Vauxhalls are great

Demon · 11 Jan 2011 at 11:36

[TW]Fox;18198115 said:
This is very true. My preferred marque is hardly reliable.

But what makes this more unacceptable with Vauxhall is given they don't do anything else particularly well, the only reason to purchase most of the range is to provide cheap and cheerful transport. The fact they can't even do that makes them fundamentally pointless.

I mean you don't care if your Elise breaks because when it works, it's sensational.

But when a tediously dull, cheap family car goes wrong it begins to become a pointless car.

When I bought my Zafira in 2005, it actually did lots much better then it's rivals, so made perfect sense, and despite the sadly 'standard' issues on that generation of car, it's been far from pointless..

And having owned a Focus 1.6 Zetec for a few months now, it's been a relative let down, since it's actually turned out to be distinctly far more humdrum then I expected it to be, and honestly if I was in the market for that class/engine size of car, I'd have no issues considering the Astra or the Golf as credible alternatives..

I'm not seeing eye to eye with your point on this, a humdrum car is humdrum, whether it's a Ford/VW/VX/Renault/Peugeot, I can't single out one manufacturer as 'pointless' if they all have some common reliability issues..

MOOGLEYS · 11 Jan 2011 at 12:04

I have owned quite a few Vauxhalls probarbly most of them tbh. They have made some really not great cars but they have also made some classics. The older generation of late 80,s early 90,s cars were by far the best in my opinion.

Morba · 11 Jan 2011 at 13:00

The only VX we have had was a corsa c, for what it was it did its job and worked very well.

Dangerous Dave · 11 Jan 2011 at 13:50

My girlfriend's Zafira got a new clutch and DMF, £1350 bill if Vauxhall weren't picking it up. I always wonder how much that has to do with how they are driven as my girlfriend has wrecked the clutch and/or flywheel on every car she has had be it petrol or diesel, automatic for her next I think !

It has not had any other problems and doesn't rattle (bar the diesel engine that is

) but I have fitted the Alfa blanking plate to the EGR valve to prevent it clogging up along with the intake manifold. I would have rather had an S-Max but my girlfriend didn't like it and she still likes her Zafira, people who have borrowed it have all commented they were surprised how good it was to drive even got pretty good reviews.

Lum · 11 Jan 2011 at 14:03

Morba said:
The only VX we have had was a corsa c, for what it was it did its job and worked very well.

Was it's job to deter anyone from breaking into your house?

zootfloot · 11 Jan 2011 at 16:37

[TW]Fox;18198115 said:
This is very true. My preferred marque is hardly reliable.

But what makes this more unacceptable with Vauxhall is given they don't do anything else particularly well, the only reason to purchase most of the range is to provide cheap and cheerful transport. The fact they can't even do that makes them fundamentally pointless.

I mean you don't care if your Elise breaks because when it works, it's sensational.

But when a tediously dull, cheap family car goes wrong it begins to become a pointless car.

Couldnt agree more, having owned our astra for 3 years now, and 74k miles put up on it i can safely say that its the most reliable car we have ever owned....however when things do go wrong with it, its almost heart breaking to get it fixed.

Its a car that gets us from A-B with minimum fuss, it gives us a great MPG return and in the grand scheme of things it costs very little to maintain other than general wear and tear.

The main jobs we have had done are...

MAF replaced
Timing belt replaced
EGR valve replaced

Everything else has been brake, tyre & exhaust related really other than the wife filling it with petrol and then driving 13 miles home with it. :eek:

Would i have another one.....NO

Would i recommend one to another person....NO

Has it been more reliable than any other car we have had....YES

Does it make baby jesus cry.....YES

MOOGLEYS · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:17

zootfloot said:
Couldnt agree more, having owned our astra for 3 years now, and 74k miles put up on it i can safely say that its the most reliable car we have ever owned....however when things do go wrong with it, its almost heart breaking to get it fixed.

Its a car that gets us from A-B with minimum fuss, it gives us a great MPG return and in the grand scheme of things it costs very little to maintain other than general wear and tear.

The main jobs we have had done are...

MAF replaced
Timing belt replaced
EGR valve replaced

Everything else has been brake, tyre & exhaust related really other than the wife filling it with petrol and then driving 13 miles home with it.

Would i have another one.....NO

Would i recommend one to another person....NO

Has it been more reliable than any other car we have had....YES

Does it make baby jesus cry.....YES

Why do you dislike it so much that you would not have another or recommend..? I presume not liking the drive ?

sovietspybob · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:58

The only Vauxhall i've ever really had any dealings with was a Zafira that was a pool car at work, the rest are all Focuses or Mondeos but for some reason they got 1 Vauxhall.

