Forum menu
vauxhalls are starting to get a bit thin on the company car list here, I think PSA are not offering the discounts that GM did.
It's hardly a dream-team combo is it? The bland leading the bland.
I will always have a soft spot for the 1990s Cavalier, it might have handled crap but my boss's 1.7TD was very comfy and fast compared to the hatchbacks I'd had up to then.
Was given a gold mk2 saloon my late 20s, it had the slowest electric windows in the world and had brown velour seats - but it was brilliant for long drives and nice to drive even though it handled like a boat...
Yeah they'll change, I doubt it'll be for the better though.
Vauxhall sort of used to be cool in the 80s and 90s, but only because everyone Dad either had a Cav or a Sierra so you fought your corner in the school playground - my Dad did the unthinkable though and switch from Ford to Vauxhall, so much humble pie to eat for a 11 year old, but at least it was an White SRI and it looked cool (at the time).
My Wife had an Astra for 8 years I think, the engine sounded rough as bawls because they use a sort of caseless oil filer and I went to change it once only to find a pile of oily bits of paper where the filter should have been, the steering rack failed at 30k miles and the replacement was never right with a horrible dead notch at the centre, but it only let her down 2/3 times in that time, battery related easy to fix, but annoying so acceptable, but not remarkable, very Vauxhall I guess.
I was amazed how expensive they are now, Wife bought her last Astra, only 1.4 petrol from a dealer for £8500 'ex demo'... we had a look last year when we changed it - a 3rd Astra was £20k, a sort of half laughed, and knowing no one pays full price for a Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Renault or Citroen I asked them what sort of deal they could do... "£500 off", I think they call it a 'Coupe' now, but it's not really.
I've driven several Vauxhalls, hateful things. The steering wheel is always offset, resulting in backache after forty five minutes, the engines were universally lifeless and the seats awful.
It's as if Vauxhall/Opel can't be bothered to even try. Peugeot has a recent history of making uninteresting, dull and fragile cars (to be fair, Peugeots have been fragile since the 1980s, it's just that they used to be fun to drive). I doubt that much will change, except that your new Vauxhall will start to resemble a Peugeot if you squint at it and most likely they'll gain in popularity for junior HR staff called Emma who like zero percent finance and aspire to own a Mini within three years.
It all went wrong when they dropped the mighty cav, eh?
I used to work in Automotive and the saying a few years ago was something like "you cant really buy a bad car anymore but Vauxhall really do try". That being said the Corsa remains one of the best selling cars in the UK. PSA had a good go at getting their brand into shape a few years ago, and to a point, they succeeded - they certainly had a jump in market share. Overall though, I dont think they'll bring anything to the party apart from platform and engine share. There is probably a good gain to be had in commercial vehicles.
Ah, what's in a name? Cav / Vectra / Insignia, it's a new model of the same thing really.
It's not that they stopped making a great car and made a bad one instead, but they stayed still with their image whilst others continually changed.
Their fortunes did change about the age of the Vectra, but not because it was much worse than the Cav, just that the market for the boring mid-sized family saloon AKA Repmobile dropped as drivers wanted SUV, People Carriers, Coupes and more 'interesting' cars, anything that wasn't a 'Repmobile' and the Vauxhall badge just screams 'Dad Car', They tried to reignite it with the Lotus thing, the Holden thing and such, but it might have been a better idea to drop Vauxhall at the stage, Opel with it's Lighting Bolt badge - they could have been another 'Seat' who have a much fresher, sportier, image despite selling discount VWs, they're cheaper than Skodas these days, but it hasn't dented the image.
The 'Adam' (stupid name) is a good looking car for example, but it's never going to sell like a Fiat 500, Audi A1 or Mini because it's a Vauxhall.
PJM1974 sums it up for me.... though I'm guessing he's 6yrs younger and potentially missed the last fun Vauxhaul Opels.
Vauxhaul/Opel just didn't seem bothered to try.
I had a fragile PUG or two.. but I loved them all the same.
At one point I had a Carton (auto) and the OH a 306 XSi (not even the most exciting)... and I'd be forever stealing her car. Even for the 5-10 min trip to the supermarket through traffic where the auto was the logical choice the PUG was just choice of the heart.
4-5 years before I'd hired a Cavalier for 2 weeks and it was great....
Ah, what’s in a name? Cav / Vectra / Insignia, it’s a new model of the same thing really.
