Yes, I have had a busy day. Why not just call me a liar? I've said I don't need to be swayed; I have decided. I've highlighted the key word above. Why can you not just accept what I have said? I'm not after the most epic car ever made. The Fiesta was in the price range which is why I tried it... Sure, you're entitled to your opinion. Thank you.
I shall help elaborate on Fox's point recalling my experiences with a vauxhall:
I bought a vauxhall vectra, on a 2006 56 plate in 2008. It still had over 1 years of manufacturers warranty left, and it came with 12 months Network Q warranty as well.
About 6 months into my ownership, 6th gear went. I could select every gear except 6th. Rather bizzare gear to loose as its one of the least used gears and its one that never really sees hard revs. Anyway, took it to vauxhall who replaced the gearbox under warranty. Well i say replaced, more like ****ed about for a week and eventually got it back fixed by some miracle. I was left without a hire car, with no offer of one made as they are only offered "for big jobs" (and a gearbox replacement isn't ??) and given constant lies and time delays Phew, crisis averted ? Not quite
Just over a week after that, the car started running rough, the idle wasn't smooth, the revs were all over the place, it was hesistant under acceleration and wouldn't pull smoothly. Took it back to vauxhal, despite it being less than 2 weeks since they had the car in bits replacing the gearbox, they didnt want to know. They were making noises about a £70 diagnostic charge and moaning that i didnt buy the car from them ( i was using the dealers next to work, different one to where i bought it from) quite why this should have anything to do with it i dont know.
Anyway, i got it booked in, and waited for the phone call. None for the first day, we're still awaiting somebody to look at it. "familiar story i thought" Next day, i get a phone call telling me that they've found the problem. The hose that goes from the intercooler to the turbo has blown off. They want to charge me £140 of labour ( 2 hours @ £70 an hour) and the £70 diagnostic charge so a grand total of £210.
I tell them where to get off, speak to the service manager and argue with him. He comes out with that these "hoses do that sort of thing" as its due to the car having a turbo and its not covered under warranty "because hoses arent covered" under warranty apparently. I have some more arguments, point out that A) that means degradation of rubber, which this isn't, its just blown off and B) its blown off barely a week after they took the car apart, this isn't a co-incidence and its their duty to fix it. Some more heated exchanges take place and i give up and ask for the car back.
I turn up to pick the car up, and they've done the work i refused to give them permission to do (what part of "i'm going to complain to vauxhall constitues permission to do the work !!") and re holding me to ransom at 5pm on friday in front of a dealership full of people.
They knew they ****ed up when they put the car back together, which is why as soon as i mentioned complaining to vauxhall, they did the work to hide the bodge. They knew they can't submit work that they've done to fix their mistakes to vauxhall as warranty work. Vauxhall won't allow it, so they tried to charge me it instead.
I reluctantly pay the ammount, then complain in person to vauxhall. After a few days of phone calls Vauxhall eventually forces them to pay me a refund and i get my money back.
This was behaviour from a main franchised dealer. Lieing to me, trying to charge me for their mistakes, agruing that work that should be covered under warranty wasnt because i didnt buy the car from them, arguing that both warranties were "worthless" because the car "had no warranty after the 2nd year" and all sorts of other ****
And i'm not the only one, there are loads of others on the vauxhall specific problems with experiences of crap dealers like this offering crap service on cars that shouldnt break as often as they do. Make no mistake, the reason Vauxhall's are cheap is because they are built cheap.
I honestly would never have another one again. Vauxhall refuse to do anything about that dealer and they are still there, proudly wearing a vauxhall badge, offering poor service. And the country is full of them.
Poor dealer service + poor residuals (this again, is down to vauxhall having no control of the dealers who offer MASSIVE discounts on new cars) + Poor build quality is how i would sum up my experiences with my vauxhall.
Buy at your own risk. You have been warned.
SXi seems to be the way to go within budget of £6k, and hopefully will be able to get a good deal. Where'd the best place to buy? Dealer or private? I'll also have to get rid of my current car soon, so would that be best to do privately? As I said in the OP, not into cars at all and was pretty much given my first car, so don't have a clue.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
