- Warranty Direct creates a monstrous motor ready for Halloween
- The price to fix catastrophic components averages almost £500
As the dark nights draw in and Halloween approaches, Warranty Direct has used insights from its unique Reliability Index (www.reliabilityindex.com) to conjure up a horrific ‘horror’ car that would give its owners nightmares all year round.
The vehicle, known as the Horrific H-0WL3R, is constructed from car components which statistically are the most prone to failure. As a result it breaks down every other month and regularly feasts on the contents of its owner’s bank account, costing an average of £487 to repair.
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Warranty Direct analysed data from 50,000 live policies to create this Frankenstein’s monster of the automotive world, using failure rates to determine which parts should be bolted on to the ultimate horror vehicle.
The catastrophic components of the ‘Horrific H-0WL3R’
| Make | Year | Car part |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | 07- | Engine |
| Mazda 5 | 05- | Axle & suspension |
| Chevrolet Tacuma | 05-11 | Gearbox |
| Lexus GS | 05- | Electrics |
| Mazda MX-5 | 05- | Braking system |
| Honda CR-V | 07- | Air-Conditioning |
| Chevrolet Tacuma | 05-11 | Steering System |
Sitting on the Mazda 5’s axle and suspension system, the Horrific H-0WL3R would most likely spend much of its time coming to grief over Britain’s poor quality road surfaces, breaking in the process, as the suspension inflicts problems on almost three quarters of Mazda 5s.
Power comes from a motor torn from under the bonnet of a Mitsubishi Outlander. This engine will be to blame for almost half of the many failed starts that the Horrific H-0WL3R will experience, with some 48.3% blighted by such issues.
Once started, stopping the Horrific H-0WL3R could also make your heart skip a beat. Surprisingly, the Mazda MX-5 donates its braking system to the H-0WL3R. Although the car experiences most problems as infrequently as Halloween itself, in almost 50% of these instances, the issue is related to the brakes.
Adding to this engineering monstrosity is the Chevrolet Tacuma. For drivers of the Horrific H-0WL3R, turning corners and swapping cogs will most likely be an unpleasant experience thanks to a steering system and gearbox which have both been proven to plague 33% of Tacumas with reliability woes.
Passengers too will feel the car’s wrath but via its temperamental electrics and ventilation system. The complex electrics of a Lexus GS will cause regular headaches with a 67% failure rate, while the wheezing air conditioning system of a Honda CR-V is likely to bring unpredictable temperatures and a lamentable failure rate of 18.4%.
David Gerrans, Managing Director of Warranty Direct commented, “This Halloween vehicle is the culmination of motorists’ nightmares, guaranteeing inconvenient and expensive breakdowns if it was ever to be built.
“Thankfully it is fictional and can’t be found on the market, nonetheless, it does highlight the Achilles heel of different vehicles, some of which are generally reliable, but could cause a fright as a result of a rogue component.”
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