Top Gear

[Lamp]

My Mrs owned a Renault Clio for years. The only problem was a slightly leaky sunroof.

 

[Billargh]

Mate from work used to work for Renault for somewhat near 20 years and even he admits they're an absolute fucking nightmare. Apparently the electronics in them are incredibly complicated as well, hence a lot of things to go wrong with them, on top of car repair blokes barely having no clue what to do with them.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

I've driven a fair few French cars.

They just don't work. Terrible drive, awful ride. Abysmal build quality. Random features decide to work or not, or act out weirdly. There's absolutely no reason to get one.

 

[GimmlyThe3rd]

‪Crash BMW M3‬‏ - YouTube

Think he had insurance? ;p

 

[ECA]

Funny part is he had it under control, but then tried to overcorrect and sent it into the barrier.

 

[old.user4556]

He?

 

[ECA]

He?

What % of BMW drivers at the Nordschliefe do you think are male? Probably 99%?

 

[old.user4556]

They fucked up and crashed. Can't possibly be a man!

 

[GimmlyThe3rd]

‪Driving Sports TV - Incredible High-Speed WRX Crash‬‏ - YouTube 1:25

Will T-cut out I recon?

 

[Lethul]

Before I bought a Renault, everyone warned me "don't buy a French car! unreliable!". I said "Pah, Clarkson-esque bullshit! You've never owned one!".

I was wrong.

In six months of owning it from brand new, it:

- broke down completely and was with the dealer for a week (coolant temperature sensor failed)
- misfired from cold
- had an issue where the central locking stopped working (plug fell out)
- had the wheel arch lining fall off at 90 mph making a terrible scraping noise that gave me a brown trouser moment
- had an issue where the dashboard flashed like a wonky Christmas tree, never got that fixed
- had an oil leak from the cylinder head, was with Renault for 10 days as it needed a top end rebuild
- had a brake servo failure
- had various trim rattles
- had a weird issue where the air con blew out a curry smell

I will never own another French car, the reliability surveys back it up.

Point taken, but at least you have owned a French car

But,

So when was this? Since french brands usually have the "best" guarantees in Sweden now days I doubt they still are that bad! (would cost them a whole lot of money)

 

[Ormorof]

best guarantees doesnt mean much in scandinavia though, 5 year warranty is now the standard in Nordics, with service agreements and such on top as added incentive it is not suprising that you can get a good deal, also when you consider Renault will have less exposure to currency fluctuation compared to Asian and non Euro brands (even Volvo is now owned by a Chinese firm so will have some exposure) they can offer pretty good deals with less risk of their profits being slashed suddenly

 

[Lethul]

best guarantees doesnt mean much in scandinavia though, 5 year warranty is now the standard in Nordics, with service agreements and such on top as added incentive it is not suprising that you can get a good deal, also when you consider Renault will have less exposure to currency fluctuation compared to Asian and non Euro brands (even Volvo is now owned by a Chinese firm so will have some exposure) they can offer pretty good deals with less risk of their profits being slashed suddenly

In think the french (at least peugot) got 7 year warranty.
Rest of the post I simply did not understand

 

[DaGaffer]

I've driven a fair few French cars.

They just don't work. Terrible drive, awful ride. Abysmal build quality. Random features decide to work or not, or act out weirdly. There's absolutely no reason to get one.

I'd concur on the build and reliability (in general), but you're way off base on all the rest; one of the best handling, most fun cars I ever owned was a Clio 16v, and French cars are generally regarded as having a better ride quality than most.

The build quality thing is starting to change as well, the Citroen DS range cars are very well screwed together and perceived quality is high; the DS's have really great interiors:

 

[Ch3tan]

I love the look of the DS3.

 

[ford prefect]

I love the look of the DS3.

I went for a test drive in one a few months back, it drives exactly the same as the C4 - so not bad, just a bit vague. I couldn't help but notice that in the top end model I drove the trim still didn't line up properly and thespeed limiter had a fault - it was switched off and kept kicking in, which was a bit inconvenient on the motorway to say the least as it was set at 50 - the salesman couldn't switch it off either.

 

[Insane]

You sure the sales guy wasn't pushing his foot down hard in the middle of the passenger footwell while you were on the motorway?

 

[ford prefect]

My Mrs owned a Renault Clio for years. The only problem was a slightly leaky sunroof.

