear washer does not work

The engine warning light has been on at least a dozen times for one thing or another, I nearly melted the engine when the water pump failed and it drinks 2 litres of oil a year.
This is just what I can think of as I type this. I have decided against a remap as I do not want to put any more strain on the car!

The only car that ever gave me more trouble was a D reg Astra 1.6 which broke down at least once a week (6 year old car)
Even my ancient Maestro never gave me this much grief, and that includes the fact that the carburetor fell off whilst I was driving!

The Octavia is in for an MOT next week. I have been hearing some noise from the rear on slow bends, so will not be surprised if it needs new bushes.

It is on its final warning
I may just have to change it for an Accord type R

flatfourburble

Sorry to hear about your problems, just think yourself lucky it wasn't a citroen/peugeot.

I've own 3 and all have been a waste of space, the skoda has been a real dream to own, yes it's had the odd problem but nothing that hasn't been fix whilst it's been in for a service.

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Oh to have the internet back..................oh have I missed it

Octygone

Vaushall astra 1.9tdi ...in three years

two new heads
one gearbox
two clutches
new front wheel bearings

or Vauxhall Astra 1.4 ...in two years
3 engine rebuilds
1 new engine
1 new gearbox
1 clutch
two front wheel bearings

best bit was when one of the cars "broke" again I had taken to vauxhall garage we used and went to see the service manager ......he took one look at me and said .....no not again .............there's got to be something wrong with it

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Mr Peas

Yes, I would never touch another Vauxhall.
Sorry to hear about those problems, I don't feel as bad now

I would also never have a French car, though the Clio 182 did look tempting.

Octygone

by contrast I bought my first skoda brand new ...a 1.9 sdi octavia estate.......34,000 miles and it had 3 services and one minor recall

a lot depends on luck I suppose...theres always that bad car in every make

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72degrees

Most unreliable: Vauxhall Vectra 1.8LS
Several ECU sensors replaced, and then the ABS controller needed replacing, followed unfortunately by my 5 month old Skoda 2.0Tdi - just back from the dealers after tracing a wiring problem causing the battery to go flat

Most reliable: Hondas - Civic 1.6 and a CR-V , followed amazingly by a Fiat Bravo 1.6. Also, recently, to my delight, a '94 Peugeot 306 XLD which I bought for a song just over a year ago with 100,000 on the clock (and probably done nearer 150,000). Once I disconnected the crap factory alarm it has been 100% reliable - the cheapest motoring you could imagine

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Up the hill but not yet over it

yellerRs

Megane 1.9dci (120) 2003 27000 Miles, Siezed rear callipers three times, fronts once, 4 sets of glow plugs!! ( could not find a fault and in the end caused me to sell car) Interior fell to bits, literally, fuel consumption dropped from an average of 53mpg (reason for buying it) to 38mpg! two main dealers could not cure fault which I believe to be linked to glow plug fault. Dealers were very unhelpful on every visit. Have taken all these matters further with Renault UK. Octavia a far better built car, fuel ecconomy is great for performance. Only time will tell on reliability front. (French S#*T)

mannyo

Most unreliable for me was an old Citroen XM, needed the RAC more times than I can remember. P/exd the car with fluid pouring out from underneath, the citroen dealer never managed to fix the hydraulic system problem.

Most reliable, my old octy vRS. Never really put a foot wrong in 57K miles and 4 years with me. The only time I needed to top the oil up was during the first 1000 miles. I wont mention how many nurburgring laps it did, lets just say a lot. My brother now has the car, and despite now being used everyday it still has the original pads and disks from 5 years ago.

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Manny
2005 Octavia 2.0TDi Elegance combi
my skoda website http://www.octaviars.co.uk

Join the briskoda.net folding team click Here for more info

Dave_VRS

M<y first car. 6 year old mk 3 fiesta 1.1. What a peice of s**t. Broke down every other week lol.

Manguish

Punto GT.

2 Airbags
2 Wiring Looms
Rear Bushes gone
New steering wheel
4 new rocker gaskets (makes a great mess )
Yadda yadda - the list is endless....

POS tbh.

