Vapes and Vauxhalls hatred

[Funkstar De Luxe]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[Raccaccoonie]

I like vauxhall, the Corsa isn't a bad car.

Vaping, just makes you look a massive tool, and don't buy that it is better than smoking.

[ZedLeg]

With regards to vaping as a method to quit smoking, the evidence is dubious. Also the current trend for disposable vape pens has to be the most stupid thing that we have come up with for a long time.

[Fermit]

LunarOne said:

Fermit said:

And as for the looks, tell me that if you took the Griffin badges off it, and replaced them with something German that people wouldn't be swooning over the looks.

If you took the Griffin badges off it, and replaced them with something German, people wouldn't be swooning over the looks.
Why? Because It's a picture of non-descript blandness. Like a late 1990s American car. You wouldn't look twice no matter what badge was on it. But add a Vauxhall badge to a painfully bland car and you have total lack of interest. Nobody aspires to own a Vauxhall. With the exception of the Astra GTC VXR, the Monaro and the VX220, they are nothing more than appliances. Nothing wrong with that. But I think most Pistonheaders are people who are interested in interesting cars rather than washing machines and Vauxhalls. We're not looking down on them. We're not looking at them at all.

As for vapes, my sister does it. It's just as bad as smoking - not for the vaper, but for everyone else. The constant Darth Vader noises, the clouds of vapour and the disgusting smelling "flavours". No thank you.

My wife is obsessed with aesthetics, getting everything just so. I'd over-looked the VX, she saw one and suggested it.

Styling wise I consider it very similar to this Merc. I have read on these very pages numerous people saying they think them nice looking.

Edited by Fermit on Thursday 16th March 11:25

[kambites]

I can't say I have anything against either. Quite the opposite regarding vaping in fact - it's far better than smoking!

[Fermit]

Raccaccoonie said:

Vaping, just makes you look a massive tool, and don't buy that it is better than smoking.

Really?! Vaping exposes you to far fewer toxins than cigarettes, and vapes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, 2 of the most harmful elements of tobacco.

[Andy665]

Om said:

The majority of Vauxhalls (just like the majority of Fords, Peugeots, Skodas etc.) are perfectly acceptable cars bought in their millions by people who want something that will be reliable enough, fairly cheap to run, comfortable and shiny. They are capable of getting you to work/the shops and back again 5 days a week with not too much outlay and you can park them outside your house and not really worry/care about them. For this, these cars are perfect.

Generally there is nothing bad about them. I would guess that at most they are reviled for their adequacy. Particularly by those who are passionate about cars. However if you have no interest in cars and just need one for personal transport then they are fine.

In other words they do the job they were designed to do for most people most of the time

Struggling to see anything wrong with that

[Tom8]

I used to smoke a lot but quit using Champix. Stopped pretty much over night from a 20 year 20+ a day habit.

I haven't vaped but I wonder how safe they really are. Sucking water vapour into your lungs on a regular basis, is this safe, secondary drowning or similar? I worry vapes could be more dangerous than fags.

I would happily smoke again tomorrow but saw the average pack price after yesterday's budget - £14.29 a pack!

Re Insignia, had a couple as hire cars. Nicely finished, poor visibility, dreadfully slow. Not bad as a package though, but would prefer a Mondeo.

[Hub]

Vaping was billed as a way to get off cigarettes, but it seems that those who have swapped smoking for vaping have no intention of weaning themselves off it, in fact for most it is never out of their hand, and more are taking it up as a new habit.

What's the point though? Just get off it, it doesn't do anything except give you a dependence on nicotine and who knows what the long term effects are.

So yes smokers and vapers are a bit foolish really (being kind!)

As for Vauxhall's, yes I bash them... I just don't really like the brand, though they did make some great cars in the 80s... Carlton, Senator, Cavalier etc, exec barges. They were good cars. Then they went stale and boring, churning out fairly poor cars that didn't drive that well. Now it's all Mokkas and Grandlands. They do a 300bhp Grandland but it looks remarkably dull, so probably the most 'sleeper' car out there!

[ZedLeg]

I do like the current design language at Vauxhall tbh, they look like 80's hi-fis

[Fermit]

ZedLeg said:

With regards to vaping as a method to quit smoking, the evidence is dubious. Also the current trend for disposable vape pens has to be the most stupid thing that we have come up with for a long time.

