Why Do People not Rate French cars ??

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hdi_man
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Why Do People not Rate French cars ??

Post by hdi_man »

why do people not rate French cars and have the attitude that it has to be German or japanese ?

I had a VW Golf a few years ago and had no end of problems with it. Had my Pug 207 for 4 years and its been faultless and returned 50mpg ! now purchasing a new C5 as I think its the best looking saloon on the road and stands out from the crowd of bland mobiles.

it just annoys me that people say "nice car...but its French " !!
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Post by addo »

Maybe they've forgotten their history, and lack an appreciation of culture? :P
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Post by Citroenmad »

My family has always owned Citroens, just about every type of Citroen we have owned at some point, usually a few at a time. We still have 6.

We have had 4 VW Group cars, one needed a new engine at 20 months old and 25K miles, which it got under warranty. The other started rusting around 3 years old and was in and out of the paintshop with various bosyrust issues throughout the 5 years we owned it. That one was an auto which broke causing £2000 of repairs.

So where VW gets its reliability reputation from is a little strange. Usually they do privide good service, but we have never had engine failure or gearbox issues with a Citroen (yes we usually avoid autos). Neither have we had rust problems on such new cars either.

Jap cars are usually very good for reliability. Though the day we buy a Jap car will be the day no other manufacturer is in business. I could not stand the boredom of owning one. They are like white goods, soul-less, no interestning features with awful tacking interiors. They usually are very ugly or very plain to look at and they of no interest to me at all. Dull, boring, bland cars, which do provide relability, which would suit a lot of people i guess, but not me. Ive been in and driven a few, some were ok but didnt interest me and none offered the comfort or refinement of a French car.

Very few new ideas have came from Jap cars, infact im struggling to think of any unless they are needless gadgets. Citroen do pioneer ideas. Citroen was the first car to put disc brakes and front wheel drive into mass production, the first with self leveling suspension, the first with turning headlights, the first hatchback. All of these ideas are found on modern cars of various makes. But very few other companies have such a strong portfolis of ideas which are still around now. Obviously MB gave ABS and a few other safety things, but what has Jap cars given us?

Ive pretty much came to the conclusion now that ill only ever have PSA Peugeot-Citroen cars from now on. I do very much like Peugeots and the only one i really dislike is the 107, i had one for a week which was far too long, fantastic city car mind, but not for out of town use. 207, 308, 407, etc, I do like and wouldnt mind a 407 at some point.

I like Citroens for their individuality, i like unusual and rare cars and Citroen do offer those, especially the older models. I like the styling and drive, the comfort and refinement, the value for money and the spec lists.

It does depend what you like in a car, but for me, French cars are among the best. Obviously they are not flawless, but their individuality makes up for that.

Ive been brought up with Citroens and can't think of anything id like more now. Ive owned 3 Seats, 3 Citroens and a Peugeot. While the Seats were good cars and usually reliably they dont interest me like the Citroen range does.

I bet if you mention how many makes actually use PSA Peugeot Citroen engines to the people who mock French cars, they might well just change their tune. Models of Volvo, Mini, Ford, Jag, Landrover all use engines from the PSA group.

I dont think ill own a Renault, we have had a few but never found them to be brilliant. WHich is a shame as they are nice cars but built badly or have design flaws.

It really comes down to what people want from a car and what they are used to. People do tend to stick with a certain make or country for their cars. You could ask on a jap car or german car forum the same question. I bet what they would say is they are Sh!t (thats what a lot of people say but can never come up with a reason why as they know nothing) or that they are unreliable. All just peoples opinions, but ive not had a bad experience with a French car and its why i keep coming back to them.

Actually i was very open minded when i was trying to get a bigger car to replace my 206, i looked at all sorts of makes and models. But after driving some and looking around on forums for reliability concerns i found that i didnt like very many cars or found them to have reliability issues, so i came back to Citroen cars and bought another C5.
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Post by JohnD »

I've owned a succession of Citroens for more than 20 years and managed to convince wife and both daughters that they are best, so now we have four in the family. (Maybe they think I won't look after them if they're not!!!!)
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Post by KP »

I just say to them, 2 world wars and 1 world cup.... :-)
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Post by myglaren »

It probably has some connection with the popular idea that the French are a bit suspect.
Blatant racism!

Among the Frenchie's I've had are:
Renault 4
Renault 11 TXE Electronic
Renault 14
Renault 30 TX (for a day - blew a head gasket so abandoned it)
Citroen GS 1220
Citroen Visa 11 - somethingorother.
Citroen BX 19 RD Estate
Citroen Xantia 1.9 TD
Currently a C5.

