"Warranty Direct has found Audi, BMW and Volkswagen to have some of the least reliable engines in their cars.
The UK supplier of direct consumer warranties analysed data from 50,000 live consumer policies that showed the failure rate of engines from a multitude of manufacturers.
Audi nearly topped the table, only beaten by a now defunct MG Rover group, with a 3.71% failure rate in its engines. That's a whopping 1 in 27 engines failing in policies taken out with Warranty Direct.
MINI propped up the top of the table with a 1 in 40 failure rate, while BMW and Volkswagen came 7th and 10th respectively, beaten by the likes of Peugeot, SAAB and Renault.
Japanese firms Honda and Toyota performed the best, with only 1 in 344 Honda engines failing and 1 in 171 Toyota powerplants giving up the ghost.
Mercedes-Benz went some way to rescue the German reputation by slotting in third with a respectable 0.84% failure rate."
Can we read any real truths into these figures or is it smoke and mirrors?
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What do they mean by a "failed engine"?
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Presumably one where a warranty payout has occured for an engine component.
Does it cover all engines or just petrol?
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MG Rover haven't sold car for nearly 8 years so not really a valid benchmark!
As is usual with anything warranty direct put out its meaningless because you have no idea how many examples were used, age, mileage reason for failure etc.
I wonder if cam belts feature in this, and what constitutes a failure?
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Rovers are still on the road and can be covered by Warranty Direct, up to 10 years old I think!
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>>>That's a whopping 1 in 27 engines failing in policies taken out with Warranty Direct.
If a Warranty Direct policy causes that rate of engine failure there's another reason not to buy a policy.
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Would you believe a word Warranty Direct said they are probably the best engines but they want more people to take out their worthless policies.
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Presumably those terrible VAG 1.4 TSi engines, those Passat Siemens injectors and the legendary oil pump drive issues doing the business for VAG. The latter would explain Audi's presence in the hall of shame.
BMW will be getting it in the neck for swirl flap ingestion on older TD engines and lunching turbos with alarming regularity on more recent ones.
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Japanese cars have better reliability than German cars. So nothing surprising in this finding.
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'Engine failure' (whatever that is) is still very rare according to these figures, which is good to see.
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>> Japanese cars have better reliability than German cars. So nothing surprising in this finding.
>>
+1
I only buy Honda or Toyota...
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>> Japanese cars have better reliability than German cars. So nothing surprising in this finding.
>>
I've never had a Japanese car, but have had plenty of German and French cars, none of which has ever suffered an engine failure. What am I doing wrong?!
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>> I've never had a Japanese car, but have had plenty of German and French cars,
>> none of which has ever suffered an engine failure. What am I doing wrong?!
Ditto. Current German car clicked over 130k, its 10th birthday, and passed its 4th MOT in our hands all in this week. Nothing wrong with it. Never let us down or even threatened to.
But Japanese cars are automatically better. Yeah right.
My uncle ran a Rover 216 (R8 shape) from new to four years old. The only time it ever broke down was when the igniter unit in the (Honda) engine failed. A common fault at the time. My friend's bought-new 2001 Toyota Celica was a total basket case of a car which got so bad for faults he involved the finance company.
Japanese cars are good, but people put them on an undeserving pedestal IMHO.
Last edited by: DP on Thu 17 Jan 13 at 16:21
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Obviously neither of the above posters understand statistics:-)
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>> >> I've never had a Japanese car, but have had plenty of German and French
>> cars,
>> >> none of which has ever suffered an engine failure. What am I doing wrong?!
>>
>> Ditto. Current German car clicked over 130k, its 10th birthday, and passed its 4th MOT
>> in our hands all in this week. Nothing wrong with it. Never let us down
>> or even threatened to.
You always ignore that DMF.
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126,000 mile clutch and DMF swap through fair wear and tear. Cost me less than a main dealer service on a new car. So what.
Never let us down. Once.
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>> 126,000 mile clutch and DMF swap through fair wear and tear. Cost me less than
>> a main dealer service on a new car. So what.
A first service on a new car cost about 130 quid.
So what? just remarking you seem to enthuse about your VW in the same way you complain others enthuse about Japanese cars. ]
I wil lay you a bet that my lancer gets to 130k miles with less than half the servicing and repair costs of your golf.
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or my Carisma! ner ner :)
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>> I wil lay you a bet that my lancer gets to 130k miles with less
>> than half the servicing and repair costs of your golf.
That would be impressive indeed.
I bought it in 2008 at 82,000 miles. It's now done 130,000
In that time It's had four services at £60-£80 a pop depending on what's been needed. Let's say 2@£80 and 2@£60, so £280.
I fitted a clutch and DMF at £400 and a battery at £50 (£450)
And um, that's been it. £730 in servicing and repairs over 50,000 miles of motoring.
So, you really think your Lancer will do 82-130,000 miles for less than £365 in total service and maintenance costs?
Of course, if we were really examining this closely, we could factor in things like fuel consumption (53 mpg), RFL (£135 PA) and glacial depreciation...
It has been a stupidly cheap car to own. And the best bit was, it wasn't even bought because it was going to be reliable. It was bought because we liked the way it looked, drove and felt.
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>> >> I wil lay you a bet that my lancer gets to 130k miles with
>> less
>> >> than half the servicing and repair costs of your golf.
>>
>> That would be impressive indeed.
>>
>> I bought it in 2008 at 82,000 miles. It's now done 130,000
>>
>> In that time It's had four services at £60-£80 a pop depending on what's been
>> needed. Let's say 2@£80 and 2@£60, so £280.
>>
>> I fitted a clutch and DMF at £400 and a battery at £50 (£450)
>>
>> And um, that's been it. £730 in servicing and repairs over 50,000 miles of motoring.
>>
>> So, you really think your Lancer will do 82-130,000 miles for less than £365 in
>> total service and maintenance costs?
Yup. Its done 50k miles for under 400 quid in my ownership already, Including a cam belt change.
If you want a real challenge we could include tyres, I will really whop your ass then.
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>> Yup. Its done 50k miles for under 400 quid in my ownership already, Including a
>> cam belt change.
>>
>> If you want a real challenge we could include tyres, I will really whop your
>> ass then.
But £365? You said "less than half" ;-)
Tyres aren't dear. Around the £60 mark for a premium brand.
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Of course it is, but 'under £400' is not less than half my costs if it's £365 or more.
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Ok I cant beat 365, Its 380, but thats been 4 services, pads all round new front disks and a cam belt change. Bet I bet I can get from 80k to 130k at less than half your servicing costs.
(i'll sneak the cam belt change in early)
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 17 Jan 13 at 18:10
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Pretty darned good, Zero I really am not trying to deny it.
The only point I am trying to make, and which I have perhaps not made in the clearest way, is that the Japanese don't have an exclusive on reliable cars that are cheap to own and run.
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I drove my V70 from about 90k until 175k for the price of the petrol it used. Plus an indicator bulb, if I remember correctly.
I then sold it for £175 more than I bought it for.
Nyaah, nyaah, nyaah.
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>> I drove my V70 from about 90k until 175k for the price of the petrol
>> it used. Plus an indicator bulb, if I remember correctly.
>>
Which force makes its traffic force buy their own petrol ? ;-)
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Took me a while, then I realized what you wrote.
It wasn't a police vehicle. I don't think they'd have me.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 17 Jan 13 at 19:11
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>> Nyaah, nyaah, nyaah.
Didn't the buyer look at the oil that had been in there for 85,000 miles, with the same filter?
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Warranty Direct Figures on Engine Failures - Zero
