New Vauxhall Viva

keith1950

I attended the yearly VBOA rally last weekend where I heard lots of opinions on the Viva, many of the Griffin enthusiasts likened it very much to the Corsa, just for a different age range. But then what would they know....


Have an extended drive in both and you will soon find which is more comfortable to drive, which handles better and which has the better engine.


Enthusiasts are exactly that ....they are so enthusiastic about a brand that they don't see past their shortcomings.


Only my opinion but as someone else stated the Agila/ Viva is more likely to be bought by elderly women to get from A-B and people who are on a tight budget. Few people with more money available would buy one.


The Corsa , like the Fiesta, is a mass market car and the sheep mentality ensures they are bought in large numbers.

aeroblade

Only on a money saving forum do you get ridiculous posts like the ones on here. Vauxhall is hardly an enthusiasts brand. They generally make bottom of the market cars that have one of the weakest residual values. If an "enthusiast" and Vauxhall ever do come together you generally get a teenage chav driving a tarted up ecobox FWD Corsa with a 1.2 litre engine.
Its hilarious that people on this thread even associate the 2 together whilst snubbing at cars that actually have large enthusiast followers like BMW or even a Nissan! They'll disdainfully neglect a car like the the M4, ISF or C63 when it's actually superior in every single way to any Vauxhall ever made!

andrewf75

aeroblade wrote: »

The problem with a lot of people, and this is not only specific to the topic of motoring, is that they make generalised, open ended, sweeping comments such as this. Being German has the perception that it is of quality but the brand matters more. If Vauxhall were ever re-introduced in the UK as the German brand Opel, it may have the initial appeal of being 'German' but overtime even the general public who know nothing of cars will know it doesn't meet the higher Engineering standards to that of BMW/Merc/Porsche.

But surely the general public who know nothing about cars (and lets face it this is the market Vauxhall is aimed at) would therefore also realise that a Vauxhall is simply a rebadged Opel anyway and that enthusiasts consider Vauxhalls as rubbish cars!

The popularity of Skoda, Hyundai, Kia, Dacia etc suggests that brands aren't that important to buyers at the lower end of the market.

aeroblade

andrewf75 wrote: »

But surely the general public who know nothing about cars (and lets face it this is the market Vauxhall is aimed at) would therefore also realise that a Vauxhall is simply a rebadged Opel anyway and that enthusiasts consider Vauxhalls as rubbish cars!

The popularity of Skoda, Hyundai, Kia, Dacia etc suggests that brands aren't that important to buyers at the lower end of the market.

The market that lower car manufacturers such as Vauxhall target know nothing about cars but the ones with even a little common sense will freely concede that manufacturers (ones that have an actual enthusiast market following) such as BMW or Porsche are superior cars than Vauxhalls. However, you will always get the ones with a chip on their shoulder- you know some of the ignorant working class who have only ever driven Vauxhalls and the like and will snub at even a BMW M4 or Merc E63 AMG, thinking they are all badge yet the same car as their Vauxhall.

colino

Darkmatter, time for you to go again.

Indout96

having just checked pictures on the internet, I can confirm for Dark Matter that a Vauxhall Viva is not the same as a Merc E63 AMG
Well done DK you got something right at last.

aeroblade

Indout96 wrote: »

having just checked pictures on the internet, I can confirm for Dark Matter that a Vauxhall Viva is not the same as a Merc E63 AMG
Well done DK you got something right at last.

I think that's abundantly clear, but that's not the topic of discussion here. Vauxhall in general targets customers who knows nothing of cars and want to get from A to B as cheaply as possible- it is not really a brand known for its enthusiast following as some other posts on this thread suggest.


Even a 1 year old can tell the visual difference between a Vauxhall Viva or the E63 AMG- but like the baby, there are a lot of adults who probably think the difference between the 2 ends visually. They don't actually take into account that the E63 is more refined, composed at higher speeds, a lot more comfortable, superior handling and so forth.

almillar

aeroblade (or can I call you Bosche?!)
Vauxhall Viva vs Merc E63 AMG - I'm not sure who you're arguing with here, I think everyone can agree that they're very different cars, but on a money saving site, you've compared them, ignoring their cost. Premium cars will be lusted after, but not necessarily bought. That's why TVR went bust, I never got mine!

keith1950

......and most of the general population can't afford the cars you keep going on about....
I commented on the original topic because I do ( through my job ) have some experience of the cars mentioned, not that i would ever contemplate buying one...

just as I would never contemplate a BMW or a Mercedes or Ferrari or a Porsche.

My choice would be the Nissan GTR .... the quickest 0-60mph of any standard production car.....2.8 seconds.

aeroblade

keith1950 wrote: »

......and most of the general population can't afford the cars you keep going on about....
I commented on the original topic because I do ( through my job ) have some experience of the cars mentioned, not that i would ever contemplate buying one...

just as I would never contemplate a BMW or a Mercedes or Ferrari or a Porsche.

My choice would be the Nissan GTR .... the quickest 0-60mph of any standard production car.....2.8 seconds.

Ignoring the top end models of German manufacturers like BMW M4 or Mercedes E63, even lower end models like the BMW 323i is a lot more superior to Vauxhall. Hell, even a 2001 BMW 330ci drives a lot better than the new Vauxhall Viva.