[Closed] French Cars and Electrical Faults - Are They *Really* That Bad?

probably no worse than any other car TBH, anyway aren't most of the Peugeots on Britain's roads built in Coventry?

Just buy a Honda and stop worrying about the car breaking down.

nickc - Member
probably no worse than any other car TBH, anyway aren't most of the Peugeots on Britain's roads built in Coventry?
POSTED 4 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

You say that as though it's a good thing?! 😀

Pug and a citroen here....

Both at 100k.

Cant think of a single electrical fault either have had....

Just the odd bearing or bush really. No worse than any other car i had.

No, it's marketing BS,

They all buy their parts in from the same manufacturers.

The main problem is that they are bought by more private buyers than other marques, as they're cheap to start with, they then get all the usual, dpf, dmf, fuel injector issues, just like the other brands, but when individuals are paying rather than companies, you tend to hear of it more.

Volkswagens are a particular example, people will pay over the odds for them yet they are no better or no worse than other cars.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2377617/Most-reliable-cars-2013-Honda-tops-league-Bentley-comes-last.html

We had a Renault Scenic that was complete gash! It wasn't the electrical faults specifically but there were some, it was the way the whole thing just degraded so quickly.

It is the only car i haven't sold privately as I couldn't sell it on knowing how bad it was. We traded it in for an inflated £800 when it had about 80k on the clock and was less than 10 years old. I would not have been happy taking £500 of someone for it.

My old 306td did 186k before spectacularly exploding on the motorway. No electrical faults in that time. In fairness this bears no relation to whether the modern crop are any good, but all the same guff was being spouted about their (un)reliability then, too. YMM(quite literally)V!

Yes, they are crap.

Not nearly as crap as mine and my friends vw experiances have been both new and old

At least the french cars is cheap to fix.

A mate of mines 2001 espace just ticked over to 300k

20 years of Citroen with no problems here. Spares also easy to get and relatively cheap. My old C15 under-bonnet wiring looked completely dodgy but always worked.

Had a stopgap old Renault Scenic which had a few issues around sunroof and central locking. Wad of bills also looked like the previous owner paid a fortune for various electrical problems (ECUs etc). Renault vans at work have all had electrical problems (but they got a lot of abuse / neglect). Known plenty of people with newer Renaults that have been fine.

Don't forget the PSA 1.6 HDI engine (and electricals) is in lots of other cars.

As others have said - a lot of manufacturers all use the same tier 1 / tier 2 suppliers anyway.

Peugeot/Citroen diesels are top notch utility engines. Hence why other manufacturers go to them to supply good drop in units.

My thirteen year old C5 still hasn't suffered an electrical fault bar changing a couple of bulbs, still happily doing what it does at 130,000 miles.

The XM it replaced was only condemned when it's clutch cable snapped at 160,000 miles plus. It meant a near dash out job and I couldn't face the prospect. Electrically it was fine too.

I don't think they are any worse than any other car really. Comfort wise the hydraulic suspension beats springs hands down.

Just buy a Honda and stop worrying about the car breaking down.

That's probably what Mclaren thought when they signed up Honda as an engine partner.

Renault Clio diesel here. Brilliant engine and really functional interior. Written off by an electrical fault. Absolute tragedy, such a waste of a car.

Immobiliser refused to allow the engine to work and it was coded to the car, all Renault or many various specialists could come up with was a new loom at £1200 'might' fix it. Common issue apparently. Also the airbag light kept coming on, fixed by jangling the loose wires under the seat, my xsara was the same. Shame really, because they were both excellent cars otherwise.

Things may have improved in the last ten years... 😉

I bought a Xsara Pixasso off ebay unseen (main dealer PX) on a hunch and subsequently drove it from Manchester to France/Belgium/Germany last Summer.

Fantastically ugly car mind.

Had a Renault Megane for five years which had a great engine & lovely car - but had random lights, windows (quite inconvenient when they decided to remain open), heater, & other bits. Never quite knew what electrical component was going to go wrong next. Wouldn't get another.

Replaced with the STW fav - a Skoda Octy.

My previous Scenic had a couple of problems: the dashboard died (expensive to fix) and once after a couple of weeks of spectacularly bad weather the boot refused to open. The turbo also blew up, but I'm guessing that's a wear issue after 150,000km of mostly urban driving rather than poor quality or design. But we had it for 7 years and it was otherwise fine, and the Focus we had before that also had a couple of problems - so in hindsight I wouldn't say it was any better or worse than any other car.

FWIW the replacement is also a Scenic.

