Ever loved a car but found one piddling thing that would stop you buying another one?

r3nu4l

Long thread titles For The Win

So have you ever bought a car that you love to drive, has been very reliable, suits your needs perfectly but ultimately would never buy again and discourage others from doing so based on one small thing?

I have

I drive a UK reg, 58 plate Audi A3 Sportsback 2.0L TDI (170 PS) Quattro Sport. I love the car, it suits my needs and has poke when it's needed. The 6-speed is efficient, it has the newer common-rail diesel engine, so is less noisy, more efficient and generally cleaner. The quattro was great in the snow last year and generally I love the car.

So why would I not buy another one?

Well you see, in their wisdom, Audi supplied a multi-function steering wheel [MFSW] (radio controls on the wheel). Great, yay!

Not so, because while the MFSW allows you to move from one track to another on CD it doesn't allow you to switch between preset stations on your radio!! :eek: That's right, it will allow me scroll to the next station by tuning it's way there but if I want to go directly to my preset stations, I still have to lean across the cabin, take my eyes off the road and hit the station I want :mad:

Now, I should have checked this out before buying it, but I just assumed that a car like that would have such a basic function as standard. Apparently not. Apparently you can do it on the A4 no problem but not on the A3, I've rang my garage to see if there's something they can do about it but again, apparently not.

So Audi UK, I love the car but I'm fcuked if I'm ever going to buy another one and to be honest, I doubt I'll ever buy another Audi because who knows what else I'll find is missing in another Audi model that to all in sundry is a bleeding obvious function but to Audi seems unnecessary.

I'll admit fully, that this is very, very trivial but it really has angered me and I thought it is something that would go away a while after I bought the car but here I am one year on, still pissed off and still resolute not to buy another A3 and probably not to buy another Audi.

Anyone else ever experience something as totally irrational as that

Berty

I would discourage people buying a B7 Audi A4 that the rear seats are not folding or split folding which can be a disaster if you want to carry something bigger than 3.5foot.

It also has manual rear windows.

Martron

yep i know exactly what you mean.

the ford focus.

i like the car. never paid for one. ( all company) but the one thing that (all be it trivial) is the electric windows. i press the button fully and the window goes down the full way automatically. however when i want to close the window i have to hold the button up while the window slowly comes up .

again its trivial ut its a pain in the ass at the toll bridge when its raining you trying to drive away changing gears with one hand and closing the window with the other ha ha .

Drummerboy08

The only thing I dislike about driving BMW's is that every other driver on the road who isnt in a BMW seems to hate you.... Whats that all about?

Berty

The Renault Laguna(2004 model).

Brilliant spec. Comfortable ride. All electrics - EVERYTHING.

Cant sell the damn things. :mad:

r3nu4l

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

The only thing I dislike about driving BMW's is that every other driver on the road who isnt in a BMW seems to hate you.... Whats that all about?

Ah well Top Gear are fixing that for you, apparently all the c*cks that used to drive BMWs are now driving Audis...so I'm a c*ck!

Martron

ah people are not like that now hardly

Wishbone Ash

The stupid f*cking indicators on the E60 5 series - drives me insane!!!

Mr Benevolent

Berty wrote: »

The Renault Laguna(2004 model).

Brilliant spec. Comfortable ride. All electrics - EVERYTHING.

Cant sell the damn things. :mad:

Is the bad rep justified in terms of reliability or have the public got it wrong? I'd buy one (in a few years) if so.

Wishbone Ash

Confab wrote: »

Is the bad rep justified in terms of reliability or have the public got it wrong? I'd buy one (in a few years) if so.

Four of my work colleagues have had one and they all fall into the "never again" category. They found them impossible to sell on. No dealer other than a Renault one will touch them.

gerardk55

Have a Mazda 6 '05 from new 195,000km and love it except I can't search for radio stations from the steering wheel like you can r3nu4l, but can jump between presets! Want to swap?

