Why do people buy vauxhalls?
Discussion
hooblah said:
From first hand experience. A friend had a 10 year old Vectra a few years ago. The interior was shagged.
Maybe he shagged many hookers in it. My mate Bob used to shag lots of women in his Audi. The seats were worn within 2 years and 20k miles.I would rather a Vauxhall over the equivalent Audi. No contest.
SidewaysSi said:
I would rather a Vauxhall over the equivalent Audi. No contest.
+1. Audi and BMW used to be a rarer sight on UK roads than Ford and Vauxhall, now it's the other way round. If anyone thinks the quality of the modern German brands is better then they are deluded. They are all built to the same standard, using the same techniques, they are just priced differently. 
hooblah said:
From first hand experience. A friend had a 10 year old Vectra a few years ago. The interior was shagged.
I suppose my thirteen year old, twelve year old and twenty year old ones must be weird then. And the twelve year old Vectra I sold last year.But your friend had a Vectra, so that's proof that mine are some weird exception because they're not rattly or worn out inside
hooblah said:
From first hand experience. A friend had a 10 year old Vectra a few years ago. The interior was shagged.
And I have first hand experience of a 13 year Astra with 131k on the clock and the interior is not shagged. In fact the whole car is in generally excellent condition. Its my current daily hack.The Audi I traded down from with 70k on the clock was absolutely wearing NO better. Ok, so the leather around the gearstick was. That's it.
I have bought 4 new Vauxhalls privately in the past 15 years, used mostly by my 3 kids to learn and for me for commuting to the station.
Yes they are a bit dull but I have no issue with quality. However also factor in
Good deals new
Low insurance
Reasonable servicing costs
Very easy to sell on privately at decent prices
and these days quite stylish in my opinion.
Yes they are a bit dull but I have no issue with quality. However also factor in
Good deals new
Low insurance
Reasonable servicing costs
Very easy to sell on privately at decent prices
and these days quite stylish in my opinion.
I've just sold a 10 year old 96k Astra 1.7 CDTi. The interior wasn't worn at all and it had no rattles or squeaks. As an anonymous, reliable, runabout for work that did 50mpg it did the job perfectly. By contrast I had a newish hired Golf 1.6 TDi Bluemotion for a couple of days last week and the interior wasn't much more advanced from the Astra.
wormus said:
SidewaysSi said:
I would rather a Vauxhall over the equivalent Audi. No contest.
+1. Audi and BMW used to be a rarer sight on UK roads than Ford and Vauxhall, now it's the other way round. If anyone thinks the quality of the modern German brands is better then they are deluded. They are all built to the same standard, using the same techniques, they are just priced differently. Audi in particular are a masterclass in overpriced "style"
over very expensive substance.Yep my 3.2 TT DSG is the worst car I've ever owned. Marketed as ultra premium which maybe back in 2004 when it was new it could pull off. The interior rattled not to mention the truly worst carpet I've ever seen fitted to the floor. The mesh door pockets. The fact the dash screen dies ( huge common fault) the clocks can die ( huge common fault) that one I didn't get at least. Coil packs snuffed it. The mechatronics failed after 69k. The leather was also of dubious quality.
Less reliable than nearly all my French cars and that's before you discuss any lack of chassis composure or balance. Completely wooden and lacking in anything that engages your soul. Styled at least aged well and it had the best heated seats ever plus it sounded nice. Deep down I was happy when someone wrote it off.
Less reliable than nearly all my French cars and that's before you discuss any lack of chassis composure or balance. Completely wooden and lacking in anything that engages your soul. Styled at least aged well and it had the best heated seats ever plus it sounded nice. Deep down I was happy when someone wrote it off.
Had a few vauxhalls, ranging from mk3/4 astra's my favourite being a mk4 2.2 Sri.
Couple of Cavaliers that were pretty decent for their age apart from a creaky clutch pedal on both and a head gasket made of swiss cheese.
I also had a nice insignia hire car that had done 10 miles before I put another 500 on it on a one way move from Scotland to the West Country.
I also had a Zafira B that once it was retired from our taxi fleet was still going strong with 385000 miles and can probably still be seen plodding round West Wiltshire with a taxi sign on it.
When Vauxhall brought out the Zafira, they did a pretty decent job, a 7 seater for the masses when the real competition was the Espace/Alhambra/Galaxy or converted van market. The flex7 system especially worked great, however that was over 15 years ago and some of their decisions since have been a bit dodgy.
For one, the Zafira has been discontinued, replaced by a Berlingo clone that is just a van with windows while their parent company still sells their respective Picasso and 5008, the recent models have had really odd dashboards too unless you opt for the touchscreen sat-nav, full of clutter button wise and with a digital readout similar if not the same as the old Saab S.I.D but with in orange instead of green.
