"Can you buy a super car for less than 10.000 pounds? Yes, but for the love a god don't" - Jeremy Clarcson on Top Gear. Any super luxury car that is cheap is gonna be extremely painful to maintain lol
honestly every top gear and grand tour "buy a sports car for *insert budget here*" special serves as a psa for buying cars cheap. They will always go wrong, you will always be unable to fix it for any reasonable ammount of money.
@@corvuscolbrand Yeah but with luxury cars of any kind it's even worse. They are designed to be even more expensive to maintain than usual car, and getting one with very uncertain past is gonna make things a lot worse. I think many people who suddenly get a lot of cash forget about this and I think it sorta happened to Wade here
Depends. If you put a bus V8 into a Zhiguli or Volvo 240 and glue some wood and fancy seat covers stuff ito the interior, you got a reliable european luxury car.
@@cyan_oxy6734 he also bought the worst version of the cls with the m272 engine, comparatively the e-classes its based on actually aren't all that complicated or hard to maintain, something like an E320 with no air suspension will run forever
It's really always the same deal with the Eurocrap meme. They buy overpriced over complicated cars and then complain when gizmos start failing or some of those complicated parts start to go. There's plenty of high mileage heros among European carmakers. Eastern Europe practically lives off Western hand-me-downs. Just don't go for a 20 year old 7 series.
I hate that. Cause that means when it comes to euro luxury cars it's FOMO. If you aren't buying new and the longer you wait the more it's costing you to fix someone's sloppy seconds who was able to enjoy the ride but passed down all the problems to you. Which sucks for me cause I love older Mercs like this one but can't stand the new ones.
The irony of so many euro cars is that they’re fantastic drivers cars but you’re too scared to actually drive them hard because something expensive will break
Yeah, idk if Wade meant to kind of tell on himself there by basically saying "I kill my cars because it's funny (and I don't want to fix them because that takes time, money, and effort)" but it feels like that's what he's saying.
@@superhydroweston Also, a 100 thousand EUR car cannot be ran on a shoestring budget. I can remember when they fucking cleaned the fuel filter, because the two filters would've cost 1200AUD. If you cant take one or two 5K EUR repair bills on a car like this SMILING, time to start writing the ebay listing.
@@nicholascooper945 To be fair, if you have like 15 cars, all bascially need to be restored, it does add up financially. I can imagine he can't realistically afford it.
In Europe we have a saying which applies here - "There is no car more expensive than an old Mercedes". They always have a surprisingly low sell prices because the maintenance is twice the price of a regular car.
It depends alot on the Mercedes tho. A W123 is the most reliable car you'll ever find, they do like to rust yes but compared to other late 70s to mid 80s cars they are very rust resistant. The parts aswell are very cheap too and easy to find both new and old, the car is also simple you can fix it yourself. New mercedes tho have completely lost the reliability and build quality old ones had
"Euro cars are miserable garbage" says the man who bought a Mercedes from the era where they took cost cutting to the extreme and made everything unreliable as hell and a non-diesel VW that isn't a 1.8T or a Lupo 3L.
@@Lemont321989 but most euro cars are garbage, break easily and expensive repairs. Japanese cars, have expensive repairs, but they never break down. And are fun to drive.
There’s a lovely triangle graph when it comes to cars, you can have the following: - Cheap and Reliable, not Fast - Cheap and Fast, not Reliable - Fast and Reliable, not Cheap Much love from the US
I'm fairly certain it started to go downhill 2006 or even bit earlier. I remember the utter disillusionment when their "brand new" merc started breaking, well, near immediately, after switching from stuff that lasted years.
@@GerinoMornit was around the time TG came back. They’d already gone bad then. Partially that’s due to complexity and how stuffed with computers they are. Common place now but they were miles ahead of everybody else.
Near any car made before year 2000 is better than the plastic toys made ever after. Modern vehicles are over expensive problematic garbage designed to brake making its "owner" more of a renter and ultimately a slave. Driving an old vehicle with upgraded stuff I argue is not only cheaper but more environmental than having to replace it twice a decade for few litres of fuel consumption and calling that environmental. Not to even get into the modern engineering and sales scam these vehicles are all about. Case and point the auto industry is just one more proof our world has something gone wrong with its values and it's starting to fall apart by rotting just not by it's core but in values too...
Uncommon, more like Okay, I stand corrected: that was a rare James sighting. He looks a bit different from his previous sightings though. I think it's a clone, and the original James was taken by magpies. I've watched Aussie Dr. Nefario, I know how them Aussie magpies are (much like the rest of Australian fauna: a threat to humanity).
fun fact:: if you got a golf 4/5 with climatronic and u press the “convection” and the "eco" button for like 3 or 5 sec u go to the Error Log. so if u want to know what the hell is wrong with your golf and why its still broken despise u gave the mechanic your monthly wages now u know.
Crappy dinosaur computers are the best kind of computers to have in cars. Does a few simple tasks, doesn't go obsolete, doesn't need OTA (or any other) updates.
This needs more visibility. Those old dinosaur computers are glorified if-this-then-that devices. They’re the pinnacle of automotive engineering and modern ECUs wish they were as efficient or easy to work on. Not to mention the fact that they don’t sell your telemetry to third parties.
@@Eingefallen "properly maintained" amirite? Nope Maintainence is changing oil, belts, filters. Not fuel injectors, oil pumps, and wiring. Yes, any car will run for ever if you fix it when it breaks. I'd love to drive German but i can't take them seriously with their reliability.
Me with my 2002 Camry (the only reason it failed was because I gave it to my dad when he needed a car and he forgot to put oil in *during an oil change* so, ya know)
The 1.8Litre Golf/Audi, like Mercedes M111 or BMW M57, 2JZ, Subaru boxer etc. are the peak of performance and reliability. Anything made before didn't quite have the power or tech but sure everything after is bound to break long before it's time and is unmaintainable. These are the last European made engines to go million miles with proper maintenance and had some kind of a quality left in aftermarket parts. If MB kept making em like w123:s we'd only need one car in our whole lives and the industry sure figured it out. I call it the bs economy we now life in. Id give it all up to go back in time to that spoiled boomer era where Ford put Perkins engines both into tractors and Transit vans which both will outlive any vehicle made today. They had no idea no generation after would life a simple life in which one could enjoy stuff like fixing cars but this goes way deeper than vehicles and economy and we know it.
Always remember : luxury cars are built for people with luxury budgets. They're not designed for people who do their own repairs, but people who can afford to send it to a luxury car mechanic every 6 months who can keep the blummin' thing working.
Wrong on my BMW Z3, it's extremely easy to do my own work the only people who have touched my car since I bought it besides me are the tire guys and the alignment guys since I don't have a tire machine or alignment rack. Everything else has not only been doable by me with hand tools but has cost me less than $5000 including the car 😊
Twin charging anything is like asking for trouble in the long run. Turbo engines already have a shorter lifespan in comparison to naturally aspirated ones but adding a supercharger to the mix is just unnecessary
Turbo doesn't mean problems every time. TDIs especially are very reliable and with basic maintenance can do 0,5mln km easily. About turbo+supercharger I fully agree. If you are buying it you need to double it's price to be prepared for repairs soon.
The MK5 and MK6 VWs in the US were sold with a 2.5 5-cylinder or 2.0 8-valve engine. Both extremely simple and reliable engines that unfortunately weren't avalible in other countries
I don’t usually comment but I have to being an Audi tech and diagnosing through the screen… Insufficient purge flow is caused by the “N80” valve: the fuel tank purge valve, follow the hoses from the charcoal canister (big black box in front of the coolant reservoir) to the solenoid on the intake manifold. That’s gummed up and needs to be replaced. The Tiguan TSI should be sold/scrapped immediately. The twin charge engines are awesome until they’re not. They crack ringlands and there’s no avoiding it with Australian fuel. Even 98 will knock and eventually the pistons will crack
Holy moly the amount of misinformation on this topic on the internet is crazy. It was apparently Delphi that used the crummy wire, as the engine harnesses affected were all made by Delphi. But I can’t find any primary source to confirm that the wire was deliberately engineered to be biodegradable. My suspicion is that the wiring was engineered to be cheaper, or to eliminate some specific chemical (plasticizers are usually pretty gnarly chemicals, so that would be my first bet), but the plasticizer used had very poor aging characteristics that didn’t show up in simulated aging tests that are normally done. I will buy a beer for anyone that can provide a primary source that says _why_ the insulation was changed, and a whole case of beer if that source confirms that the change was made specifically to make the wire biodegradable.