Berty

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Four of my work colleagues have had one and they all fall into the "never again" category. They found them impossible to sell on. No dealer other than a Renault one will touch them.

If I was given one as a company car I would be happy because the leasing company would fix the MANY electrical problems for me and then I would not have to worry about resale value.

The Recliner

Similar problem with my RX-8

I can jump between presets on the radio which is groovy but I can't skip songs on CD's, it just jumps from CD to CD rather than song to song

I am sure there is some way of doing it but have never been able to get it to work

Berty

The Recliner wrote: »

Similar problem with my RX-8

I can jump between presets on the radio which is groovy but I can't skip songs on CD's, it just jumps from CD to CD rather than song to song

I am sure there is some way of doing it but have never been able to get it to work

Mazda dropped the RX-8 from their Irish lineup. It must have been the radio thing.

Drummerboy08

Berty wrote: »

If I was given one as a company car I would be happy because the leasing company would fix the MANY electrical problems for me and then I would not have to worry about resale value.

You'd want the 2.0DCi version though - the 1.5DCi is as slow as a late breakfast....

EPM

Having had an 04 Focus when the time came to change I obviously looked at the new model. I couldn't warm to the high driving position. The Mk1 was high but the Mk2 means the standard armrest is useless (wanted one when I was changing) and no matter how low I had the seat it just always made me feel like I was sitting on it rather than in it. I think that feeling is worse now that I've gotten used to a lower driving position

thehamo

Opel Astra! The 05- on model.

I love the car, I love how it looks (sepecially the OPC model). But having driven my dads for a while, I was driven DEMENTED by the indicator system. its all over the place, its not a simple tick up th indicaor leaver and cancell it when needed. Its some sort of touch system like a flappy paddle gear box or something. And when you try to cancel it, it indicates the other way! you spend about 5 minutes wrestling with the thing just to get the indicator to stop!

seriously off putting!

Saab Ed

I sell cars for a living so I kinda have a list that would put me off alot of cars....

New Laguna: Worse suspension than a new Audi or BMW on run flats...Knock your teeth out.

Any Mercedes with a 4 cylinder petrol engine. How they get away with that noisy old petrol unit I do not know.

Alfa 159: Looks fantastic but My God is it dull to drive. Under powered and shocking poor feed back for an Alfa , although in fairness it is well composed.

Any Toyota: Because being asleep is more fun and because of the people who drive them ( Priests / Civil Servants / 3rd daughters of a farmer who becomes a primary school teacher cause thats what she was told to do )

Audi TT: Because I want people to like me

I have more but the back lash from this is enough for me to cope with today.

galwaytt

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Four of my work colleagues have had one and they all fall into the "never again" category. They found them impossible to sell on. No dealer other than a Renault one will touch them.

in all fairness, being 'impossible' to sell them doesn't mean diddly about the car - more about the buyers.

Applies to loads of marques I'd say. Alfa's. Maserati's. Porsches. Nissan Murano and 350z. Lada's. Dacia's. Golf 1.4 petrol's .

Some good, some bad, some awful. Quite a few 'impossible' to sell.

Biro

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The stupid f*cking indicators on the E60 5 series - drives me insane!!!

So let me guess... you decided not to use them...

Saab Ed wrote:

Alfa 159: Looks fantastic but My God is it dull to drive.

That's cause Saab developed that chassis for the 9-5!

I'll get my coat...

Saab Ed

Biro wrote: »

I'll get my coat...

I got it for ya

Vic_Mackey

The Recliner wrote: »

Similar problem with my RX-8

I can jump between presets on the radio which is groovy but I can't skip songs on CD's, it just jumps from CD to CD rather than song to song

I am sure there is some way of doing it but have never been able to get it to work

This is weird. I drive an RX-8 but I can switch between songs, but not CDs. I can also jump between radio presets and tune the radio.

_Kaiser_

Hmm.. good thread.

I love my 06 Passat. It's bigger than my old one (previous model), has the newer 2L TDI engine as opposed to the aging 1.9 version, handles better and is fairly cheap to run considering the mileage I do. Cruise control is a plus, oh and the 6-speed DSG box is just fantastic!

