When (after many years of used cars) I could finally afford a new one, I bought a 1.6 petrol, manual Toyota Corolla. Nothing at all was wrong with it. ( Replaced it some years later with another, that had a rattle behind the dash, cured under warranty.) Replaced that with a 1.4 petrol Hyundai i30, nothing wrong with that, no rattles or squeaks.

Manufacturing faults and poor preparation excluded, a lot depends on your expectations.

If you have reseached properly and read a range of road tests and reports, you are less likely to have 'buyers regret' because some feature doesn't suit you.

Edited by SLO76 on 28/12/2017 at 11:35

"Has anyone ever bought a newly new/approved car and found absolutely nothing wrong with it a day or 5 after delivery?"

2 Year old Yaris from an independent. I listed all faults I wanted sorted (paint and tyres) before I bought. All done.. never went back and nothing went wrong in 12 months (and for the next 5 years until new pads were needed)> still own it.

6 month old Jazz from non Honda dealer. Faultless when bought (I inspected and drove it of course before buying)...Nothing went wrong in 12 months ... or in 5 years until new brake pads..> still own it.

New Peugeot 106... Inspected it before paying and got dealer to replace non existent boot light bulb. Nothing went wrong in 5 years,,, and cannot remember anymore..(Long time ago 1992). Owned it for 15 years - wife crashed it.

2 year old Fiesta in 2001.. Inspected and drove . before buying . Faultless for the three years I opwned it.

3 year old Audi A4 in 1999 from Audi dealer. Inspected and drove - list of faults rectified before I bought. Year 1 plagued by many faults all sorted under warranty (suspension, catalyst, airconditioning). Sold it after two years as things still kept failing (timing belt tensioner, battery) German engineering at its worst. POC.

There's a pattern there somewhere..

Edited by madf on 28/12/2017 at 13:59

Has anyone ever bought a newly new/approved car and found absolutely nothing wrong with it a day or 5 after delivery?

Assuming you mean 'nearly new' - I got my current Pug 207SW 7 months old, ex-rental with 13K miles from a Pug dealer. I soon found a couple of small screws in tyres causing slow loss of pressure. After fixing those, nothing else has needed fixing at all. For what is almost a 10-year-old car I am more than satisfied.

I bought a 2015 Skoda Superb tsi in 2014 t @14 months old. Nothing was wromg with it but I'd had it serviced and asked for it to be changed to fixed service intervals. I had to go back to ask for the latter thing to be done.

A couple of months later when driving in Europe it threw an Engine Management Light - turned out to be my fault as I'd "overfilled" with cheaper petrol in Luxembourg which can cause an issue. Wasn't charged but was told by a very helpful German dealer "Von Click HALTE!"

Thus far no actual faults after 52k miles and I've been impressed with the dealer

When I bought my first (and previous) car, a 2yo K11 (96N reg) Nissan Micra 1.0 S, I don't recall there being any issues with it in the first year of ownership that were caused by either faulty manufacturing or a poor PDI.

It was only about three or so years in (if I recall correctly) that it suffered from its first issue (engine flooding in cold + damp conditions due to a faulty temperature sensor), and that was fixed FOC by the dealership with no quibble even though it wasn't actually an official recall item (I think they were fixed as such on a 'as and when' a fault emerged - its in the 'Good and Bad' section of the review) and was well out of warranty (though under 6 years old).

Not nearly new, but three years old - Mazda CX-5, bought last summer from a local dealer.

Pretty much immaculate. No faults have become apparent, of any kind whatsoever. The worse thing I can say about it is that the tyres were over-inflated when I got it. I put two new tyres on before the winter took hold. And that's it.

Comfortable, economical, very competent on the road, looks good. Best car I've ever owned.