Since 1979 we have always had at least one Japanese branded car in the family.

To date the faults have been: -

1979 Honda Civic - water pump after seven years - also bit of rust

1988 Honda Civic Shuttle - master brake cylinder after seven years

2005 Subaru Outback - build up of algae in the washer bottle

Fleet also included three Honda Accords (two with four wheel steering), two Subaru Foresters, another Civic Shuttle, Daihatsu Sirion, Suzuki Wagon R+.

Actually, apart from a faulty battery in a Mercedes and a broken cambelt in a Peugeot 605 diesel (which destroyed the top end of the engine) I can't think of any other major repairs required that were not owner/driver caused, in any vehicle.

Leaving out the Austin A40, and Mk1 Cortina.

Mk4 cortina Major step backwards after the Mk1, bought at 2 years old with 30K. Worn pads, rusting electrical connections, crap performance, crap economy typically 28mpg. Got rid quicky.

First Honda Accord model 1.6 Bought at 10 months old, fabulous drivers car, 10 years in front of ford, unfortunatly rust on the subframes which i contained, but after 18 months rust was coming through the top of the wing.

Metro 1.2 Biggest pile of British crap i have ever owned . Bought new it was faulty from the day it left the garage. Sold it at 2.5 years old.

Astra 1.3 bought new, only required a replament headlight unit in first year.

Cavalier 1.6 bought new, only required a paint respray, in those days Vauxhall paint finnish was poor.

Toyota Carina 2 1.6, bought new, first car with a perfect paint finnish, but poor handling.

Mk1 Primera 2L, brilliant drivers car, bought at 10 months old. Required a new ECU after plonker doing pdi pressure washed the engine.

MK 2 Primera 2L, bought new, again brill car, but lighter steering wasnt to my taste.

Audi A4 1.8T Quattro Avant. Bought with zero miles prereg. Boring car to drive but looked great inside and out, first turbo car and last petrol engine. Water pump weep, changed under warranty. All alloys changed due to pitting.

Nissan Xtrail T30 2.2L. Bought new. Brilliant car, inter cooler changed in first year.

Nissan Xtrail T31 2L.Bought new. Brilliant car but 171bhp engine disappointed with low end torque.

Mazda CX-5 2.2L. Bought New. Brilliant twin turbo engine, best towcar todate. Failed to turn over after battery went flat, smart charging had to be re initialised. Been ok since. Great drivers car for a SUV. Prefeer the box shaped xtrail shape to the girly looks of these modern SUV, but even the new Xtrail has turned to the same shape.

Along with the new LR products due out !

Edited by xtrailman on 19/04/2014 at 10:57

32 cars since 1979! I counted up and we've had 9 during that time :)

Some for both of us, but not many, and most were from dealerships i worked in in switzerland and therefore good discounts and sold at no loss after 6 months. Actually mostly cheap motoring!