But...

- I wish it had a multi-function wheel (preferably the newer type from the Passat CC)
- Of course that means I'd need the Highline computer too
- Which would allow me to have front fogs too (oh and the wiring loom it needs)
- The Auto Hold function is useless as it calls the car to jolt to a start/stop at low speeds
- I'd have preferred if they had kept a "standard" handbrake, rather than the Parking Button thing they introduced

The Recliner

Vic_Mackey wrote: »

This is weird. I drive an RX-8 but I can switch between songs, but not CDs. I can also jump between radio presets and tune the radio.

Nah I am probably just thick, I am sure there is a way to change the functions but have never been arsed to spend much time on it

r3nu4l

gerardk55 wrote: »

Have a Mazda 6 '05 from new 195,000km and love it except I can't search for radio stations from the steering wheel like you can r3nu4l, but can jump between presets! Want to swap?

Hee hee, if we could swap steering wheel functions that'd be great alright

The Recliner wrote: »

I am sure there is some way of doing it but have never been able to get it to work

Unfortunately, in my case, a call to Audi and a thread with the good folk at audi-sport.net confirmed my fears that it's not something I'm doing wrong, Audi just decided that the A3 didn't need that feature...spanners!! :mad:

Mr Benevolent

Berty wrote: »

Mazda dropped the RX-8 from their Irish lineup. It must have been the radio thing.

Or it might be because it's good looking, stylish and powerful The Irish public frown upon those qualities.

The Recliner

Confab wrote: »

Or it might be because it's good looking, stylish and powerful The Irish public frown upon those qualities.

I think it was more to do with the change in VRT and emmissions based tax, it added a feck load to the already high price of the car to buy and made it huge money to tax

stealthyspeeder

gerardk55 wrote: »

Have a Mazda 6 '05 from new 195,000km and love it except I can't search for radio stations from the steering wheel like you can r3nu4l, but can jump between presets! Want to swap?

You should be able to if you hold down the button instead of just pressing it!

I loved the first post OP, I also have silly pernickity tastes when driving, its the little thing that annoy you!

I drive a Mazda 3 and its the first car that I have had which exceeds on the small detail things as opposed to frustrates. For example, windscreen washer fluid, it automatically cuts out the back windscreen washer jet when it gets below a certain level so you always have enough for the front even before the warning light comes on, the radio can be contolled for al the magor functions from the steering wheel (except disc change which is very close to the indicator stalk so not too inconvienant), the radio also has a button you can press which finds the stations with the strongest frequency, useful if your driving long distances. Also it has little holes at the in the rear of the car near the space which the seatbelt for the middle passenger comes out of, to place the clip bit of the seatbelt in so it doesnt rattle or move about when not in use! Theres a few more things as well which I cant remember but I dont think there are any wee things that annoy me on my car except the seatbelt warning beep sometimes coming on if you have shopping on the passenger seat!

On other cars I've driven, someone already mentioned the indicators on the Astra OPC, On the octavia I can remember cursing the cupholders (as I either had a cup of coffe that was tooo small or a large drink that was too big for it to cope with without spilling.

stealthyspeeder

Oh and I remember someone on here in the last week or two saying that they wouldn't eve consider buying a Nissan again because the plastic handle on their door snapped when the car was out of warrenty!

PaddyFagan

Great thread - my Golf Plus has a sun glasses holder, but it's too small for my glasses - so they end up in cubbies getting bonced around and scratched.

Paddy

kuro_man

Not that I loved the rest of the car but my (now departed) Fiat Brava has a cup-holder molded into the lid of the glove-box, where the driver couldn't reach it, and the cup wasn't secure enough to go around a bend.