Too many models too, you have the Adam which is a nice wee car, but then you also have the Viva, why not try and create a 4 door Adam which looks stunning compared to the Viva, or better still get a Corsa, I have no idea on why you need the Mokka or Mokka X, when you can have the even more confusing Crossland X. You have the Astra, but the coupe is called a GTC and the open top is or was called the Cascada.
You obviously have the Insignia and the Insignia estate (Not going into the Grand Sports/Sports Tourer/Country Tourer territory here), the Grandland/Peugeot thing and then the new box with windows Berlingo/Peugeot whatever they are going to call it/Combo which reminds me of the post office vans that still plod up and down the road when they still made hi top corsa vans.
Streamlining the brand would work first, ditch then Viva, Crossland, the Mokka and the brand new Combo would work, call the GTC the Astra coupe or the 2 door Astra, drop the monikers for the Insignia too and make the Grandland a 7 seater.
That would give you the Adam for the ones who want to have something a bit more "Yoof" looking than a Corsa because they cannot afford a VXR looking Corsa, then the Corsa, Astra, Insignia and a 5 or seven seat Grandland.
Drop the X too, some people think that because it has the X afterwards makes people think it has some sort of off road ability when it doesn't.
Couple of Cavaliers that were pretty decent for their age apart from a creaky clutch pedal on both and a head gasket made of swiss cheese.
I also had a nice insignia hire car that had done 10 miles before I put another 500 on it on a one way move from Scotland to the West Country.
I also had a Zafira B that once it was retired from our taxi fleet was still going strong with 385000 miles and can probably still be seen plodding round West Wiltshire with a taxi sign on it.
When Vauxhall brought out the Zafira, they did a pretty decent job, a 7 seater for the masses when the real competition was the Espace/Alhambra/Galaxy or converted van market. The flex7 system especially worked great, however that was over 15 years ago and some of their decisions since have been a bit dodgy.
For one, the Zafira has been discontinued, replaced by a Berlingo clone that is just a van with windows while their parent company still sells their respective Picasso and 5008, the recent models have had really odd dashboards too unless you opt for the touchscreen sat-nav, full of clutter button wise and with a digital readout similar if not the same as the old Saab S.I.D but with in orange instead of green.
Too many models too, you have the Adam which is a nice wee car, but then you also have the Viva, why not try and create a 4 door Adam which looks stunning compared to the Viva, or better still get a Corsa, I have no idea on why you need the Mokka or Mokka X, when you can have the even more confusing Crossland X. You have the Astra, but the coupe is called a GTC and the open top is or was called the Cascada.
You obviously have the Insignia and the Insignia estate (Not going into the Grand Sports/Sports Tourer/Country Tourer territory here), the Grandland/Peugeot thing and then the new box with windows Berlingo/Peugeot whatever they are going to call it/Combo which reminds me of the post office vans that still plod up and down the road when they still made hi top corsa vans.
Streamlining the brand would work first, ditch then Viva, Crossland, the Mokka and the brand new Combo would work, call the GTC the Astra coupe or the 2 door Astra, drop the monikers for the Insignia too and make the Grandland a 7 seater.
That would give you the Adam for the ones who want to have something a bit more "Yoof" looking than a Corsa because they cannot afford a VXR looking Corsa, then the Corsa, Astra, Insignia and a 5 or seven seat Grandland.
Drop the X too, some people think that because it has the X afterwards makes people think it has some sort of off road ability when it doesn't.
ElectricPics said:
I've just sold a 10 year old 96k Astra 1.7 CDTi. The interior wasn't worn at all and it had no rattles or squeaks. As an anonymous, reliable, runabout for work that did 50mpg it did the job perfectly..
Exactly this. My Astra is a perfectly good, well built car. Will last for a long time with just basic maintenance.Lincsls1 said:
Exactly this. My Astra is a perfectly good, well built car. Will last for a long time with just basic maintenance.
That's how my 2005 Astra with 131k miles is going. It feels like a car that'll easy do the same mileage again.Now I think it'll be run into the ground - I don't really want to change it and since it's nearly worthless, there's no depreciation to happen
Thesprucegoose said:
From my experience German cars spend just enough to make it feel expensive, gone are the days when they made to last. Yes vx is at the lower end of the market akin to Tesco is, but still offer massive amounts of value that the premium german brand brigade won't even acknowledge.
And this is my experience too. I'm not saying the German stuff isn't lovely and desirable, but the quality is only skin deep.I'm confident that given two brand new cars, one Vauxhall, one BMW or Audi etc.. with exactly the same working life, a Vauxhall wouldn't wear out any quicker or breakdown any more.
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