My experience with Renault are a 1.6 clio which simply did zero to sixty in around a week, a Megane with the folding roof (now I have owned a lot of very sporty cars in my time and some off road vehicles - I have never known any car to drink petrol the way that thing did and it was terrible to drive). We also had a Citreon C4 which drove well, but had a paint job which bleached, leaving the body panels random different shades, trim that looked like it was attached by someone wearing boxing gloves and was often mistaken for a taxi due to the large yellow speedo on top of the dash.

My partner and I both change cars every three years, and I am not sure either of us could be persuaded to go with a french car again.

 

[GimmlyThe3rd]

I once drove a saxo and puegot 106 down the road for a friend, can't recall why but my foot got stuck in between the brake and accelerator both times. Rather terrifying, I'm tall (6.4) but not a giant and I don't have massive feet ( my cock isn't small) like size 10.

So wtf? I've driven other hatches but French hatch's are made for small inferior blokes or what? the gap and design between the pedals in both cars was literally dangerous.

 

[DaGaffer]

I once drove a saxo and puegot 106 down the road for a friend, can't recall why but my foot got stuck in between the brake and accelerator both times. Rather terrifying, I'm tall (6.4) but not a giant and I don't have massive feet ( my cock isn't small) like size 10.

So wtf? I've driven other hatches but French hatch's are made for small inferior blokes or what? the gap and design between the pedals in both cars was literally dangerous.

Happens with quite a few Italian cars as well; its because of the re-engineering from left to right-hand-drive; RHD cars often have the pedals aligned in quite odd ways, because French and Italian engineers cba to reroute ancilliaries to the other side of the car, especially small cars where the packaging is tight. Its getting better as cars move to electrical rather than hydraulic systems, it becomes easier to package them for right and left-hand drive.

 

[Billargh]

Point taken, but at least you have owned a French car

But,

So when was this? Since french brands usually have the "best" guarantees in Sweden now days I doubt they still are that bad! (would cost them a whole lot of money)

Their guarantees are often a load of tosh and don't cover you for some of the most common problems, such as sensors etc.

I once drove a saxo and puegot 106 down the road for a friend, can't recall why but my foot got stuck in between the brake and accelerator both times. Rather terrifying, I'm tall (6.4) but not a giant and I don't have massive feet ( my cock isn't small) like size 10.

So wtf? I've driven other hatches but French hatch's are made for small inferior blokes or what? the gap and design between the pedals in both cars was literally dangerous.

Heh similar thing happened to me when I was driving a mates Saxo, the pedals aren't spaced out anywhere near enough as they should be, it was difficult to hit the gas or the clutch without touching the breaks a bit I'm only 6" 1' with size 11 feet.

 

[Ormorof]

i have size 14 feet and had to wear my slimmer smarter shoes last time i drove, kept getting stuck when i wore my bulky trainers

(this was in a mini cooper in 2005 )

 

[TdC]

i have size 14 feet

holy crap, I have like...8,5 size feet, or size 41.3/4s 0o

 

[Ormorof]

its not so bad now, i am 198cm tall so its all in proportion, when i was younger (before i got taller) i had really long arms and really big feet, looked like a bit of a clown/gorilla!

 

[TdC]

wow, a Clorilla!


j/k mate

 

[Ormorof]

wow, a Clorilla!


j/k mate

 

[TdC]

woot!

 

[Tom]

I haven't as of yet, since i've not ragged my car it's been fine.

Also, 2 minutes on google showed me that TVR's can also get HGF pretty easily. So, have you changed yours?

Also, I was because it's pretty common knowledge, alright so what you owned a TVR woop de doo. Anyone i've heard talk about TVR's just talks about how un realiable they are. Don't get in a hissy fit over everything.

All cars can suffer from a head gasket failure, TVRs are no different in that regard from any other manufacturer.

The "common knowledge" you draw your comments from is actually "common bullshit". Stick to things you know about.

 

[Himse]

All cars can suffer from a head gasket failure, TVRs are no different in that regard from any other manufacturer.

The "common knowledge" you draw your comments from is actually "common bullshit". Stick to things you know about.

Nevermind, can't be bothered to continue anymore.

 

[Corran]

My clio is pretty good, so was the previous one... mind you they can be rather fragile as front axle broke from a slight knock from the side from some stupid old git. lol. But other than that there is no major problem.

Also like the fact that even though it is only a 1.4L it has a turbo in it to make equivalent of a 1.6L..... and definately feel the difference. Mother in law has a clio without the turbo and there is a world of difference. People that hate driving hers, likes ours

 

[Moriath]

Nevermind, can't be bothered to continue anymore.

Hehe Tom being an arse again