12:27 They certainly don't use better ones for the Audi production line - the power steering fluid one in my A4 not only leaked, but deteriorated and sent a bunch of its bits right into the pump, ruining it.
I have an 08 A4 and I'm experiencing pretty much the same thing. Not sure about bits in the pump, but when my old boss took a look he said I just needed a new hose. Mechanic quoted me at $650 to fix it. Still haven't been able to fix it. Don't want to think about how much money I've spent on the fluid.
My dad drove his 2000 Audi A4 to death, he said it was "the most wonderful car he ever owned and the funniest. Eventually, it became too expensive to repair, so we kept it in the garage. Now, the parts are cheap enough in junkyards and eBay, and I got it to turnover for the first time in 10 years. Can't wait for the turbo to die on me, same as it has 5 other times.
I count 13, not including the secret second Golf James mentioned. 1. Tony (Fiat Niki Maluch) 2. The Donkey Van 3. Bruce (Falcon ute) 4. Bruce 2 (Holden ute) 5. The Junkyard Renault 6. The Free Daihatsu 7. Smelly Jeff 8. The Frog (Nissan Leaf) 9. The Goober (Proton something or other) 10. The Car (Toyota Corolla) 11. The Golf in this video 12. The CLS 13. I recall briefly seeing an old orange Volvo 140 or 240 that Wade alluded to owning 14. (Bonus) There was some clapped out old Japanese Kei thing he showed us once (Maybe a Honda City?)
There’s an entire generation of VAG chassis’s I won’t touch because of the twin scroll. I’d rather risk an old ford DCT in a race car then daily a twin scroll.
@@Mrsquiggleyno issue with twin scroll turbos. the twin charged 1.4 melts pistons when people put low quality fuel and don’t get them serviced regularly
My 2006 Volvo S60 never let me down in 10 years, and required very minimal maintenance until now Not all euro cars Also my 30yo Nissan Terrano is alive, and not that rusty It spent most of it's career hauling firewood and stuff in the mud, only to do 1000s of kilometers on the highway once in a while (faster than this old 5 speed diesel should've been going)
@@MANTHELEXUSJust means your Early Warning System is working. What's it warning you of? We have absolutely no clue, but you absolutely know Repair did an EWS check before it was allowed to go onto the lot for load.
This is why I love you wade. Most RUclipsrs who brag about having 10+ cars are talking about owning 10+ Ferraris, Porches, etc. When you say you have 20 cars, everyone knows exactly what type of car you mean. Tony, Antuane, Jeff, just a bunch of old mates
My Chevy Sonic has an all plastic oil filter housing like that Golf, and the last time I changed the oil the "nut" snapped off because the plastic got so brittle. It took FOREVER to get the filter out, a couple days going back and forth to the hardware store buying different tools to try and get the housing off without breaking more things, and in the end I think I spent around $200 usd and 2.5 days on what should have been a 10 second job. I definitely share your hatred of plastic oil filter housings.
It’s funny how I as a person living in Germany forget that you guys can’t just go around the junkyards in your local area and just find Mercedes parts galore for like a couple euros a piece. Thats how my dad used to get some parts for his car , he would bring it to his mechanic friend and he’ll look at it and go “yeah this , that and this” next day go to the junkers and boom find all of the parts for under 100 euros. But to be honest owning one of those cars outside of Germany probably isn’t worth it anymore
those 1.4 twincharge engines are UNBELIEVABLY unreliable, here in germany most cars with them had their engine replaced twice or thrice during the warranty period
Yeah, Americans don't know how to buy German cars. Most of them buy petrol. Most petrol engines that are turbocharged have issues. German, and European cars are known for bulletproof diesels.
It's an FSI, not a TFSI Edit: oh you mean the Tiguan. Yeah, I owned a 1.4 Twincharger for a few years myself. Didn't give me any problems for 250000 km but the 7-speed DSG was a nightmare 😅
@@Lauen The 170hp Common Rail Diesels in the B6 Passat are solid after 07 too, but the build quality of the B5.5 Passat was amazing for the value, the Piech era was amazing. 1.8T isn't half bad either, especially the Audi ones.
The problem with anti-seize on something with a torque spec (like spark plugs) is it changes the torque spec. Be very careful with this advice! (Source, Mechanical engineering course work)
Yeah I was a bit confused by that. NGK, and most spark plug makers for that fact, specifically state not to put anti-seize on the plugs. I get where James is coming from, and it is true that they can seize up, but I think they should probably be a little careful with just saying stuff like that off the bat.
The CLS is the best car I've ever owned. My favourite car of all time. Don't give up on it. You've unfortunately bought one that's been misused and abused but you can fix it. Best car to drive ever.
The car guy embodiment of "I can fix her" But on a serious note: I can't say anything definite, but sometimes 2 cars of the same model can be wildly different when it comes to maintenance. Sometimes the old shitbox just runs and doesn't complain, except for the expected stuff you need to change every now and then and sometimes you try your best and everything goes to shit anyway.
This guy is just stupid, he expects a high end luxury cruiser 20 year old car with a 5.5L engine to be comparable in maintenance to a Prius. If you can’t afford the maintenance don’t buy it, the problem is the owner, not the car. I have owned both a cls 350 with m272 and now a cls 500. No problems whatsoever with both of them and a mileage of 350k on both. I am a 19 year old and can do basically everything on this “complicated luxury car”. The key is the star diagnosis system with service manuals and diagnostic software, basically step for step.
Nooo!!! Not the 1.4 red TSI... I worked at a VW dealer and some of them had massive failures after just 4000km. The 2.0 FSI was a solid engine for the short time it was produced.
Just be glad you guys never had a “cash for clunkers” type government program where they bought up all those used cars and then poured liquid glass into their engines and scrapped them. Completely ruined American used car business and made spare parts for some of the most produced vehicles hard to come by.
Actually, I found this out on Top Gear, we in the UK had a similar scheme, to encourage people to buy new cars. If you scrapped your old car as part of the scheme, you could get £2000 towards the price of your new car. Though to be honest, given the UK used market is one of the cheapest out there, I don't think it was as detrimental as what you're talking about in America.
We do have a company in South Australia like that but instead of killing the engines and scrapping them, they just put it out in a yard where for $2 and your own tools you walk in and just take what you need from the car. Got a practically brand new headlight for my commodore for half price.
I knew the second I saw Corrola interior shaking, I knew it was bad engine mounts. My 2007 ford focus had bad engine mounts before I replaced them, my poor friends had to endure the sound of a shaking plastic dash for two hours. It still had issues but at least now it's tolerable at every speed.
I would like to stand up for one euro brand. Volvo, pre-2003-ish. I've picked up a 1998 V70 for $600usd, and while the interior is falling apart worse than an Audi of the same era, it's still stupidly comfortable and so far dead nuts reliable at 193,000 miles.
I'm a bit offended by the Citroën picture at the start of the video. The Citroën DS is my dream car, and it’s almost within my reach! From what I’ve learned, they’re fascinating cars to service and not as difficult as people think. You should buy one as the ultimate Euro car and see what that incredible machine can endure!
Finding spares is gonna be a nightmare though. Its already difficult over here in Europ, cant imagine how annoying it would be if all spares took weeks to arrive from France
"plugs last 30 thousand kilomitres" my 2001 commodore with factory origional plugs and 400k km on the clock o-o' I had to replace the leads because they just dry rotted over time but the plugs are still going strong
Can relate. 2011 falcon with 320k km on odo and not a single repair ever needed since new, only basic service done including oil changes, and *sometimes* tires and brakes. if only most cars were this reliable...
You do know that the plugs on Merc are priobably made by same company or at least one who makes them same way as the ones your Holden runs.... There aren't that many companies who makes them.
German cars do be liking the hoses ngl. There are so many hoses on my 2009 Audi TTS i feel like im in a hose factory that makes hoses for cars that need lots of hoses
Same, have a 418k km volvo here, only expensive recent repair were the front axles and engine mounts. And now the engine mounts will be good for another 10 years
Great tool Ive found for leaks is a smoke tester. It uses an air compressor and some smoke to pressurise the intake. Smoke will slowly flow from any leaks.
The good thing about Mercedes is that even if you still have a 1960's Grosser, they will always have parts for it. They have parts for probably all vehicles or can source them for dozens of yrs for 2000's+ vehicles, and the 90's and previous you can still ALWAYS get OEM Merc parts, though you WILL pay for them.
