Car ownership without warranty???

[OzJavelin]

I used to find it amusing how a lot of the guys on this forum seemed to trade cars in every few years. Seemed like an excessive waste. However with the warranty issues I've had on my SV8 (engine replacement) and my AU V8 now starting to fall apart (just out of extended warranty), I can see why you guys do it. While I've still got 3years on the extended warranty on the SV8, my AU is starting to knock and fume (unusual for a Windsor? I'm just lucky I suppose?). Originally I deluded myself and thought that I'd keep the old 5.0 'cos it would be easy/cheap to fix .. but the damn thing appears determined to give up the ghost before I'm read to spend anything on it. I think it might be time for a replacement .. and that replacement will damn sure have some kind of factory warranty. Cars these days "seem" to dramatically fail at the most inconvenient times.

Why is it I can drive about in 35+ year old cars which despite their idiocyncrancies (spelling?) still keep running ... but anything "new" seems to fall apart soon after the warranty expires? Or is this just a matter of perception? ie. these cars are more expensive so the expectations are higher?

You guys who continually lease new cars seem to have the right idea. Keep them for their warranty period. Drive the wheels off them then hand them back ..

BTW: I'm just shirty 'cos I'm going to have to spend money on that damn AU! This is just a rant :(

Rod.

[Marco]

I worried about the same thing when our TS Astra ran out of warranty...but it's been out of warranty for nearly two years now and has been more trouble-free out of warranty than it was under warranty!

[Stevotski]

I think that some cars have taken a massive dive in quality lately, others are the best they have ever been.

I have had 3 x nissan patrols 3.0TD in the last year and once they get 30,000km on them they feel like they are going to fall apart. Interior trim wears out, they get very sloppy in the body, 1 of them was back for countless warranty jobs, another one just refused to start at 25,000km and they had to replace the injection system, and the 3.0TD has a reputation for self destructing at 100,000 which i tend to believe when I see what they are like at 1/3 of that! A freind has a 4.2TD patrol and it dropped 5th gear at 70,000km which nissan told him was common!

I used to think that Nissan was great mechanically after owning a VL commodore, but the quality of their recent patrols has put me off the brand for a long time

Funny thing was that I had 3 x VY S commodores over 2 years and the biggest warranty job I had was that one of them had a faulty plug lead! The SV8 never had a problem either

[Morgasshk]

they're all different...

you'd think with today's uniform production lines everything would be VERY close to the same length of wear and tear ability... but nope, not so...

my VY is only out of warranty, and same deal, things just feel like they going to shit... brakes need work (although, I know these aren't covered under warranty over 60k) diff feels dead (it's an LSD ffs! but at least asked holden to check this out at last service, should be able to take back and tell them to replace under their 20,000klm workman warranty.. i hope...) and power levels feel VERY erratic...

[jaykay]

I lease my cars for 3 years (warranty period), set a low residual pay out figure and when the car comes close to the three years move into a new one. That way the car still has some new car warranty on it when I sell it.

I have never had any issues with repairs doing this. Each to their own but I suppose I'm in the fortunate position with work to do this.

[Marco]

I used to think that Nissan was great mechanically after owning a VL commodore, but the quality of their recent patrols has put me off the brand for a long time


I reckon Nissan has been going downhill for a while now. Compare the quality of their cars from the early 90s - N14 Pulsar, GQ Patrol, 300ZX, R32 GTR were all class leaders, right on top of the game and very well made.

Now take a look at the Tiida. A 2006 model car, a brand new design that has rear drum brakes and only a lap belt for the centre rear passenger. Interior quality feels cheap and the company has made no mechanical advances on the engines from N14 days.

I used to be a Nissan fan, based on the quality of the product that came out of 'Project 901' in the early 1990s, but I don't hold them in high regard these days.

