Have You Had.........

[GSMGuy]

What they consider to be a non minor problem with their car, be it Alhambra, Galaxy or Sharan? I am talking along the lines of something that should not have gone wrong with a car of you'r cars age and mileage.....

 

Just dong a bit of a fact find, please vote either way, even if you don't post.....

 

Mike

[Guest MATT]

my galaxy has been brilliant, had no major problems.

 

i think people need to remember, that anything mechanical can go wrong, and there will always be a bad apple.

 

MATT

[Bigjeeze]

It's a machine like any other - if you treat it right it behaves itself but sometimes faults occur. Nothing on my Galxy's has ben extraordinary or unique.

 

Or it must be said overly expensive bar the Air Con.

[GSMGuy]

So theoretically BigJeeze, you have answered YES, because of your aircon?

 

Mike

[seatkid]

Except for the Aircon which is widely acknowledged to be a bag of s***e. I am happy to put up with the minor annoyances of weak arb links, track rod ends and MAF sensor on my Mk 1.

 

It seems that quality went down a notch with the MkII though. Cheapo suppliers for wiring looms, vacuum pipes etc. Is it VW or Ford to blame? Certainly it looks that as a joint venture they are relucant to fix known issues. There are still many of the same common problems in todays models as the first ones ten years ago.....

 

Anyway its all change next year when Ford and VW go their seperate way...

[GSMGuy]

MAybe I should edit the poll to read, "don't say all ok - except for the aircon, or the droplinks etc" If the aircon fails, or the drop links go early, then afaic, that is a fault that should not occur, and deserves a YES vote - come on, lets all be honest here, as I am after an honest picture.... If the facts say X has failed, then a YES vote should be ticked.....

 

 

Mike

[GSMGuy]

81 views and 11 votes?????

 

ffs, I sounded a bit like SKid then lolol!!

 

 

Mike

[Rallim]

I do like my Sharan, its practicality is superb. and I like the drive / ride. But I must admit having broken wires in the door is rather naff for a 4 year old car.

 

The drop links is another, this was also a common problem on my Audi 80, so I think the blame could be laid at vw's feet for this.

 

Also loss of power issues which resulted in MAF sensor, EGR valve & turbo replacement, but it has to be said these problems are not limited to the Shalaxy but any car using VW's TDI engines.

 

Gordon

[Bigjeeze]

So theoretically BigJeeze, you have answered YES, because of your aircon?

 

Mike

 

Ok Mike you do have a point - but of the three Galaxy's I have owned which between them have covered in excess of 300K miles the only major issue was the air con on the latest one - so one model has a problem- the MK2 the rest ...fine.

 

I have had worse on other cars.

 

Let me put it another way - despite the faults no one apart from you is giving up on the Galaxy! :lol:

[tim-spam]

Any car can suffer faults, and in theory no faults are acceptable, but the problems really only get bad when incompetent dealers fail to fix them, or create other problems that weren't there to start with. This thread sounds a bit like one cheesed off customer trying to persuade everyone that all Galaxies are as bad as his and that we all ought to do what he's doing.

If you look at the other reliability poll going on at the moment, these cars seem to come out of it pretty well so far, with the vast majority satisfied. If you also consider that people who take part in this type of forum are more picky than most, I would say that the results are good.

[GSMGuy]

Not at all, as I said I really liked my Gal, and did this poll to get some honest feedback.. When the new Gal comes out, I'll be at the front of the queu to have a look.

 

Mike

[tim-spam]

Apart from items like tyres, brake pads etc, in theory absolutely nothing should go wrong with any car, and even my fantastically reliable and durable 1990 Mercedes 190D with 300,000+ miles on the clock would fail the test (as, Isuspect would almost any car, even Japanese). After all, the rear brake discs only last around 50,000 miles (the fronts last 150,000 miles), the auxiliary drive belt tensioner damper gets very noisy at idle and needs replacing every 18 months to 3 years. The fact is that no car model is 100% reliable all of the time, although in theory it should be - it's just a fact of life. The main problems are not the cars themselves, but the service they receive - if dealers were all good, the faults experienced with cars would be no more than minor irritations if that.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Aircon failed when car about 27 months old, battery failed at just under 3 years, drop links failed at just over 2 years old and about 20,000 miles. None of these should have happened. The Honda I had previously owned for 18 years suffered from a few faults but nothing that I'd consider to be "premature". Worst, most expensive failure on that was a brake calliper seizure after about 7 years - suppose it was partly my fault for not using the brakes enough ! The pads on the other side to the one that failed were so little worn that the garage doing the repair didn't bother to change them despite ordering a set in (the new calliper came with a pair of pads).

[Guest chrisH]

My car has had most of the common failings, drop links, EGR, vacuum hoses etc,

touch wood, the MAF and the aircon are ok.

 

I've also had the cam belt, clutch and brakes done but i see these as regular maintenance parts, along with the first list really.

