OT: European Cars, Are any better than they use to be? Options

[Allan]

My wife is going to for sure have to sell her car prior to our move to Turkey and she has been looking at the auto market to see what is available.

We are going to stay away from any of the eastern european manufacturers but she has seen a few of the Pugeot, Citroen (both French), Alfa (Italian), and Rover (British) cars that have the styling she likes.

Does anyone have any knowledge of these cars as far as reliability, performance, safety, etc?

I'm leaning toward either a Volvo S40 or S60.

One consideration is that the more common the car the better the likelyhood of finding competent mechanics.

Has reliability gotten any better?

[fiid]

Skoda is VW now.

I wouldn't bother staying away from Skoda or even FIAT anymore. These days they are a lot better than they used to be.

French cars are awesome. The main problem with French cars is the attitude people have towards the french. The cars are innovative, efficient, reliable, fast, etc. Until recently they were the leaders in Diesel cars, and were the first to market with a production car with active suspension (the Citroen Xantia Activa).

Germany obviously has plenty to bring to the party. There's a brand out of spain called SEAT, that I think is now owned by another company.

I would tend to avoid british marques - they are mostly not british anymore, as mentioned before, and are also kind of expensive, and probably not the most reliable. Rover does have some good cars, but none of them are class leaders. They are not particularly liked from what I can tell.