24:08 Yeah I don't get the concern trolling about electric car repairability. I don't think people have realized that electric motors are way simpler mechanically than combustion engines. It's a miracle ICE engines exist at all. Think about power tools. When they break, it's basically never the motor.
Hell, Tesla even provides access to their own service software now. It's a bit expensive to subscribe to it, but when you think of how much every other manufacturer will charge way more and you pay for a whole year, it's not even a bad deal.
@@MisterAether having to subscribe to a service to service a Tesla is why I’ll never support Tesla. I like electric vehicles but when aren’t able to be serviced by the owner is when I stop supporting a company. Like John Deere and their tractors
@@joshmanis9860or.....any current other vehicle manufacturer? Tesla are not special in this respect, VAGcom etc hell even my Fiat needs a propriety thing to look deep into its brain.
Fun fact: Garbage Time is the reason Ive gotten into cars, like how my unc owns a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer [ Glad its not an Evo ] and Im getting it after my license, so thanks mate!
"glad it's not an Evo" tf? Glad it's a normal car instead of the more fun version? Being owned by an oldER person means that the car won't be as molested as when it's owned by a young person, so the chance of it working as it should is much higher.
I completely understand your frustration and pain. I’ve been putting up with this myself and my 2008 Mini Cooper. Every time I fix something to clear a code, it just pops another one. If I didn’t love the car so damn much, it would have been gone long ago.
I know this pain to well. Before I jumped over to VW, I had an S Gen 1 that felt like I was constantly chasing ghosts with. I adored that car but after having to drop the K frame, blowing a literal plug out of cylinder due to the soft AF metal and constantly fighting electrical gremlins I had to give up and move on. I still think about that car. But in like a fond, "Bad but major highschool relationship" sort of way lmao.
Actually, I do have to say that Mercedes sports cars are relatively reliable by sports car standards. It's just that this one seems to have been badly neglected and had it's electronics literally drowned.
The older Golfs are actually quite serviceable. Everything is well organized and accessible. My car however has its damn oil filter inside the fucking wheel arch.
I live in AZ. We are the American Aussies. Proof: 1. It's regularly over 45 C 2. Dry as a rattlesnake's asshole 3. No snow 4. Wildlife determined to kill you 5. Dirt. Just dirt. 6. Founded by outlaws 7. Your mom
some euro cars rust like they drove in the dead sea but others, in my experience some french cars, would literally have the plastic on them disintegrate before a spec of rust appears.
My parents bought a Mk6 golf tsi comfortline brand new in 2011 with the same turbo supercharged engine in the Tiguan and while it was amazing to drive and the engine had so much torque down low it was a maintenance nightmare it's whole life until I sold it for them with 170k,kms for $7k in 2020 with out rwc because it had bad oil leaks. This car also had the 7 speed dry clutch DSG gearbox which broke down 3 times during warranty period but was pretty trouble free later. But the coil packs failed 3 times causing a bad misfire and limp mode needing a tow. Also the turbo failed just after 100k and also the diverter flap valve in the intake that diverts between the supercharger and turbo failed. We always put in 98 fuel so never had any engine failures that I read about online but it used oil needing 1L between services. My sister on the other hand had a Mk5 1.9 TDI golf like in the video that was very reliable engine wise even with an engine light on. Had other issues like the door locks failing and then she took out the sump and gearbox going over a curb in a carpark which wrote it off. These VW's seem to have the sump lower than the cross member.
the car version of the computing "theres nothing more permanent than a temporary solution that works good enough" is the "there's nothing more expensive than a cheap at point of sale merc"
Nah mate, euro cars are not miserable garbage. "Luxury" cars are. They're not made to last, they're made for the first owner, not the pleb that will buy it second hand. Everything holds on with spit, hopes and dreams. Euro shitboxes are class above that. Reliable, cheap to run, no stress to drive.
@@Ozuhananas cheap golfs are great. In the states, you are lucky to get a honda civic for under 6 grand that runs and isn't salvage. Golfs are 2-4k all day long.
If the Tiguan is supercharged and turbocharged it's probably the 1.4 tsi engine wich has a terrible reputation here in Germany It was in the polo GTi of that gen. for a short time before they replaced it with the 1.8 cause they kept blowing up under warranty
sporp plorps don't get antiseize on initial installation - they use the zinc coating on the threads as antiseize. applying antiseize to new plugs can actually cause galling or ground-path issues. it is recommended to apply antiseize only when removing and reinstalling plorps
@@WelcomeToDERPLAND Fine. It goes 160kmh/100mph if it needs to. It weighs nothing, so even with no power it’s still fast enough to keep up with traffic just fine. I don’t even have to floor it.
Yup! This is why when my father-in-law offered to sell me his bmw for cheap, I was like "naaaaah" I have more faith in the 40 year old MR2 I just bought than the 20 year old 650i
Good, because it's a 650i. I believe that means it has the N62 V8, which is gut-wrenchingly awful in terms of anything even slightly approaching reliability.
An oil filter housing needs to have proper chemical resistance and falls into the "performance materials" category for the company making these (Continental?), so it probably won't break for a really long time. Meanwhile, the vac hoses essentially are "rubber, cheap".
My coworker bought a modern VW Beetle off another who was moving to Japan. We made a big shebang about bringing my Jeep over and changing the oil in both of them so she could learn how. Since we wanted to _do it right_ there was only one oil meeting VW's certification specs anywhere nearby and hoo was it pricey. It had that same oil filter housing, which is why I'm remembering. Except in that case it was _directly_ under the front bumper, and less than a week later she smashed that oil filter housing off on a parking space curb, snapping the whole thing off the engine. Towed it back home and left it parked dead streetside (which I drove past twice a day) for a couple years before it quietly disappeared.
I bought my sister's 2015 Civic, had it almost 2 years now. All I've done is put gas in it and get the oil changed, basically. No complaints here! (I also replaced the cabin air filter, changed the wipers, both because, you know, they need to be changed sometimes, and I've refilled the wiper fluid. Blinker fluid's still adequate, though!)
I'm still very happy with my old Volvo 240. lives up to the indestructible name but also easy still to work on whenever some wear and tear item gives up, with parts being easily available. Compare that to the pain of sourcing parts for my '84 Celica Supra where almost everything has had to come state side (to europe) with *some* parts still available via my local dealer.
I own a 1982 Mercedes W123 which some could say is the Volvo 240s brother from another mother. As with the 240 parts are cheap and most of them are still made new and if not easy to find, the engines in the W123 are indestructible (especially the diesels) and the whole car screams of quality and reliability. For me the choice stood between a Volvo 240 series or 140 series but sadly most of them have been destroyed by teens here in Norway (Lowering them and putting horrible rims on and what not) so original ones are hard to find and expensive
0:43 can attest to that to some degree. A couple of years back I got a 2003 Golf 4 with a stuck engine that hasnt been driven for 5 years so we just put it in gear, pushed it until it was free, changed the belt, changed the oil and its been running fine ever since. It has over 300.000 km now and the only thing I've had to change since is the brake calipers, brake discs and brake pads.
13:45 I work in a battery store and fit car batts for folks. I had a hearty chuckle seeing James get caught up in stuffing the padded sleeve into the plastic box for the bat like I struggled with this morning. Our tech man is James, too.
I'm always amazed at how little rust there is on these cars. Here in Wisconsin everything driven in winter has extreme rust within a couple years thanks to salt and worse the liquid rot.
Welcome to my VW nerd corner! An old over-engineered OEM luxury sleeper car? I didn’t know he got a 2006 Volkswagen Phaeton W12. You’re right, that’s a Mk5 Golf. However the Golf wasn’t the first hatchback, you’re thinking of how the Mk1 Golf GTI was the first hot hatch and paved the way for all hot hatches in the future. Speaking of which, here’s the Mk5 Golf lineup from worst to best: Golf < GTI < R32, AKA hatchback < hot hatch < sports car. 7:19 Please tell me it’s a Mk2!! My daily driver is a 1986 Golf GTI Mk2 and I would love to see you work on one of those!
What about a 1.7 sdi VW Lupo and a 1.9tdi engine to Put into. Should be easy enough with the same engine mounts. Performance hell yeah. Oh fuck IT isnt luxury
My mk6 sportwagen has me convinced that VW really _really_ hates mechanics. They love their triple squares and putting them in spaces where you can't fit normal tools into.
