The only people i know with Vauxhalls bought them because they know little about cars, didn't research any alternatives, or simply didn't care.
The other people with them bought them because they were £1000 bangers and/or given to them for free.
Sums most Vauxhalls up for me, for people who do not understand or care about cars.
That's probably one of the most accurate things anyone has said in this thread from my point of view, it is exactly the sort of experience I have had too.
My Grandad is a fine example, he has had an unbroken chain of Vauxhalls since before I was born, from the MK1 Cavalier which was really rather good in it's day with a 2 litre Opel engine (did 270 odd thousand miles, believe it or not), rwd and quite good looks compared to it's competition, to a MK2 Cavalier, 2 MK3 Cavaliers, MK1 Vectra, MK3 Astra, 2 MK4 Astras ...and this is where we are today, a silver '04 plate Astra 1.6 auto (which I drive about once every 6 weeks or so, and I really do not like it at all)
He hates Ford because of the cars they used to make in '60-80s when he worked as a mechanic for British Leyland and then British Gas and then for himself as auto-electrician. I struggle to comprehend quite how he judges cars though, for instance he thinks the 1.3 Marina Coupe he had in the '70s was a great car and still maintains they are good today (it was bad even then!).
He thinks anything Japanese is prone to rusting away to nothing and will be plagued with electrical problems, and all he can say about a car with an engine of 2 litres or larger is "that'll use a lot of fuel" ...he has never had a Vauxhall break down on him, never had to do anything outside of regular maintenance other than get a few sensors looked at on his last 3 cars, therefore he believes they are very good cars as reliability is one of his top criteria, he also likes the looks, which is entirely subjective of course.
Now my Grandad is a wonderful person and I'd do anything for him, indeed he largely taught me how to drive 8 years ago, but, his taste in cars is a total enigma to me, he is a Vauxhall fan because they have never let him down basically, his irational dislike of many cars because of what they were like 20-30 years ago baffles me, but I doubt that will ever change and his criteria for judging cars is rather odd to me. Especially as his taste in cars is so full of contradictions. I have tried and tried again to get him to try a modern Ford or a modern Honda even ...but he won't, he just plays it safe and goes with the Vauxhall as he 'knows' them.
Maybe today's Vauxhall's are awesome compared to yesterdays Ford's ...but compare them to today's not the ones from '80s is what I tell him. I can't win though, he's much to set in his ways and opinions
I may have wavered on my original point a bit, but I think it demonstrates how totally alien to some of us, some people's car buying criteria and opinions can be, especially when they aren't drawing like comparisons but ones with cars long in the past.
If he could easily afford to buy a brand new Insignia or Astra he very probably would, because he believes that would do him nicely, he wouldn't really consider the options or what he could get for the same amount of money, I can say this in relative certainty. That to me is noth tragic and utterly insane.
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