ford galaxy

[rich.]

weve been running the beast for several months now,wifey loves driving it & we can carry almost anything.. had a service done cambelt etc (ouch).... recently the wipers have been very slow or stopping mid screen. a quick internet search revealed that it is the spindle gets the wet in & seized up solid... 3 hours & the front of the car out got it sorted plenty of copper grease on the spindles & it works better than ever.better than a 700 quid replacement! ive got a 26 year old car that has no trouble with the wipers... dont you just love modern cars

[rich.]

two months ago i spent a fortune on new tyres & front struts now its developed a slight vibration when accelerating in third & fourth. ive taken it to the garage & the verdict is the driveshaft is worn and out of balance. anyone else have this problem? i like the car.. i prefer driving it to the mr 2 (been told im an old git) but for a car thats only done 70,000 miles its not wearing well..

[richardtaylor]

Interesting - our has been a complete disaster and the least relaible car I've ever owned -
To date, at 120k miles and two and a half years ownership:

Wipers siezed up - striped and freed off the linkages - you dont want to have to buy a wiper rack
Most of front suspension replaced - drop links, trackrood ends, lower ball joints and bushes
Injector wiring harness packed up - £180 no matter where you buy it
Thermostat failed shut taking out the head gasket and doing £1200 worth of damage and I'd only just changed the bloody cambelt and water pump
Electric windows and door locking packed up due to break in wire in door shut
And now the bloody thing keeps going into limp mode and the high level rear brake light has packed up

Everyone I speak to tells me there "all known VAG faults" and not to believe the VAG hype.

If its any consulation I'm told that the later Ford built versions (MKIII) are much, much better
Shame is that, if you have three or more kids , they are a really handy car- huge inside, easy to drive, everything wipes clean, performance is ok when its not going into limp mode - economy is reasonable - just the dreadful reliabilty to contend with then

Incidentally if you need tied parts shop around - I found that Injector Seals are £100 a set from Ford or VW, £140 a set from Audi or £70 a set from Seat : Its an indentical part so figure that one out - says more than a little about brand preception to me........................................

[tractorman]

I wonder if it's non-German VW builds that are the problem? OK, I've had VWs for over 20 years, but had nothing more major than a clutch on the last Golf (a MK4) in normal running. I blame supermarket fuels for the injector pump problem on the previous one (a 96 Passat TD) - and it did 200K miles in 11 years. The Golf before that had a HGF, that was due to the water system having excess pressure (and there was a VW recall to sort that problem a couple of years later - the car was 8yo at the time). The current Golf (2008 Mk5 Bluemotion) has done 112K already and, according to the very thorough service history (it was a lease car and they provided amazing detail), there has been nothing more than new discs and wiper blades above normal service items! Mind you, it looks as if someone fired a shotgun at the bonnet - there are masses of stone chips!

I'm not saying VWs are perfect by any means; I suspect most other makes are as reliable these days (a bad car just won't sell); but I reckon that older VWs tend to be more reliable than older models from some other makes. The only VW I didn't get to 100K was the Mk4 - it had 97K in 9 1/2 years as I was caring for Mother for most of the time I owned it, so didn't get far from home!

I'm left with the dog, she won't go in a car, so I suspect the "new" Golf won't put many miles on it for four or five years!

[richardtaylor]

Its always been my understanding that Ford did final assembly with the majority of parts supplied by VAG.
Contrary to popular belief it was Ford who ended the relationship due to issues with the quality of both the bodys being shipped and parts supply - from various forums it would seem that the same problems affect all three models regardless of badging.

I really dont think that my Galaxy refelcts on modern Fords relaibilty - I have done hundreds of thousands of miles in Ford product without any major issues until I bought this damn thing. I had an '84 Capri that I sold with 210k on it - that had only had regular servicing a clutch and radiator
Then there was the 1.8 Mondeo that I sold with 170k on it - again no major faults and I still see it regularly, I could go on. Oddly enough the least reliable car I'd ever had, up to now, was a company supplied Audi A4 Tdi - that was plauged by electrical faults from day one- maybe I'm just unlucky with VAG product,


As you can tell I'm seriuosly annoyed by this car - my 40 year old Ford gives me a lot less trouble and has covered more miles!!!

[rich.]

i made it to the uk & had to have a new drive shaft fitted.... the other side has started clicking now.. ive already rebuilt the wipers & had an electic window pane fall out... thats a pig of a job to fix.. apart from that did 600 km today & i still like driving it. i wont be keeping it long though..all suggestions for a similar sized diesel 7 seat people carrier will be welcomed

[TerryG]

Is changing a drive shaft that hard? pulling them out of a focus is a 20 minute job.

[rich.]

i didnt have any tools so i got a mate to fit one, he charged me £40, id been quoted 100€+ here. im not complaining, just a bit annoyed a 70k car is not ageing well.

[richardtaylor]

Update- Its gone - Ive had enough.

It cost me £100 to get the dammned thing through the MOT with a long, and potentially expensive, advisory that included play developing in both lower ball joints, (again), both front shocks and mountings, a cv boot on the way out etc etc. Add to that the clutch was on the way out, the dual mass flywheel was banging away and it still went into limp mode at the drop of the hat.

Pxed it for a Mazda 5 which is great to drive and will actually be reliable.

Good riddance to it and pity the poor sod that buys it.

[rich.]

keep us updated on the mazda... our galaxy is still going well but ill need to get the driveshaft changed soon