Buying first car. Tell me the best and worst cars you've owned

[MyRabbit79]

As the title says, I need to buy my first ever car. But I'm clueless.

So to give me a start, please share what the best car you've ever owned is and also if there's been a car you've hated.

Particularly if they've been good or bad in terms of reliability and ease of use.

Thank you!

Now, that’s interesting and goes against every other reliability index out there but I think the criteria are slightly different. Most fleet cars are fairly new, the majority will be under 3 years old. Most other reliability surveys consider cars up to 5 years old or sometimes older. That suggests to me that German cars are quite reliable during their warranty period and then that falls quite significantly as they start to age. My point still stands though, if you want to buy a 3 year old car, don’t buy German.

BMW is notorious for using plastic engine parts, which quite predictably fail in a few years. Then they make more money by selling you plastic replacement parts.

https://bavarianmachine.com/embrittling-experiences/

TBH Company cars get hammered & will do super hi mileages, most firms now string them out to 4 years, at 3 years old, my German based car had done 80k miles, treble what most would do.

I bought my company Skoda off Lex when i was made redundant, its now almost 8 years old, 120k, has had replaced the standard cam belt and water pump, electric over run water pump and a £43 ABS sensor, did ourselves, read the fault code with a OBDEleven reader for 35 euros, battery is now showing up as Amber :(

Will need some new discs and pads soon, full set of Bosch OEM ones for under £200 and partner can fit himself.

I'm not saying Toyota aren't reliable too but they are v expensive to repair and parts for Japanese Asian cars are often hard to get with long waits for parts.

VAG ones have huge followings and companies like Autodoc and carpartsdirect can get pretty much anything within a day or two from multiple oem manufacturers in Europe.

Popping back in to update that I am picking up a fiesta tomorrow. Absolutely bricking it about driving it home from the garage as it's a route I've never done before. Am even worried about driving it off the lot in front of all the salesmen! Will report back!

I have a Honda jazz. It's boring but very reliable.

It's 11 years old and so far has had no issues other than usual wear and tear items.

Is it a 1.0 Ecoboost? If so just be aware of potential cambelt issues and if it’s anywhere approaching 10 years old budget £1-1.5k for replacement.