Ford Or Vauxhall? Which Is Worse

Ford Or Vauxhall? Which Is Worse

Author
Discussion

GSX

137 posts

217 months

Saturday 15th June 2019
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J4CKO said:
Oh for gods make, anything they make will be perfectly acceptable for getting you about, some are pretty good, some less so but not are actually that bad nowadays, safe, reliable, relatively comfy, fairly economical but they wont tickle your ego like the German stuff does.

i am sure if a Germanic badge was stuck on a Vauxhall some would declare it wonderful, particularly brand and image obsessed non petrolheads, put the mundane, not special, I am not a premium consumer badge back on it and it would revert to being st, I have seen people at work say how rubbish their perfectly acceptable car is as if they are telling me that product is not up their standards, it is not worthy when in actual fact they secretly love it, have seen some almost sell their soul to get into the most basic, lowest powered Audi A1.

We have Fiesta, it is a fantastic little thing, ok, some of the interiors isnt super premium but it goes, stops and steers fantastically. #

We had a Galaxy before that, darling of the airport taxi rank, they arent cool but they do a fantastic job of carrying people and stuff, however, everyone wants a premium SUV, not an MPV.

My Son has an Astra, 2008 SRi, it has lasted better than a lot of more expensive stuff of the era, 8k and is in fine fettle, they are a little rough and ready but it drives ok, isnt bad on fuel, has a decent crash rating and he likes it.

So, is it the cars are really that bad or is it prejudice due to them not having a badge you aspire to ?
Yes it's a 3 yr old post and I don't care.

You sir speak the truth enough said

PorkRind

3,053 posts

204 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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Vauxhall by a country kilometre .

Monkeylegend

26,226 posts

230 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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Nothing wrong with Vauxhalls,they represent good value for money. My son had an Astra as his second car, 4 years and one Maf sensor later and that was all.

We had a Captur on holiday this year, it was a good little car.

ukaskew

10,642 posts

220 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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We've historically had a fairly even mix of Ford and Renault in our household and the Ford's have been significantly less reliable and therefore significantly more expensive to keep on the road. Sensors have been a major weak point on the Ford's we've owned and an expensive fix (the thing the sensor is telling us is faulty rarely is, it's the sensor itself). We've been incredibly fortunate with a whole bunch of Clios (old and new), just consumables over several hundred thousand miles in total. Rust on the Ford's we had around the early 2000s was also a major issue, not so on the Renaults oddly enough.

That's probably not a typical experience, but then it's all we have to go on.

Burgerbob

485 posts

76 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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The perception of car brands these days is so focused on image and the perceived quality of the Germans.

It's all got a bit daft. Most reliability surveys, JD Power, warrantywise, etc rank the key German brands poorly.

Both ford and Vauxhall make good cars. In fact, can you really buy a bad car these days?


syl

693 posts

74 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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I’d have another Ford. I’ll never have another Vauxhall. If I was given one, then I’d be straight onto Webuyanycar.com to get rid of it.

Limpet

6,293 posts

160 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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The Fiesta is so much nicer to drive than the Corsa, it's hard to believe they are direct rivals.

Across the other models or segments, the two brands are much of a muchness, IMO. Astra, Focus, Insignia, Mondeo, Zafira, C-Max etc in normal cooking trim are all good, competent cars.

For performance models, Ford seem that much more proficient at chassis tuning and engineering in a bit of feel. Fast Vauxhalls always feel detached, rubbery, and generally overwhelmed by their (usually very decent) engines.




MDMA .

8,849 posts

100 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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GSX said:
Yes it's a 3 yr old post and I don't care.

You sir speak the truth enough said
I miss Alan.

Busterbulldog

670 posts

130 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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I bought my Ford new. It's now parked in the garden as it failed the mot on bits rusting underneath. The exhaust is still ok though as it's made of better steel than the chassis. Go figure.

