Real World Shalaxy Mechanical Reliability

[Guest marcusheawood]

I'm interested to see the results of this, there seem to be a disproportionate number of reliability issues with the various diesel variants and auto boxes.

 

I have not yet had any touble with my VR6 other than normal flat battery problems. As soon as the starter turns the engine purrs into life.

I have the manual gearbox, and other than the usual milk chocolate CV joints this too has been faultless.

 

My god, but the reverse light switch was a bastard. I was nearly flayed alive all up my right arm, at one point I seriously considered dropping the engine and gearbox! :D

 

This is only a vote about faults that compromised your use of the vehicle, not your comfort; we all know the aircon's a pig.

 

Hark...what's that noise? I think I hear the birdies tweeting in the auxiliary belt tensioner and I'm probably due for drop-links soon too. :huh:

 

It's like owning a bloody classic car, there's always something silly to fix. :D

[seatkid]

Apart from a drop link and 2 track rod ends (found at MOT :D ) never had any mechanical problems in over 9 years of ownership. 2 Alhambra 1.9Tdi's both 90bhp 2yrs + 7 yrs.

 

In particular I must say the engine has been ultra reliable in some quite extreme conditions (temperatures of -20 to +38, distances upto 1000 miles in 24hrs ),

 

MAF failed but didnt stop me driving it around Europe for best part of two years.....so that doesn't count.... :huh:

 

You can't beat advanced tractor technology.......but now that I said that it'll probably go pear shaped tomorrow. :D

[Guest MATT]

all i can say is this has been one of the best cars ive ever owned :D

 

ive had very little go wrong, non of which would stop you from driving it.

 

MATT :huh:

[Nick]

I think I'll write to Ford - only done 217,000 and I bought oil but the engine don't need it :huh:

[Masked Marauder]

I think I'll write to Ford - only done 217,000 and I bought oil but the engine don't need it :huh:

Thats because it has a VW engine....

[Lyle Waters]

I'm happy with my 2.3 petrol Gal. Two years, two drop links and 2 tyres...

[tim-spam]

The reason why there are more apparent problems with diesels is probably that there are a lot more diesels. As for auto boxes......

[Andrew T]

The reason why there are more apparent problems with diesels is probably that there are a lot more diesels. As for auto boxes......

I reckon on the MK2s I see about 20 or more TDIs to every 2.3 and probably 200 TDIs to every V6 and hardly any 1.8Ts. Mark 1s I reckon the mix is more like 50/50 Petrol to Diesel. Not suprising really, I read the other week that more than 1 in 3 new cars is now a Diesel.

[Guest kd035050]

I've had my Gal now for 4 years and it has never cost me anything reliability wise, just the usual servicable items such as tyres, brake pads, oild and windows washer fluid.

 

i am very pleased with the car

[bigdaddy]

Only owned mine 9mths and only replaced the brake switch so far, oh and the remote key dont work. Very happy with it, but I wish now I had keeped my v6 espace.

[GSMGuy]

Ok, 30k miles when I got it 12 months ago....

 

2 full auto gearboxes and 4 valve chests.....

Drop links

Pads and discs on the front

Seized wiper motor linkage

Duff aux heater glowplug

Totally useless blower on the a/c - just not enough air volume and throughput for a car of this size

Bloody annoying one touch elec windows

Gearbox Ecu

 

All faults now fixed - but what a list in 12 months for a 3 year old car...

 

Needless to say I will not be buying another...

 

Mike

[tim-spam]

Are you the one buying a Chrysler Voyager? One of my friends has one, and has so far tried 4 dealers - the only thing they have managed to do so far is make Ford dealers look good..... However, when it's not in the garage, it seems quite nice.

[GSMGuy]

Nah Tim, was gonna get a voyager, but

[gregers]

mmmm nice you luckey bugger :(

[Guest marcusheawood]

Jesus GSM!

 

I hope you've subscribed to "Serious quality and reliability issues with my American built Pseudo Mercedes Off Roader" forum.

 

And possibly have that inferiority complex looked at next time you're at the stealers (a shrink would be cheaper by the hour) :( :( :D

[GSMGuy]

Nothing can be worse than the gal///

 

Mike

[tim-spam]

Mmmmmmm......saying things like that can be very risky... After all, you may have had problems with your Gal, but most don't - one of my friends even had problems with his Previa (and the Previa makes our cars seem cheap to repair), but that is rare indeed. However, if your new Merc proves as dependable as our old 190D, you'll be smiling.

[Andrew T]

Mmmmmmm......saying things like that can be very risky...

You're quite right, I remember saying that nothing could be worse than the Xantia that preceeded the Galaxy........

[tim-spam]

Xantias...... a company I used to work for used to run a 'fleet' of 8 Xantias....never again! 6 out of the 8 were dreadful. They now have Passat TDI's, and one has been bad, and another had a bad start. The other 6 have been perfect.

The point is that one example does not prove a great deal. From what I have gathered, the Galaxy, Sharan, Alhambra are certainly not the most reliable cars on the market, but they are very far from the worst, and like most VW's, the older they get, the better they will compare with other makes. In other words, for those who prefer to keep their cars for a long time, VW's make a lot of sense. On the other hand, for those who buy new or newish, and sell after 2 or 3 years, and want the best reliability, Japanese is the way to go.

[Andrew T]

Apart from over-soft seats the Xantia was a nice car when it was running well and its aircon system was working fine when sold, despite not being maintained for 7 years - which is more than the Galaxy could manage.

leaving aside a Co owned Toyota Camry which was fault free from new, I have owned 3 Japanese Cars all bought at over 3 years old. All provided excellent service to high mileages. Leaving aside consumables I ran a Subaru to 143K which only needed a pair of CV J covers. A Civic went to 157K with replacement CV joint and my current Civic is at 128K and has only had the blower resistor pack replaced . Have I been lucky with these, or do Jap cars continue to be reliable beyond three years?

I sincerely hope you

[tim-spam]

I agree totally, but the fact remains that a smaple of one does not prove a great deal. You could buy a Citroen Xantia and have no problems, or a Toyota and have nothing but trouble - this is quite possible, but the probability based upon a large sample is that your chances would be infinitely better with the Toyota. I would repeat that Sharan, Galaxy and Alhambra reliability is probably around average, but the life expectancy of these vehicles is probably considerably above average.

Another factor is possibly that MPV's are generally less well developed than higher volume mainstream cars due to their lower volumes.

My experiences with older VW's has been excellent, and I hope the Alhambra is as good as the Beetles, Polos, Golfs, Jettas and Passats we've had.

[GSMGuy]

MAybe one does not prove a bad car, but lets face it, how many people on here have had major probs, ie more than niggly things??

 

In fact I am gonna go post a poll right now!!

 

Mike