I’ve head and read that French cars in general are supposed to be a nightmare. It seems whoever I’ve ever talked to say the same (often due to experience, but sometimes just hearsay), yet I see zillions about, of all ages. They aren’t particularly cheap, price wise, compared to every day regular brands, so it can’t be that, so, how do they still sell in millions, when they’ve got an horrendous reputation? Maybe they’re not unreliable, and it’s a case of don’t listen to the herd?
In the last 12 years i have had three Citroen Berlingo vans. Not sure if diesel vehicles fall into the “nightmare” description but all excellent so far. 
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Did their ‘supposed’ unreliability (Citroen in general) have any factor in your initial decision to purchase. That’s probably the crux of the question: despite people ‘hearing’ they’re a nightmare, they still buy.
I was once, in a weak moment, considering a Dacia, but the forum ( ghost town that it is) is kind of an A-Z of issues. When the same ones crop up time and time again, time to think again.
Ran a Renault 25 2.5 V6 Turbo ( Main dealer—preowned) and it did need the expected head gaskets at 50,000 hard miles, but I was prepared for it and had them done at the first hint of weepage. No worries after that. Put on an SS rear exhaust while I was at it. I think a couple of leaky shockers as well from memory I caned the thing with no mercy…it never complained. I did " over service" it though.
Wife had two wee 5’s after she passed her test. Got the first 980cc for £900.00 just to give her some to knock corners off. Except…she did’nt so after two years we got a minted 1 owner 1.4 fuel injected job which she used for7 years…but eventually needed something with power steering . That wee 5 belied it’s showroom figures…it was so stupid quick…I’d say not far off a Mk1 1600 Golf… and 100% reliable as they both were. Crude, a bit rattly, and the Airfix interior was a joke.
But both silly cheap as chips to run. A full exhaust from down pipe back when a baffle blew was £34.00 out of Kwik Spit.
No leccy issues from any bar a wiper motor…got a scrapper for £10.00.
I have had 6 Renaults over the last 30 years.never had a problem,they used to be easy to maintain by a anyone with a basic knowledge.parts inexpensive and readily available.things a little more difficult on newer models.only this morning did I service my daughters 2018 koleos.7.4 litres of oil and filter,£75 delivered.now use opie oils through recommendations from fellow oc members.
Only thing is Renault do appear to be going all electric.
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Equally, you could ask, why do people still buy Mazdas when they are supposed to be rustbuckets? Anecdotes are not data, and the average buyer’s choices might be defined by anything - “Can fit 3 kids + dogs in the back”, “I loved the 205 I had back in the day”, or even just as simple as “a red one”.
I have had quite a few hire cars for work purposes over the years, which is an interesting insight into your next purchase that most people don’t get. In theory, I should like the Astra, for example - but I never once sat in a Vauxhall of any sort that I found comfortable. I did really like the Seat Leon FR, but the interior felt plasticy and it was a basically a Golf in a silly hat, and therefore scored low on reliability in the independent surveys that I could find. I did have a couple of Citreons which I didn’t particularly like and certainly wouldn’t consider buying. I had a couple of low-end Mercs which were nice on the highway, so long as you have 24hr breakdown cover! I wasn’t prepared to like the Mondeo as much as I did and, like the Mercs, were a bit bigger than I would have myself.
The hire company did once - and only once - give me a Dacia, and it was by a very considerable distance the absolute worst vehicle I have ever driven. When I handed it back, it went with the one and only time I have left feedback - “Do not ever give me this thing again under any circumstances, I’d rather travel by rollerskate”. Given the swiftness that it disappeared from their inventory, I clearly wasn’t the only one of that opinion!
All, of course, very much horses for courses
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I thought it was more the MX-5 which was the rust bucket (same principle of your question still applies though). A family member got an older Mazda3 which is okay rust wise.
But anyway, you’re no doubt correct about average buyer’s choices being defined by anything.
