lorne
Guest
Just to agree with the above comment that you could get it with any car....I knew somebody with a spanking new bmw,got through 4k,and the rear axel seized.Doesn't seem to matter what you buy!
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LCR Reliability - Poor
- Thread starter storeyd
- Start date
I think some of you are missing my point...
My job is a product designer responsible for not only designing the products but also making sure that they are not going to fail in service. This is done by comprehensive testing and simulation of actual usage.
If you consider how a parts fail over their life, there are 3 stages. The first is premature failure, nomally due to defects. This is why brand new cars often have early failures. Failure rates are high here and are difficult to avoid. The third is end of life failures normally due to wear and degredation of parts. Failures are also high here.
And in the middle is the part where failures are very low, the useful life of the part. But this can only be achieved if the parts are thoroughly tested by simulation of the actual life.
The failures I have had on my LCR are during the second stage when failures are supposed to be low. I know that every car will have certain parts which fall into this catagory, but the LCR seems to have loads. Its just seems to me as if the parts were not correctly tested in the development. This is why a few of them have been replaced with uprated versions (coil packs, wheel bearings, water pumps and probably others I have not mentioned).
So the failures I and many others have had, are during the useful life of most other cars and this is why I say the LCR has in general a poor reliability.
P.S I forgot the waterleaks, I am so happy this has not happened to me
My job is a product designer responsible for not only designing the products but also making sure that they are not going to fail in service. This is done by comprehensive testing and simulation of actual usage.
If you consider how a parts fail over their life, there are 3 stages. The first is premature failure, nomally due to defects. This is why brand new cars often have early failures. Failure rates are high here and are difficult to avoid. The third is end of life failures normally due to wear and degredation of parts. Failures are also high here.
And in the middle is the part where failures are very low, the useful life of the part. But this can only be achieved if the parts are thoroughly tested by simulation of the actual life.
The failures I have had on my LCR are during the second stage when failures are supposed to be low. I know that every car will have certain parts which fall into this catagory, but the LCR seems to have loads. Its just seems to me as if the parts were not correctly tested in the development. This is why a few of them have been replaced with uprated versions (coil packs, wheel bearings, water pumps and probably others I have not mentioned).
So the failures I and many others have had, are during the useful life of most other cars and this is why I say the LCR has in general a poor reliability.
P.S I forgot the waterleaks, I am so happy this has not happened to me
I understand what you are saying,however, you simply do not know how the car was looked after before you had it. Someone could have driven it through a flood and sucked in water, buggered the lot and you would be none the wiser.
The enigne is used throughout the VAG group (my best mate is the service manager at the biggest audi dealership in the uk) and the 1.8t is one of the best on the reliability front.
My unlce just bought a brand new 330d coupe - it has 200 miles on the clock and a big oil leek!
My Leon has covered 9.5 k in 2 months and driven fairly hard without missing a beat. I think you have been fairly unlucky tbh.
P.S i havent had any water leaks either lol
The enigne is used throughout the VAG group (my best mate is the service manager at the biggest audi dealership in the uk) and the 1.8t is one of the best on the reliability front.
My unlce just bought a brand new 330d coupe - it has 200 miles on the clock and a big oil leek!
My Leon has covered 9.5 k in 2 months and driven fairly hard without missing a beat. I think you have been fairly unlucky tbh.
P.S i havent had any water leaks either lol
I have not mentioned any engine failures and I would agree its a reliable engine.
All the parts I am talking about are common problems for the LCR......
Did they really test the plastic impeller water pump? Did they forget that there would be higher forces on the wheel bearings due the 18 inch alloys? Surely the coil pack issue should have been found in development tests and modified before release of the car? I could go on.
Your uncles 330d coupe is one of the early failures I was talking about. This can be expected on any car or in any product during the run-in-phase. My LCR has done 40K and is probably about half way along the useful life. After this I would expect these kind of faiures and have had them on nearly every car I have owned (the Nissan the exeption). Failures of these types should not be happening on a reliable car.
I guess I am a little bitter with the hassle I have had, but I still stand by what I am saying.
You think 80k is the life of these cars? You are sadly mistaken! They are only just run in! 150k would not be an unrealistic life for the VAG range.
At the end of the day its the bean counters that kill any realiability in a car. Its not just VAG that coilpacks plague, my dads saab had a problem, volvos etc. Alot of parts you listed are unfortunately where the bean counters ruin a car.
You can't say its the LCR thats unrealiable as at the end of the day it is a Leon with extra bits which is really a golf. Therefore its the VAG range and not just limited to the LCR.
At the end of the day its the bean counters that kill any realiability in a car. Its not just VAG that coilpacks plague, my dads saab had a problem, volvos etc. Alot of parts you listed are unfortunately where the bean counters ruin a car.
