One of my neighbours reckons I have never written a good word about a car, ever: “You slag every single one of them off,” he said.

No, no, no Dave that’s councillors, not cars. With cars I try to be objective. I may not like a model personally but so long as it does not claim to be something it is not, for instance to be sporting when it is twinned with a tomato slug, I’ll give it a fair crack
But if you buy one and it drops below expectations you are at a disadvantage. Mainly because you can’t send it back at the end of the week.
Some French cars are highly unpopular with UK owners says Which? Car after a customer satisfaction survey.
Renault scores an unenviable hat-trick - three cars in the bottom five with the wooden spoon going to the Renault Espace. Peugeot hasn’t fared much better, with two cars in the bottom ten, and there’s one Citroën in there too.
Owners’ comments on the lowest scoring cars of the 219 models rated include:
210 Chrysler Voyager (1997-2001), customer score 69%. “Very expensive on fuel costs. Sluggish when full”.
211 Peugeot 206 (1998 on), 69%. “Poor interior quality.” “Clunky gearbox, poor visibility.”
212 Peugeot 307 (2001 on), 68%. “Poor quality with lots of small faults.”
213 VW Sharan (1995 on), 68%. “Niggling faults, and repairs are expensive.”
214 Citroën Xsara (1997-2004), 68%. “Recurring problems.” “Clutch has always been stiff.”
215 Renault Scenic (1997-2003), 67%. “Radio only works after the engine is warm.”
216 Fiat Punto (1999-2005), 65%. “Drives like a tin can, awesomely plastic.”
217 Mercedes A-class (1998-2004), 65%. “Terrible ride for a Mercedes”.
218 Renault Laguna (2001-2007), 64%. “Unreliable bag of spanners.”
219 Renault Espace (2003 on), 61%. “A total waste of money.”
Richard Headland, Editor, Which? Car, says: "Car adverts give you the hype, but car owners give you the low-down. Some French cars appear to have lost their va va voom and British owners are less than impressed. It’s no surprise to see several Japanese cars in the top ten as they’re often reliable, economical and good value."
Well done, Richard. Not a single one of the cars slagged off was identified as a current model. Buying older used is not exposing owners to bad manufacturing, it’s exposing them to previous plantpot drivers. There wasn’t even the saving grace of a good one-liner to use in my column.

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