You knew where you were with a good honest Cav.
"Vectra" sounded insufferably aspirational at the same time as being dull as ditchwater.
Saw a Lotus Carlton in a car park last weekend... now that was a properly cool car back in 1990.
Vauxhall do seem to be improving again, but they certainly went through a very bland period.
Things like the Corsa-C, and Astra-G were good cars at the time, but then they seemed to go through a period of just producing blandness. Vectra-C always felt bloated, even though they very well specced compared with the competition. Insignia was a major improvement, and brilliant mile muncher, but not sure I'd buy one.
Corsa-D and Astra-H were OK, but I always felt the interiors always felt like they were trying to be too luxurious, but just ended up feeling cheap and plasticy.
The Astra-J, Mokka, and Corsa-E do seem a bit better again, but after a discussion at work with a workmate who actually has a Mokka, we came to the conclusion that there's not really anything bad about them, but they probably wouldn't be top of the list for purchasing.
Although that's probably not helped by a lot of their dealers being horrendous to deal with. I know a former Vauxhall regional tech support guy, and he said the biggest problem was dealers who just didn't want to do warranty work. All they wanted to do was hit sales targets, and do retail servicing. Why fix something under warranty at less than £50per hour, when you can sell that labour retail at over £70 per hour?
Plus, any car company that christens their new product "Mokka" deserves to go out of business, immediately. The only automotive moniker that's lamer than Mokka is Qashqai.
PJM1974 Has it right.
Vauxhall - the only car make I just cannot get on with the seats of for more than 30 minutes without sciatica or odd back pain.
Peugeot - tupperware build quality with pretty silver effect plastic sold on 0%.
The offspring of that marriage is not going to be very 'strong'....
i had a mk2 cav like cha****ngs up there as a first car, loved that thing as it was almost indestructable, 312,000 ish miles several youthfull crashes which left it full of filler and bumbers held on with duck tape! happy days of bombing around france biking and camping. Pushing it round wandsworth one way system after the cam belt snapped, fitted a new one and changed the oil next day and off it went again...........ahhhh happy days it had the most comfy seats and would run on once turned off like uncle bucks car and then back fire!
several years later i also had a mk4 astra that did 240,000 ish miles and was equally hard to kill. I am not massively bothered with the brand though, i do however have a disslike for mazda as the engine on our 6 blew up at 80k and mazda didn't give a sh't
I've just bought a 3yr old Zafira Tourer, it's as well put together as my previous Passat was by the looks of it. Quiet, comfortable, bags of room and reasonably economical for a big car with a small engine (1.4T petrol). Seats on the Passat (and Golf before it) gave me arse ache after a while, did 270 miles in the Zafira without so much as a twinge. Headlights were crap though, HID kit has sorted that though. SRi badge means I'm cool though, right? 😉
Bland - probably. Practical - definitely.
Those faimly SUV things, Zafira in particular, are the car for people who have given up on life, or who just arent a petrolhead at heart. A fried of mine had a VRS Zafira and it nearly killed his wallet and his soul.
Have you seen the ad for Opel Grandland X?
The lead character might be a STW member but still most depressing car ad I've seen in ages.
Those bemoaning ‘loss of character’ ought to stick some big alloys and a loud exhaust on their commuter wagons and pull themselves together. A car is but a tool, do you consider your favourite 10mm spanner to have ‘character’?
I'd be curious to hear what bike you ride. Something from Go Outdoors I expect? It's just a tool after all.
I loved my early 90s Cavalier (the blobby shaped one). Still one of the quietest cars I've driven, but it did start to rust after about 3 years. Had an old Chevette before that, which should have died from neglect, but carried on for years.
Only recent experience was a new Corsa SRi as a loaner for a month <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">last year, which was worse in almost every way (bar the radio) that my wife's Hyundai i20. I do like the look of the new Insignia though.</span>
The biggest problem with Vauxhall is that they’re bland. Not just to look at but in every way. When was the last time they had a car that was genuinely class leading in any aspect? Why would you buy one?
In fairness the new Astra gets very good reviews. Certainly nicer inside than the current Focus (which has the same heater knobs as my 12 year old focus, which had the same ones as the mk1!)
The image is obviously sticking though, you can get a brand new SRi 150hp petrol one for ~£22k, or get one less than a year old from Network Q for £10k!