Manufacturer preferences

[Chives]

I was born in 1995 and I guess my preferences could well be quite different to those older than me. I've driven a 2003 Seat Ibiza for about a year now and so all the experience I have with cars thus far is those that friends at sixth form and uni drive. My car for example compared with similar cars of its age and price (Clio, Punto) being two notable examples, feels significantly better built and speaking in terms of reliability I have had no problems with the Ibiza, the Punto and Clio have both had problems.

Of course having read and occasionally contributed to motors for a few years now my preferences have no doubt been influenced by what I've read here.

-Merc: Of a decent quality, just the non-AMG stuff is quite unappealing to me personally as an 18 year old
- BMW: Probably my favourite car brand by a significant margin, I want no car more than a manual 335i.
- Audi: Nice cars with good interiors. My reading tells me that BMW almost always make a better equivalent though
-VW: Love the GTI, could be argued that the prices are a little too high compared to Ford but then some consider the quality to be worth the extra.
- Honda: Quality cars and I like the S2000 and Civic Type-R, never really heard a bad thing about them

- Toyota: Boring but sensible, good buy if you don't like driving
- Mazda: More fun, but they all feel a little throw away (excluding the MX5)
- Ford: Good for their prices, but not as good as some people claim. Hate their glitzy aiwa inspired interiors
- Citroen: some of the best looking cars onthe market. Always thought that the cars they've been making recently are far better than their older cars.
- Renault and Peugeot: Renault Sport cars are supposed to be brilliant, other than that I would avoid. Older Peugeot cars are just awful, probably still wouldn't buy one now
- Alfa/FIAT: Alfas do have a charm about them and I have a soft spot for the 159. FIAT make nice looking cars but I would never bother
- Vauxhall: Newer stuff better, Ford equivalent generally better.]

 

[[TW]Fox]

However Citroens are just the bee's knees

I can't see me buying one of those again either to be fair

 

[Scania]

Somebody 15 years older than me would probably laugh at the thought of owning a Skoda.

I think a person's view on certain brands/models heavily depends on when they were born.

Very true!
I was born in 71 and to my mind a Skoda has about as much appeal as a dog turd, in fact I'd prefer the dog turd.....


A Skoda has a heated rear window to keep your hands warm whilst you push it! As the joke went back in school!!!

However good they continue to get, Skoda will always be a joke brand to me.

 

[[TW]Fox]

That reflects more on you than it does on Skoda. Are you not able to form opinions rationally?

 

[The Running Man]

Perception of skoda has improved massively.

Now back when I was a lad and there were cars like lada or the skoda felicia they had a real bad rap.

Now you have performance clubs for the 'Tavia and the Fabia a lot has changed.

 

[Greg0986]

I really like the look of Skoda's, I find them quirky yet refined and would love to own a new Octavia vRS estate.

I don't really see the hate for Peugeot's/Citreons/Renaults, I have just passed my test and I have a 207, and it is great fun, powerful but not massively. A lot of friends also have Peugeot's/Citreons/Renaults and they find them good to chuck about. Also, I have not had a single problem.

Next car I think will be an ST or something German.

 

[Bear]

That reflects more on you than it does on Skoda. Are you not able to form opinions rationally?

Some genuinely can't unfortunately, my wife is one of them. She loves VWs but flatly refuses to even consider a Skoda and she doesn't care that its part of the VAG group.

 

[PMKeates]

If you are a brand snob Skoda will not 'fit' for a long, long time.

 

[Scania]

That reflects more on you than it does on Skoda. Are you not able to form opinions rationally?

With Skodas, maybe not!

I say it myself, I know they are now good cars, it's just my perception is still skewed by the image of them when I was at school in the 70's & mid 80's.

 

[Conanius]

I can't see me buying one of those again either to be fair

Wasn't there an exec Citroen a few years back that was pretty special. The one with the curved rear screen?

Probably not as good as your E39 to be fair, but still pleasant?

 

[ninjag]

Does anyone else have a similar problem?

For me I don't seem to be interested in any other manufacturers other than Japanese car manufacturers I've tried a few, 2 Renaults an Audi and a Vauxhall which is probably why I have this preference as none of them were fault free where as the Jap cars have been fine.

What I want from my next car next year is a five door hatch, petrol, FWD with around 200BHP and five doors. In terms of modern jap cars they don't seem to exist its one extreme to the other, too slow or too much power for what I need, there's the Mazda MPS but I don't need that kind of performance and the tax puts me off a little, the Swift Sport which doesn't have enough, the FN2 only has three doors and I've already had one so don't really want another.

If you look at other marques, there's loads to choose from, Megane, Leon, Golf, Octavia, A3 (Mostly VAG) etc

Another thing for me is the social side, me and a mate tend to go to Jap car meets quite often and I like the Japanese modifying culture, other marques just aren't the same

Anyone else have a preference that you justify to yourself or is it just me?

They don't come in hatch but the 7th Gen Honda Accord 2.4i is a good car. About 190BHP with the lovely iVTEC engine which never sounds labours and has a sweet tone. Torque isn't great but drop the gears to the lovely 4,500rpm sweet spot and it will shift and keep going right up to 7,200rpm thanks to the primary VTEC engagement at 6,000rpm. No fading after 5,500rpm etc.

If you go for the 2005 Exec then it's got more toys than a spoilt child and will be in the lower tax bracket. For a FWD it's surprisingly sure footed thanks to the excellent VSA system, bullet proof electrics so all those annoying electrical problems shouldn't happen (it's built in Japan and not Swindon) and comes with excellent HID lights. Drive it casually and you can return well over 30mpg, one guy even got over 600 miles to a tank! Also, you've got one of the best seats in the industry, some reviewers claiming they are better than SAAB seats.

I've got one and there's not a spot of rust on it with the underneath looking like new. The only drawback for you is that it's a saloon, but the seats go down plus it's very secure in the boot with the cabin boot release button being lockable. So if someone wants in the boot they can't just smash the drivers window. It's a huge boot for a saloon.

It can tramline with certain tyres but if you get the tracking done there's a revised tighter spec released by Honda which sort it perfectly. Reliability has been perfect with the only problem being a dry clutch release bearing. It doesn't effect driving and just makes a slight noise when you are putting a lot of strain on the clutch (i.e. major hill start). It's a £35 part which can be changed when the clutch is being done so no big deal.

You can pick them up for well under £5K now so it's a lot of car for the money. There's not a huge amount of tuning options being a n/a engine but still a good supply of SRI, performance exhausts etc. I've heard they are well tuned from the factory anyway.

 

[matthab]

Ive had French and it wasnt to bad just the usual electrics fun. Ive got a German/Spanish (Seat) car at the moment and i really like it, granted its been in a few times mainly with the DSG box, but I accepted it maybe an issue when I bought it.

I do like German cars at the moment, they have good performance, built relatively well and practical.

 

[AshD93]

I like BMW's.

 

[St!g]

I usually go for Japanese cars.

Drove past a Kia/Hyundai dealer today and have to admit some of their cars look quite nice.