French cars - Failing MOTs

[bxzx16v]

Never had any Mot failures on any of my Citroens , but then I do like to keep on top of them maintainance wise . I ran a few Xantias as taxis and the taxi test was VERY strict , I had no problems at all and they were on the road maybe 20hrs a day . IMO Citroens best car of recent times .

Mark

[CitroJim]

The trouble with Citroëns is they hold their value about as well as a lobster, you then end up with all the tight arses buying Citroën secondhand because you get a lot of car for no money, being tight they then do not maintain the vehicle and so they fail mot's, if Honda sold mainly mpvs and cars for girls and they were worth 20p after 3 years they would end up topping the chart for mot fails as well.

D

Yep, exactly what I was getting at

A good summary of the situation, I'll agree.

I have a three year old Pixo to take for MOT next week. 1300 miles on the clock and very little used. However, I'll be giving it a full-monte pre-MOT tomorrow despite that.

[Northern_Mike]

The only car I ever had fail an MOT was Japanese.. oh, I had a 2cv with a rotten front silencer fail once too, but I didn't know it had rotted.

[Northern_Mike]

I work at a test station and even I am amazed at what state people present their cars. Dropping car off for mot and getting a "I know there is a headlight out, may need a tyre (down to cords) brakes may fail as they make a noise when braking"

The problem with some folk is they see an mot as a service, I had folk come back a month later with grinding brakes saying "you only just mot'ed it".

I've taken cars for MOT , not as a service, but as a measure of "is it really worth keeping it" sort of inspection. It shocks me what will actually pass if I'm honest. I *knew* my Focus needed discs and pads, a new sidelight bulb, and a wheel bearing was making a noise. That was what I knew about , and what I would have liked to fix to make it right. I thought I'd take it for an MOT just to check if there was much else wrong with it, then I could fix it all at once.

It passed.

So I sold it with 12 months MOT, as there was no way I was doing all that work on it!

[Northern_Mike]

I have a suspicion that because French cars depreciate so quickly they are usually cheaper than rivals to get hold of. As they get older a lot of people dont want to spend money on older cars, especially if its not worth much, so the cars develop problems which are rarely sorted.

It's a Citroen thing, other French cars don't seem to lose value as quickly. This is weird, as Renaults are total crap in my experience. I don't like Peugeots either. Even those that are essentially a Citroen underneath seem to be less reliable and poorly made.

[Citroenmad]

I was astonished to find out that some people do think an MOT is a service, that is quite shocking.

My neighbour first drew this to my attention, she thought her car was being serviced, when it was only having an MOT. I found this out after the front wheels on her car turned gold and were caked in metal filings. I offered to remove the wheels and take a look, the pads had no pad material and the backing plate was well worn, creating the filings which were then rusting on the wheels - I could not clean this off. The oil was on minimum too. About a week after the new brakes went on the cambelt snapped. Mind, she is not the most observant, she got stopped on a motorway because the car had a flat tyre. She pumped it up and drove around on it for days with it flat again. I went across and told her again and she didn't know about it!

A couple of people I have spoken to recently thought they were getting complete new wheels when they went for new tyres! One bent a steel wheel recently and thought they needed to pay the tyre place another £40 as they had just got a pair of tyres for £80. It took some convincing to see the danger in their bent wheel, which is so badly bent you can see all of the tyre beading which sits behind the rim lip.

Really ought to be a common sense test before a driving test.

[Citroenmad]

I have a suspicion that because French cars depreciate so quickly they are usually cheaper than rivals to get hold of. As they get older a lot of people dont want to spend money on older cars, especially if its not worth much, so the cars develop problems which are rarely sorted.

It's a Citroën thing, other French cars don't seem to lose value as quickly. This is weird, as Renaults are total crap in my experience. I don't like Peugeots either. Even those that are essentially a Citroën underneath seem to be less reliable and poorly made.

I don't know, they are very similar really. Look at C5s, Lagunas and 407s and they all go for similar money if they are of similar age, spec, engine, mileage etc. In fact some Citroens are more expensive, C3s are more expensive than 206s, C4s more than Meganes.