Even the French hate Renault, Stay away from renault autos citroen is the best French car followed by Peugeot ...dont right off Fiat cheap build quality but good engines.

Go to the renault owners forum it will scare the hell out of you.

I imagine hipsters drive a VW.

Go to the renault owners forum it will scare the hell out of you.

Go to any owners forum and you'll get scared - people don't generally post to say "another 1000km of trouble free driving".

We had a Scenic with 196k on the clock, got written off by insurance company cos someone reversed into us and bodywork was too expensive to fix.

Had issues with electric windows (easy enough to fix with cables off eBay), a dodgy parking brake (150 quid off eBay), dashboard failed (repaired free of charge, thanks Watchdog!) and emissions light would come on randomly.

Was fine apart from that! Now driving a Vauxhall Vivaro instead.

Yes- I can't remember the last time I read 'I love my X car' post on a forum, just the odd mention of praise within.

As with any secondhand car - buy the one with the most history and on all its condition. Dashboard failures - the first place I'd hit on the internet would be here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xrenault+scenic+dashboard.TRS0&_nkw=renault+scenic+dashboard&_sacat=0

Heres the air condition display unit that was listed as faulty on the ebay auction for the car I bought: [img] [/img]

It cost me £25 posted and was unscrew and plug n play replaced from ebay. Dealer replace (I think is in the region of) is £800.

If you can change your chainset on your mountain bike you are more than capable of doing the above.

On the Renault you may need to return to the dealer for a computer synch however if it is a mileage correction (as the unit may storage mileage) then there are loads of places competing on yell.com to do mileage correction legitimately in such a case.

^ you could pull apart aspects of my post but I bet with a good 30min google/forum/youtube and sourcing you could save yourselves lots on the common problems.

Now driving a Vauxhall Vivaro instead.

Maybe a few years ago they were worse. Had a 306 back in late 90s, lovely car to drive but did have a problem with the lights, that said my last vw had electrical issues aswell. Just buy the car you like and can afford

@hora - After your fix of the dash, how much did main dealer charge for recoding/computer gubbins?

Not a penny.

Depending on where the ECU is some dashboard units carry the mileage within them. The dealer will mileage correct...or you get a bloke to come to you to do the same. Or live with it if its an old car anyway.

OP- the short answer is: no, they're not as bad as its all cracked up to be.

@hora - amazing. Having had contact with VW, Ford and once Toyota main dealers over last 10 years, I found they charge an hour minimum for all these things.....

What I have seen on the French cars is that they are lacking in detailed design for the boring parts of design (wiring, general repairability and maintenance) and concentrate on the more flashy parts of the car.

For Renault the II series Megane and Scenic have had quite many issues, my Scenic II had problems with indoor heater, dashboard (fixed by third party for about 100 euros) and some engine parts (sensors). By far of the costs of running it were due just general maintenance at official dealer around when about every wear and tear part seemed to go at once around 100k when the car was seven years old. The 2.0 auto was very thirsty too.

Yet I bought another Renault (could not get proper offer elsewhere!) and it has been almost faultless for 5 years now and couple of small issues have been fixed under warranty. Now that the warranty is over it is probably impossible to sell but I think I'll keep it as a second car until electric cars are really an option.

I have been driving Citroens and Pugs pretty much since the early 1980s, with one or two breaks to try out other brands.

Currently we have a 51 plate Berlingo with 140k on the clock (had it from new). The one common theme with all of these cars is....no electrical faults. Other parts have failed because they wore out oh yes, and the paintwork on the last two cars has been shoddy (to say the least)...just give it a nasty look and it scratches!

Friends have a Renault Scenic III which is battered all-round and internally scuffed etc. It looks very unloved. I asked whats it like/what they'd fault it on - they said it felt underpowered but they also mentioned thats because their other car is a VRS diesel.

I actually like the look of them- the rear pop up seats etc etc. If I ever need another car I'd be looking at one (thats seen abit more love though)..

I had a 2005 Megane that I had a love/hate relationship with. I loved it as it did 150k, the engine was magnificent requiring no attention bar a cambelt or 2 and a new turbo at 120k, the suspension and brakes were fine and lasted well and (please bear in mind I am not a car lover, they're tools to me) it was perfectly good to sit on the motorway in.

However, the interior was just a bit crap and plastic and, worst of all, the electrics were, err, interesting. My list of problems was:
Immobilizer went pop, this is linked to a whole host of things that ultimately meant I spent £1k getting it to start again.
The windows stopped working at various points. Renault fixed 1 for not much but I sold it with a non-functional passenger window.
The engine management chip died, again resulting in a car that wouldn't start, apparently it's in a place where it gets water damage. A reconditioned unit cost another couple of hundred quid.
There were also a couple of minor things beyond that.