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metalangel

Worst: 04 reg Pug 206SW HDi - my company car, only 24,000 miles on it and it was already falling apart! The trim was coming off the interior everywhere, the engine rattled extremely loudly, and the glow plugs were shagged which meant in the middle of a Yorkshire winter, it took a good three tries to get it started.

Best: L reg Volvo 440 - it was absolutely shagged when I bought it and needed its price (£400) again in repairs to make it roadworthy. However, it then ran without a hitch for the next two and a half years, only ever breaking down ONCE when the alternator packed in at 160,000 miles. I sold it in January for exactly what I paid for it (£400)

I can't say my Octy's been the best, as I've not had it long enough to say one way or the other!

postmanpat

Lada Riva estate:

in 12months

3 clutches
mass of oil leaks
mass of water leaks
windscreen wipers fell off
Door seals
Doors wouldn't lock
Doors woudn't open
Doors wouldn't shut

after 5 months Lada paid for an AA inspection to shut wife up - the car failed
In fairness the car never actually broke down but dealer was crap and eventually Lada suspended their bonuses over our complaints ( as a note the dealer became a Skoda dealer but didn't last long, can't imagine why, now selling Kia or some such) Eventually after much threatening Lada offered us a new vehicle or 2k to 'go away' Took the money and sold the car so must be the only Lada owner to suffer 0 depreciation over a year of ownership of a new car

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Postmanpats car Fabia vRS Zennons, ESP, autochanger, 3rd headrest, heated seats, cruise control
SWMBO Octy Mk2 vS maxidot, duel zone wotsit, cruise, parking sensors, 18" alloys

flatfourburble

had the hatch verison just the year before horrible little car!

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Oh to have the internet back..................oh have I missed it

Groundzer0

Most unreliable cars that I have had are:-

Renault 11 Turbo. D reg 71k miles at end 7 years old
Kept eating water pipes. As 5 GT Turbo ones wouldn't fit had to have 5 day special delivery from France.
Rear offside wheel bearing seized.....Very interesting
Drivers seat floor mounts snapped on drivers side bolt holes...... Very interesting when trying to turn right.
Pressue blew an adjusting screw out of carb, had to bodge by forcing a piece of material into hole depending on depth governed idle???
Fog lights stopped working....Went to an auto electrician to find that the majority of the loom under the dash had shorted together into one big gooey mess of wires and plastic..... Electrician didn't know how any of it was still working or why it hadn't set on fire took him ages to replace all effected wires.
Rear hatch smashed by p!ssed students had replacement fitted by Renault every time it rained ended up with at least 4 inch of water in boot. Went back to Renault who said that there was nothing wrong with it. Eventually fixed with black silicon bathroom sealer.
Head gasket went......£73 for set.
Larger turbo and & Group A carb fitted...... 5 months terrorising Leeds with 175bhp before it all went horribly wrong and ended in a loud bang followed by the inside of the engine trying to get out through the head and the turbo.....

Next would have to be a W plate Alfa 145 T Spark 1.8
Brilliant car bought 2 years old with 33k miles. Ran spot on used every day did mega mileage for 2.5 years. (30k per year) just had to service and put tyres on it.
Cracked sump - my fault. It was then stood for 2 weeks while repaired and was never right again.
Starter motor began to fail.
ECU light started to come on.
MPG went out the window.
Alfa Dealer couldn't diagnose anything wrong. Passed MOT's???
Rear wash wipe failed 10 mins after last MOT
Started to kangaroo then conked out altogether. Went to Garage, 1 new cam sensor, 1 new crank sensor, 1 new starter motor. Oh yes as you had to dismantle the top of the engine to get to the sensor new Cam belt and tensioners. All for the bargain price of £795. Ran brilliantly for another 7 months.
Found out I was going to be a Daddy again so thought better be sensible and get a family car saw a bright shiny 03 plate Octy vRS struck a deal 5k plus Alfa. Fecking thing decided to die the morning was taking it in for them to check it over and pick up Octy. Told them somebody had offered me cash so the damn thing cost me an extra £1.5k to buy Octy. Then sold it on eBay as a non runner for £550. Guy who bought it has just told me problem stemmed from a broken connector.

