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
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).
"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.
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.
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.
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)
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
"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
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!
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.
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 😊
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.
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 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?)
@@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.
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 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.
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
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)
This is why I love you wade. Most UA-camrs 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
@@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.
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.
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"
The car shown in that last promo video is a BMW E36, of which I own a 1996 model, almost identical to the one in the video. I love it so much, it is an endless pleasure to drive and because of its mechanical simplicity it is even a pleasure to do work on. Provided you don’t need to do work underneath, the lifting points on it are a nightmare. Unless all you need to do is replace a tyre, your only lifting options are ramps or a professional four point lift. And the jack it came with is godawful and very easy to wreck if you aren’t extremely careful, but it’s basically your only option because no realistically portable jack powerful enough to lift it’s immense weight will be able to fit under the lifting point. So you have to use the terrible jack it came with, but with each use it comes closer and closer to total failure. Still love that car to bits though. It’s currently got the 318TDS it started life with, but that engine is so underpowered that it was and still is very rare - just because no one wanted it. I intend to swap it out for the 325TDS, which is basically the same engine but with two more cylinders and a turbo.
All of that talk about "hero cars" invokes memories of Top Gear, where James May got to drive his hero car, the Countach. He basically says word for word "never meet your heroes", and if you know, you know what opinion he was off it at the end.
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
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".
For the love of all that is good, we him to find and work on a Reliant Regal Supervan, also known as the 3 wheeled car from Mr Bean!! You think Tony is a nugget?! Oh contrare my Tim-Tam scarfing Aussie!
@@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.
correction: BMW and Merceedes are miserable rubbish, get yourself a VW and your worst nightmares are chains and VVT maintenance every 150,000km. the issue with your golf is just a "split hose" probably EVAP. My stock R36 passat smoked a 2006 "custom" turbo falcon, with a LOUD turbo consistently hahaha
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.
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!
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 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
Can confirm old Nissan/Datsun are tanks. We have had 5 over the years. The first 2 where 70’s but was owned in the 80’s do Datsun one sedan and Pickup, The sedan got rolled and kept trucking along and got sold to buy a sewing machine again in the 80’s (said sewing machine is still running fine) then we had a 05 Maxima was a great car that VQ with the auto such a solid car, got sold to a family member who needed a car. Then we got our 12 Armada which has been a really reliable truck and that V8 is brutte it towed a 8k lbs trailer over a mountain. Then there my 93 Pathfinder, I haven’t given that poor truck any love and it’s been stolen twice and has a home light switch for the power motor and needs about 2k usd for maintenance.
Golfs always will get a _Check Engine Light_ at some point. *_Always._* Mate, the Corolla got loose engine mounts, but it's still running? That's the strength of the _Corolla._
I have to say all our Fiat products, a 500C, 2013, and so far 4 Alfa Romeos (156, Giulietta 2013, Giulietta 1972, Duetto Spider) that we had were perfectly reliable. That said we keep tight maintenance schedules for oils, belts, filters, coolant etc.
Welcome to the 15+ year old VW nightmare club. I've got a 2008 V8 Touareg and it rivals most modern cars with all its features, but the motor is done for after 222,000 miles (357,274 km). I'm so reluctant to give up on the boy, but it needs a good 8-10k dumped on it to get it running again.
heh, got the porsche version of your vehicle, the 2nd generation one. lucked out and got one with low miles. i'm just enjoying her while i can. the touareg is just an underrated vehicle.
@thenoddistsdisciple Do any off roading with that Porsche? That's why I got mine and it's such a blast. They're solid for a long time if you take care of it. Mine was abused by at least 5 previous owners and still made it double most modern cars.
Convert it to electric. My wife did with her BMW E36 after the third engine blew up. The conversion was around ~12k€ made by a small company. In our garage is the only reliable BMW in the known universe, maybe we should make an exhibition and charge money so people can look at it.
Wade is spitting facts about cars being terrible. I grew up partially in the country and not having a car in TX was the worse. I didnt get my own car until I was about 22 and it was used. I spent just as much money on that car fixing it as much as I paid for it just for it to be sold for scrap when it stopped working.