I'm 20, work retail, and have 3 Old Benzes, A 2007 C280, a 2011 C300 which i bought for 600 dollars to flip as it wasnt running, and recently a 2004 E55 AMG.... If you take care of german cars, they'll take care of you. The only ones that given me real problems is the C300 because if its previous neglectful owner, the others have only demanded a new set of front wheel bearings and a lower control arm bushing. If you know what to look for, a reliable Euro IS possible, and if you know where to look for parts, semi affordable! MB Dealership quoted me 26000, yes, 26 grand, to fix the c300. I did it for 1800 and it runs and drives like new, courtesy of Rockauto.
Ah yes p0441. As someone who drives a car where the catalytic converter was replaced with a straight pipe somewhere along the way I know that code all too well. I love my Saab but man has it been through it.
Some would even say it's they are the best representatives for the worst possible euro cars. Somehow he managed to get the worst versions of every european car that available.
@@_r4x4 To be fair, everything after 2000 is not how it used to be. That's not just for Europe, though. But yeah new VW is usually trash. Everything past Golf 3 stinks and that Benz is a whole Zustand as we would say.
Remember: There’s nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes.
Even a cheap BMW?
@@Fuzy2KYes, even a cheap BMW. They at least have the audacity to make decent engines
or any German car for that matter.
@@tescoshortage mercedes used to have really good engines (especially there diesels) but it got ruined by the plastic intake era :(
@@andrewrainville9453 The people's car golf and Audi A1 say otherwise.
"Can you buy a super car for less than 10.000 pounds? Yes, but for the love a god don't" - Jeremy Clarcson on Top Gear. Any super luxury car that is cheap is gonna be extremely painful to maintain lol
honestly every top gear and grand tour "buy a sports car for *insert budget here*" special serves as a psa for buying cars cheap. They will always go wrong, you will always be unable to fix it for any reasonable ammount of money.
@@corvuscolbrand Yeah but with luxury cars of any kind it's even worse. They are designed to be even more expensive to maintain than usual car, and getting one with very uncertain past is gonna make things a lot worse. I think many people who suddenly get a lot of cash forget about this and I think it sorta happened to Wade here
Depends. If you put a bus V8 into a Zhiguli or Volvo 240 and glue some wood and fancy seat covers stuff ito the interior, you got a reliable european luxury car.
@@hyperturbotechnomike Can't wait to see one on the road then lol
@@swidr5626 garage 54 should get you covered. They built all sorts of ladas. Even a cheese one with lots of holes.
"No rust, it's dry here"
Later
"All the hoses are cracked..."
Don't forget UV damage!
@@LN997-i8xthat just adds character
You gotta pick your battles. Rust or dry rot.
Heat cycles will do that on it's own over 15+ years.
@@MasterBepis What's there to pick, rust is the worst, on >20y car you'd still get a lot of hoses to replace no matter the climate
I live in a german cartopia in europe and we have a saying: "If you can't afford a new luxury german car you certainly cannot afford an old one"
It’s a similar saying in America, and probably in every other country on earth.
Yea, this guy complaining that his luxury car is complicated. You bought a damn Mercedes CLS not an 80s Hilux
@@cyan_oxy6734 he also bought the worst version of the cls with the m272 engine, comparatively the e-classes its based on actually aren't all that complicated or hard to maintain, something like an E320 with no air suspension will run forever
It's really always the same deal with the Eurocrap meme. They buy overpriced over complicated cars and then complain when gizmos start failing or some of those complicated parts start to go.
There's plenty of high mileage heros among European carmakers. Eastern Europe practically lives off Western hand-me-downs.
Just don't go for a 20 year old 7 series.
I hate that. Cause that means when it comes to euro luxury cars it's FOMO. If you aren't buying new and the longer you wait the more it's costing you to fix someone's sloppy seconds who was able to enjoy the ride but passed down all the problems to you. Which sucks for me cause I love older Mercs like this one but can't stand the new ones.
The irony of so many euro cars is that they’re fantastic drivers cars but you’re too scared to actually drive them hard because something expensive will break
you hit the nail right there
Good. Drive slower.
Wade: the corolla runs really bad
Also wade: consciously ignores its problems multiple times since knowing about them means they're fixed
Yeah I found this video was a whole lot of “oh no this car that was never taken care of has broken 😮😮”
No knowledge, no problems.
Yeah, idk if Wade meant to kind of tell on himself there by basically saying "I kill my cars because it's funny (and I don't want to fix them because that takes time, money, and effort)" but it feels like that's what he's saying.
@@superhydroweston Also, a 100 thousand EUR car cannot be ran on a shoestring budget. I can remember when they fucking cleaned the fuel filter, because the two filters would've cost 1200AUD. If you cant take one or two 5K EUR repair bills on a car like this SMILING, time to start writing the ebay listing.
@@nicholascooper945 To be fair, if you have like 15 cars, all bascially need to be restored, it does add up financially. I can imagine he can't realistically afford it.
If Frank paid ANY RENT!!! You would be able to afford it. Tell her to pull herself together.
Sign 👏 lease agreements 👏 with 👏 reptiles 👏
Rent?!? Franks gets full service; lodging, heat, lights, meals, etc. For free !!!
@@IcecalGamer frank pays her rent in poo and stink XD
Not le Fronk. Careful, she might take over your couch for a day.
Dude, Frank owns the house.
In Europe we have a saying which applies here - "There is no car more expensive than an old Mercedes". They always have a surprisingly low sell prices because the maintenance is twice the price of a regular car.
me as an alfa romeo enthusiast
lets agree to disagree
They also like to rust. A lot.
I want an old Milano or 164, and I KNOW that's gonna be such a mistake 😭
It depends alot on the Mercedes tho. A W123 is the most reliable car you'll ever find, they do like to rust yes but compared to other late 70s to mid 80s cars they are very rust resistant. The parts aswell are very cheap too and easy to find both new and old, the car is also simple you can fix it yourself. New mercedes tho have completely lost the reliability and build quality old ones had
b-b-b-b--b-b-b-but OM617 is old mercedes very old wow
"Euro cars are miserable garbage" says the man who bought a Mercedes from the era where they took cost cutting to the extreme and made everything unreliable as hell and a non-diesel VW that isn't a 1.8T or a Lupo 3L.
Remember that time Mercedes fitted tons of cars with biodegradable WIRES?
@@DioTheGreatOneI prefer the version where the drivetrain is made out of red licorice
Totally agree with you. It's not a Euro car problem if you buy the dumbest choices
so are you gonna say new mercedes/audi/bmw are reliable and cheap to maintain?
@@Lemont321989 but most euro cars are garbage, break easily and expensive repairs.
Japanese cars, have expensive repairs, but they never break down. And are fun to drive.
There’s a lovely triangle graph when it comes to cars, you can have the following:
- Cheap and Reliable, not Fast
- Cheap and Fast, not Reliable
- Fast and Reliable, not Cheap
Much love from the US
As a 2004 Ford Focus with a 90 HP 1.8 TDDi engine owner, I confirm option A 😂
Cheap and reliable any day.
Or buy a 95 Celica GT like me - almost 200hp, one of the most reliable engines every build - 3SGE, and cheap - around 2000$
toyota celica not cheap at modern days, reliable and quick. Something works in differend way
Not true at all. Honda accord v6 for most years of its existence have been known as being fast, reliable and affordable.
The best part is how Mercedes switched form making cars that cannot be killed to cars that break if you sneeze to loud next to them
This absolutely this all the comments about how mercedes suck while I am thinking about the million mile 300's driving around
If they don't brake, they can't sell new
I'm fairly certain it started to go downhill 2006 or even bit earlier. I remember the utter disillusionment when their "brand new" merc started breaking, well, near immediately, after switching from stuff that lasted years.
@@GerinoMornit was around the time TG came back. They’d already gone bad then. Partially that’s due to complexity and how stuffed with computers they are. Common place now but they were miles ahead of everybody else.
Last good mercs were W202, W210 and W140. Everything after is garbage.
"20 years old is too old for a car."
Me daily driving a 40 year old BMW. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.
27 year old BMW here but I would absolutely love an e30 or a Volvo 240
80w cars are reliable. Anything newer and 20 years is too old. Including 90s.
@@teagancombest6049 E30's are overpriced. Source: An e30 owner
Near any car made before year 2000 is better than the plastic toys made ever after. Modern vehicles are over expensive problematic garbage designed to brake making its "owner" more of a renter and ultimately a slave.
Driving an old vehicle with upgraded stuff I argue is not only cheaper but more environmental than having to replace it twice a decade for few litres of fuel consumption and calling that environmental. Not to even get into the modern engineering and sales scam these vehicles are all about.
Case and point the auto industry is just one more proof our world has something gone wrong with its values and it's starting to fall apart by rotting just not by it's core but in values too...
