968Forums.com

Full Version: The ten " worst " used cars ?
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
I wonder how many other cars they missed ..



http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/c...09616.html



Interesting that three Mazda's are on the list - according to Consumer Reports, Mazda's tend to be very reliable cars. But then, as the article says, CR's surveys cover cars that are typically only a few years old. And only two American cars (both Lincolns, one of which shares its power train with a Jaguar), which is also surprising.



Many (most?) of the cars on the list suffer from transmission problems. I wonder how many people change their automatic transmission fluid on a regular basis? I suspect less than 5% of the population. Probably because the auto makers make it so difficult, in that you have to remove the stinkin' pan! Have they ever heard of a drain plug?!
The beetle and mini use the same aisin auto transmission, the 09g. It is also used in the passat and Audi a3, a4 from 2005 to 2008/9. These trans have valve bodies that fail within 100,000 km. Just goes to show how a German engineered car can be let down by poor quality jap components.
Another good reason why it's better to buy used cars with manual transmissions!
I had two of those Jaguar S-Types an '03 V6 and an '04 Supercharged V8 and had pretty good luck. It amazed me that the factory didn't have a recommended service interval for the trasmission fluid and considered it a "seald for life" unit. The transmissions were actually very high quality ZF German Manufactured units. I changed the fluid, pan, and seal on both of mine after 75k miles and noticed a significant difference in the shifts.