Does anybody miss the 'good' old days, when, for example, you could change a burnt out valve on your Anglia or Mini etc after tea and still be in time for Corra? Catalysts were then only used in refineries and chemical plants,
4-star was four gallons for a pound and road tax was £12-10s (shillings). Lambda was just a strange Greek letter and the only transistors were in your car radio. However, I still managed 40 to the gallon. The problem was that, on a quiet evening, you could almost hear your car rusting away on the drive.
And despite oil changes every 3000 miles, the engine needed a total overhaul at about 70,000 miles at best. And then there were all the grease nipples to do, and the brakes to adjust... My dad managed to clap out an engine in a new Minor by the time it needed its first set of new tyres. It had averaged well over 50 mpg in that time though - he kept records as it was a business car. Of course the traffic was different then.
It would seem that the overall "mechanical breakdowns per hundred vehicles" (mbphv) has not changed much in the last ten years (and maybe 25+) - around 25 mbphv. This gives you an average of one breakdown per 4 years or a 25% chance of a breakdown this year.
When broken down by make it appears anyone can easily reduce the odds of it being them by not buying certain makes that achieve a substantially greater mbphv than the average. Citroen 44 [1], Alfa
42, Ford 33, Vauxhall 33, Renault 35, Rover 35 (1997 data newer Rover engines may be better but the industry average has not moved). Within a make there are major differences between models and even between versions of a model. Eg Nissan (12 mbphv) Micra, QX and 200SX are much more reliable than Almera and Primera (this could be down to user, use and abuse?). When a reliable car does breakdown it will be something major and costs more to fix. This tends to even out the costs as that one breakdown in 9 years can cost the same as the 3 breakdowns the cheap POS will have in same time. You only get to suffer the hassle a few times in a lifetime but it will tend to be a lot more hassle as you may be prepared with AA/RAC cover for a breakdown every 2/3/4/5 years but won't bother for one in 9 years.
Mechanical breakdown does include things like discharched battrey due to alternator or belt failure. It does not take into account things like my colleague having to replace the front brake rotors and calipers on his Fiesta for both the last two MOT's. It does not take into account running out of fuel or getting locked out.
Volkswagens adverts that claim 'If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen" are almost certainly in breach of advertising standards. VW achieve 17 mbphv, better than average but a long way short of BMW's 8.2 mbphv, Jaguar's 7 mbphv and Mitsubishi's
5.8 mbphv. Mercedes are not as good as their reputation or competition at 13 mbphv.
[1] Even though sharing many parts Peugeot achieve better than industry average at 19 mbphv mainly due to not having complex drop dead hydraulic suspension made to designs and on machines that have not been changed in close to 50 years. As smaller Citroen use normal suspension they should achieve parity with Peugeot which means the hydraulic suspension ones are a lot worse (around 70 mbphv assuming a
50/50 sales split).
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Audi A2 has an engine bay closure panel under the bonnet that as far the average dumb ass owner is concerned is sealed.
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"Citroens top fault for the second year running was with it's hydraulic suspension"
"The most common fault experienced by drivers in the 1998 survey as in the previous year was alternators, followed by engine and clutch assembly faults"
The survey was on a fleet of 88,000 leased vehicles from 23 makers up to 5 years old. 21620 faults were reported in the one year period.
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If I was old enough to remember that ( I'm not saying I am) I would remember things like bringing an Anglia with a failed fuel pump home for about 15 miles using the screen wash pump, manual on the dash. In those days you could really play with cars, the crank form a classic in an Anglia gave a capacity jump etc. I fitted a Zody engine in a Cortina in a small garage with little problem. an Imp engine in a midget, and two mini auto engines in the same Moke. Now that war really having fun. You run into legal problems just changing a bulb now.
But we were talking about the old cars of yesteryear and why they wont pass an emmisions test nowadays, you cant make something that didnt have tight controlls on it when it was produced meet current standards.. well not easily anyway, which is why pre K reg cars only need a cat type emmisions test if the cat is present, pre 1974 vehicles don't need an emmisions test at all, and in-between they have different limits to reach depending on the age of the vehicle.
But most of PSA electrics are reliable German Bosch stuff like they fit to BMW's, Porsche and MB's, aren't they?
BX16 Bosch distributor with Ignition module - stop at lights in right hand filter lane (yes it's snowing), motor cuts, dead module - genuine Bosch. Get out, push POS though a rush hour Ring road X-roads 3 lanes each way and into bus stop. Yes they do that sir, about every 3 years, 2 if your unlucky, we sell lots. Takes the coil out or due to coil failure about every other time according to the mechanic I called out when the module he had in his pocket didn't work.
Ever wondered why they give so much cash back? They have to pay people to take them!
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5 Nissan's, 2 Toyota's, 1 Citroen. Citroen had more breakdowns and major faults in 18 months than the rest had put together over 20+ years. Nissan 200SX S13 only from now on.
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