I daily a 55 year old vw beetle lol
9:38 Rare James Sighting😮
he looks a bit like Anton Newcombe
Wade & James
@@MandrakeFernflowerNo, Anton Newcombe looks like James
Uncommon, more like
Okay, I stand corrected: that was a rare James sighting.
He looks a bit different from his previous sightings though. I think it's a clone, and the original James was taken by magpies. I've watched Aussie Dr. Nefario, I know how them Aussie magpies are (much like the rest of Australian fauna: a threat to humanity).
JAMES
fun fact::
if you got a golf 4/5 with climatronic and u press the “convection” and the "eco" button for like 3 or 5 sec u go to the Error Log. so if u want to know what the hell is wrong with your golf and why its still broken despise u gave the mechanic your monthly wages now u know.
another fun fact if the side mirror start to wiggle a little STOP THE CAR and try to remove it!
trust me this saved me 50 bucks, of 100 lol
Im a VW mechanic from Germany. The Tiguan Engine is a nightmare. The 1.4 Twincharger is a ticking Boomb.
What about Tiguan 2.0 tsi for North American market?? I'm about to get one
They are okay.
But problems with carbon build-up, Timing chain und oil consumption.
The newer ones from like 2016-now are way better.
@@marconiki6302
Crappy dinosaur computers are the best kind of computers to have in cars. Does a few simple tasks, doesn't go obsolete, doesn't need OTA (or any other) updates.
So much thid
Doesn't have bad 2000's Chinese capacitors that fail in 13 different CAN modules and the ECU, writing off the car.....🫤
This needs more visibility. Those old dinosaur computers are glorified if-this-then-that devices. They’re the pinnacle of automotive engineering and modern ECUs wish they were as efficient or easy to work on. Not to mention the fact that they don’t sell your telemetry to third parties.
And yet these computers are; by your own admission, "crappy".
And does not lock you out of the car because a random subsystem like the electric windows have a problem.
People say Germans have no humour, I disagree. They have it all in the expense of whoever doing maintenance on german engineering.
Wrong. If you're doing it properly you won't have any issues :)
They're a handy bunch, even invented the word "Schadenfreude" for what the dealer feels when the customer is finally out of warranty!
German humour: it's no laughing matter
My neighbour and his shitty Polo insists they are getting us back for winning the war
@@Eingefallen "properly maintained" amirite? Nope Maintainence is changing oil, belts, filters. Not fuel injectors, oil pumps, and wiring.
Yes, any car will run for ever if you fix it when it breaks.
I'd love to drive German but i can't take them seriously with their reliability.
"Its 20 years old it is so old for a car"
Me with my car from 2006
:Dont listen to him you are great and not old
Me with my 2002 Camry (the only reason it failed was because I gave it to my dad when he needed a car and he forgot to put oil in *during an oil change* so, ya know)
My daily is pushing 30 next year. Still drives better than cars half it's age here on the road.
me in my 97 golf 3 . its not old we are the same age
My 1988 mighty max just shed a tear
Meanwhile the car:
Edit: oh
This whole episode is a master lesson of why you should do preventative maintenance...
Or switch to EVs
@liviu543 Why on earth would you want to do that?
@@LookingForEntertainment112 to avoid the maintenance part
Remember, if a used car salesman brings you a car running, you better *RUN*
I was viciously disappointed when he opened the hood of the golf and didn't see the mighty 1.9 TDI
Anything else is basically a mistake
Yes . @@christopherjohnston6343
was expecting the 2.5 tbh
The 1.8Litre Golf/Audi, like Mercedes M111 or BMW M57, 2JZ, Subaru boxer etc. are the peak of performance and reliability. Anything made before didn't quite have the power or tech but sure everything after is bound to break long before it's time and is unmaintainable. These are the last European made engines to go million miles with proper maintenance and had some kind of a quality left in aftermarket parts.
If MB kept making em like w123:s we'd only need one car in our whole lives and the industry sure figured it out. I call it the bs economy we now life in. Id give it all up to go back in time to that spoiled boomer era where Ford put Perkins engines both into tractors and Transit vans which both will outlive any vehicle made today. They had no idea no generation after would life a simple life in which one could enjoy stuff like fixing cars but this goes way deeper than vehicles and economy and we know it.
@@kuuppafin60111.8 T? They were legendary engines. Piech's era was the best era
Always remember : luxury cars are built for people with luxury budgets. They're not designed for people who do their own repairs, but people who can afford to send it to a luxury car mechanic every 6 months who can keep the blummin' thing working.
they mostly buy a new one every 6 month I think
Wrong on my BMW Z3, it's extremely easy to do my own work the only people who have touched my car since I bought it besides me are the tire guys and the alignment guys since I don't have a tire machine or alignment rack. Everything else has not only been doable by me with hand tools but has cost me less than $5000 including the car 😊
you mean there are people who don't just schedule servicing through the car's phone app when it sends you a notification?
Lol says who? I drive bmws all day long. learn how to work on them youll realize your "luxury mechanic" is actually ripping you off.
nah they lease these. new car every 6-18 months.
2:52 "remember when those chunks of gearbox were found in the gearbox"
Well I'd hope there's gearbox in the gearbox.
Hmm yes, the gearbox here is made of gearbox
I love it when my gearbox gearboxes like a gearbox
Too much gearbox in the gearbox.
More gearbox in the gearbox.
"What do you mean 'I have internal bleeding', that's where the blood is _meant_ to be!"
Twin charging anything is like asking for trouble in the long run. Turbo engines already have a shorter lifespan in comparison to naturally aspirated ones but adding a supercharger to the mix is just unnecessary
Turbo doesn't mean problems every time. TDIs especially are very reliable and with basic maintenance can do 0,5mln km easily.
About turbo+supercharger I fully agree. If you are buying it you need to double it's price to be prepared for repairs soon.
The MK5 and MK6 VWs in the US were sold with a 2.5 5-cylinder or 2.0 8-valve engine. Both extremely simple and reliable engines that unfortunately weren't avalible in other countries
I don’t usually comment but I have to being an Audi tech and diagnosing through the screen…
Insufficient purge flow is caused by the “N80” valve: the fuel tank purge valve, follow the hoses from the charcoal canister (big black box in front of the coolant reservoir) to the solenoid on the intake manifold. That’s gummed up and needs to be replaced.
The Tiguan TSI should be sold/scrapped immediately. The twin charge engines are awesome until they’re not. They crack ringlands and there’s no avoiding it with Australian fuel. Even 98 will knock and eventually the pistons will crack
Early thousands Mercedes, back when they made the wiring biodegradable. Great idea lads.
I believe that stopped by the mid/late 1990s.
@@Danse_Macabre_125 no it did not. my old c280 is a testament to that LOL
The Biodegradable wiring was from 1991-1996
I mean, a lot of wiring is apparently soy based for the insulation and varmints think it's tasty, whether its MB or another brand
Holy moly the amount of misinformation on this topic on the internet is crazy. It was apparently Delphi that used the crummy wire, as the engine harnesses affected were all made by Delphi. But I can’t find any primary source to confirm that the wire was deliberately engineered to be biodegradable. My suspicion is that the wiring was engineered to be cheaper, or to eliminate some specific chemical (plasticizers are usually pretty gnarly chemicals, so that would be my first bet), but the plasticizer used had very poor aging characteristics that didn’t show up in simulated aging tests that are normally done.
I will buy a beer for anyone that can provide a primary source that says _why_ the insulation was changed, and a whole case of beer if that source confirms that the change was made specifically to make the wire biodegradable.
18:09 man installs a massive subwoofer in his 98 rolla and is surprised when the car rattles lmao
12:27 They certainly don't use better ones for the Audi production line - the power steering fluid one in my A4 not only leaked, but deteriorated and sent a bunch of its bits right into the pump, ruining it.
I have an 08 A4 and I'm experiencing pretty much the same thing. Not sure about bits in the pump, but when my old boss took a look he said I just needed a new hose. Mechanic quoted me at $650 to fix it. Still haven't been able to fix it. Don't want to think about how much money I've spent on the fluid.
My dad drove his 2000 Audi A4 to death, he said it was "the most wonderful car he ever owned and the funniest. Eventually, it became too expensive to repair, so we kept it in the garage. Now, the parts are cheap enough in junkyards and eBay, and I got it to turnover for the first time in 10 years. Can't wait for the turbo to die on me, same as it has 5 other times.