Voodoomelon

Pretty much the only thing that annoys me about my car is that you can't skip ahead during a song on CD, there's no fast forward or rewind. Small enough complaint to have.

stealthyspeeder

Just remembered another fine detail point about the Mazda 3, it has a clip on the outside of the mirror case on the drivers side sunshade, which is perfect for putting parking tickets in on your way to the machine when your leaving a car park!

irisheddie85

I love my alfa 156 but it has no cup holders. this little inconvenience would make me not want another even the gta. Such a shame.

Ive driven a few toyotas and couldn't in all honesty recomend them to anyone. reliable safe easy to resell but o god so boring. I was looking at an mr2 as a bit of weekend fun but the thought of supporting a company that can sell the auris just put me off

L1011

The cup holders in the Citroen C4 are enough to put me off ever wanting a Citroen again. Ever.

Too shallow to hold anything, and in exactly the right position to whack a cup in to the back seats with your elbow when changing gear or the passanger seat when using the handbrake. If it doesn't foul the handbrake from going down, that is.

Omcd

Berty wrote: »

The Renault Laguna(2004 model).

Brilliant spec. Comfortable ride. All electrics - EVERYTHING.

Cant sell the damn things. :mad:

Went to test drive one recently (earlier than 2004 though). I thought, wow brillant spec, comfortable ride, all electrics - EVERYTHING - low mileage, good condition, extreme bargain basement price, what is the problem with these cars...??
Then part of the gearstick came off in my hand, and when I went to fold the rear seats, the seat I pushed down just came off in my hand with a faint snap as the tiny (and I mean TINY) plastic catch that was holding in onto the car broke.
Ah, that's why. Flimsy as hell.

I see the electronic parking gizmo on the Passat has already been mentioned. Had terrible trouble with that in a hired Passat a few years ago, the damn thing kept locking on and many a time I, and others, spent ages trying to get it to disengage. In particular, it did not like being engaged when the front of the car was pointing up a significant incline.

Once, it locked on under a hotel car park barrier, and no one could get it to disengage until it it finally decided to give in 20 minutes later (you'd think Germans would know how German cars work, but this gizmo foxed everyone).

On another occasion, it engaged itself automatically for no apparant reason when I changed up from first to second gear when pulling away from traffic lights across a junction, nearly causing a pile up.

Since then any hire company that has had the nerve to produce one of these infernal Passats for me instead of what I though I was getting (which they like doing) has been told to come up with something else. And everytime I see a Passat marooned in the middle of the road on a steep motorway exit ramp, I have fair idea what the problem might be - either the parking gizmo has stuck on, or the driver has had a nervous breakdown, or more likely, both.

IMO, the handbrake is an essential bit of kit in the car that should be a straight forward as possible, so to me it is idiocy obsuring the clarity of its functionality in less than intuitive electronic gadetry, which also increases the number of things that can go wrong with it resulting in its failure. I thought there was a law at some stage that all cars had to have a mechanical parking brake ?

Eoin

Really silly thing for me, but if a car doesn't have a driver's arm rest, I don't know if I could go for it.

Stevie Dakota

2000 Golf, had they typical lovely perceived quality, then the plastic started peeling off and the rattles arrived. Combine that with the lousy customer service we experienced, that's you Park Motors, and I would be very reluctant to buy another VW.

cjt156

irisheddie85 wrote: »

I love my alfa 156 but it has no cup holders. this little inconvenience would make me not want another even the gta.

FOR SHAME!!! I love the fact that the 156 has no cup-holders. Its a car to be driven (with white knuckles and clenched teeth), not to eat and drink in, especially the GTA!

Biro

I'm amazed at the cup-holder brigade! I couldn't tell you what the cup holders on any of my cars are like, cause I don't think I've ever had a cup in any of them, let alone one that I was drinking out of while driving. What's next? Nowhere to put the razor when shaving?

Mr. Presentable

Took a test in a VW Tourag a few years ago. The seat release handle snapped off when I went to let it back. Cheap plastic. Would never buy one.

Eoin

Biro wrote: »

I'm amazed at the cup-holder brigade! I couldn't tell you what the cup holders on any of my cars are like, cause I don't think I've ever had a cup in any of them, let alone one that I was drinking out of while driving. What's next? Nowhere to put the razor when shaving?