 

For 170,000 miles i dont think thats too bad.

 

I think its one of the most versatile cars I've owned, admittedly i wouldn't have paid

[Gadgetoid]

After using this site to sort out several woes I'd thought I'd have a look at the opposition. Found a site for the C8/807/Ulysses series and even the owners who love their cars seem to admit that their reliability is appalling :lol: . The only thing keeping them attached to their cars seems to be the electric sliding doors :)

[Guest BIGLOX]

I sold my Galaxy about a month ago but I still like to have a look through this site.

 

I voted yes .... yup you guessed it - airconditiong ! It just never worked. To be honest it was one of the factors that made me decide to sell. I spend about 5 or 6 hours every day in the car travelling to and from my customers. The latter part of the summer was impressively hot for Scotland and there were some days that I just about melted even with the AC on full blast. (Mind you sometimes it felt like it was blowing warm air !)

 

Having said all that, I had the Galaxy 4-1/2 years and apart from normal things like brake pads, light bulbs and tyres, I did't have any major problems. Still had the original battery and the original exhaust system (never had a car that the exhaust lasted that long on).

 

I sort of miss the Galaxy but she had to go.

[El Dingo]

I voted no, but then we've only had ours 3 weeks.

 

I asked our local taxi firm what to buy and they said:

Toyota Previa, Toyota Previa and Toyota Previa. NOT Galaxy/Al/Sha or Renault and especially not PSA/Fiat.

 

However, I just like the Galaxy, and I'm familiar with VW products so I'm ready to take a chance!

 

:lol:

[Rallim]

My Dad has an N reg Previa (an ex works vehicle - part of his retirment package :D ). Anyway it is not the prettiest of vehicles but it is spacious (more width than the Shalxy's and has a usueable boot with all the passengers in!) the 2.4 petrol is smooth, but it has had its fair share of problems, brakes, bearings, squealing noises. Niggles such as the sliding door not shutting properly leaving the courtesy lights on and flattening the battery... plus .. the air conditioning does not work! :lol:

 

It has done 160k and speaking to other owners they do seem to keep on running, but they are expensive to maintain (v. thirsty)...

 

My Sharan feels like a sports vehicle in comparison.... :D That's probably a little unfair as there a newer versions of the Previa which are likely to be better...

 

Sometimes the grass isnt always greener...

 

 

Gordon.

[GSMGuy]

Slightly off topic, I was seriously considering a Toyota Lancruiser VX before I decided on the Merc, as apparently Toyotas reliability is legendary (never owned a jap car...) Drove it, liked it (2001 car....

[Bigjeeze]

I voted no, but then we've only had ours 3 weeks.

 

I asked our local taxi firm what to buy and they said:

Toyota Previa, Toyota Previa and Toyota Previa. NOT Galaxy/Al/Sha or Renault and especially not PSA/Fiat.

 

However, I just like the Galaxy, and I'm familiar with VW products so I'm ready to take a chance!

 

:lol:

 

 

Curiously I see That the Airport Car co has around 150 Galaxy/Alhambra/Sharans - and if you look there are hundreds of others running around as taxi's both here and in Europe - And as most taxi's never use air con even if it is fitted then this seems like a bit of a non issue.

 

I have a friend who runs a fleet of Limo's and has just retired his 6 Galaxys because they are not big enough for his work and although he prefers the Galaxy he has bought the Voyagers because they have more room. He considers the Galaxy the best in its class (he also has 2 previas which he likes too.)

 

If I had a real choice I would like an Aston Martin but as I can't I am happy with my Galaxy

[Guest MATT]

if i could pick any car, all expenses paid by bill gates, i would have a Bentley continental GT, and a Bugatti Veyron for the weekends.

 

but it would have to be black

http://www.coolhunting.com/images/bentley_continental_gt.jpg

 

 

1001BHP YEAH BABY!

http://www.motorimania.net/manifestazioni/supercar/images/Bugatti.Veyron.2.jpg

 

MATT :D

[Guest marcusheawood]

...you can only have the Veyron in a Two-tone colour scheme...Sorry... :D

[Guest MATT]

...you can only have the Veyron in a Two-tone colour scheme...Sorry... :P

:D i like the red and black bugatti, its the Bentley i want in black.

 

1001 BHP :D

 

MATT

[charles]

I was not so lucky

disk vibration, alignment problems, MAF, ignition coil and lead, wire loom , water temp gauge, rear wheel bearings, aux belt tensioner roller, several diagnostic tests, accident switch, radiator fans.

luckely the aircon is still ok.

 

I had more repairs than every other car I had before (150000km).

:)

[Gadgetoid]

An accident switch? :)

Is that like a scheme to recover the cost of your car by swapping all the serial numbers to one already written off? :)

Or do you have extra options on your instrument panel that I don't? :lol: