Not happy with Ford.. are BMW/Audi any better?

matt100 · 24 Jul 2006 at 20:17

Well I went and test drove a Focus ST today and all I can say is :eek:

Awesome car, sitting in the showroom trying to hide my excitement, then get round to asking about the warranty.

Now this is going to be my company car for a new job I'm starting on the 30th of August. I reckon I'll be doing somewhere between 25 and 40k a year in this car. The finance all looked ok(ish) the car was awesome, they reckoned they could get me one for the end of September so I wouldn't have too long to wait but then.. oh no.. the warranty is 3yrs/60k miles.

You don't have to be a maths professor to see I'll be out of warranty in 18 months/2 years with either 18 months/1 year left on a pcp or 2 to 2.5 years left on a standard finance. Not happy with that at all so I inquired about extending the warranty.

"no"

was the rather brisk reply.. so no matter how much money I care to wave at you you're not prepared to guarantee your car can work for more than 60k miles?

"no"

ok.. bye then!

Gutted, its an awesome car, seriusly quick, looks awesome etc etc..

So now I'm left with a dilemma and the father in laws taunts of "you'll have to buy a hyundai!" might actually be coming true!

Does anyone know what BMW warranties are like? And can you extend them? I'm booked in to look at a couple of 1/1.5 year old 320ci coupes tomorrow at my local main dealer but it'll be pointless if I can't extend their warranty

Townlea · 24 Jul 2006 at 20:36

Ford are also poo when your warranty is up.. they break things on purpose and charge you the earth!

Dolph · 24 Jul 2006 at 20:41

hmm, tricky one.

Before you dismiss hyundai entirely, have you actually driven any of them? The Coupe isn't bad (it's not great, but it's certainly not bad), and while none of them are dynamic masters, they are generally fairly well kitted out, and have that extensive warranty. (Both my parents currently own them, wouldn't be my choice, but they aren't worried about the depreciation, they'll keep the cars until the warranty runs out then if they want they'll get rid and get new ones)

BMW used to let you extend the warranties to about 100k, but recent changes in legislation have made this much more expensive than it used to be IIRC.

Jonjam · 24 Jul 2006 at 20:45

One way around the warranty problem is not to buy , just get it on a lease agreement , at the end of the day after 3 years of driving doing your miles the value would be not much , and then any work that does need doing is the lease companies responsibilty . Another thing is the drive train is mostly volvo anyways so should be bullet proof ....... have not heard of any serious problems occuring , no recalls been issued ... and yes before you ask I do know , I am a workshop foreman at a Ford dealership ...... the only problems we have had with them is niggly small issues , if anything less than most other fords .

dannyjo22 · 24 Jul 2006 at 20:59

I wonder how long it will be before we get 5 year and 100,000 mile warranties, the americans have that on new cars after all.

I'm suprised that you cannot extend the warranty, My mate has an BMW X5 and he had no problem extending that warranty for another year before he sold it. It wasnt cheap mind, but his X5 broke about 6 times under warranty.

[TW]Fox · 24 Jul 2006 at 21:07

BMW's extended warranty is absolute garbage and not worth the paper its written on anymore.

Most BMW owners are now taking out policies with Warranty Direct - which, incidently, is something you can do with the Focus ST, as well.

matt100 · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:15

OK, couple of points...

a) I'd rather set fire to my testicles than own a hyundai, I think the coupe is pig ugly and I can't think of anything else they sell I would be even remotely interested in.

b) Mr Ford Foreman, what volvo is the ST running gear out of so I can have a read up? In your opinion am I asking for trouble having a 90-100k hard driven ST? I mean having that much oompf and the noise etc I'm going to give it some stick I'm afraid.

c) BMW warranty being not worth the paper its written on? How so? Also my experience of 3rd party warranties isn't good (blown up celica engine due to failed water pump, was offered a replacement water pump and wound up spending £2k on a new engine :confused:

(In hindsight I should have just binned the whole car, POS)) are these warranties direct any better? Anyone got experience? Might put the ST back on the map...

Scrutinize · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:27

In your position it would be much better to lease hire a car with a service agreement. That way no matter how much mileage you do and what goes wrong its not your responsibility + alll service costs are taken car of. you could even consider doing an anual or two year one.

Same engine as the vlovo S40 T4. Good engines, thirsty but if you drive it hard, how long is a piece of string?

