Sure, It's off topic but which Jap car brand is the crappest?

[James Deuce]

Anyone have comments about the Mercedes, Volvo, other "high class" european imports that seem to be easy to pick up at very reasonable prices?

Yes. See a lot of them on the side of the motorway when it rains a lot. Typically not serviced properly. Japanese cars are designed to run with minimal intervention for a long time. European cars require cambelt, valve, gasket, injectors, cams, bushes, etc, replaced on a strict schedule. Do that and they run beautifully for a long time. Ignore it and they simply stop working at some point. Euros like their cars to perform as well at 300,00kms as they do at 0kms. Japanese will be happy if you get to and from work reliably but have lost 25 percent of your horses along the way.

[SVboy]

Anyone have comments about the Mercedes, Volvo, other "high class" european imports that seem to be easy to pick up at very reasonable prices?

The best euro will make the worst mitzi look like a reliable buy! Except for the DELICA 4WD 2.3 diesel turbo. OMG! How the garage owners must have laughed and rubbed their hands!

[SVboy]

and of course the Mazda 626 Supercharged diesel, a great concept totally obilterated by the reality........

[SVboy]

and as to the poor fools buying nz new tiny euro turbo diesels on the back of reports of glowing fuel economy and performance-let us just wait a [very] few years as tales of woe descend. While we I offer the VW Polio Auto...anyone anyone?

[James Deuce]

The only reason we'll have tales of woe with the small Euro-diesels is because of the liquid volcanic ash Kiwis call diesel.

[Indiana_Jones]

Datsun 120Y?

-Indy

[James Deuce]

Awesome car. There's a reason they called the 4 Door a "Cherry". There's a lot of people out there who were introduced to their ovum in the late '70s, early '80s in a 120Y Cherry.

[SMOKEU]

I used to have a GTI-R. It was a nice car to drive when it was running properly (which wasn't often), had the reliability of a politician's promise, and was very cheap to run if you owned an oil refinery, otherwise the fuel bill would leave me in tears.

[Road kill]

A mechanic mate of mine once told me any make that starts with an M would be crap.
Unfortunately he told me this after I'd bought a Mitsubushi that went on to costs me thousands before I sold it to some other poor fool.
He really had a thing against Mercedes for some reason.

[scumdog]

All time favorite oil droppers, ....anything BMC.....

My one has failed to live up to expectations - my drive-way is somewhat devoid of oil-drops!!

[Indiana_Jones]

My one has failed to live up to expectations - my drive-way is somewhat devoid of oil-drops!!

It must be broken!

Mine only has a few drops come out over a few weeks so I'm pretty happy

-Indy

[Edbear]

My one has failed to live up to expectations - my drive-way is somewhat devoid of oil-drops!!

You can fix that...

It must be broken!

Mine only has a few drops come out over a few weeks so I'm pretty happy

-Indy

Our old '66 Mk1 had the same problem if you were a bit careless on oil top ups.

[ducatilover]

Just as bad but more expensive when they break. Steer clear the Euro's are worse than the Japs. Anything and everything electric can and will die an expensive death, just ask Classic_Z he is a Euro specialist.

My BMWs have all been reliable, we've had a few of them in the family. You just have to know what you're looking for. and no, they are not expensive to fix, in fact they're extremely cheap.

Anyone have comments about the Mercedes, Volvo, other "high class" european imports that seem to be easy to pick up at very reasonable prices?

Buy only if you know what you're looking for, with any older car, you have to be very careful.

[onearmedbandit]

Most Jap imports are dodgy and unreliable. Most common to be seen dead on the side of the road are Mitsubishi's, always an import.

However all second hand imports are prone to failures, ask your local Toyota service centre about Lexus imports from Hong Kong or most garages about Toyota turbo diesels esp the Surf. My Bro- in- Law was buying Mitsi 2500 turbo diesel engines and transplanting them into Surfs as they were more reliable!

Any NZ new vehicle is almost certain to be a better buy than a 2nd hand Jap import. Another mate bought a Mitsi 380 new and has had a great run out of it, it's a very nice car and much better than a Commodore.

You can't beat regular servicing from new and buy from someone you can trust. Sure it may be harder to find but you wear the consequences of buying a dud.

My god dear man, could you be any more wrong? Most Japanese imports are dodgy and unreliable? Really. What do you base this on? I'm in the industry, I sell them (along with NZ new) and we have a very small failure rate. Your next statement, 'all second imports are prone to failure', once again completely inaccurate. Completely. If you want to make it somewhat accurate, 'all cars are prone to failure'. Imports from Hong Kong are notoriously unreliable, but that's got a lot to do with the humidity playing havoc with the electrics. Once again I have first hand experience in this.

'Any' NZ new car is almost certain to be a better buy than a 2nd hand Japanese import? Total codswallop. There are numerous cases of recalls or known issues with NZ new vehicles. Plenty of course are great cars. But I've had issues with plenty of NZ new vehicles. And Kiwi's are terrible at servicing their cars. With about 80% of our imports we get detailed Japanese service history. When I'm trading a car from a Kiwi, be it an import or NZ new, most people when asked couldn't tell you the last time their car was serviced, let alone have records. Sometimes you may find a service sticker on the windshield, about 8mths and 10,000ks past its due date. At a yard I worked at we traded a 2yr old HSV travelled 50,000km. Ran a bearing before we got it because it still had the fricking running-in oil in it.

The best euro will make the worst mitzi look like a reliable buy!

Another totally incorrect statement. The majority of our stock is European, BMW, Merc, Audi, Peugeot, Citreon etc. We have excellent success with these vehicles, good enough to put a comprehensive 6mth warranty on them. We all drive Euro's, my current BMW I've put 20,000km on and all I've done is service it. Yes they are more costly to repair than a Japanese car, but they are better cars. I'd rather have my family in a '04 Audi A4 wagon with 8 air-bags, electronic brake distribution, emergency braking detection and a host of other features for $20,000 than a same year Caldina/Atenza/Legacy with two air bags and ABS as the highlight of its safety features for $16k. Add to that a better ride and quite often better economy, and similar reliability it's a no brainer.

[onearmedbandit]

I will add though, a lot of problems we do see are fuel related. Namely 91. The stories I've heard about that fuel from people in the know, well I wouldn't run it in my lawn mower. We recommend 95, and have seen a reduction in 'check engine' lights coming on. Don't forget in Japan they run higher quality and octane fuel than we do, and a lot of engines do not like our fuel. Especially Mitsubishi GDi's. We had an instance of a guy getting check engine lights coming on and very poor economy. Finally got it out of him he was running 91. Fuel economy back to where it should be and no more warning lights, all from changing back to 95.