Xcore

1,336 posts

89 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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I’d rather have a kia then a Vauxhall

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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Vauxhall. I’ve owned 2 Mk1 focus, a fiesta ST and then I’ve had a mk3 focus for a company car

I then had a Astra for a company car, it had to go back because it gave me such cronic back and hip pain, now got a insignia grand sport which is nice but it’s not as good as the mondeo I had.

To drive and engine wise they aren’t much different to be honest, but the Vauxhall’s lack the few nice things fords got

In my Astra (2018) vs my focus (2017) the Astra didn’t have a arm rest, which was awful, the insignia is missing things I would expect like cornering fogs etc

The Astra you can tell is built to a price, for example on the estate, the roof rails are fake, so if you want a roof rack it goes under the doors like on a hatchback, how pointless is that? Then the seals allow water in so it drips on you when your driving

When I had the Astra it was brand new, it spent 16 weeks in the dealer for the same fault of water getting into the doors and shorting the central locking so you couldn’t open any of the doors, the drivers you could with a key but I had to get the RAC out open the fuel filler.

The focus on the other hand was faultless in the 25k I did in it in a year.

Hopefully things will improve at Vauxhall now PSA have taken over, I just don’t know why you would spend your own money on a Vauxhall to be honest, at least fords are a good steer.

AC43

11,435 posts

207 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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As far as I'm concerned Vauxhall led Ford by miles when the first FWD Cavalier came out and the first/second Astra. Ford were cynically building everything down to a price. They might have looked superficially OK but underneath it was all pig iron & live axles.

Ford eventually caught up with the Mk1 Mondeo and then did the Focus and have continued the good form from that point on. They swapped roles when Vauxhall half-hartedly shat out the Vectra and in my view nothing has really changed since.


Morningside

24,110 posts

228 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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Every Vauxhall I've owned has smelt of oil.

Saying that, I have seen a lot mid 1990s red Astras about. As for mid 1990s Fords? None. So I suppose that says something.

ZX10R NIN

27,494 posts

124 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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The answer is neither both make good cars that are on par with any Seat/Skoda/VW etc, you have to start splashing the cash to see a real difference between any Manufacturer.

Mike335i

4,985 posts

101 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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ZX10R NIN said:
The answer is neither both make good cars that are on par with any Seat/Skoda/VW etc, you have to start splashing the cash to see a real difference between any Manufacturer.
A Fiesta is much nicer than a Corsa.

Insignia GranSport is alright, decent enough car. Nothing that interesting though and I did not like the 1.5t much.

Fermit and Sexy Sarah

12,787 posts

99 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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GSX said:
J4CKO said:
Oh for gods make, anything they make will be perfectly acceptable for getting you about, some are pretty good, some less so but not are actually that bad nowadays, safe, reliable, relatively comfy, fairly economical but they wont tickle your ego like the German stuff does.

i am sure if a Germanic badge was stuck on a Vauxhall some would declare it wonderful, particularly brand and image obsessed non petrolheads, put the mundane, not special, I am not a premium consumer badge back on it and it would revert to being st, I have seen people at work say how rubbish their perfectly acceptable car is as if they are telling me that product is not up their standards, it is not worthy when in actual fact they secretly love it, have seen some almost sell their soul to get into the most basic, lowest powered Audi A1.

We have Fiesta, it is a fantastic little thing, ok, some of the interiors isnt super premium but it goes, stops and steers fantastically. #

We had a Galaxy before that, darling of the airport taxi rank, they arent cool but they do a fantastic job of carrying people and stuff, however, everyone wants a premium SUV, not an MPV.

My Son has an Astra, 2008 SRi, it has lasted better than a lot of more expensive stuff of the era, 8k and is in fine fettle, they are a little rough and ready but it drives ok, isnt bad on fuel, has a decent crash rating and he likes it.

So, is it the cars are really that bad or is it prejudice due to them not having a badge you aspire to ?
Yes it's a 3 yr old post and I don't care.