My wife has a money pit… I mean a GLK 350 4matic… my Chevy needed a partial engine rebuild and a new transmission… and I still haven’t matched the amount of money she’s put into hers
I guess I must be weird with how my idea of a desirable luxury car is an old Buick with some basic quality of life features. My parents used to have an early 2000s Buick Lucerne with all the features (it unfortunately hit a deer and was totalled. RIP) and it was super comfortable and simple to use while still having one of the greatest GM engines in it. All I really desire in a daily driver car is working AC, heat, defrost, powered adjustable mirrors, a working radio, and some other basic stuff. A backup camera is real nice too.
@@vladislave7826But eventually parts will break. At 20 years old, anything plastic and rubber will begin to break. There is no way around it, unless you keep the parts in a vacuum and at a constant 20°C.
Golfs without an engine light on is rare. That’s the luxury of German cars, you gotta open the hood and make sure the engine is still there. All fun aside obd-eleven is a god send for these cars. I own a 2015 TDI manual and it’s been a life saver for me
As an American I've been sent actual threats because I voice my opinions on the unreliability and high maintenance costs of German cars, it's vindicating to know it's not just us Americans that have to suffer from their poor quality
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
As the owner of 5 German cars, 4 of which BMW, the maintenance cost is high but the reliability matches the history records. I’ve had no issues that have prevented me from getting home. They are exceptional vehicles that require exceptional eye for details to keep in tip top shape. It’s not for everyone but man are they great cars
About the Tiguan boost leak: 1) Smoke test the whole intake system 2)Manually check the intercooler, sometimes those only leak under boost because they kinda bloat a bit.
Preaching to the converted here. I have a 2008 Touareg. In that time I have had to replace the manifolds (plastic would you believe), the forward drive shaft, the turbo ($7000 effing dollars!) the particulate filter the front brakes etc. I had to drive to Adelaide from the Yorke Peninsula on limp home mode so many times. But it's such a lovely vehicle to drive when it's all working.
My wife had an old TDI Beetle, bought it dirt cheap because it needed a radiator and the shifter assembly was broken so it was stuck in 3rd gear. Little did I know the whole front end had to come off to change the radiator, then the alternator went out, and sure enough the whole front end had to come off again, then she hit some road debris and busted the radiator again, so I had to pull it all back apart for a 3rd time, I was so happy when she finally sold that car 😅
I replaced the valve cover gasket on a 2011 Audi A4 Avant. It was a surprisingly easy (as far as replacing a valve cover gasket can be) job! The front lower control arms, however. Never doing that again. Not without a lift. Hated rolling around on the floor.
Sure euro cars are stinky now, but they were, back before the 2000s, the absolute “the car” types, they would run and start perfectly, i want a car that would at the very least, reach 100. both imperial and metric without a rattle or a bad feeling that it will blow.
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.
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
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.
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
"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.
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.
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.
Wade: "The car" has problems and runs kinda bad
Also wade: I wanted to keep this old used dirty oil in the car because "its funny"
"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
Wade: the corolla runs really bad
Also wade: consciously ignores its problems multiple times since knowing about them means they're fixed
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
"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?
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!
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.
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.
"No rust, it's dry here"
Later
"All the hoses are cracked..."
Don't forget UV damage!
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.
"the other golf" - comments from James with threatening auras.
18:09 man installs a massive subwoofer in his 98 rolla and is surprised when the car rattles lmao
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 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
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 💀
"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.
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.
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 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
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.
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
"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
The goober will take that insult personally
oh dear
This reads like a prophetic warning from an ancient oracle
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)
This is why I love you wade. Most UA-camrs 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
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.
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)
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
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.
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.
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"
This is why I like public transit. You don't have to worry about fixing the bus and driving it, you just ride it.
9:41
We get a really clear shot of James face here, quite the handsome chap!
The car shown in that last promo video is a BMW E36, of which I own a 1996 model, almost identical to the one in the video. I love it so much, it is an endless pleasure to drive and because of its mechanical simplicity it is even a pleasure to do work on. Provided you don’t need to do work underneath, the lifting points on it are a nightmare. Unless all you need to do is replace a tyre, your only lifting options are ramps or a professional four point lift. And the jack it came with is godawful and very easy to wreck if you aren’t extremely careful, but it’s basically your only option because no realistically portable jack powerful enough to lift it’s immense weight will be able to fit under the lifting point. So you have to use the terrible jack it came with, but with each use it comes closer and closer to total failure.
Still love that car to bits though. It’s currently got the 318TDS it started life with, but that engine is so underpowered that it was and still is very rare - just because no one wanted it. I intend to swap it out for the 325TDS, which is basically the same engine but with two more cylinders and a turbo.
