Manufacturer Stingieness
Discussion
Something I’ve noticed over the last 6 months from having several hire vans and cars, which has got me thinking about how mean manufacturers are when it comes to little technology things.
Take my current Vauxhall vivaro, it’s the top of the range Elite with a on the road price of just over £35,000 but it’s not even got a option to have LED or xenon headlights, I can’t think of any other car that costs 35k with halogen lights
Then there’s even more tight-fisted things:
No tire pressuring monitoring
No Ad blue gauge
Headlight delay when unlocking but no follow me home
Global closing of the windows via the key but not opening
Now those are all things that are pretty standard stuff these days, not exactly outrageous options. How much does it really save to not have the tiny bit of programming to put windows down on the key? My 2001 bora had that!
Take my current Vauxhall vivaro, it’s the top of the range Elite with a on the road price of just over £35,000 but it’s not even got a option to have LED or xenon headlights, I can’t think of any other car that costs 35k with halogen lights
Then there’s even more tight-fisted things:
No tire pressuring monitoring
No Ad blue gauge
Headlight delay when unlocking but no follow me home
Global closing of the windows via the key but not opening
Now those are all things that are pretty standard stuff these days, not exactly outrageous options. How much does it really save to not have the tiny bit of programming to put windows down on the key? My 2001 bora had that!
Back in 2011, my parents ordered an Audi A4 company car. It was an S-Line Black Edition so pretty much top of the range (excluding S, RS etc) and had the usual massive wheels, fancy interior, B&O stereo etc and had a list price of around 35k from memory.
When it arrived we realised we (or the dealer, who should have really suggested it IMO) missed a £150 option for interior lighting back which gave you a glovebox light (!!!) and lights in the sun visors.
I thought this sort of thing would be standard on a high spec, 'prestige' car costing £35k+!
When it arrived we realised we (or the dealer, who should have really suggested it IMO) missed a £150 option for interior lighting back which gave you a glovebox light (!!!) and lights in the sun visors.
I thought this sort of thing would be standard on a high spec, 'prestige' car costing £35k+!
Max M4X WW said:
Back in 2011, my parents ordered an Audi A4 company car. It was an S-Line Black Edition so pretty much top of the range (excluding S, RS etc) and had the usual massive wheels, fancy interior, B&O stereo etc and had a list price of around 35k from memory.
When it arrived we realised we (or the dealer, who should have really suggested it IMO) missed a £150 option for interior lighting back which gave you a glovebox light (!!!) and lights in the sun visors.
I thought this sort of thing would be standard on a high spec, 'prestige' car costing £35k+!
But everyone knows S line is for those with champagne tastes and lemonade pockets.When it arrived we realised we (or the dealer, who should have really suggested it IMO) missed a £150 option for interior lighting back which gave you a glovebox light (!!!) and lights in the sun visors.
I thought this sort of thing would be standard on a high spec, 'prestige' car costing £35k+!
Zippee said:
Try buying a standard range rover, Audi, volvo etc
Unless you attack the options list then you'll get less standard kit than a corsa...
But they are stingy, even the cheapest A1 has led headlights, cruise control etcUnless you attack the options list then you'll get less standard kit than a corsa...
This is more about penny pinching not stuff missing I suppose.
Things like the old 1 series, you got cruise as standard on a 114i and then they took it off on the m140i. Why? It’s the same car!
Zippee said:
Try buying a standard range rover, Audi, volvo etc
Unless you attack the options list then you'll get less standard kit than a corsa...
New RR in lowest specification is loaded to the hilt. It should be for £95k though. I’ve noticed that Land Rover have streamlined the models available for the Defender to get the orders through. They have released an XS model with tons of kit. I did like the days of L, GL, GLS etc.Unless you attack the options list then you'll get less standard kit than a corsa...
MonkeyMatt said:
I recently bought a very standard car with no optional extras, the amount of s
t in it that I don't need is unreal! I wish new cars came with less crap not more!
I agree, all you need is a Dacia Sandero base model, and a perfectly fine car it is if you are not a badge snob.t in it that I don't need is unreal! I wish new cars came with less crap not more!Makes me
when posters say a heated steering wheel is a must have deal breaker.Unfortunately you get what you pay for in life.
Many vans are bought by businesses to move goods around. The lower spec model dues that just as well so why pay for creature comforts for the underpaid driver?
With cars, there is logic to having low spec models and then adding the options you want, and not paying for what you don't want. Although some manufacturers do remove some features during the cars life, this gets great initial media reviews for a well specced car, but keeps costs down in later years. Then, when the car is end of life, sell run out fully loaded specials.
Many vans are bought by businesses to move goods around. The lower spec model dues that just as well so why pay for creature comforts for the underpaid driver?
With cars, there is logic to having low spec models and then adding the options you want, and not paying for what you don't want. Although some manufacturers do remove some features during the cars life, this gets great initial media reviews for a well specced car, but keeps costs down in later years. Then, when the car is end of life, sell run out fully loaded specials.
normalbloke said:
Max M4X WW said:
Back in 2011, my parents ordered an Audi A4 company car. It was an S-Line Black Edition so pretty much top of the range (excluding S, RS etc) and had the usual massive wheels, fancy interior, B&O stereo etc and had a list price of around 35k from memory.
When it arrived we realised we (or the dealer, who should have really suggested it IMO) missed a £150 option for interior lighting back which gave you a glovebox light (!!!) and lights in the sun visors.
I thought this sort of thing would be standard on a high spec, 'prestige' car costing £35k+!
But everyone knows S line is for those with champagne tastes and lemonade pockets.When it arrived we realised we (or the dealer, who should have really suggested it IMO) missed a £150 option for interior lighting back which gave you a glovebox light (!!!) and lights in the sun visors.
I thought this sort of thing would be standard on a high spec, 'prestige' car costing £35k+!
And to describe an Audi 'S line' even approaching 'prestige' seems rather pretentious lol.
Dingu said:
Would we really prefer an extra £10k+ on base list for things we might not want?
Except they cost the manufacturer about 20p while selling for thousands. Options are utterly a money grab, particularly now (well, maybe pre-covid as things have got a bit tricky with the chip situation) with some manufacturers going so far as software enabled options that are reverted on re-sale (eg Tesla). 
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