Frying pan into the fire.

[Craig]

From what I've read, if you want reliability then buy Toyota.

Let me tell you a story. My wife's company car at one point was a Toyota with the T3 diesel engine. It really was a bit of a catapult, fast, responsive and quiet. And of course complete Toyota service history.

After she was up to change her company car we bought the Toyota from the company for the residual value at 60k miles.

We then put a further 50k on it, again serviced at Toyota, whereupon at 110k it was really a pale shadow of the original performance. Diagnosis was carbonised cylinders that had pushed the head gasket up, and exhaust gases were leaking into the coolant (which really stunk of diesel).

Now Toyota knew that this was a problem with the T3, and failed to inform us that the engine guarantee had been extended from 70k to 100k miles. At 110k miles the Toyota company chose to walk away, or even contribute to the repair, and the Toyota garage quoted us £6k to fit a new engine. Which rendered the care valueless.

Since diesels are known to go on forever, we were cheerfully expecting this car to go on well into 200k miles. Not Toyota's design.

So - Toyota reliability? Ha! I would not buy one of those again, ever.

Craig