I can only speak as I find it. I started smoking at 13, I'm now 46 (I think!) First attempt to quit was using only will power. I lasted a month. Second attempt was using Nicotine gum/patches. Folded after a year. I quit over 5 years ago, and not had so much as a drag of a cigarette since.

And I'm inclined to agree with you RE the disposable pens. The marketing of them in day-glow colours seriously needs to be banned. They did similar with cigarette packets, forcing them to be manufactured in a putrid olive shade.

[ZedLeg]

Fermit said:

ZedLeg said:

With regards to vaping as a method to quit smoking, the evidence is dubious. Also the current trend for disposable vape pens has to be the most stupid thing that we have come up with for a long time.

I can only speak as I find it. I started smoking at 13, I'm now 46 (I think!) First attempt to quit was using only will power. I lasted a month. Second attempt was using Nicotine gum/patches. Folded after a year. I quit over 5 years ago, and not had so much as a drag of a cigarette since.

And I'm inclined to agree with you RE the disposable pens. The marketing of them in day-glow colours seriously needs to be banned. They did similar with cigarette packets, forcing them to be manufactured in a putrid olive shade.

I smoked for years too, ended up quitting for good a few years ago. It's worth doing if you can.

I think there are going to be unintended consequences for people putting big quantities of simple syrup vapour into their lungs and lets not forget that nicotine itself is incredibly bad for you. Increases your stroke and heart attack risk by an order of magnitude iirc.

[Fermit]

Hub said:

Vaping was billed as a way to get off cigarettes, but it seems that those who have swapped smoking for vaping have no intention of weaning themselves off it, in fact for most it is never out of their hand

Well, I have been perpetually reducing both the Nicotine strength of my liquids, and the regularity of use. I can see a point that I'm off them.

So yes smokers and vapers are a bit foolish really (being kind!)

For most of my adult life I have considered that starting smoking has been one of my most foolish life decisions.

Edited by Fermit on Thursday 16th March 11:46

[Mastodon2]

I had an Insignia as my last company car in the SRi spec, it was a great car for what I needed. Due to a cock up with the company that provides the cars, I had it longer than intended, 5 years and about 45,000 miles done. Nothing went wrong other than a flat tyre.

It's now been replaced by a Škoda Octavia but only because Vauxhall wasn't on the list of manufacturers to choose from. In comparison, the Octavia is better in some areas (DSG, infotainment system) and worse in others (seats not as comfortable, engine is noticeably louder than the Vauxhall Whisper engine at low speeds).

I travel internationally a fair amount, often the quickest way home for me is to fly to Heathrow and get a rental car to drive back to Newcastle rather than trying to get a connecting flight from Heathrow to Newcastle. As such, I've driven loads of cars from just about every mainstream brand. Vauxhall are really no better or worse than any other mainstream product, in my experience.

The majority of cars on the market are just competent, unexceptional products. Vauxhall probably fit that bracket more than most because they haven't really invested in any 'special' cars in a good few years now.

Vaping is extremely council though, but then again so is smoking.

[ARHarh]

Well being an ex smoker and a Vauxhall owner in the past, can I have an opinion?

I liked the Vauxhalls I owned.

First car was a Viva HB, got me through my first year of motoring without any issues to speak of. Not very exciting though. Next Vauxhall, was not a Vauxhall but an Opel Ascona 2.0 in bright orange. Later I owned a mk 1 cavalier 1.6 gl which was bought as cheap car to get me to work and back. Again not exciting but a good reliable old car. Then I moved onto a mk3 Cavalier 2.0 sri 16v. again very reliable and surprisingly quick. Overall nothing bad to say about the Vauxhalls I owned.

As for vaping I vaped for a couple of years after topping smoking and It allowed me to quit. Not had a fag for 6 years now, and vaping never irritates me.

[sixor8]

I've nothing against Vauxhalls, I've owned quite a few, and when I started driving, I preferred them. In the mid 1980s a used Cavalier or Astra was IMHO better product than a Ford Cortina or Escort. These were the big sellers back then and my 1981 Vauxhall had a half decent interior for the time. My friend's Mk 2 Escort (even base models go for lots now) had bare painted metal on the interior front door tops and B pillars for example.