Personally, I'd not buy another one even though part of me things I just got unlucky.

i also think part of their reputation is because they are cheap - people plump for the most expensive with all the toys and the fancy dash.

i bought the poverty spec pug partner with keepfit windows/mirrors and doors..

was not impressed when my citroen came with electric windows an electric mirror and central locking.

Wife has had a citroen c2 from new. Always thought it was quite a characterful little thing. Split boot is cool as well.

But in the last 6 months, surprise surprise, the electronics have gone on strike. Lights turn on all by themselves, indicators no longer do the 'soft touch' lane change thing, electric power steering takes a while to come on after turning the key, interior lights stay on after leaving the car. Various other gremlins. Trim is literally falling off the inside of the car as well.

So to answer the topic; buy a Honda Jazz.

So to answer the topic; buy a Honda Jazz

Or maybe not..... My wife's Jazz has had two dealer recalls to fix electrical problems. She never had any problems with her Pug and I've not had any problems with my Pug either. 8)

I've had a Clio, a 205, a Scenic, a Jazz and now a C3 Picasso. None have had electrical problems, bits of plastic kept falling off the Scenic, but it was the Jazz that gave us the most problems.

My brother had a Laguna which had a nice well known fault that it could (and would) throw the aircon belt knocking the cambelt off which destroyed the engine. Dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree going do the motorway and the engine stopped.

When he took it to the garage, he was then told it was a common problem and he needed to pay 7K for a new engine. OH's father also had a Laguna and it did the same thing 9 months later....

and that's why I don't buy French cars.

I too have been put off with French cars via friends and work colleagues experiences. Not saying other makes have don't their fair share of issues and they might be fighting a historical reputation thing if they have upped their game in recent years. My wife's Clio from about 15yrs ago was a truly shocking piece of miserable crap, but then again so was the Polo that followed it, and the Fiat 500 she's just got rid of - though to be fair to the Fiat, it was reliable from an engine and electrical side of things, but the rest of the car fell to bits if you were to so much as look at it. The drivers door handle came off in her hand one day - it was comical.

I've only had one French car, a Renault Clio, never again, it was a nightmare, the coil packs kept braking down and they not cheap, even new one's started going wrong, random sudden loss of power which isn't great when you pull out into traffic, I gave up on it and traded it in for a Honda which has been trouble free, most reliable car I've ever had.

Honda Jazz owner here, '04 (Japanese built) owned since new. 150k miles, manual.

-both rear wheel bearings needed replacing, all brake calipers needed replacing due to binding, air con currently U/S, either needs new compressor clutch or maybe even compressor, air con compressor clutch relay went after 70-80k, easy and cheap to replace though. Clutch has been very squeaky for last 70k and radio has been completely dead for last 50k, CD works though. Handbrake is useless and needs adjusting constantly.
Gearbox is now making a slight 'click' noise as though there is play developing in something, gearbox bearings are notoriously made of cheese.

On the plus side - it doesn't seem to suffer from the leaking tailgate due to dodgy adhesive that most early Jazzes get, and it is still on all its original exterior lights, except headlights and front sidelights.

Had a Pug 306 which was great, no major issues and was at 200k miles when sold.

Currently have a Renault Scenic which has had the driver window motor/switch etc. replaced twice, although Renault pay 90% of the cost. The engine fan was also going mental for a while, but this seems to have been fixed by a cambelt change (possibly as a sensor has now been reconnected or the belt wasn't actually moving the water pump much!). Renault garage couldn't actually tell me what the fault was.
My parents had a Renault Megane that had numerous electrical issues, radio, dash and not starting in cold/damp.
My partner's parents have the latest Scenic which sometimes develops a mind of its own and accelerates off (electronic throttle). Renault currently being very lax over fixing this, blaming driving style, car floor mats etc.

My advice? Don't buy a Renault. Peugeot/Citroen seem ok

However I did also have a Seat Leon FR TDI which I nearly scrapped because of the DPF issues or some unknown fault killing the DPF.