All of that talk about "hero cars" invokes memories of Top Gear, where James May got to drive his hero car, the Countach. He basically says word for word "never meet your heroes", and if you know, you know what opinion he was off it at the end.
20:44 you just reminded me that my car has bad boots and I need to do something about that one of these days
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.
Two VWs notorious for timing chain issues, you love to see it. James is gonna have fun replacing those
5:39 interesting to hear Wade's views on Irish independence on a car channel
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
18:35 "I want to keep that oil in there cause it's funny" lmao, that cracked me up so bad
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
For the love of all that is good, we him to find and work on a Reliant Regal Supervan, also known as the 3 wheeled car from Mr Bean!!
You think Tony is a nugget?! Oh contrare my Tim-Tam scarfing Aussie!
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
correction: BMW and Merceedes are miserable rubbish, get yourself a VW and your worst nightmares are chains and VVT maintenance every 150,000km. the issue with your golf is just a "split hose" probably EVAP. My stock R36 passat smoked a 2006 "custom" turbo falcon, with a LOUD turbo consistently hahaha
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.
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!
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.
2:53 take a shot every time he says gearbox
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
3 weeks ago though. So long? Euro cars are still the experimental ones in my mind.
Yay more problems with the land yacht!
two VWs have hose problems. if i knew anything about cars i would notice a pattern
Can confirm old Nissan/Datsun are tanks. We have had 5 over the years. The first 2 where 70’s but was owned in the 80’s do Datsun one sedan and Pickup, The sedan got rolled and kept trucking along and got sold to buy a sewing machine again in the 80’s (said sewing machine is still running fine) then we had a 05 Maxima was a great car that VQ with the auto such a solid car, got sold to a family member who needed a car. Then we got our 12 Armada which has been a really reliable truck and that V8 is brutte it towed a 8k lbs trailer over a mountain. Then there my 93 Pathfinder, I haven’t given that poor truck any love and it’s been stolen twice and has a home light switch for the power motor and needs about 2k usd for maintenance.
Golfs always will get a _Check Engine Light_ at some point. *_Always._* Mate, the Corolla got loose engine mounts, but it's still running? That's the strength of the _Corolla._
This is exactly why you should invest in a 1996 Toyota Corolla
He has a 98 rolla
i would bet money that the engine would still sound almost or close to brand new
People say Germans have no humour, I disagree. They have it all in the expense of whoever doing maintenance on german engineering.
7:04 feet finder drop when Mr Garbage
I have to say all our Fiat products, a 500C, 2013, and so far 4 Alfa Romeos (156, Giulietta 2013, Giulietta 1972, Duetto Spider) that we had were perfectly reliable. That said we keep tight maintenance schedules for oils, belts, filters, coolant etc.
Welcome to the 15+ year old VW nightmare club. I've got a 2008 V8 Touareg and it rivals most modern cars with all its features, but the motor is done for after 222,000 miles (357,274 km). I'm so reluctant to give up on the boy, but it needs a good 8-10k dumped on it to get it running again.
heh, got the porsche version of your vehicle, the 2nd generation one. lucked out and got one with low miles. i'm just enjoying her while i can. the touareg is just an underrated vehicle.
@thenoddistsdisciple Do any off roading with that Porsche? That's why I got mine and it's such a blast. They're solid for a long time if you take care of it. Mine was abused by at least 5 previous owners and still made it double most modern cars.
Convert it to electric. My wife did with her BMW E36 after the third engine blew up. The conversion was around ~12k€ made by a small company. In our garage is the only reliable BMW in the known universe, maybe we should make an exhibition and charge money so people can look at it.
Wade: "No abuse at all, just _maybe_ a little from me!"
You can leave that maybe out, Wade. 😂
Tony's a special euro car.
Wade is spitting facts about cars being terrible. I grew up partially in the country and not having a car in TX was the worse. I didnt get my own car until I was about 22 and it was used. I spent just as much money on that car fixing it as much as I paid for it just for it to be sold for scrap when it stopped working.
9:38 JAMES! :D
As a VW guy, I’m so glad you’re bringing attention to the absolute hell that is VW maintenance and repair.
Eh it's not awful but not the worst either best is the diesel ones
First, an LTT and MCM collab drops, then I receive a Garbage Time notification while watching it. It’s a car video sort of Friday.