It was great (well no it was pretty terrible all round really) till it burst into flames about 4 months after it arrived, turns out the ECU under the glove box decided it wasn't warm enough in the car and designed to start billowing out smoke into the cabin then set on fire and burn the entire car out.

We've not had another Vauxhall at work since

jaybee · 11 Jan 2011 at 18:13

I drive a 150k mile Zafira. Never uses a drop of oil, pulls hard and drives well still. Tis a 2002 plate. It's been driven into twice and scraped down one side. Only things that I have had to do are wear and tare really. Build quality seems fine to me. It gets used and abused with kids and stands up to it. Driven in ridiculous snow and ice and long distance with no issues really. Only thing I find with Vauxhalls that I have driven, is that the gearboxes wear badly. Or more specifically the gear linkage rods are sometimes weak and go bad.

[TW]Fox · 11 Jan 2011 at 18:15

Pulls hard? A 2002 Zafira?

I dont think it does.

Princey · 11 Jan 2011 at 18:35

[TW]Fox;18202348 said:
Pulls hard? A 2002 Zafira?

I dont think it does.

It must be a derv and its the torques.

Draeger · 11 Jan 2011 at 18:53

sovietspybob said:
It was great till it burst into flames about 4 months after it arrived

To be fair, I can see why that would put you off driving one.

Stringy · 11 Jan 2011 at 21:14

In my limited-to-one-model-and-car experience Vauxhall weren't too bad. I had an 02 Astra 1.8 SXi for 4 years/35k miles and I only needed to get new front brakes at 60k and pads all round, some new brake lines due to corrosion and one new wheel bearing. The car handled alright and pulled pretty well, being enjoyable to drive when the occasion called for it. That said it's the only Vauxhall I've ever driven for a large duration of time, only ever taking others out for small spins, so I'm looking through blinkered eyes!

Jonners · 11 Jan 2011 at 21:29

Vauxhall Belmont was a wonderful design :cool:

Draeger · 11 Jan 2011 at 21:57

Nova Saloon or "Gnomes Hearse" was better than the Belmont.

PMKeates · 11 Jan 2011 at 22:02

I liked the 1994 Cavalier 1.8 LS I drove for a while. Verrry soft ride!

zootfloot · 12 Jan 2011 at 09:04

MOOGLEYS said:
Why do you dislike it so much that you would not have another or recommend..? I presume not liking the drive ?

Because its a 1.7 Dti with about as much power as a radio controlled car, the ride is horrible, the driving position, seats and interior materials quality are all terrible.

BUT as i said, its been really reliable and costs us not a lot to run, so i suppose if a painter and decorator asked me would i recommend one to him, then i would say yes, if a friend asked would i recommend one for his family then the answer would be no, he would hate the car for as long as he owned it.

MOOGLEYS · 12 Jan 2011 at 09:09

zootfloot said:
Because its a 1.7 Dti with about as much power as a radio controlled car, the ride is horrible, the driving position, seats and interior materials quality are all terrible.

BUT as i said, its been really reliable and costs us not a lot to run, so i suppose if a painter and decorator asked me would i recommend one to him, then i would say yes, if a friend asked would i recommend one for his family then the answer would be no, he would hate the car for as long as he owned it.

Fair enough the 1.7 diesel engine is horrid. I have not owned a Zaifira but they always seem to get quite good reviews from the press but a lot of owners say otherwise. The newer models are meant to be better but would be good to hear from owners to see what they think. I have been looking at getting one for a while as getting three kids and two adults in my vectra is rather tight, although i,m now really liking the new C-Max and i,m arranging a viewing...

Scania · 12 Jan 2011 at 14:06

Jaymond said:
Vauxhall Belmont was a wonderful design

I had 3 back in the day - a 1.6 GL, 1.8GLSi and a 1.8 SRi.

Great boot for a bass box!

I'm a lot better now though.

jaybee · 12 Jan 2011 at 20:36

[TW]Fox;18202348 said:
Pulls hard? A 2002 Zafira?

I dont think it does.

I was referring to the engine still pulling hard at 150k miles headmaster. That acceptable in your motoring forum sir? It's not like I claimed it was a sports car so get off your high horse and go back to your car that obviously does pull hard and drive so well bla bla bla yawn.