astraboy

Right then, we've all had a car which seemed utterly unburstable (despite your best efforts) so whats the car you've given the most amount of abuse for the least amount of breakdowns?
Mine is a throwup between my 3-door cossie and my S14a 200sx. I kicked the living crap out of both of those, non stop for 2.5 years apiece and they just laughed in my face. The cossie split a rocker cover gasket and ate a spark plug, while the S14 did a turbo gasket, but thats it.

Anyone else had a Captain Scarlet car (I.E. Indestructable)?
astraboy.

rallycol

iTrader: (4)

Rover 216GTI race car (Honda CRX twincam 16V) rev limiter every gear change for 30 races plus 50 trackdays doing 100 laps at each,faster than most exotica,(light with slicks)NO problems.100% reliable.

bpm1588

have to say my 3 scoobs gave no problems at all,well very little....but my award goes to my 84 ae86 twin cam corolla,spent 3 years sideways and on the redline constantly.

rallycol

iTrader: (4)

RWD corolla ,quality!,had a few rally cars including one with a boot!

finchyboy

Metro 1.3 city x i bought it for 200 quid canned it for about 8 months never missed a beat got me to Norwich from Nortampton every weekend.

Klaatu

A 1993 Subaru Impreza CS, FWD, 1.5l. I did 130,000k's of very hard driving over 3 years carrying all kinds of things like firewood and bags of concrete in the boot in this little car, never let me down. Serviced every 10,000ks with synthetic Mobil 1. I didn't own the 3 other Subarus as long as this one. By far, the worst car I have owned and recent sold for....yes a Subaru....was a 1999 MkIV 1.6l Golf. What a nightmare that was, more problems with this one car than with all other cars combined.

falkster

Ive never really had a car that long to test the reiliability....such as Ive had my e30 M3 5 years but only done 10,000kms in that time with no breakdowns or anything gone wrong. On the other hand my 156 has been problem free for the last 12 months and Ive put 30k on the clock but I know what the response to that will be!

CrisPDuk

1987 Mk4 Escort 1.6 Ghia Automatic.

Belonged to a mate's grandfather and had already had a life before I acquired it. We tried everything to kill it, one night we gave it such a sustained caning that by the end every tappet was rattling, it was smoking like a diesel with no rings, and it flatly refused to rev above 3k
I got it home, went to bed and got up the next morning fully expecting to have to call the scrappy I went out, started it and it purred like a kitten

It also had rather a large hole in it's heater matrix, which caused it to tip it's coolant all over the interior on several occasions when people forgot and turned the heating on Even then with no water it never failed to reach it's destination

I had it for a year and 40k miles, then sold it to my Mum's sister (I never liked her) for more than I paid for it. She's a notorious killer of perfectly good cars, yet it still took her nearly two years to bring that POS to it's knees

HankScorpio

Fiat Coupe 20v turbo- three and a half years - one oil cooler hose.

No mot bits
Nothing replaced at service that wasn't in the schedule.
A few long runs, loads of short runs, couple of trackdays, all absolutely fine mechanically apart from when the hose went.

MattW

My first company car - MY99 2.0 Vauxhall Astra SRi. Thrashed to death my trusty T253TMW

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Most reliable is easy - 1989 Toyota Corolla GTi-16 = owned it for 5 years, did 130K in it on top of the 25K it already had on it and nothing at all ever went wrong with it. Not the slightest little thing. Sold it for £3K less than I paid for it too. Cheap and ultra reliable motoring.

The worst - 2003 Impreza UK STI - front shocks/rear shocks/alarm/wheel bearing all replaced under warranty. Rear shocks replaced again after warranty expired, 2 AF sensors, rear diff (Ouch £1500) and a host of other niggles. Going soon - had 3 great Scoobs before that though.

lozgti

Skoda Octavia vRS.So much so that I still miss it.

Funny how the two Audi A4's I had before it with exactly the same engine got right up my nose with niggly things

STiFreak

iTrader: (4)

Most reliable:
Nissan Sabre GXi (2.0ltr). Thrashed to it's 7.5k redline almost everywhere I drove for 3 years - not one problem. Sold it on to a colleague, who by all accounts had no problems for the next 4 years (and he used to drive it hard as I had).

Least reliable:
Golf (Mark 1) - everything that could go wrong on this car did ... repeatedly!

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Mk5 XR3i

Had it for two years and about 70,000 miles. dropped the oil a lot (i mean i changed it) but apart from that and a cambelt (which was on for 20k over the recommended mileage) it never used oil or water, returned an easy 30+ mpg and was dead comfy on the motorway.

Actually, i forget, the rear screen heater stopped working, needed the fuse board re-soldered which i had done @ £50 but TBH could have lived without it.

Sold it to a mate who sold it to another mate who still says it was the most reliabable economic car they've owned too!

5t.

TopBanana

Alfa 156 Selespeed. Not a single niggle in two years!!

RAJ27

1993 Rover 216 sli bought for 100 quid. Not missed a beat after 40,000 miles. The car has 175k on the clock. Brilliant gearbox and engine.