I have a vague suspicion that there have been one or two more somewhere along the line. They have been interspersed with various others even one Ford :( ) but I do seem to gravitate towards French cars.
Never owned a car until I was 33 - always had a company car before that - always Volvo's.
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Post by red_dwarfers »

When asking people this question mostly they jokingly say "Because it's French, no other reason" :lol:
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Post by hdi_man »

well the French are on a roll these days with cool designs IMO !

the new Peugeot RC looks well smart, the new megane coupe, Citroen DS3 to name a few !

much nicer looking cars than the boring Germanic machines on the roads today
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Post by HDI »

In a word , Hype !!
Take a look at the JD Power customer satisfaction and reliability survey for a good idea of the reality , Japanese brands are always at or near the top.
Cars are a personal thing , you will never convince a typical BMW , Audi , Merc owner to buy a French car , they are too indoctrinated.
There are very few cars that would persuade me to buy another NEW car , and non of them are French !! For that matter non of them are German or Italian either !!
My reasons for buying the Xantia was value for money as a used car and also that in the past the French cars I have driven as either company cars or my own have been amongst the most reliable. To be honest though , I have never thought of typical French cars to be stylish or even attractive. They are pretty neutral as aesthetics go.
The Citroen DS however is one of the most beautiful cars ever , and the C6 is very distinctive.
As I said , it's a very personal thing , after all , some people actually like the Allegro and the BL wedge cars !!
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Post by Paul240480 »

Pop into France & play 'spot the non french car'! You'll not see many.Loads of cool French models tho' & not just new models.

Renault 4 abound :D 5's too :D Pug 205's everywhere. Get into summer & the Ds's come out to play 8-) & also those older Citroens with the big wings & running boards! Not sure what they are? Cool all the same :D
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Post by myglaren »

Image
Traction-Avant :)
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Post by Paul240480 »

myglaren wrote:Image
Traction-Avant :)
Merci, c'est ça :D
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Post by CitroJim »

Ahh the Traction :P They're lovely and despite their looks, were very advanced when introduced in 1934. Front wheel drive, rack and pinion steering, monocoque construction, radial tyres and OHV engine; all firsts on such a mass production car. This was when comparable cars were still on a chassis and had side-valve engines.

The last of them (they made them until 1957) even had hydropneumatic suspension on the rear. Even now they drive much like a modern car. It was the DS of its day and every bit as revolutionary despite looking like an Anthill Mob staff car.

The French are a lot more loyal to their home car producers, as we were back in the 70s. How times have changed though. I always remember as a kid dad took Car Mechanics each month and a big feature of the magazine was the advice columns and these were headed up by car maker. All British car makers had their own column, such as Hillman, Austin, Morris and so on. Everything else was lumped in a column right at the end called "Foreign".

Truth is the French had and still have some of the coolest mass-market cars to be loyal to. There was never a boring French car, ever. The same cannot be said for a lot of British stuff although there are a few very notable exceptions like the Rover P6...
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Post by R9UKE »

I have no idea, but it's something that annoys me too.

Unlike the majority of people on here, I favour Renault above the other two. I think that recently, Renault's cars look and feel a lot more french than Peugeot and Citroen. The Vel Satis I had was so french that you could almost smell the garlic. It turned loads of heads, and nobody had a bad thing to say about it... no doubt if it was an Audi Vel Satis, we would all be swimming in them. I also love how any problems I've had have either been very cheap to fix, or fix themselves!

When Citroen branded their new C5 as "unmistakeably German", I cringed. Citroen have previously made the most incredible, beautiful cars that succeeded BECAUSE they weren't German. Take the DS for example, it made the Germans look stone age, and they have always been very clear about how french their cars are. Then to promote a gorgeous new quirky Citroen as German!?

We had a family barbeque the other night. I looked out the window and felt very proud. Outside was my Mégane and Peugeot 306, my mum's Peugeot 206, a Citroen C4, two Grand Scénics and a Vel Satis - Not German car in sight, every person had a frenchie :)
French is best.
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Post by Citroenmad »

In its day the Traction Avant was actually quite a modern looking car compared to what else was available at the time. It did indeed bring many advanced ideas to car design and they are still on modern cars now.

Hydropneumatic suspension was an option on the biger bodied bigger engined 6H/15H - same thing. Only 74 right hand drive models were built with this rear suspension, and only around 4 exist now - i think only one of those is in the UK ... There were more LHD hydraulics made in France.

They are certainly an experience to drive. With its sharpe steering, around 1 1/4 turns lock to lock, torquey engine, excellnt ride quality and handling, they are a joy. This year is the first time ive driven our Tracion 6H on the road, its unbelievable to think its 55 years old now, it really doesnt drive like it. Certainly puts the steering of most modern cars to shame thats for sure.

During my visit to France last year i didnt see one Traction on the road, there was one in a barn, which must have been left for years. Older French cars are dying out in France now. R4s are getting less and less too.

Renault do build some really very nice cars, out of the modern ones i really like the Modus, Megane, Scenic II and Laguna II. But they can be riddled with problems and they do have design faults. We've had an RX4 Scenic - i still love the looks of these, ours was bright green and looked great. But its engine was very poor (2.0 16v), totally gutless and its brakes were dangerous - they had not been uprated for the extra weight in over the normal scenic. Our Scenic II 1.9DCi was a lovely car but not without its faults - thank god it was under warranty.

Citroens are where my loyalty lies and there is no doubt about it, they have made some of the most interesting cars ever, and still the modern Citroens are very nice cars too. They have always proved to be reliable things and provide somehting a little different. You dont get hydropneumatic suspension with Renaults either ...
Last edited by Citroenmad on 11 Jun 2010, 12:54, edited 1 time in total.
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