[CitroJim]

Really ought to be a common sense test before a driving test.

Now there’s a novel way to ease the ever growing problem of congestion on the roads Chris

But yes, It beggars belief that a person can be fully qualified to drive and yet know diddly-squat about how the car works or the basics of maintaining it. I'm sure pilots for instance, have to have a thorough understanding of the science of flight and how their aircraft works before they can go and fly it...

Same principle...

[Northern_Mike]

Really ought to be a common sense test before a driving test.

Now there’s a novel way to ease the ever growing problem of congestion on the roads Chris

But yes, It beggars belief that a person can be fully qualified to drive and yet know diddly-squat about how the car works or the basics of maintaining it. I'm sure pilots for instance, have to have a thorough understanding of the science of flight and how their aircraft works before they can go and fly it...

Same principle...

I know two pilots. One is a captain for BA. Ace pilot. Took me up in his aerobatic thing about 10 years ago (He was an aerobatics instructor). Scared the living daylights out of me.

On the ground, I wouldn't trust him to tie his shoelaces without falling over..

As for maintenance, I'm constantly reminded by my dear wife that car maintenance, gardening (the hard parts), decorating etc are "man's work".... this could be why so many ladies have no interest in it....

[Citroenmad]

I know two pilots. One is a captain for BA. Ace pilot. Took me up in his aerobatic thing about 10 years ago (He was an aerobatics instructor). Scared the living daylights out of me.

On the ground, I wouldn't trust him to tie his shoelaces without falling over..

Obviously found his calling in life

[Northern_Mike]

I know two pilots. One is a captain for BA. Ace pilot. Took me up in his aerobatic thing about 10 years ago (He was an aerobatics instructor). Scared the living daylights out of me.

On the ground, I wouldn't trust him to tie his shoelaces without falling over..

Obviously found his calling in life

Well, quite. When we first met him, he was an aerobatics instructor at a local flying club, and managing a Sainsbury! He took a wild decision to sell the house and live in a tiny rented flat, to pay for his commercial pilots licence. Most thought he was crazy. I didn't, I knew he could fly..

[DickieG]

But yes, It beggars belief that a person can be fully qualified to drive and yet know diddly-squat about how the car works or the basics of maintaining it.

As part of the practical driving test candidates are asked two questions prior to driving relating to vehicle maintenance, it's called the "show and tell".

[CitroJim]

But yes, It beggars belief that a person can be fully qualified to drive and yet know diddly-squat about how the car works or the basics of maintaining it.

As part of the practical driving test candidates are asked two questions prior to driving relating to vehicle maintenance, it's called the "show and tell".

Well, I'd describe that as just a little less than diddly-squat then... I believe they have to don a high-viz tabard and point out say, the brake fluid reservoir. They'd be a bit buggered on a Xantia...

But don't pilots, despite having shoelace problems, have to 'walk' their aircraft and check it's fit to fly before going for a spin in it? Motorists should be trained as part of their tuition to do the same thing.

[howiedean]

maybe Citroëns fail on suspension because the average MOT tester aint got a clue wht they are looking at/for,

regards malcolm

you ant wrong mate they have little idea and are scared to death of Xantia's and c5's.

anyways if your car fails the mot it should not be on the road - never had any vehicle of mine fail an mot.

I could not agree more...... here in Nevada there are NO annual safety checks required just a smog test (computer plugs into diagnostic port and checks no faults and that the "Readiness Flags" are set). You should see the state of some vehicles driving on the roads its shocking.

[DickieG]

Well, I'd describe that as just a little less than diddly-squat then... I believe they have to don a high-viz tabard and point out say, the brake fluid reservoir. They'd be a bit buggered on a Xantia...

Bit of a cynical response there Jim, no high-viz required unless you are the tester, (do you know any of those ) the list of questions relating to this element of the test is shown in this link. The list might not be brilliant but a step in the right direction.

But don't pilots, despite having shoelace problems, have to 'walk' their aircraft and check it's fit to fly before going for a spin in it? Motorists should be trained as part of their tuition to do the same thing.

Now then hands up all those who do a walk round their car every time prior to driving it, come on there must be someone out there,,,,,,,,,