Ford Or Vauxhall? Which Is Worse

[Alan_I_W]

I hate Vauxhall with a passion, I think they're designed by the accountant not a car guy whereas at least Fords are interesting enough to drive (MK1 Focus)

[Alan_I_W]

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

Had a wheezy 1.3 Escort as my first car, then a 2.8 Galaxy from 99-2002 which was for a 2.8, pretty wheezy too. Got a cheap Focus now that I bought off a family friend, Ford's from about 94 onwards have aged better. Look at the MK1 Focus and the equivalent Astra. Or the 98 Mondeo and 98 Vectra. 99 Fiesta and 99 Corsa.

[Alan_I_W]

tr7v8 said:

You do realise that the 2.8 is a VW VR6 lump don't you!

Funny story about that, the ford dealer told me it was their own engine which is why I chose it over a Sharan. Then when I went to trade it in for the XC90, they told me it was a VW unit.

[Alan_I_W]

mwstewart said:

Ford have always turned out better drivers' cars than Vauxhall but I always thought the GM engines were better.

The only engine (other than the Holden V8) is their 3.0 DTI.

[Alan_I_W]

mwstewart said:

Ford have always turned out better drivers' cars than Vauxhall but I always thought the GM engines were better.

Agreeable, the old redtops were fantastic

[Alan_I_W]

cowboyengineer said:

Yes he probably does. It then his daily is an s65 so a mere 2.8lt was probably gutless

It was actually not bad for the car it was, it just didn't have any low end grunt which made it terrible for around town driving.

[Alan_I_W]

Back in the late 80's through to the late 90's, other than the Cossies, Ford were just pushing out dire fleet crap whereas Vauxhall had the GTE's, the GSI's, the Redtop owned Ford back then. These days neither are that bad, but Vauxhalls are just so dull. The kind of car that suites a drizzling Tuesday in November at about 4:30PM with Radio 3 playing and some 50 something year old in a blue shirt and a silver tie driving home from his mid range management job to his generic family in his generic house on a generic estate in Sleaford. Whereas I always see Ford as the car that suites a May Saturday early afternoon on a B road with the windows down and Heart playing. The difference between Ford and Vauxhall is Fords have character.

[Alan_I_W]

SidewaysSi said:

To be fair, neither are that great. Pictures of an old Vectra and a new ST doesn't prove much.

Fords may be fractionally better to drive but Vauxhalls are better looking IMO.

That's the ST Line, I actually don't know a car maker that makes cars as dull as Vauxhall, for me the pinnacle of that was the Vectra. The dullest car on earth.

[Alan_I_W]

s m said:

To be fair to Ford, if you're including the hot hatch GTEs/GSis, Ford had the RS Turbo Fiesta, RS1800, Rs Turbo Escort, RS2000, RS2000 4x4, Sierra XR4x4 in the late 80 to early 90s as well.

I'd agree the redtop was a fantastic engine - had the Mk2 Astra with it in

The RS Turbo Festa Fiesta and the MK5 Escort weren't that great, the Sierra I forgot about, but the Cavalier was better than that.

[Alan_I_W]

chrisb92 said:

Please tell me in which way a 90BHP Focus would be more fun to drive than my A3?? I'm not saying it's a hoot to drive, it's a diesel hatchback, they are all probably rather dull to drive.

Have you ever considered there may be more to it that liking a badge?

The MK1 Focus was known to handle just as well as sports cars even from today, a large amount of reviewers, racers and all others say that there are many sports cars that aren't as fun to drive as a MK1 Focus, so actually it would be more fun to drive than your A3, just like it would be more fun to drive than a lot of sports cars.

[Alan_I_W]

SonicShadow said:

They're all st because they don't have pop up headlights.

We have a winner

[Alan_I_W]

Howard- said:

It's not just about horsepower, you know. There are such things as chassis balance, body control, steering feedback, pedal feel, gear changes, turn-in, damping. Like you say, none of them can be likened to a thoroughbred sports car, but the Focus is renowned for being very good overall in these areas. The Audi A3... isn't.

That's all he cares about

[Alan_I_W]

Petrolhead_Rich said:

Vauxhall by a country mile!

Take my experience for example, in 2007 I bought a BRAND NEW vectra, it spent 6 months in and out of the garage with everything from electrical niggles to transmission and handbrake failure, I spent at least four months driving their courtesy corsa/astra, then with only 4,000 miles on the clock, I sold it, at a loss to get rid of it!

Currently I drive a Ford Transit, it's on 214,000 now and runs perfectly, it has never let me down in four years, in addition I bought a focus as a project a few weeks back, 72,000 on the clock and it drove like brand new.

As a few other nails in the vauxhall coffin, three colleagues at work have vauxhalls (2x astras & an insignia), the astra hatchback was recently sold with 92,000 on the clock as it needed it gearbox replacing, the service history showed it had been replaced BY VAUXHALL at just 39,000!

The astra van that does gentle motorway miles only is also on it's second gearbox with just 115,000 on the clock.

The Insignia is under extended warranty and the owner is aware that it needs a DMF and possibly gearbox, although it's currently at the garage again with an engine knock (admittedly we think this may be down to an incorrect service done by the warranty co's approved service centre (no names))

In comparison, three other people have fords (fiesta (68k), focus(124k) and a mondeo(108k)), all run fine with no issues and have never had any major work done to them!

One exception is a friend who has a Vectra with 200,000+ on the clock that runs ok though so it's not like all vauxhalls are crap, it just seems to be about 75% of them!!!

If they're good enough for minicabbers I guess...

[Alan_I_W]

chrisb92 said:

It's not though, at all. It obviously means a lot to you though, or you wouldn't keep going on about it!

I've stated why I like the car. I've had two vauxhalls and hated them and my dad currently has a fiesta (newest shape, top spec) which I also really don't like. No pleasing some however.

If I cared about badge then I'd get something like an RS4 instead of many Subarus, wouldn't I?

[Alan_I_W]

As we know, Vauxhalls have the best heaters. Although when they burst into flames, I think it gets to intense.

[Alan_I_W]

dme123 said:

Not really very relevant to the stuff they crimp off into the European market though really?

The only 2 cars from that list that are even sold here are the VXR8 and the Stang. No UK GM product is any good IMO. At least Ford appear to be made by car guys in some way.

[Alan_I_W]

Jimmy Recard said:

At least some of them are actually made in the U.K.!

Just been on the Aussie classifieds, they get some amazing cars. Ford Falcon and Holden GTS for about £25000, I wonder what the import costs are to bring one over?

[Alan_I_W]

HappyMidget said:

VXR8 is a rebadged HSV GTS

I was on about the Falcon and the old Brocky Holdens