Shark Man

Wish my Mk5 XR3 was that good.

Fusebox burnt out (common)
Windscreen leaked (Common)
Ate MTX75 gearboxes for breakfast (common)...mine did it 3 times (ok, maybe too many horses) - BC boxes on teh 105ps versions were fine
Lower arms/ball joints (well, ok, that's wear and tear)
OS sensor
Shattered catalyst (due to above)
Blocked exhaust (from above)
Sticky valve syndrome (cured by 6month oil changes )
Random running on 3 cylinder when damp and cold - despite new plugs lead and EDIS unit
Dead phase on Alternator (still worked though - just had lower output)
Light switch failed (wire inside stalk broke)
Rev clock showed half the true RPMs i.e 3000rpm = 6000rpm
Wheel bearings
Shocks (wear and tear)
ECU glitches (mega flat spot at mid revs if left stood in traffic on a hot day - suspect MAF/CTS calibration issues)
Heated screen contact pads/pins on the boot
Thermostat stuck open


All in 4 years and 40K miles

Apart from that...I loved it. I sorted out all the above, but it made me cry. It only left me stranded twice (dead battery and after some car theives tried to nick it - wrecking the alarm/immobilser) It never used oil or water either and once everything was sorted it went like the clappers and handled superb.

It's one of the cars I really do miss driving. Don't miss the repair bills though.


Anyhoo my most reliable car has to have been my Impreza, ok it had some warrantee issues which didn't cost me a penny, but after that nothing went wrong, barring me fitting fast road pads which basically turned the car into a death trap if the ABS decided to cut in and some dry bearings on the cambelt idler pulleys. But due to the servicing and parts costs, it wasn't a cheap car to run.

My mums 1990 celica was good. She had it 9 years, drove 70K in it and the only things it needed was a set of shocks (not needed but the ride got a bit floaty), one battery and one exhaust. It would use about a half a pint of oil every 12months, but that was good for a 3S-GE engine.

davegtt

Got to say (and dont laugh) my Renault 5 GT Turbo takes it, and whenever it did break down I was able to repair it myself at minimum cost.

My VW Passat is doing well too although Ive only had that for one year so hard to say.

LG John

Ironically my scoobies. They have threatened the most but delivered the least reliability problems.

Attu

My best has got to be my old Impreza, the only think that needed doing to it apart from normal servicing was a Rocker cover gasket.
My Wifes Ford KA is good, she does about 100 miles a day in it and in the last 18 months its only needed a front anti rollbar connecting rod thingy that took me about 10 mins to change in the dark without taking the wheel off, it gets thrashed day in day out and never misses a beat, saying that we wouldnt go anywhere in it without full breakdown cover ...just in case .

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Honda Civic VTI 4 door - 1 rear brake bulb in 3 yrs.

D (now trying to think of the logic of now driving an Alfa)

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Mk2 Ford Orion 1.6ghia.

Everything worked on it, it did 40plus miles to the gallon, loads of power, very smooth not rot or rust, started first time, everytime.

Only sold it, as I had a deal I couldn't refuse on a sapphire cosworth, which was the biggest headache i ever had

WRX marv

another i with a rover 216 gti (hondatwin cam)...had it 5 years went straight thru mot 4 of those & only needed to replace water pump

it's a wonder cos it was nearly alway on the limiter chasing other so called hot hatches

classic Subaru Si

Renault 5 gt turbo...........NOT!! 3 door cossie, didn't miss a beat in 5 years - not bad for nearly 20 year old ford!!

mrsteve

My first car, Rover 218 sld turbo, the 1.8l diesel lump from a pugeot iirc,

left standing for 3 years on parents drive with no tax no turnover, moss growing on the windows, finally passed my test and the only problem was that the battery was dead. fired straight up, kicked out blue/black smoke for about 20 minutes on tickover then i drove it straight to the MOT centre which it passed!!!

put 150k on her and sold her to a m8 who is still driving her today...

scoobynutta555

Suzuki SJ413 Jeep. I've had 4 years and only have done servicing and replaced a petrol tank, a new battery and a rear bulb. It starts everytime, never breaks down and costs just over £100 per year insurance and cheaper road tax. It's 15 years old and still going strong. Flied theough every MOT

Fantom

Another Toyota Corolla Gti-16. Had for 4.5 years and around 60k miles. Never had any problems at all.

Steve

escott

iTrader: (1)

1998 Mazda 626 2.0 GXi - dull but spent nothing on it except for consumables, had it for 5 years from 2002.

clsbscooby

iTrader: (1)

H reg Vauxhall Nova Flair bright red although skidded on ice and dented the passenger door it was fab. My first scoob P reg Impreza Sport was mega reliable only bought tyres for it sold it with original exhaust and 95,000 miles on the clock it's still going too!!! but my GX has been pants.

Matteeboy

1986 Mk2 Golf GTi 8v.
180k miles when sold and almost nothing went wrong in the two years I had it.
1997 mk3 GTi 16v I had afterwards for three years was also indestructable.