Platkar questions

**ThysleRoux** · 2012/09/11, 11:44 PM

This type of results are not the beginning and end of all that is holy to petrolheads. The average Merc, Bimmer and Audi driver will do his nut and put in a warranty claim for a blown fuse, while the Honda driver will just replace it. Owners of executive type vehicles are far more full of crap than average Joe. The same applies to general out of warranty repairs and surveys. If a Merc driver takes part in a survey he will throw his toys out of the cot if a piece of trim came loose at 100k km, while the Jeep or Toy driver will stick it back with some double sided tape and forget about it. The Merc driver will have his tyres rotated by the agents, while the rest of us do it ourselves or get TWT to do it for us.

**PenthouseNinja** · 2012/09/11, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by ThysleRoux

This type of results are not the beginning and end of all that is holy to petrolheads. The average Merc, Bimmer and Audi driver will do his nut and put in a warranty claim for a blown fuse, while the Honda driver will just replace it. Owners of executive type vehicles are far more full of crap than average Joe. The same applies to general out of warranty repairs and surveys. If a Merc driver takes part in a survey he will throw his toys out of the cot if a piece of trim came loose at 100k km, while the Jeep or Toy driver will stick it back with some double sided tape and forget about it. The Merc driver will have his tyres rotated by the agents, while the rest of us do it ourselves or get TWT to do it for us.

Thats a good point actually and could skew the data somewhat.

**FDVisser** · 2012/09/12, 05:46 AM

That's why I said warranty surveys, and not satisfaction surveys, JD Power survey etc. In satisfaction surveys owners expect the best of their expensive cars, in warranty surveys, they calculate how many times the car was in the workshop AND the cost of the repair, so a blown fuse or bulb won't make a difference, if the bulb cost R400 it will make a difference, but that you will want to know before ownership. Even if your theory is correct, and you exclude Merc and Bmw and Jeep, why do Fiat, Citroen. Peogeot, VW, and Opel owners do warranty claims that put them low on the list,, and not the cars in the top ten for the last ten years, I will say "socially" their owners are on the same level, except for Lexus which compete against BMW and Merc but. Is always in the top ten?

**FDVisser** · 2012/09/12, 06:36 AM

For many people things like warranty surveys don't mean much, if I did not have a work bakkie and had a job were I had to commute I would have bought something for myself that had the "x" factor, but I think the surveys are relevant to this thread.

**ThysleRoux** · 2012/09/12, 03:21 PM

Kgopa - your reference to the cost of light bulbs point to something else. Replacing a light bulb on a ML (one of the first models) cost a friend of mine (who falls into that category of "only the agents touch my car" ) R275 about 8 or 10 years ago. And that was only his portion of the maintenance plan !!! At the time the halogen bulb that goes into that Merc was the same as the ones that went into the cheapies and was about R25 at Midas. The average owner of a budget car would buy the bulb at Midas, fit it and it would not reflect in the stats.

**Lou07** · 2012/09/12, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Kgopa

Let's make this practical, my wife owned a Polo with 103k on, parts replaced: alternator 7K, left her stranded next to Diepsloot, light switch 1.2K, cooling fan 2K, CD shuttle, sold not fixed, wipers R400, cam belt replaced 7K
Honda CR-V, kilos 140K, parts replaced, headlight bulb, price R10.99 from a local spares shop., timing chain, will replace at 300k

My Golf: Replaced one rear brake light bulb (R5.00 - Midas), and one headlight bulb (R45.00). Nothing else besides the regular servicing. It boils down to how you maintain your car and your driving style. There are very few examples of vehicles these days with serious reliability issues (like the overheating problem on the 3.1 TD Grand Cherokees of a few years ago).

Even the turbo "issue" with the 1.9 VW TDI engine is as a result of people not idling the car for a few seconds after driving it. Mine is at 140 000km with turbo #1 (touch wood)

**FDVisser** · 2012/09/12, 08:05 PM

Originally Posted by Lou07

My Golf: Replaced one rear brake light bulb (R5.00 - Midas), and one headlight bulb (R45.00). Nothing else besides the regular servicing. It boils down to how you maintain your car and your driving style. There are very few examples of vehicles these days with serious reliability issues (like the overheating problem on the 3.1 TD Grand Cherokees of a few years ago).

Even the turbo "issue" with the 1.9 VW TDI engine is as a result of people not idling the car for a few seconds after driving it. Mine is at 140 000km with turbo #1 (touch wood)

OK let's just say then, that some cars can stand up to my wives driving style, and some can't...