I'd often have a bottle of water or something in the car - especially on a long drive, so would find them useful. Edit - though with regards to this thread, it wouldn't put me off getting a car without them.

dubmick

thehamo wrote: »

Opel Astra! The 05- on model.

I love the car, I love how it looks (sepecially the OPC model). But having driven my dads for a while, I was driven DEMENTED by the indicator system. its all over the place, its not a simple tick up th indicaor leaver and cancell it when needed. Its some sort of touch system like a flappy paddle gear box or something. And when you try to cancel it, it indicates the other way! you spend about 5 minutes wrestling with the thing just to get the indicator to stop!

seriously off putting!

haha my father had one too and the above is exactly what I experienced every time I drove it.

L1011

Biro wrote: »

I'm amazed at the cup-holder brigade! I couldn't tell you what the cup holders on any of my cars are like, cause I don't think I've ever had a cup in any of them, let alone one that I was drinking out of while driving. What's next? Nowhere to put the razor when shaving?

When you do my kind of mileage, cup holders and a door pocket / ashtray big enough for a big wodge of receipts are extremely important factors in car design!

jenizzle

I have an MX5 and love it to bits, but I can't turn off the full beams without using the indicators The dims to fulls switch is a push-pull one instead of a twisty one, and it's quite annoying!

Voodoomelon

Cup holders are a must for me. I actually love the way mine are designed, they can take a cup of tea no problem! They even have a little gap for the cup handle. First BMW with cupholders I believe.

Biro

jenizzle wrote: »

I have an MX5 and love it to bits, but I can't turn off the full beams without using the indicators The dims to fulls switch is a push-pull one instead of a twisty one, and it's quite annoying!

Aren't all cars push/pull on the stalk from dips to fulls? I don't know any car that you twist the handle to go from main beams to dips.

Biro

MYOB wrote: »

When you do my kind of mileage, cup holders and a door pocket / ashtray big enough for a big wodge of receipts are extremely important factors in car design!

I like plenty of space for storage, but although I don't do much mileage any more, I used do plenty, 5 hour trips wouldn't be uncommon, but never used a cup! Bottle of water on the passenger seat is all I needed if anything!

.Longshanks.

thehamo wrote: »

Opel Astra! The 05- on model.

I love the car, I love how it looks (sepecially the OPC model). But having driven my dads for a while, I was driven DEMENTED by the indicator system. its all over the place, its not a simple tick up th indicaor leaver and cancell it when needed. Its some sort of touch system like a flappy paddle gear box or something. And when you try to cancel it, it indicates the other way! you spend about 5 minutes wrestling with the thing just to get the indicator to stop!

seriously off putting!

I must be the odd one out cos i've had two opels with those indicators. Never bothered me, in fact i'd miss them if my next car didn't have them. Don't the newer VW's come with the same system of a single light tap and you get three "clicks" and push harder for a constant "clicking"

stealthyspeeder

Longshanks100 wrote: »

I must be the odd one out cos i've had two opels with those indicators. Never bothered me, in fact i'd miss them if my next car didn't have them. Don't the newer VW's come with the same system of a single light tap and you get three "clicks" and push harder for a constant "clicking"

I saw you posted and was about to ask you if the indicators annoyed you!? suppose its one of those things that you you just get used to and becomes the norm!

whiterebel

Longshanks100 wrote: »

I must be the odd one out cos i've had two opels with those indicators. Never bothered me, in fact i'd miss them if my next car didn't have them. Don't the newer VW's come with the same system of a single light tap and you get three "clicks" and push harder for a constant "clicking"

Yes Audi have the system anyway. Bloody confusing in an Opel first time using it though. Driving a hired Vectra SRi TDi from Liverpool to Leeds at night, everytime I indicated right the next 3 minutes were spent indicating left, then right then left. Anyone looking on must have thought I was schizo.......:(