[TW]Fox · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:28

matt100 said:
b) Mr Ford Foreman, what volvo is the ST running gear out of so I can have a read up? In your opinion am I asking for trouble having a 90-100k hard driven ST? I mean having that much oompf and the noise etc I'm going to give it some stick I'm afraid.

It platform/engine shares with the new Volvo S40.

c) BMW warranty being not worth the paper its written on? How so?

It used to be awesome - but it's now changed to an insurance based warranty. It is approx £700 a year, so £100 or so cheaper than before, but it now excludes many suspension components and - wait for it - has a £250 excess per claim. It now sucks.

Also my experience of 3rd party warranties isn't good (blown up celica engine due to failed water pump, was offered a replacement water pump and wound up spending £2k on a new engine (In hindsight I should have just binned the whole car, POS)) are these warranties direct any better?

Everything I have read customer experience wise so far suggests yes - they are better. Most warranties stiff you with two crucial exclusions:

a) Faliure due to wear and tear - Sorry sir, your gearbox wore out? Wear and tear, go away.
b) Consequential Loss Exclusion - Your cambelt snapped? Here is a new cambelt. Melted engine? Not our problem.

Warranty Direct cover both Wear and Tear (After the first 90 days of the policy) and also dont have consequential loss exclusion.

Since the BMW warranty went awful, the BM3W guys (Big M3 owners forum) negotiated a good deal with Warranty Direct as they felt it a better alternative to the BMW warranty. I've also read glowing reports from the various 5 Series owners - apparently they dont worm out of claims, and its all quite hassle free.

I've put... someone elses money where my mouth is and set up a policy with them on Dads 530d - it cost £310 for the year and this includes main dealer repairs - so if anything does break, it'll be fixed by the BMW main dealer.

No practical experience with claims yet but I've also yet to read a bad word. If the 530i I buy is a sub 100k miler, I'll be taking out a policy myself. Note that as mileage increases, contribution to I think its parts reduces - over 90k miles for example they pay full labour and 50% of parts price. over 60-70k I think its full labour and 90% of parts price..

munkyfunk · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:33

What about Honda?
They do 3 yrs/ 90k miles standard warranty with 3 yrs AA cover aswell.

Arc · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:41

matt100 said:
I reckon I'll be doing somewhere between 25 and 40k a year in this car.

Are you paying for the petrol? If you are, I'd choose a different car tbh. If not, you'll probably bankrupt your company

.

matt100 · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:49

Arc said:
Are you paying for the petrol? If you are, I'd choose a different car tbh. If not, you'll probably bankrupt your company .

lol..

no I'm not paying.

Hmm.. warranty direct might save the day on the ST.. hmm..

I'm booked in for a chat with BMW tomorrow then its sort of decision time.

Although this honda business, I guess that would cover a civic/accord type R too?

dilated · 24 Jul 2006 at 23:51

why buy a car?

why not lease a car with maintenance over 3 years?

matt100 · 24 Jul 2006 at 23:54

well generally I've seen leasing costs are much much higher? I'm pretty picky on my cars, I have £675 to £1000 a month to go at before tax, the scale is based on mileage so 0-20k=£675, 20-40k=£850 and 40k+ =£1000. I expect I'll be in the £850 but I wouldn't like to budget on that.

Who do I need to be speaking to about leasing and what could I get for that sort of money?

dilated · 25 Jul 2006 at 00:29

Im not sure abut all your questions, but http://www.contracthireandleasing.com is a good startng point.

Simon · 25 Jul 2006 at 00:34

Buy a second hand one and sell it in a year

Garrett · 25 Jul 2006 at 00:40

As Fox says Warranty Direct are picking up a lot of business from BMW and especially M car owners (£250 excess on all claims)

Altered Corpse · 25 Jul 2006 at 00:49

Townlea said:
Ford are also poo when your warranty is up.. they break things on purpose and charge you the earth!

I wouldn't say that. My car was 6 months out of warranty and Ford still paid 75% of the cost when the power steering pump failed. I personally was quite impressed.

The_Dark_Side · 25 Jul 2006 at 00:55

[TW]Fox said:
It platform/engine shares with the new Volvo S40.

Fox is the T5 lump in the Focus the tried and tested T5 engine that's powered traffic cars for years, or a new engine altogether?
i was under the impression it was the older engine but you may know different

[TW]Fox · 25 Jul 2006 at 00:58

This I do not know I'm afraid.