[VooDoo]

When the car is new i used to care about warrenty, now i plan new mods for anything that breaks. If it hasnt broken in the first 3 yrs then its either not going to or fails due to use, wear and tear or *cough* abuse :)

[Sugaris]

Originally Posted by Stevotski
I used to think that Nissan was great mechanically after owning a VL commodore, but the quality of their recent patrols has put me off the brand for a long time...

i had a nissan 3.2lt turbo diesel navara... 80,000kms on it.... cracked number 2 cyclinder while going around sweeping left hand corner. was doing 100kms hr and almost cost me my life... Rolled it after she locked up... messy... really messy...

never again will i own a nissan... We also sold my wife's SSS pulsar in that same week...

we both now have holdens...

Cheers Sugaris...

[OzJavelin]

i had a nissan 3.2lt turbo diesel navara... 80,000kms on it.... cracked number 2 cyclinder while going around sweeping left hand corner. was doing 100kms hr and almost cost me my life... Rolled it after she locked up... messy... really messy...

never again will i own a nissan... We also sold my wife's SSS pulsar in that same week...

we both now have holdens...

Cheers Sugaris...O/T but anyway .. I'm assuming this was a manual? If engine grenades infront of an auto I *assume* that things won't lock up???

[Sugaris]

yes it was the 5 speed manual...

[VYBerlinaV8]

Nissan have been slipping for a while now. We checked out a Pulsar last year when we got the wife's TS Astra - it wasn't even in the ballpark. Yeah it was cheap, but it was a piece of poo, really.

Fortunately my VY still seems very tight and quiet, and has no mechanical issues. It's 3 years old next week, and just come up 53,000 km. I have the dealer extended warranty, but it doesn't mean much.

Given the resale value of thing, I'm not going to renew it any time soon. I'll just enjoy it until it's dead. Then I'll probably switch to second hand cars - I'm sick of losing so much $$ on new cars. My hope is that since the VY is still in good shape, that I'll get another 50-100 thousand km out of it. At my current rate of use, that's another 3-6 years. That's the plan, anyway.:jester:

[OzJavelin]

Fortunately my VY still seems very tight and quiet, and has no mechanical issues. It's 3 years old next week, and just come up 53,000 km. I have the dealer extended warranty, but it doesn't mean much.

Given the resale value of thing, I'm not going to renew it any time soon. I'll just enjoy it until it's dead. Then I'll probably switch to second hand cars - I'm sick of losing so much $$ on new cars. My hope is that since the VY is still in good shape, that I'll get another 50-100 thousand km out of it. At my current rate of use, that's another 3-6 years. That's the plan, anyway.:jester:My VY has just cracked 3years/100,000km .. and is still nice to drive. It too has an extended warranty and I'll be hounding the dealer for as much as I can if something goes wrong!

[SLugg]

ive had mine since 4/4/06 and have done 7000K's which is about average for me but I always sell once its out of warranty

[Speedy Gonzales]

What is warranty? I took delivery of the car brand new and got a Benz master tech to service it for me after only a couple Ks on board, voided the warranty from the get go, funny, never had any major dramas either, guess you risk more issues taking it back.

Like the engine, the service at dealers is a coin toss.

[VYBerlinaV8]

My VY has just cracked 3years/100,000km .. and is still nice to drive. It too has an extended warranty and I'll be hounding the dealer for as much as I can if something goes wrong!

That's good to know. I would hope that a well looked after car should perform well for at least 100,000km. Hopefully it will last a lot longer. In these days of hideous resale values, I just can't justify dropping $$ on a new car every 3-4 years.

I read somewhere on this forum a month or 2 ago about someone with a 6cyl VY exec with over 300,000km on it! Maybe I should keep the VY for my baby boy (who will be 1 next week!).:1peek:

[kayman]

Just got my Ecotec (on LPG) serviced yesterday (6 and a half years old/132thoukm).

My mechanic said its in very good condition "considering the way I probably drive it" Which is hard.

Its a pitty im selling it soon (god ive been saying that for a while), If it was a Gen3 I would be keeping it for a while yet.