My first fast (ish) car was a 1990 Astra SRi. It was faster than a XR3i 0-60 but still the fanboys prefer the Fords. But then importing Holden Monaros and putting on a Vx badge was a good idea.

They did lose their way with some cars though. The Signum estate car was barely larger than the Vectra Estate, and a friend of mine had an Insignia VXR which although quick, spent more time at the dealers than being used in the 2 yrs he had, constant fault lights, they even considered a while new loom at one point! Early body control model issues apparently.

[anonymous-user]

Byker28i said:

<snip>

Still at least it's not the smell of weed, which in rush hour seems to come from 1 in 10 cars and about 30-40% of all vans

This.

Or walking down the street. It is absolutely everywhere. We regularly get contractors/tradesmen coming into our office who absolutely reek of it, having clearly just smoked a blunt in their van.

About 6 months ago, I had a couple of aircon engineers arrive in the office, who were there to service the suspended ceiling units and would be working up the top of ladders and so on, and I said to them "You absolutely stink of weed. You know that right?" and they just shrugged. Not one fk was given.

I don't care personally what people smoke, apart from I'm tired of the smell of it, but it just amazes me that they seemingly don't care about their driving licence or their job.

[mac96]

Strange thing is, Vauxhall have been through this sort of thing before. Back in the 70s they had a terrible reputation for rust, which if it had any truth at all, was based on models from the 50s.
70s Vauxhalls were no more rust prone than Fords, Austins etc, but the reputation stuck. And some of their late 70s models were actually not bad at all, at least in my perhaps eccentric opinion- Chevettes and Mk1 Cavaliers both nice things to drive.

Vapes? A bit sad that another potentially harmful habit has grown up so quickly.

[PaulD86]

geeks said:

The Vauxhall snobbery is mostly because Clarkson didn’t like the Vectra, or something like that,

Mine isn't. It's from driving them.

My first VX encounter was a Corsa courtesy car in 2006, to this day the only car I've driven where the gearbox acted solely as a form of engine volume control. It was comically lethargic in any gear, but much louder in the lower ones. However, I'm not daft enough to judge a brand by an entry level offering. So when, some years later, I drove an Astra I was disappointed by just how dull it was. The Focus of the time, the MK2.5, was never a car I liked the look of, but it drove nicely at least. The Astra had no plus point. It was just borderline offensively bland. The Ford VW, Renault and Mazda offerings of the time were all preferable.

Fast forward to more recent times and employment with an organisation which had an agreement with a rental company which meant we got a saloon or estate for less than their budget i10 or equivalent. These were almost always Insignias, normally under 6 months old and in one of the higher trim levels. They were horrid. To give some credit, the quicker diesel variants had reasonable go for what they were, and damping was reasonable. But the rest was grim. Seats that gave me back ache (something which I thought was just me until other colleagues complained of the same), a gearbox which had so light a throw it felt Fisher Price in nature, and a chassis completely devoid of any feel. They also smell unpleasant, even brand new. I'm not sure why, but VX products always seem to have a new car smell which unlike almost every other new car, isn't nice. Quite an achievement. One of the ones I had as a rental looked identical to the OPs car and on the looks, I think the insignia is the epitome of close, but no cigar. It probably could have been made to look decent with a few tweaks but instead looks cheap and nasty. Which is how it feels. For balance, some Astras have had decent styling. The GTC, for example.

Then there is the reliability feedback of VX owning friends. My colleague who sits opposite has just had to replace hers after the engine gave up. At only 70k miles. Another colleague had a Corsa engine give up at only 40k miles. I am sure many run trouble free, but they are one of the brands I hear a fair few horror stories of from friends and acquaintances.

So, to answer the OPs questions, on a forum for car enthusiasts, VX hatred shouldn't be a total surprise. His car pretty much is the answer. He likes it, and I completely respect that he does, but many who have experienced one view it very differently to him. But hey, we all have unpopular opinions. I think the X5 was the car that ruined BMW, not the 2 Series Active Tourer as most others seems to

[anonymous-user]

ZedLeg said:

I smoked for years too, ended up quitting for good a few years ago. It's worth doing if you can.

I think there are going to be unintended consequences for people putting big quantities of simple syrup vapour into their lungs and lets not forget that nicotine itself is incredibly bad for you. Increases your stroke and heart attack risk by an order of magnitude iirc.

My understanding is that there are already various concerns from medical professionals about that very thing.