FTO AUSTRALIA

ive posted on here bout the dramas my cars had lately

got my license bak and then got defected then the gearbox had problems, i sent it to 1 mechanic who charged me a lot of money without fixing anything and suggested i try a tranmission specialist so i did, who also charged me a lot of money and still f**ked gearbox, he then says its an electircal problem and send me to an auto-electrician who now has had the car for a week without one phone call or anything so i went there only to basicallly be ignored and to tell me they just pulled out my alternator and are replacing it to fix my gearbox...???...

in between all this ive been told parts i will need to fix it, ive bought them all and its still f**ked, not to mention having a gearbox computer sent to melbourne for no reason after i was told there was nuthin wrong with it in the 1st place

its now been 3 months since i first had the gearbox drama, ive paid a lot of money (into the thousands) and still no help, might i mention im a 1st year apprentice!!!

is it just these friggin cars or does it take 3 months 3 mechanic shops and numerous trades people who claim to know what theyre doin, to fix a f**kn imported car

because of this sh*t fight thats happened im completely over my car to the extent of hating it

i can tell u that when it comes back its goin up for sale!!
and i might just go back to the good old commodores

and to the people on here who will post up comments saying stupid things or comments completely off topicplease dont bother as im not in the mood!!

Im sure there are people on this site who can recomend good repairers/mechanics who may specialise in fto's, unless they already have. Other then that, good luck with sale and hope the commodore does you better.

i had no idea to take all the place were on reccomendations of others

I often wonder why mechanics get so 'confused' about them because they are 'imported'

Its a f*cking Lancer chassis with a Galant engine in it..... with every part available off the shelf from Mitsubishi Australia.

I know this is no colsolation, but what you are going through shouldnt be happening. Firstly, in the main, the vast majority of FTO owners have very little go wrong, and secondly, if the mechanics dont fix it, then you shouldnt be paying them. Mind you, they shouldnt be asking to be paid either.

I hope things get sorted for you soon (one way or another). You certainly shouldnt have to wear that kind of crap!

it makes it worse as i need my car to get 2 work and being an apprentice its almost impossible to afford

why cant you just figure it out yourself with your work mates if you're a 1st yr? unless you're not a mechanic obviously...

dstocks wrote:I know this is no colsolation, but what you are going through shouldnt be happening. Firstly, in the main, the vast majority of FTO owners have very little go wrong, and secondly, if the mechanics dont fix it, then you shouldnt be paying them. Mind you, they shouldnt be asking to be paid either.

I hope things get sorted for you soon (one way or another). You certainly shouldnt have to wear that kind of crap!

I couldnt agree more, why the f&*k are you paying someone to babysit your car for you.... cause if they aint fixing the problem then you shouldnt be paying, if they refuse to give back your money i would taking this to small claims court, it cost about $75 no lawyer required so it would be worth it.

And man if your are first year apprentice why arent you fixing at work like someone else aid with the help of your workmates. WHen i was doin my apprentiship, every lunch time all the boys had their cars in the workshop doing stuff

dstocks wrote: the vast majority of FTO owners have very little go wrong

In that case dwayne I hate being the minority. Mine is an endless money pit and if something could go wrong it has. From gearbox to engine mounts to tie rod ends and sway bar bushes, oh and the fact that it is so hated by others that I'm looking at a full respray to cover the damage done. On top of that I just found out I need new lower bushes in the front end but they are apparently genuine only and you have to buy the whole arm.

Don't get me wrong I love FTO's, they look great and are fun to drive but like mr_f700 I don't know if I can put up with the hassles for much longer.

I'm almost in the same boat 99R. Its hard to go past how cheap a newish commodore or falcon is as well, with that much power and space under the bonnet and so many parts available. Ive been thinking about getting a BA XT dropping it to the ground fitting massive rims and cruising about, would be roughly the same price.

that really sux. I had the same fcuk around with my last car (mercedes) I would book it in for a $300 job which would soon be $1300 because 4 mechanics spent the whole day on it and couldn't find the fault and they just bullied you into paying the bill. After all.. they have your car
The last thing that went wrong with it was the head needed replacing and that cost me $6000! As you can imagine I was glad to see the end of that car. Even though I loved it. So I know what you're going through. If that happend to my fto i'd cry!! I just hate siht like that maybe we could make a FTO blacklist for dodgy mechanics so others wont fall victim to to these scumbags.

I can sort of relate, but I guess im not looking at it the same way. I had quite a few suspension problems with my blue FTO and that cost me quite a lot. Thing is though, that wasnt the cars fault, that was because the place I took it to was fleecing me (and I have no problem with naming Pedders as the culprit). I think its fair to say that most of the problems you are facing have more to do with the fact that the people working on the car are inept and not the fact that the car is any less reliable than most other cars on the road. You could perceivably have just as much trouble with a falcon or commodore. In fact, I had a VT commodore as a family car a few years ago that I had nothing but trouble with.

Im not saying for a moment thats it not frustrating and ive felt the pain in the past too. You keep taking the car to get fixed, you replace something and the problem doesnt go away. I have owned 3 FTO's and generally speaking, theyve been pretty good from a reliability aspect and offer value for money for what they are.

Yeh I think its just a case of bad luck more than anything. I bought my vehicle from a dodgy dealer and within a week of driving it I knew that for a car with <50,000kms it had been flogged to death (e.g. gearbox needing recon). I guess I'l learn for next time.

im in mr f700, 99r & oodles boat on this with my fto. Problem after problem with it, how ever I have a great mechanic who backs me up with anything i need and at a great price too. (mates rates as bennoz say) after finally finding out he would fix it after 7 months of having problems and not finding a decent mechanic I found him then had 6 months of pure bliss until the gearbox cracked now she just sits there. However my mechanic is doing some hunting around for me at no charge and if there was nothing wrong with it he doesnt charge. It's all about finding a good mechanic to work on your baby, even though in times like this while everyone around me is telling me to sell it, i cant part with it.

thanx guys for the opinions

im an apprentice for railcorp, u no fixing trains, yeah that y i idint get someone at 2 do it

mr_f700 wrote:thanx guys for the opinions

im an apprentice for railcorp, you no fixing trains, yeah that y i idint get someone at 2 do it

Oh ok that will explain it

But dont blame the car blame the mechanic and please dont make the mistake thinking falcons and commodores are problem free cause they are not and if you have the same inept ppl working on them you will have the same problems

^^^ too right, i dont think Australian build quality will EVER supersede Jap and Euro standards (Jap not to be confused with Taiwan or korea, no offence)

it is a big pain that these things hapen but they are an old car and they are bound to have problems along the way.
But when you look at it every part you change its a new part and the will last another ten odd years

so it just comes down to if you love the car and you are willing to go that step and put the money into it.
just my 2c

just do all the work yourself, it might take a bit longer and it might annoy the f**k out of bennoz but its saved me a bundle and ive learnt a lot on the way...

jonowong wrote:just do all the work yourself, it might take a bit longer and it might annoy the f*** out of bennoz but its saved me a bundle and ive learnt a lot on the way...

Fixed ya subframe bolt yet Johnny Tran?