20 CARS!?!?! we have only seen HALF of those 20
SPLATOON PFP JUMPSCARE
I count 13, not including the secret second Golf James mentioned.
1. Tony (Fiat Niki Maluch)
2. The Donkey Van
3. Bruce (Falcon ute)
4. Bruce 2 (Holden ute)
5. The Junkyard Renault
6. The Free Daihatsu
7. Smelly Jeff
8. The Frog (Nissan Leaf)
9. The Goober (Proton something or other)
10. The Car (Toyota Corolla)
11. The Golf in this video
12. The CLS
13. I recall briefly seeing an old orange Volvo 140 or 240 that Wade alluded to owning
14. (Bonus) There was some clapped out old Japanese Kei thing he showed us once (Maybe a Honda City?)
@alexrogers3913 I'm p sure it was a Honda City yeah. I think he said the name of it while he was talking about Bruce
@@alexrogers3913 There was also an electric converted Subaru Sherpa that was mentioned and briefly shown once or twice.
The insurance on them must cost a mortgage 💀
15:51 Sell that car ASAP. Those 1.4 twin chargers are ticking time bombs.
I’d have more faith in a Holden Cruze.
There’s an entire generation of VAG chassis’s I won’t touch because of the twin scroll.
I’d rather risk an old ford DCT in a race car then daily a twin scroll.
@@MrsquiggleyTwin scroll what? Most turbos these days are twinscroll and they’re fine.
@@zeroyon4562Just because one design is good doesn't mean they all are.
@@Mrsquiggleyno issue with twin scroll turbos. the twin charged 1.4 melts pistons when people put low quality fuel and don’t get them serviced regularly
As soon as I heard turbo and supercharged Ive got a heard attack. Hopefully James gets rid off it
"the other golf" - comments from James with threatening auras.
My 2006 Volvo S60 never let me down in 10 years, and required very minimal maintenance until now
Not all euro cars
Also my 30yo Nissan Terrano is alive, and not that rusty
It spent most of it's career hauling firewood and stuff in the mud, only to do 1000s of kilometers on the highway once in a while (faster than this old 5 speed diesel should've been going)
You are mistaken, no Mercedes V8 has ever had a manual transmission attached to it.
C9/C11?
Engine light on?
Welcome to the Volkswagen Auto Group family!
Ngl my Volkswagen's engine light has been on for 4 years and there hasn't been any issue lol
You know what's worse? When engine light disappears after two years by itself... Horrific experience.
VW's will get an engine light and 80,000 miles and then wont actually break until 250,000 miles
@@MANTHELEXUSJust means your Early Warning System is working.
What's it warning you of? We have absolutely no clue, but you absolutely know Repair did an EWS check before it was allowed to go onto the lot for load.
Fr lmao.
I still love my mk 6 but it throws a CEL like once a week and when I go back to check it, nothing.
😅
This is why I love you wade. Most RUclipsrs who brag about having 10+ cars are talking about owning 10+ Ferraris, Porches, etc. When you say you have 20 cars, everyone knows exactly what type of car you mean. Tony, Antuane, Jeff, just a bunch of old mates
Wait, which one is Antoine? (or is it really Antuane?)
@ Antuane is the name of his Renault 10! It’s from the great nugget rescue video, he calls it that at the end of the video :)
A ragtag of weirdo's and outcasts. All with their own quirks and personalities.
My Chevy Sonic has an all plastic oil filter housing like that Golf, and the last time I changed the oil the "nut" snapped off because the plastic got so brittle. It took FOREVER to get the filter out, a couple days going back and forth to the hardware store buying different tools to try and get the housing off without breaking more things, and in the end I think I spent around $200 usd and 2.5 days on what should have been a 10 second job. I definitely share your hatred of plastic oil filter housings.
my gf is aussie and she had the holden version of this car. it blew up. she's in a cruze now.
@@thenoddistsdisciple so she got the exact same thing just bigger
I never seen those oil filter housings break on vag and mercedes.
why were you using the nut to tighten it? especially it being plastic. you should just be hand tightening it.
@@hxtcsy I was trying to use the nut to loosen it, not tighten it. It was really cold out at the time which made the plastic brittle.
It’s funny how I as a person living in Germany forget that you guys can’t just go around the junkyards in your local area and just find Mercedes parts galore for like a couple euros a piece. Thats how my dad used to get some parts for his car , he would bring it to his mechanic friend and he’ll look at it and go “yeah this , that and this” next day go to the junkers and boom find all of the parts for under 100 euros. But to be honest owning one of those cars outside of Germany probably isn’t worth it anymore
MCM: Aussie musicians that started a car channel
Dank: Aussie musician that started a car channel
those 1.4 twincharge engines are UNBELIEVABLY unreliable, here in germany most cars with them had their engine replaced twice or thrice during the warranty period
Yeah, Americans don't know how to buy German cars. Most of them buy petrol. Most petrol engines that are turbocharged have issues. German, and European cars are known for bulletproof diesels.
It's an FSI, not a TFSI
Edit: oh you mean the Tiguan. Yeah, I owned a 1.4 Twincharger for a few years myself. Didn't give me any problems for 250000 km but the 7-speed DSG was a nightmare 😅
As a french, the 1.2 Puretech from stellantis is asking to hold their beer 🤭 or pretty much any engine that comes out their factories
@@anyrndm the oil-belt Puretech is up there with the Ford crap. Whoever thought of belt in oil needs to be put in prison.
They burnt oil from straight the dealership, and WV is like "IT IS NORMAL JUST PUT 2L OF OIL EVERY 1000KM WE WILL NOT REPLACE IT"
CLEARLY this man has not driven a 1.9TDI Passat.
1.9 tdi supremasy
the ONLY VW product I will consider owning these days and it's only in older cars. modern cars are such garbage
@@Lauen The 170hp Common Rail Diesels in the B6 Passat are solid after 07 too, but the build quality of the B5.5 Passat was amazing for the value, the Piech era was amazing. 1.8T isn't half bad either, especially the Audi ones.
Mine has a dead turbo and a cooked ECU and it still runs.
1.9 TDI Audi is peak car. None of the Volkswagen interior rubbish with all of the legendary VW mechanicals. I do not plan on ever getting a new car.
The problem with anti-seize on something with a torque spec (like spark plugs) is it changes the torque spec. Be very careful with this advice! (Source, Mechanical engineering course work)
Same thing with thread lockers it can change the actual toque on the bolt/nut
Yeah I was a bit confused by that. NGK, and most spark plug makers for that fact, specifically state not to put anti-seize on the plugs. I get where James is coming from, and it is true that they can seize up, but I think they should probably be a little careful with just saying stuff like that off the bat.
The CLS is the best car I've ever owned. My favourite car of all time. Don't give up on it. You've unfortunately bought one that's been misused and abused but you can fix it. Best car to drive ever.
The car guy embodiment of "I can fix her"
But on a serious note: I can't say anything definite, but sometimes 2 cars of the same model can be wildly different when it comes to maintenance. Sometimes the old shitbox just runs and doesn't complain, except for the expected stuff you need to change every now and then and sometimes you try your best and everything goes to shit anyway.
This guy is just stupid, he expects a high end luxury cruiser 20 year old car with a 5.5L engine to be comparable in maintenance to a Prius. If you can’t afford the maintenance don’t buy it, the problem is the owner, not the car.
I have owned both a cls 350 with m272 and now a cls 500. No problems whatsoever with both of them and a mileage of 350k on both. I am a 19 year old and can do basically everything on this “complicated luxury car”. The key is the star diagnosis system with service manuals and diagnostic software, basically step for step.
Nooo!!! Not the 1.4 red TSI... I worked at a VW dealer and some of them had massive failures after just 4000km.
The 2.0 FSI was a solid engine for the short time it was produced.
I wonder if he would go on Collector Car Feed
GET EM NET 🗣️
GET THIS SHIT TO THE TOP
He doesn't own a Baja, yet
Now that's an idea
It would be cool but the time zone difference might be a problem
Just be glad you guys never had a “cash for clunkers” type government program where they bought up all those used cars and then poured liquid glass into their engines and scrapped them.
Completely ruined American used car business and made spare parts for some of the most produced vehicles hard to come by.
America really is the place where economy goes to die, isn't it?
Actually, I found this out on Top Gear, we in the UK had a similar scheme, to encourage people to buy new cars. If you scrapped your old car as part of the scheme, you could get £2000 towards the price of your new car. Though to be honest, given the UK used market is one of the cheapest out there, I don't think it was as detrimental as what you're talking about in America.