You sir speak the truth enough said
Agree completely. The way Vauxhall get a bashing on PH is entirely indicative of market point snobbery that thrives on here.

2 years ago S needed new estate wheels. We had £10-11k. I proposed a 320d M sport estate. This budget would have got a 5-6 year 60 odd k example. We then spotted a ONE year old Insignia 2.0cdti Elite Nav. Cat D as it had been heavily vandalised at some point. 21k miles.

Good points.

She can achieve about 65mpg on a steady run.
It has 295lb foot of torque.
Standard kit includes nav, leather, heated seats, power tailgate, touchscreen everything.
It's a great looking car. Put a German badge on it and you'd all rant about it.
It has got her up to 71K so far with NOTHING needing attention.
It was £10.4k for a car which was £32k list a year and a bit before!

Downside.

The boot's an awkward shape.
The leather isn't great quality (the same is true of the Germans though, I restore the stuff)
It doesn't have a German badge.

And as for Ford, don't be silly. Much of their stuff drives far better than German stuff!

You can keep your German motors at £600p/m PCP with telephone number sized balloon payments, the monthlies on the Insignia are paid for in full by her work fuel allowance alone.

It's the same with Peugeot. They get rinsed on here, but just look at the interior and exteriors of the new 508/5008. Gorgeous! I voiced this to a mate who sells VW, who responded with 'yeah, but look at the reliability' ....... conveniently overlooking the fact that Peugeot are rinsing VW in the current reliability indexes (as are Vauxhall IIRC)

Edited by Fermit and Sexy Sarah on Sunday 16th June 20:19


Edited by Fermit and Sexy Sarah on Sunday 16th June 20:50

HannsG

3,031 posts

133 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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Has to be Vauxhall. I owned a few between 2000-2006. Very poor quality. Although I hear the Insignia has changed the tide and is a decent well built motor.

Ford have some robust seriously well built cars.

I had a few Focus STs which held up to abuse well. Compared to the Land Rover discovery products I owned. I would go so far as to say in terms of build quality Ford beat them.

My fkin range rover still had the sticker barcodes visible through the front dash gaps!

lyonspride

2,978 posts

154 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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Having gone from Vectra to Mondeo, I was shocked by the truly appalling build quality of Ford, I genuinely did not expect their bigger cars to be as badly built as the small ones, but I was so wrong.

It drives ok, the interior looks nice, but all it's all just surface dressing, the dash, the door cards, all flex and move like they're made of plastic milk cartons, the rear bumper bends and flexes, were talking 3 inches of movement and it's just because it's not attached to anything at the sides.
Bloody plastic clips holding everything together, makes it real hard to repair anything, as they snap off and have to be replaced.
Stupid stuff like no water channel at the sides of the windscreen, so if you use your wash/wipe it just rolls around the screen and lands on your arm.
When dropping the rear seats down, the Vectra held the seat belts in place, but the Mondeo lets them fall back and get caught up in the seat retainer mechanism.
Why the f**k does the Mondeo need 6 buttons for the cruise control? Vectra had 2!!!!
Has a low washer fluid warning, but no oil level warning and the dipstick has to be dipped 3 times to get an accurate reading, my local garage has overfilled it twice now.

It's just really stupid/simple stuff that you wouldn't really think about, but which really start to get on your nerves.

Eyersey1234

2,895 posts

78 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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I've never owned a Vauxhall but my OH has a Corsa, both it and my Focus do the job fine, so I would say they are equal. We've had more Ford's than Vauxhalls within my family though, numerous Fiestas, Escorts. Foci, Mondeos, Granada etc etc. My stepdad recently bought a 17 reg Viva and seems to be happy with it.

bluezedd

1,007 posts

81 months

Sunday 16th June 2019
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Vauxhall just because they are made by GM. Tbh I think GM belongs in the council thread even if they do make chevrolets and cadillacs.

(disclaimer, I own 2 GM saab vectras.)