I don’t know but I think there is a certain charm to some French cars, though in our experience their reliability is indeed questionable. Had a new 1998 Peugeot 406 3.0 Coupe that was OK, a new Citroen 2003 Citroen C5 2.0 petrol that was dreadful and a second-hand 2007 Citroen C6 (astonishing car in many ways) that was cataclysmic reliability wise.
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Going back a good few years I owned a Renault 18 and 21. If I remember the engines and gearbox on those were great units, particularly the 18, that when purchased was on over 100k miles. It was just stuff that was bolted on or rather not, they fell off. Window winders (remember them) door handles clutch pedals (very much needed) seat bracket broken, basic stuff you’d expect to not break. Apart from that they never let me down mechanically.
I’d always stuck to Japanese cars mostly, Datsun/Nissan now Mazda of course and earlier still a few Vauxhalls.
Price was the main influence. Initially i was after a Ford Transit Connect but they were about four grand more expensive than the Berlingo Enterprise.
Plus, Enterprise sounds way more cool than Connect. 
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Horrendous reputation my a***. You can find bad reviews of any car manufacturer - if I believed what I read my MX5ND gearbox should have turned to cheese years ago , but inconveniently it’s better than ever.
We’ve owned …umm… nine French cars , and all but one (a Pug 206 ) was wonderful. Sometimes quirky , usually fun and as often as not with superb ride and fun handling . My current daily car is a new Duster 4x 4 with Renault bits and I can’t fault it. Friends with Alpine A110s love them .
And what even is a French car in 2025? Most car firms are in bed with others - Renault and Nissan were in bed for years.
The company I work for used to run Peugeot Partner vans and they spent most of their time at the dealers being repaired (mine was at the dealer for 3 months). At the branch I work at we had 4 vans and 3 of them had terminal engine problems. Our rep had a Peugeot car which was just two years old with only 12,000 miles on the clock when his engine gave out. The mechanic at the main dealer took him out the back of the workshop, lifted a tarpaulin and showed him all of the engines they had taken out of the cars. The cost of replacing the engine was more than the car was worth so scrap after 2 years. The electrics weren’t much better either.
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So in general, you don’t think French cars have a bad/horrendous reputation?
I appreciate that you have had 9 and 8 have been great, but have a read on the internet.
Maybe the premise of the thread title is wrong, they’re great and everyone who says otherwise (you know, the 18 million) are talking trash lol
Regarding Nissan being in bed with Renault for years- is that telling in itself 
I must be getting confused but I thought this was an MX5 forum!!!
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Life, the universe and (almost) everything, so I guess as relevant as a thread on say, what’s your favourite beer, or say bloody cats! or say the tuxido studio in Bali, or say can openers 
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The clue is in the ‘almost’. I win!!!
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i ran and had no reliability issues with the heralded Peugeot 205 GTIs in the mid/late 80’s -latterly swapping the 1.6 version for a tremendous 1.9 with 130bhp , wheels at each corner -terrific MX-5 like handling ,great styling, zero reliability problems . Sadly never got to test the longer term reliability as a low life took unwarranted possession and wrote it off the same evening .
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Had Citroens for twenty of my car years. 2x2Cv’s/ AX/Picasso. No problems whatsoever. The peu107 we had from new had two faults in its first three years. Same company but different outcomes.
My worse car has been Mercedes (A1).
You can’t judge cars without a timeline. The quality/ reliability of German over the last twenty years is an example.
Be interesting to see what our government does with Chinese EV’s The tariffs of the USA and Europe looks like we will get a flood of them. Apparently they are huge numbers that are looking for a market and because of overproduction the quality has dropped to keep competitive.
Me I’m keeping out of this Chinese thing by just running my ‘64 Volvo…
These cars are essentially the same. The one in the red party frock…was $£1,000 USD…just cuz.
As I used to understand it, the 1st gen Audi A1s also had little 1300cc Reggy spinny bits fitted.
So far as I can tell…only Suzuki makes much of it’s engines and platforms in house…but they do flog their very nice little all alloy 4 pots to folk like Caterham. I’d imagine, given my own Swift 1.4 turbo’s performance, my engine in a feather weight Caterham and similar would be good fun.