@@masterkamen371 the only economy we have around here is stock market economy, and that's only for rich people
Germany has had that forever and yet they don’t have that issue.
We do have a company in South Australia like that but instead of killing the engines and scrapping them, they just put it out in a yard where for $2 and your own tools you walk in and just take what you need from the car. Got a practically brand new headlight for my commodore for half price.
I knew the second I saw Corrola interior shaking, I knew it was bad engine mounts. My 2007 ford focus had bad engine mounts before I replaced them, my poor friends had to endure the sound of a shaking plastic dash for two hours. It still had issues but at least now it's tolerable at every speed.
I would like to stand up for one euro brand. Volvo, pre-2003-ish. I've picked up a 1998 V70 for $600usd, and while the interior is falling apart worse than an Audi of the same era, it's still stupidly comfortable and so far dead nuts reliable at 193,000 miles.
I'm a bit offended by the Citroën picture at the start of the video. The Citroën DS is my dream car, and it’s almost within my reach! From what I’ve learned, they’re fascinating cars to service and not as difficult as people think. You should buy one as the ultimate Euro car and see what that incredible machine can endure!
Finding spares is gonna be a nightmare though. Its already difficult over here in Europ, cant imagine how annoying it would be if all spares took weeks to arrive from France
"plugs last 30 thousand kilomitres"
my 2001 commodore with factory origional plugs and 400k km on the clock o-o'
I had to replace the leads because they just dry rotted over time but the plugs are still going strong
30,000,000 mitres?
Can relate. 2011 falcon with 320k km on odo and not a single repair ever needed since new, only basic service done including oil changes, and *sometimes* tires and brakes. if only most cars were this reliable...
mhm of course they are 🤣
I'm sure the plugs in the Corolla were original too (in this video)
You do know that the plugs on Merc are priobably made by same company or at least one who makes them same way as the ones your Holden runs.... There aren't that many companies who makes them.
German cars do be liking the hoses ngl. There are so many hoses on my 2009 Audi TTS i feel like im in a hose factory that makes hoses for cars that need lots of hoses
Oh damn, is it the first or second gen TT?
Must have been y2k cause my 1997 BMW M44 has like 5 hoses.
"Euro cars are miserable garbage."
My 1969 Volkswagen Type 1 begs to differ.
Mine too lol
My 72 super beetle also begs to differ
They have been miserable garbage since about 1985
my 73 super beetle doesn't beg to differ.
Same, have a 418k km volvo here, only expensive recent repair were the front axles and engine mounts. And now the engine mounts will be good for another 10 years
Great tool Ive found for leaks is a smoke tester. It uses an air compressor and some smoke to pressurise the intake. Smoke will slowly flow from any leaks.
The good thing about Mercedes is that even if you still have a 1960's Grosser, they will always have parts for it. They have parts for probably all vehicles or can source them for dozens of yrs for 2000's+ vehicles, and the 90's and previous you can still ALWAYS get OEM Merc parts, though you WILL pay for them.
24:08 Yeah I don't get the concern trolling about electric car repairability. I don't think people have realized that electric motors are way simpler mechanically than combustion engines. It's a miracle ICE engines exist at all.
Think about power tools. When they break, it's basically never the motor.
Hell, Tesla even provides access to their own service software now. It's a bit expensive to subscribe to it, but when you think of how much every other manufacturer will charge way more and you pay for a whole year, it's not even a bad deal.
@@MisterAether having to subscribe to a service to service a Tesla is why I’ll never support Tesla. I like electric vehicles but when aren’t able to be serviced by the owner is when I stop supporting a company. Like John Deere and their tractors
@@joshmanis9860or.....any current other vehicle manufacturer? Tesla are not special in this respect, VAGcom etc hell even my Fiat needs a propriety thing to look deep into its brain.
@@vilemeister yea that’s fiat for you
@@joshmanis9860 no that's every OEM. I drive a ford and I have to either buy ford's software or a third party one to do a bunch of maintenance stuff.
Fun fact: Garbage Time is the reason Ive gotten into cars, like how my unc owns a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer [ Glad its not an Evo ]
and Im getting it after my license, so thanks mate!
Why no evo love :(
"glad it's not an Evo" tf? Glad it's a normal car instead of the more fun version?
Being owned by an oldER person means that the car won't be as molested as when it's owned by a young person, so the chance of it working as it should is much higher.
@@versalgraphics Getting EVO as your first car is like giving a toddler a fully loaded machine gun
I completely understand your frustration and pain. I’ve been putting up with this myself and my 2008 Mini Cooper. Every time I fix something to clear a code, it just pops another one. If I didn’t love the car so damn much, it would have been gone long ago.
I had an old XF ford like that. I hated fixing it as something always broke immediately afterwards.
I know this pain to well. Before I jumped over to VW, I had an S Gen 1 that felt like I was constantly chasing ghosts with.
I adored that car but after having to drop the K frame, blowing a literal plug out of cylinder due to the soft AF metal and constantly fighting electrical gremlins I had to give up and move on.
I still think about that car. But in like a fond, "Bad but major highschool relationship" sort of way lmao.
Actually, I do have to say that Mercedes sports cars are relatively reliable by sports car standards. It's just that this one seems to have been badly neglected and had it's electronics literally drowned.
The older Golfs are actually quite serviceable. Everything is well organized and accessible. My car however has its damn oil filter inside the fucking wheel arch.
I live in AZ. We are the American Aussies. Proof:
1. It's regularly over 45 C
2. Dry as a rattlesnake's asshole
3. No snow
4. Wildlife determined to kill you
5. Dirt. Just dirt.
6. Founded by outlaws
7. Your mom
Yeah but the only state that produces people that are as wild as the aussies is Florida. Florida Man's spirit animal is the Aussie Bogan
An American using Celsius ? What is going on😂
@@Yautah May be he's educated.
@@Yautah Because Celsius is what Aussies use, duh.
@@DG9-q6f right, Aussies obviously meant Australians. My bad, my brain wasn't working I guess.
Wade: "No abuse at all, just _maybe_ a little from me!"
You can leave that maybe out, Wade. 😂
and the little XD
Wade needs to experience a British Leyland car
Did you miss the 1966 1100?
@@Tasteslikepetrolbut it belongs to James (he still hasn't figured out what to do with rust)
Owned a Sterling, can confirm. Paint started fading in a year. Acura engine was nice though.
Princess was quiety common in my country. Remember those as yesterday.
some euro cars rust like they drove in the dead sea but others, in my experience some french cars, would literally have the plastic on them disintegrate before a spec of rust appears.
My parents bought a Mk6 golf tsi comfortline brand new in 2011 with the same turbo supercharged engine in the Tiguan and while it was amazing to drive and the engine had so much torque down low it was a maintenance nightmare it's whole life until I sold it for them with 170k,kms for $7k in 2020 with out rwc because it had bad oil leaks. This car also had the 7 speed dry clutch DSG gearbox which broke down 3 times during warranty period but was pretty trouble free later. But the coil packs failed 3 times causing a bad misfire and limp mode needing a tow. Also the turbo failed just after 100k and also the diverter flap valve in the intake that diverts between the supercharger and turbo failed. We always put in 98 fuel so never had any engine failures that I read about online but it used oil needing 1L between services. My sister on the other hand had a Mk5 1.9 TDI golf like in the video that was very reliable engine wise even with an engine light on. Had other issues like the door locks failing and then she took out the sump and gearbox going over a curb in a carpark which wrote it off. These VW's seem to have the sump lower than the cross member.
the car version of the computing "theres nothing more permanent than a temporary solution that works good enough" is the "there's nothing more expensive than a cheap at point of sale merc"
Nah mate, euro cars are not miserable garbage. "Luxury" cars are. They're not made to last, they're made for the first owner, not the pleb that will buy it second hand. Everything holds on with spit, hopes and dreams. Euro shitboxes are class above that. Reliable, cheap to run, no stress to drive.
Millions of 20+ years old 206, Clio, Golf and many more still running agree with that
@@Ozuhananas cheap golfs are great. In the states, you are lucky to get a honda civic for under 6 grand that runs and isn't salvage. Golfs are 2-4k all day long.
The luxury... Tiguan?
@@VxW0lfit's an city offroad car aka useless and an useless car is an luxury item.
@@bradleylauterbach7920I just bought a BMW Z3 in America for $4000. Why would you drive a sad regular traffic golf for more money?
If the Tiguan is supercharged and turbocharged it's probably the 1.4 tsi engine wich has a terrible reputation here in Germany
It was in the polo GTi of that gen. for a short time before they replaced it with the 1.8 cause they kept blowing up under warranty
A warehouse full of 20 old nuggets in various states of disrepair.