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Black Mk1 Octavia vRS
Black is the new...........Er!!!

redbaron

i would have returned the car to the main dealer i bought it from and had them rectify it under warranty?

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Some times I just feel like smiling.

Martin Keene

Most unreliable has to be the Octavia. Just feel like I have spent too much time the dealership in the 8 months I've had it getting stupid little problems sorted.

Most reliable? Honda Civic VTi. No surprise there...

Tdi

Sorry to hear about your car.

This is going to be a long post but please carry on!.

My worst was in 2003 when I bought a P plated Volvo 850 AWD from a main dealer. I went to a dealer for peace of mind. The car cost me a lot of money considering it was 6 years old - almost £11,000!

I viewed the car in the wet and took it out for a good run - was very impressed.

The day I picked the car up I was in a hurry. It wasn't until I got the car home that I noticed the paintwork on both flanks looked poor. Closer inspection revealed a bit of overspray on a window rubber. I also noticed that the trim on one rear door hadn't been replaced properly and there was a small grommet missing.

On the Monday I took the car back and the assistant manager saw me. At first he tried to tell me the paintwork was okay but soon admitted it didn't look right. He said that if a car has too many scratches they resprayed it rather than mess around before putting it on the forecourt.

The car was booked in for a respray and a week later I picked it up. It was then I noticed that they had only done one side of the car! After alot of arguing I left it with them to sort it.

When I got the car back all seemed well until it broke down a few days later. Some engine management fault that had to be fixed. Not long after it suddenly began to leak oil all over my drive. I asked to view the record of work done before the car was placed on the forecourt (you can do this with Volvo) and was very concerned when I saw they had spent £3,500 on the car. Items included: new door skin, respray, new steering rack and numerous other smaller items.

It was then I said I wanted to invoke my 30 day exchange policy which is part of their warranty. They agreed but on looking through their stock lists (3 garages) there was only one car I wanted - which was £2000 more. I told them I wasn't prepared to pay this as I had already spent my maximum and thought they might just let me have the car to solve the problem - they didn't, all I was offered was £500 on the price so I couldn't afford it.

The oil leak (supposedly a gasket) was fixed and I went home only to find the car leaking oil again. Another engine management fault appeared again and the car began to overheat. Back at the dealers this was all fixed in due time but I was getting more and more fed up. I just kept wondering what would happen next!

I didn't have long to wait. The oil leak appeared again and then my wife phoned me one evening to say she'd been driving along the dual carriageway when all of a sudden there was a sound as if she was on the rumble strip. She pulled over thinking she had a puncture, everything appeared okay. Volvo diagnosed a loose bolt somewhere that secured a driveshaft (?). The assistant manager refused to believe that there was an oil leak again but I insisted I go into the workshop. The chief mechanic immediately spotted that the sump was cracked!! I said that I wanted to check the whole car over with a fine toothed comb. I was worried that as I had problems with the front driveshaft then this had put a strain on the rest of the AWD system.

I said to the assistant manager that I wanted some recompense for all the aggravation caused. He refused to offer me any money so I asked him to fit a CD changer - to which he agreed.

At this point I went to see the owner/ manager with a three page letter detailing all my problems. I threatened him with the local press and Volvo UK. However, as he pointed out, everything that had gone wrong was fixed under warranty and I was always provided with a courtesy car. I said that the point was that this car should have never been on their forecourt in the first place and I wanted an extended warranty. He agreed to give me a further 12 months on the warranty. However when he found out that I had been offered a CD changer he said I couldn't have both. I said that his assistant had promised me one and they should now give me both and that if he had a problem he should take it up with his assistant. He reluctantly agreed to both.

The car came back with a clean bill of health, new sump and an Alpine CD changer (!). However, within a week another rumbling sound appeared. The car was taken back where they test drove it and put it on the hoist. The verdict after three hours - nothing wrong! Five minutes up the road on my way home the rumbling started again. I told them I thought the propshaft to the rear was faulty. Within five minutes they came back - new driveshaft needed!!

