After 2 years ownership, and 100% reliability, I have just been floored by the unreliability of my '98 626. Two weeks ago a headlight bulb failed, and last week the alternator belt snapped! Blimey. Fortunately I was close to home when the battery warning light came on. A new belt, which also drives the water pump, cost me £6.26 from my local factor, and my indie charged me £15 to put the 626 up on his hydraulic ramps to check there were no bits remaining in the engine bay after fitting the replacement belt. He also checked pipes, pads, discs etc so I cannot complain too much. Obviously these cars are not as reliable as I had thought.
Edited by legacylad on 26/10/2009 at 17:57
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Do I detect a note of sarcasim? The aux belt is a service item e.g it should be inspected and replaced before it snaps.
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Whether you are tongue in cheek or not you are lucky it isn't a diesel!
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I would take it back to where you bought it and demand your money back. This sort of unreliability is totally unacceptable and anybody who sells this sort rubbish should be taught a lesson. Do not be fobbed off. Ring Watchdog, your local papers, or even the nationals. Best of luck and please report back the final outcome.
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That's shocking, it must almost have soured your opinion of cars beyond redemption.
I bought a C reg FIAT Panda in 1996 for £200, after only 20,000 miles (on top of the 71,000 showing when I bought it) the head gasket failed!!! The replacement gasket cost me £7.70 and took almost 2 hours to fit. The car only lasted another year before I sold it for £250.
I'm still seething, I tell you. ;-)
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If only that was all I had to worry about. The exhaust on my Charade has finally bit the dust in the usual place just infront of the backbox - Daihatsu only part that costs thick end of £200 although atleast its quick to replace so labour is low - still amounts to spending 15% of the cars value though - without a silencer, a 3cyl 1.0 does have more than a bit of the Porsche flat-6 about it :-)
I think when a car gets to 6 years old though, an exhaust change isnt unexpected - tyres have another 6 months in them aswell.... its like ive bought one of Rattles cars some days.
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But I change my tyres when they have two years left in them.... :) Actually my 3mm ditchfinder will have to wait till next year now.
That said my car is currently fault free :) even the suspension is rattle free. Need to change that rear wash pipe next week but the part is £1.74 and I can do it myself.
I think brakes pads, exhausts and tyres are one them things which need changing on all cars.
I've spent 100% of the cars value in repairs but its still cheaper than buying a new car so its not worth complaining too much about life is too short. If my chain snaps then its a moan.
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even the suspension is rattle free
So for now Rattle's car is rattle free?
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Whow you have problems get writ and by a scooter.:)
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That said my car is currently fault free :)
I thought the rear wiper didn't work, Rattle?
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Wiper works perfectly but the tube which goes to the jet has split so no water comes out of the rear washer. Its a fiddely but DIYable job. I have removed the rubber drunking which connects the body work to the tailgate but was quite shocked to see the quality of the wiring. Very thin wires which go to the wiper motor I am amazed they don't catch fire they look as if they can only carry a tiny amount of milliamps.
That said I can't imagine a wiper motor draws much current.
The only other fault is it is all too obvious that underneath it is just a Vauxhall Nova :(. But I don't go round corners at 60mph so I don't really care.
Also if this 626 was my car I can guarentee I would have already spent £400 on repairs :p
I had just written another 1000 words in responce to this thread and I suddenly realised it had nothing to with the thread at all... I should be asleep.
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you are rattling on a bit.
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The Marinelli battery on my Fiat Mitafiori lasted for 8 years from new.
The rest of the car rotted and fell apart before the battery failed though!
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I think you are being a bit unfair on the old Mazda. There can be a lot worse problems than a aux belt failing, I appreciate that it might have been a bit inconveient. After all you have got 100% reliability for 2 years and outlay of £1000. I have had mine 8 months now and spent £225 (£125 of that on a new starter motor, the rest took up by new front pads and service items). I dont consider mine unrieable and as it happens covered nearly 400 miles yesterday I have 100% trust in the vehicle.
One question I have heard that the 2.0 petrol in the 626 is non interference is that right.
Legacylad- This months copy of Car Mechanics has a survival guide to the 626 and details all service requirements and a brief model breakdown. I dont usualy buy it but it seems to be a good read.
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>>I've spent 100% of the cars value in repairs but its still cheaper than buying a new car so its not worth complaining too much about life is too short. If my chain snaps then its a moan.
Corsa = £2000
Parts = £2000
Scrappage for old fiesta = £2000
£6000? you could have bought a new supermini for that.
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I only owned my old Fiesta for about 7 weeks so it would not have qualified :).
I paid £1150 for my Corsa, spent £800 on repairs but it is running very well now and touch wood its behaving itself :) I am hoping it will now just fly through the MOT in Feb.
So I paid around £2k in total for a car thats worth £1k so by feb if I nothing else goes wrong thats £1k a year motoring. It is costing a lot in repairs because I am so fussy but it is still cheaper than a new car especialy when you factor in interest payments, that said its not as nice as a brand new car.
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Still sounds expensive to me Rattle.
My gf just sold her Ka for £2k, having bought it for £5k new.
She got 6 years trouble free motoring, and had to spend a grand total of about £200 in repairs over the annual service (about £120 pa) and two pairs of tyres (£150). I presume there must have been brake pads as well, lets say £100.
So total cost over 5 years was about £4000 plus fuel, or £670 a year. I'd say that was a bargain.
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Yep of course there have been much cheaper cars, but I don't service my cars by MOT standard, I have seen what happens when people do that and was nearly killed by my dads Lada which had an MOT only service regiene.
You see people here facing massive bills on newer cars for very simple faults, so while I am annoyed about all these little things I have had to spend money on it could have been worse.
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And another thing....just received the invoice this morning from my local independent, following the 626's annual serice and MOT. Oil, filter, labour, VAT and MOT fee came to a staggering £95.37.
How do they justify this?...its back to shanks pony for me.
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>>£95.37. How do they justify this?..
£95 would be bad enough but to take all the loose change out of your pocket as well!
It really is scandalous.
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My KIA Pride is really a Mazda (in disguise).
It cost me fifty quid three years ago.
Should I take it back and demand a refund?
Or even put it on the HJ scrappage thread to see if anyone'll give me a couple of grand for it.
Edited by bathtub tom {p} on 28/10/2009 at 15:37
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This one? Looks slow.
tinyurl.com/yztjn82
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How on earth did you find that?
It was more a trial than an autotest, it was so wet.
Coincidentally we're entered in a trial at the same site on Sunday. The forecast is wet!
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Googled your name for some reason. Best of luck Sunday.
Edited by willchow on 28/10/2009 at 20:32
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