Wade's living my dream.
sporp plorps don't get antiseize on initial installation - they use the zinc coating on the threads as antiseize. applying antiseize to new plugs can actually cause galling or ground-path issues. it is recommended to apply antiseize only when removing and reinstalling plorps
You did not just call the mighty peugeot 206 with the legendary 1.1 liter 60hp engine garbage
I have a 205 with that same engine.
It is virtually indestructible.
@@99domini99 whats it like getting on the fastlanes?
these cars are infamous for being really unreliable here in brazil, is that a common thing or are brazilian peugouts just crummy
@@WelcomeToDERPLAND Fine. It goes 160kmh/100mph if it needs to.
It weighs nothing, so even with no power it’s still fast enough to keep up with traffic just fine. I don’t even have to floor it.
@@99domini99 Good to hear- my 5000LBS+ hunk of metal from the 70's may have double or more the power but its killing my pocket for gas to do it lmao
Where tf is Tony? Are you hiding him from us?
Hopefully he isn’t abusing Tony anymore, I’d love a Niki and it hurts to see him treating one like crap
I think he mentioned Tony in a YT short that he drove it home one night and it wouldn’t start
@@afinnishsnowman That was 2 years ago lol.
He should really start doing fleet updates every once in a while, just so we can know in what condition everyone's in.
@@enzoperruccioI wanna see the free car again its my favourite little thing
"I want a luxury car that's super comfy to drive, looks amazing, drives fast BUT is easy to maintain"
mate you just gotta LS swap a 2000 corolla
Genuinely have considered trying to LS swap my '05 Camry.
Some day. Soooome day....
Why not just get an LS?
@@JeanMarceaux need a luxury car to put it into
@@Narwhal001 the Lexus is not luxury enough?
Looks amazing? My dude it's a corolla
That intro of the TAC Victoria 1999 is diabolical! I own a Telstar myself and this sent a shiver down my spine
to those that like to think of James has a disembodied voice with no face, theres a brief appearance at 9:37. Protect your immersion
Yup! This is why when my father-in-law offered to sell me his bmw for cheap, I was like "naaaaah"
I have more faith in the 40 year old MR2 I just bought than the 20 year old 650i
Good, because it's a 650i.
I believe that means it has the N62 V8, which is gut-wrenchingly awful in terms of anything even slightly approaching reliability.
An oil filter housing needs to have proper chemical resistance and falls into the "performance materials" category for the company making these (Continental?), so it probably won't break for a really long time. Meanwhile, the vac hoses essentially are "rubber, cheap".
Tell that to the 3.6 pentastar
My coworker bought a modern VW Beetle off another who was moving to Japan. We made a big shebang about bringing my Jeep over and changing the oil in both of them so she could learn how. Since we wanted to _do it right_ there was only one oil meeting VW's certification specs anywhere nearby and hoo was it pricey. It had that same oil filter housing, which is why I'm remembering. Except in that case it was _directly_ under the front bumper, and less than a week later she smashed that oil filter housing off on a parking space curb, snapping the whole thing off the engine. Towed it back home and left it parked dead streetside (which I drove past twice a day) for a couple years before it quietly disappeared.
"I've never owned a Golf" **proceeds to get the worst Golf VW ever made** should have got a MK4 mate...
I bought my sister's 2015 Civic, had it almost 2 years now. All I've done is put gas in it and get the oil changed, basically. No complaints here!
(I also replaced the cabin air filter, changed the wipers, both because, you know, they need to be changed sometimes, and I've refilled the wiper fluid. Blinker fluid's still adequate, though!)
9:15 that literally looks like a inventory item from tf2, its even from austrailia like if it came out of the mann co factory
Probably cost as much as on the Mann co store too.
Saxton Hale approves
for the oil filter drain if you get a pocket screwdriver and push up on the hole in the middle it should start letting out oil
I'm still very happy with my old Volvo 240. lives up to the indestructible name but also easy still to work on whenever some wear and tear item gives up, with parts being easily available.
Compare that to the pain of sourcing parts for my '84 Celica Supra where almost everything has had to come state side (to europe) with *some* parts still available via my local dealer.
I own a 1982 Mercedes W123 which some could say is the Volvo 240s brother from another mother. As with the 240 parts are cheap and most of them are still made new and if not easy to find, the engines in the W123 are indestructible (especially the diesels) and the whole car screams of quality and reliability.
For me the choice stood between a Volvo 240 series or 140 series but sadly most of them have been destroyed by teens here in Norway (Lowering them and putting horrible rims on and what not) so original ones are hard to find and expensive
the "never servicing a bad car because it doesn't deserve it" bit is starting to hurt not gonna lie.
0:43 can attest to that to some degree. A couple of years back I got a 2003 Golf 4 with a stuck engine that hasnt been driven for 5 years so we just put it in gear, pushed it until it was free, changed the belt, changed the oil and its been running fine ever since. It has over 300.000 km now and the only thing I've had to change since is the brake calipers, brake discs and brake pads.
13:45 I work in a battery store and fit car batts for folks. I had a hearty chuckle seeing James get caught up in stuffing the padded sleeve into the plastic box for the bat like I struggled with this morning.
Our tech man is James, too.
9:41
We get a really clear shot of James face here, quite the handsome chap!
The goober will take that insult personally
oh dear
This reads like a prophetic warning from an ancient oracle
I'm always amazed at how little rust there is on these cars. Here in Wisconsin everything driven in winter has extreme rust within a couple years thanks to salt and worse the liquid rot.
You guys rock for fully servicing her correctly before giving it to someone else. Good chaps. Happy holidays to you and your families
Two VWs notorious for timing chain issues, you love to see it. James is gonna have fun replacing those
Chains stretching further than my dreams.
Welcome to my VW nerd corner!
An old over-engineered OEM luxury sleeper car? I didn’t know he got a 2006 Volkswagen Phaeton W12.
You’re right, that’s a Mk5 Golf. However the Golf wasn’t the first hatchback, you’re thinking of how the Mk1 Golf GTI was the first hot hatch and paved the way for all hot hatches in the future. Speaking of which, here’s the Mk5 Golf lineup from worst to best: Golf < GTI < R32, AKA hatchback < hot hatch < sports car.
7:19 Please tell me it’s a Mk2!! My daily driver is a 1986 Golf GTI Mk2 and I would love to see you work on one of those!
What about a 1.7 sdi VW Lupo and a 1.9tdi engine to Put into. Should be easy enough with the same engine mounts. Performance hell yeah.
Oh fuck IT isnt luxury
I’m American, so I don’t know shit about Lupos.
VW Golf, my beloved. Not once have I ever not suffered servicing my MK7, that MK5 is a looker!
My mk6 sportwagen has me convinced that VW really _really_ hates mechanics. They love their triple squares and putting them in spaces where you can't fit normal tools into.
Every brake rotor I've ever had has gone rusty, not enough to flake but they're never staying shiny
I'm 20, work retail, and have 3 Old Benzes, A 2007 C280, a 2011 C300 which i bought for 600 dollars to flip as it wasnt running, and recently a 2004 E55 AMG.... If you take care of german cars, they'll take care of you. The only ones that given me real problems is the C300 because if its previous neglectful owner, the others have only demanded a new set of front wheel bearings and a lower control arm bushing. If you know what to look for, a reliable Euro IS possible, and if you know where to look for parts, semi affordable! MB Dealership quoted me 26000, yes, 26 grand, to fix the c300. I did it for 1800 and it runs and drives like new, courtesy of Rockauto.
I don’t need anti-seize for my spark plugs. My spark plug holes are filled with oil to keep it lubricated 24/7
Ah yes p0441. As someone who drives a car where the catalytic converter was replaced with a straight pipe somewhere along the way I know that code all too well. I love my Saab but man has it been through it.
This thing you have there is not representative for all of euro cars😂
Some would even say it's they are the best representatives for the worst possible euro cars. Somehow he managed to get the worst versions of every european car that available.
@@_r4x4 To be fair, everything after 2000 is not how it used to be. That's not just for Europe, though. But yeah new VW is usually trash. Everything past Golf 3 stinks and that Benz is a whole Zustand as we would say.
@@_r4x4Especially James' wife who has the 1.4 twin charged ticking time bomb.
Miserable maintenance leads to miserable rides.
The running joke in the 90's was that you needed two BMWs if you were going to own the brand, one for when the other one was in the shop.