My wife has a money pit… I mean a GLK 350 4matic… my Chevy needed a partial engine rebuild and a new transmission… and I still haven’t matched the amount of money she’s put into hers
And people wonder how Lexus got so big so fast
Acura too
I guess I must be weird with how my idea of a desirable luxury car is an old Buick with some basic quality of life features.
My parents used to have an early 2000s Buick Lucerne with all the features (it unfortunately hit a deer and was totalled. RIP) and it was super comfortable and simple to use while still having one of the greatest GM engines in it.
All I really desire in a daily driver car is working AC, heat, defrost, powered adjustable mirrors, a working radio, and some other basic stuff. A backup camera is real nice too.
How dare youtube hide this from me for 1 minute.
11:42 NO! BAD JAMES! DO NOT PUT ANTI-SEIZE ON NGK PLUGS!!
“Euro cars set the standard for style, performance and luxury”
Someone forgot that Britain is part of Europe lol
Loved my Rover 25, looked decent and had absolutely amazing performance for how small the engine was.
Brexit
@@frigusorisit's not like the island floated away, it's still a part of Europe
British cars got at least two of those sometimes
The e type alone can almost rescue the whole nation, but not quite
People give me shit when i recommend the leaf to them if they want an EV. Let this be proof I wasn't wrong.
Eurotrash or just a cheap Merc?
Or both
Cheap beater merc. Everything is crap if you neglect it.
@@vladislave7826But eventually parts will break. At 20 years old, anything plastic and rubber will begin to break. There is no way around it, unless you keep the parts in a vacuum and at a constant 20°C.
@@masterkamen371yeah it's a luxury car meant for rich people to play with for 3-5 years
Golfs without an engine light on is rare. That’s the luxury of German cars, you gotta open the hood and make sure the engine is still there.
All fun aside obd-eleven is a god send for these cars. I own a 2015 TDI manual and it’s been a life saver for me
As an American I've been sent actual threats because I voice my opinions on the unreliability and high maintenance costs of German cars, it's vindicating to know it's not just us Americans that have to suffer from their poor quality
The rear reminds me of an AU Falcon
Its clear the Germans took inspiration by one of the greatest national treasures
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
I love this video. Coming back with a narrated compilation style video was definitely the move. Very well done!
Don’t forget people that the CLS ripped off the arse of an AU Falcon
As the owner of 5 German cars, 4 of which BMW, the maintenance cost is high but the reliability matches the history records. I’ve had no issues that have prevented me from getting home. They are exceptional vehicles that require exceptional eye for details to keep in tip top shape.
It’s not for everyone but man are they great cars
About the Tiguan boost leak: 1) Smoke test the whole intake system 2)Manually check the intercooler, sometimes those only leak under boost because they kinda bloat a bit.
Preaching to the converted here. I have a 2008 Touareg. In that time I have had to replace the manifolds (plastic would you believe), the forward drive shaft, the turbo ($7000 effing dollars!) the particulate filter the front brakes etc. I had to drive to Adelaide from the Yorke Peninsula on limp home mode so many times. But it's such a lovely vehicle to drive when it's all working.
My wife had an old TDI Beetle, bought it dirt cheap because it needed a radiator and the shifter assembly was broken so it was stuck in 3rd gear. Little did I know the whole front end had to come off to change the radiator, then the alternator went out, and sure enough the whole front end had to come off again, then she hit some road debris and busted the radiator again, so I had to pull it all back apart for a 3rd time, I was so happy when she finally sold that car 😅
10:21 those are for blind people, so they can feel with a cane/walking stick where the crosswalk starts and/or road ends.
I replaced the valve cover gasket on a 2011 Audi A4 Avant. It was a surprisingly easy (as far as replacing a valve cover gasket can be) job! The front lower control arms, however. Never doing that again. Not without a lift. Hated rolling around on the floor.
2:06 It’s the beloved Australian oil cap install.
1:45 Hey, that’s not that old! That’s how old I am! *(turns to dust after typing the comment)*
Sure euro cars are stinky now, but they were, back before the 2000s, the absolute “the car” types, they would run and start perfectly, i want a car that would at the very least, reach 100. both imperial and metric without a rattle or a bad feeling that it will blow.
my first car was a 98 VW 4-door Golf GL. I loved that thing, such a little lunchbox. Glad to see the problems it had persist to the newer ones.
this is why you buy french instead.
my 2000 peugeot 406 diesel has really cheap parts and it's so easy to work on