You can't say its the LCR thats unrealiable as at the end of the day it is a Leon with extra bits which is really a golf. Therefore its the VAG range and not just limited to the LCR.
too true, the 1.8 unit is reliable because it is 30 years old yes 30 years old!
The coil packs was a common vag fault and has affected other brands because all the car companies use the same small numbe rof key suppliers for parts like that.
It's the accountants who need shooting because everything has be done to a price, the enjoyment i have had from my car far out ways the problems i have had.
Some people should stop moaning if you dont like your cars sell them and spend more money on something like a Merc who have a worse reliability record then SEAT
No I don't think 80k is the life of any car this would be 30 years ago. I am saying that at that age I would expect these sort of components to fail. I am not talking about the engine life its the ancillary parts.
I have had 4 cars with 70-110k on them and they had the odd failure which I was not too bothered about, infact I expect things to happen then parts are well worn.
I bought the LCR with 35k on and did not expect to have so many failures until it was at least 5 years old with 80k or more on. I mean the last time I had to change a wheel bearing was 12 years ago on an Astra with 110k on the clock.
I hear what you are saying about VAG common parts and dont blame the LCR, but for me the LCR reliability has been pitiful and from what I read on this forum has been the same with many others.
But dispite this, I sill love the car and am planning on keeping it for 3 years plus. I am just a bit paranoid now, which should not be the case on any modern car with 40K on the clock. As you say, its bearly run-in.
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charvel
Guest
I dont wish to be condescending in anyway, but surely alarm bells should be ringing if you are considering buying a car that has done 40K and has already blown a turbo AND a headgasket. I wouldnt touch that with a barge pole as it suggests that it has been ragged to death (my cynical attitude again, but it helps to keep me safe!).
Are you not just disapointed that you hadnt waited for a better example to come along before spending the cash? I was tempted but ended up holding on for a few months before I found exactly what I wanted.
I bought the car from its only owner who kept it immaculate. Not a single mark on it, not even on the alloys, with every receipt for every part. He did not seem the type to ragg it as he was a bit older and past that phase like myself. Who knows what he did though, i could be totally wrong. But thats irrevevant to my statement of the LCR having poor reliability. The water pump went as its a common problem to the LCR, it can happen and has happened to anyone, then the car was ran for some time and this cooked the head gasket and turbo. This could have happened if my gran had been driving it.
I looked at 13 other LCR's for 9 months before I came across this one and I knew the parts had just been replaced as he told me. In my eyes this was a good thing as the warranty was just out. And sooner or later the water pump would go anyway.
Your missing the point, its not a common fault to the LCR its a common fault on the 1.8 engine! That means its a common fault for the VAG range. Everything you listed is a common fault for the VAG range based around the 1.8/1.8T engine! Therefore its not the LCR that is faulty its the range!
Exactly so your saying the LCR is unreliable but it has nothing to do with the LCR its to do with the parent company i.e. VW! Golfs suffer the same problems but you can't say well the golfs unreliable becuase it doesn't just afflict that.
It seems you are trying to tar the LCR with the unreliability brush when it is in fact an inherited problem. Unfortunately it sounds like you didn't get a good example as there are plenty with 100k miles on them with no major issues like you have suffered.
Geez my first Toledo was a real lemon/friday afternoon machine but I knew it wasn't an inherit fault with the range of the car just I had picked a lemon and paid for it. The engine ended blowing on it but the current one has done 50% more mileage and not skipped a beat. Essentially they are the same car (basic wise) and there are TDIs on here with over 175k on the clock ticking away nicely. Just as there are 1.8Ts with overr 150k on the clock on original turbos etc.
Agreed fitting unreliable parts make any car unreliable but there are a lot of people with happy long mileage cars.
It seems you are trying to tar the LCR with the unreliability brush when it is in fact an inherited problem. Unfortunately it sounds like you didn't get a good example as there are plenty with 100k miles on them with no major issues like you have suffered.
Geez my first Toledo was a real lemon/friday afternoon machine but I knew it wasn't an inherit fault with the range of the car just I had picked a lemon and paid for it. The engine ended blowing on it but the current one has done 50% more mileage and not skipped a beat. Essentially they are the same car (basic wise) and there are TDIs on here with over 175k on the clock ticking away nicely. Just as there are 1.8Ts with overr 150k on the clock on original turbos etc.
Agreed fitting unreliable parts make any car unreliable but there are a lot of people with happy long mileage cars.
i bought my lcr a year old with 14k miles on it. I have now owned it for 2 years and the mileage is at almost 74k. Car is remapped, done plenty track days, been to europe in it and the only thing that has gone wrong is one faulty coilpack. Yes, there are a few more rattles but for the abuse it has taken and the high mileage in a short period of time i cant really complain.
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