In the meantime the assistant manager was sacked

Then followed a few months of trouble free enjoyable motoring. The MOT was due up so I took the car to Volvo. I rang them back later to be told that the steering rack was on its way out. It was then I remembered that this had been replaced prior to the car going on the forecourt. I asked them how long the parts were guaranteed for and was told 12 months. As I had bought the car less than 12 months ago I believed they were covered under warranty - they told me that the car had been on the forecourt for a while and in fact the rack had been replaced 13 months earlier. £1000 for rack and fitting thank you very much . I refused to pay and said I would be there the next day and by that time I wanted something sorted out.

The next day I arrived to be told that Volvo UK had offered to pay £800 toward the cost. The steering rack was replaced and a couple of weeks later I went to the Skoda garage and ordered a new Octavia. The dealer said that my Volvo was the best one he'd ever seen, even so I lost £4,000 in the year I'd owned it.

In the 12 months I owned the car it spent almost four months in the workshop. I got given the best cars that they could offer as courtesy vehicles. I have had Volvos before but this has put me off them for life.

The moral of the story. It doesn't matter whether it's being sold by a main dealer or privately, the car could still be a heap of sh*t. Luckily Volvo had a good warranty. And, don't view a car in the wet!

The Octavia - best car I've ever owned!!

Mr Peas

Strangely, most faults have happened since the warranty expired!

Those that did fail within the warrant period were repaired for free, but it took several trips to get each fault sorted. The replaced turbo hose blew off less than a mile away from the garage I had to drive it back sounding like a vacuum cleaner This was a main dealer and they cant even tighten a Jubilee clip

So far though, nothing really expensive has failed (touches every wooden object around)

rich1068

Most unreliable. MKIV Golf

Most reliable. Octavia

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Rich.

Skoda Octavia RS

Decron

Most unreliable; 51 plate Golf pd100

Most reliable; 1984 Astra 1300s Estate

My Fabia is still too new to pass any judgement.

WW_VRS

Most unreliable - one of my Peugeot 205s that had a problem with the carb, flat spot & no hot start possible didn't make for much fun.

Renault 21 blew it's pipes off (hoses more precise) post-getting the heater matrix replaced at vast expense. Garage ended up giving me my money back, but the car was scrapped as the engine was damaged by the overheating.. GRR.

Rover 100 had some real fun getting a working master brake cylinder, two 'new' ones from the parts dept were found faulty. Eventually went to a scrapper instead and fitted one that worked. Have been very lucky so far..

Furby has done 34k and so far a wheel bearing on the front is on it's way out, will be replaced under warranty so no big deal, although I was surprised about how early it's happened. I blame the potholes...

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WW --->> Project Journal (pic links in first post there)
Lummox'/Ross thread on Unit18 Automotive progress on my car: here

ChrisRs

Myself and Jonnyboy had Megane's. Both of us had horrendous problems, all similar from electrics to rear tyre wear to bits dropping off. Renault!! NEVER AGAIN!! We both handed our cars back and bought Skoda. Welcome to the club for old Renault owners who have 'seen the light!!'

pittVRS

Most Unreliable car:

FIAT CINQUECENTO SPORTING '96 P I know, I should have known....

ECU failure caused
engine rebuild
new spark plugs
new catalytic converter
full exhaust
New ECU
And the tyres were only made by Pirelli at £60 a pop.

Most reliable car

2000 VW Polo. Lovely car.

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helpmedisappear

Most unreliable car -

Skoda Fabia vRS 32,000 miles

2 clutch master cylinders
1 power steering pump
1 power steering sensor
1 air conditioning motor
2 rear doors seals (that still leak)
Paint fault on spoiler
1 seat base
1 spring in gear lever
many many many rattles and creaks and vibrations

Most reliable car -

Seat Ibiza 1.4 MPI 39,000 miles

2 clutch cables


I have to say though that all faults have been cured under warranty on both cars.

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Martin
Black Magic Fabia vRSv

Andyturbo

vauxhall cavalier 4x4 turbo. What a heap of ****e - everything went wrong. Sensors, bearings, 4x4 box, turbo. Complete money pit - was glad to see the back of it