My Peugeot has been extremely gallic. Random unlocks, other lights flashing when indicating, interior lights stopping working then mysteriously starting again some days later...
A couple of mechanics have said it's likely a wire break in the loom thorugh the door, but it's just not economic to fix it. I don't leave anything vlauable inside 🙂

Always seem to be French cars in front where the brake lights flash when the indicators should be going, or the brake lights randomly flicker while driving on the motorway.
The electrics just seem fragile; I suspect they use cheaper wiring, connections, earthing hardware to save costs (equivalent to cheap BB & cassette on bikes specced with XT rear mechs).
Generally, you get a lot of kit on French cars for not a lot of money, so the money has to be saved somewhere.
Friend of mine has just bought a Megane Coupe GT spec and it's got so many toys; head up display, sat nav, climate control, auto folding mirrors, cruise control, Bluetooth telelphony & music streaming, keyless entry etc.....3 years old with around average miles for £9k.

My Wife's 308 was a horrible car; she really like the idea of getting a Peugeot having had a 106 Graduate years before that was faultless.
But I think the 308 put her off Peugeot for life in a matter of months.

Only cars i have had that never really had any problems are Puntos (so we have had a few), and a Mazda 6 which was great.
Currently have a Scenic and the electrics are made of cheese and spaghetti, other than that it has been mechanically spot on (5 mot's and not a thing wrong, even though it gets abused).

The wife's BMW 5 series was a nightmare

and my 2008 3 series, steering wheel switches and reversing warnings would stop at random...

Subaru on the other hand - no issues with 3 of them. Built like brick shithouses...

Still waiting for Wwaswas to come in and say how good they are as I am about to buy his Grand Scenic...

I don't know if French cars are more susceptible to electrical faults, it's just that if the electrics do go wrong it's generally a right pain in the hoop to sort out.

Case in point was our old X-reg Clio. The immobiliser ring around the ignition barrel failed. You'd think it would be a simple case of replacing the immobliser ring, maybe £30 from autoparts?
No. In their wisdom, Renault decided to code the key, immobiliser ring, immobiliser, and the ECU together. You have to replace the whole lot. So my £300 Clio required double that to be spent for what was the failure of a sub-£50 item. I sold it instead.

disclaimer: someone may have been able to do the work cheaply, I don't know. I was told by the local garage it was a dealership job, and to prepare for a dry-bumming on the price.

Mate had a 205 gti years back. Perenially going wrong with varying mechanical issues.

Meanwhile, I had a 3.0 406 with as many electrics as you could get, which had nothing other than tyres and oil and whatnot for 3 years.

my renault trafic was an electrical mare.. les bleus and leccy trickery do not good bed fellows make

Buy a car with automatic gear ...

I've two Citroens, C4 Grand Picasso and C4 hatchback. Hatchback electric windows switch is knackered and the air con too. The GP has a utter mince electric handbrake that has cost me £600 and three trips to the dealer to not fix(brake goes on and off ok but all manner of faults light up).

The vw golf tdi we have is always having odd electric issues and some mechanical ones too
The citrone c2 that we've had for 10 years is perfect , it all still works nothing has fallen off inside
Had a some suspension bushes and some
Springs but nothing serious

Also have a peugeot expert van and that works fine inc the electric windows and heated mirrors

Worst car was the Audi A4 I had a few years ago constant warning lights and power loss

Buy a car with automatic gear ...

Yes that sounds logical. Auto box means all your electrical worrys go away.

'So my £300 Clio'

Did you expect it to be in 100% rude health

Like a £300 VW Polo obviously would..

had vw's, audis, toyotas and a merc and 2 citroens and 1 pug and 1 renault
the french ones were/ARE awful for electrical issues and the usual "its a common problem but you pay haahahahahaa" attitude,
no issues with vw/audi
1 issue with toyota that was a car well out of warranty but the "its a common problem and we'll fix that for you right away sir" attitude
merc - well, dont get me started - lilke french but on steriods for faults and issues - but , i didnt pay a penny to get it fixed either, and they give great courtesy cars...........

so in a word to the original title - YES

My 06 Galaxy seems to have [s]Belgian[/s] French approach to electrics, with the airbag warning light deciding on a weekly basis to change its mind, which somehow is related to the parking sensors and rear right door central locking, which all seem related to what key we use 😕

My 2007 Xsara Picasso was the top model so had auto lights, auto wipers and auto mirrors.

I felt abit lost when I realised I'd have to sort out my own lights and wipers after I changed cars 🙁

In my limited experience of 1 French car, a Renault megane, it was about as good as the Honda civic that I had after. I had both from about 30k miles up to 105k. Over and above normal servicing, these were the extra items needed doing:

Megane:
3 wheel bearings and a electrical fault that made all the rear lights come on when the brake pedal was pushed. (5min fix for that).

Civic:
Front suspension arms/joints. 1 no. rear brake caliper.

I think the overall cost of the above was about the same. Maybe slightly less for the megane.