October 2017
Yes, it was a brilliant design and we loved it - at first.
But bit by bit as problems mounted we got to the stage when we had to get rid of it.
In 60 years of car ownership, it was the most unreliable car ever.
My car was nearly a year old when I bought it.
In the three years I owned it, it spent 6 - yes, that's SIX - weeks off the road for repairs!
The list is long, very long.
Here are some of the problems.
The first, and most alarming, was the engine cutting out completely. After much hassle, the distributor replaced the fuel pump.
As I drove away, the engine cut out - again. Eventually, they had to change the injector pump.
Next, the front springs had to be replaced, under warranty.
After a couple of years or so, the clutch started playing up and engaging a gear when stationary became difficult. Up on the hoist, the garage showed me that not only the clutch but also the flywheel needed replacing.
Finally, the power steering failed. This turned out to be the auxiliaries drive belt failure, due to failed tensioner. It was when the belt etc were replaced for the third time I decided I'd had enough of Fiat engineering and sold the car.
I live in Herefordshire. When I told the boys at the garage it had gone Cornwall they said 'thank goodness for that!'.
I now have a Skoda Roomster 3 TDi. It's done 126,000 miles in ten years from new, with no serious problems whatsoever.
Case closed.
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Is this vehicle for sale .If so I will be interested to have more information and pictures Read more
I recall when the Marina came out BL advertised: "Torsion Bar Front Suspension, as used on the E Type". Actually no, the torsion bar system was "as used on the Morris Minor". S Registration (1977) would have put this example right in the middle of the Red Robbo / Industrial Strife era when BL's reputation was being hammered by the imports. Nice example but I'm sure way more Marinas live on in kit cars as underpinnings and drive trains. Read more
After my Chrysler voyager, this was possible my favourite car. I drove them for years and they suited my lifestyle of massive dogs, wheeling and dealing furniture, carting sacks of feed and bales of hay and towing a horsebox.
I used to joke to people that if you had one of these, you had to beat it to death because it ran and ran and ran.
I have no idea why Peugeot had to mess about with a winning formula and turn it into something which looked prettier but was less functional like the 407SW I was daft enough to buy a couple of years ago.
Last night this car died and frankly, it was a relief. I hated it but it wasn't economically viable to replace a car which functioned. Now I have the excuse and am going to see if I can find another 405 estate. Read more
What about all the quality and reliability issues of the mkIV? Read more
Andy you’re an engineer. So forgive me if I sound patronising but a car is a complex piece of engineering. Therefore there will always be issues.
All cars have some problems, I’ve owned many cars including 6 R32’s which I had no problems with at all. I did have problems with the other manufacturers cars.
The mark 4 did not have many reliability issues, the fact that there are so many still on the road today proves this theory.
Just because you read in one article that the mark 4 has some issues doesn’t mean it’s written that you will have many reliability issues. Have you owned any r32’s? The engines are considered very reliable and the car is very well built. In contract my neighbour has a Ford Focus which is rusting at ever seam severely with only 45k miles and a full service history. Read up about other cars before you comment as this might serve you better!
Probably an impractical proposition for series production, given the different roofline and frontal treatment, but I'd say the VP 'Landcrab' was a far more handsome vehicle than either the standard 1800 or Wolseley derivatives.
That said, it was still somewhat staid, and looked like a styling treatment more suited to the early 1960's than the decade after- so doubtful whether it would have sold.
And it really wouldn't have suited the early '70's hideous colour palette either- could you imagine this in Harvest Gold, or worse, Limeflower? Read more
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