Vauxhalls - any good?

System

Arklight wrote: »

Cars like Vauxhalls, Fords, and Renaults are great up to the point the warranty runs out.

Utter rubbish.

Sea_Shell

As much as we like our Vauxhall's, you'd be crazy to PCP new ones as they lose way too much initial value to make that viable. Why do you think most PCP deals are on German brands!!??

Buying at 1-3 years old is prime value for money. Ours was basically half price at 1 year old with 4500 miles on it.

Scrapit

motorguy wrote: »

+1

Has never owned one but has taken exception to them {for some reason} and therefore they must be bad cars.

There's several brands of cars I've never owned but have driven enough to know I wouldn't want to own one, Vauxhall being one of those brands.

motorguy

Sea_Shell wrote: »

As much as we like our Vauxhall's, you'd be crazy to PCP new ones as they lose way too much initial value to make that viable. Why do you think most PCP deals are on German brands!!??

Buying at 1-3 years old is prime value for money. Ours was basically half price at 1 year old with 4500 miles on it.

The best way to own a new Vauxhall is either via a cheap PCP on an entry level / special edition Corsa or Astra (usually very cheap so less money to lose so PCP deals are palatable) or to avail of their 0% APR finance deals (sometimes over 5 years) as and when they come up.

Having said that, unless someone wants something very specific, Vauxhall are pretty much white goods, so someone would be better buying a year old one on a cheap personal loan. Theres thousands about at a lot less than discounted new price.

motorguy

Scrapit wrote: »

There's several brands of cars I've never owned but have driven enough to know I wouldn't want to own one, Vauxhall being one of those brands.

Thats fine, as is your prerogative, based on your specific needs. Doesnt mean other people shouldnt, based on their needs.

They are generally fine if someone is looking to treat their cars as white goods. They will be a lot cheap than VW, Skoda and probably even Ford.

For example, the Insignia is a very under rated car, especially when its in something like SRi spec with a decent amount of toys. The weak point in that range is the 1.8i petrol variant which, whilst a good engine in other models struggles with the Insignias weight.

Very few of their cars will set the world on fire but a lot of people dont want / need that anyway.

I enjoyed my Insignia when i had it. It was a 2.0CDTI SRi 160BHP 6 speed variant and i'd a tuning box on it that took it to 190BHP or so. Comfy, well spec'd and spacious. Which is exactly what i was looking for at the time.

jcb208

Had the Astra 2.0 CDTI from a year old, now 9 years old apart from Brakes tyres ect had 1 aircon rad and never let me down .Road tax is £30 a year .I love it

KaiserBill

I have a 2003 Astra 1.6 petrol. Only ever had routine service. Oil, filter, pads etc. One AC regas and a couple of timing belts. Have now owned it for eight years.

Never missed a beat, very happy with it.

mgfvvc

Arklight wrote: »

Cars like Vauxhalls, Fords, and Renaults are great up to the point the warranty runs out.

My 2011 Ford has been out of warranty for some time. The only unscheduled work needed has been brake discs, battery and pothole damage. It's a huge contrast to the last Ford I had which was an A reg Sierra. Based on this one I'd happily have another Ford.

My last Vauxhall was an A reg Astra and while I wouldn't care to repeat the experience I'm not sure it's of any relevance to a modern Astra. My main objection to a modern Astra is that it's ugly. My Ford is a C-Max, so I'm probably throwing stones from inside a glass house.

danny91

Ive got a 2016 Astra K. 1.6T petrol. So far its been faultless. If youre looking at the 1.6 diesel then double check that the recent recall work has been carried out on it, BOTH stage 1 AND stage 2. It was a fault with the hydraulics that operate the clutch and brakes. All components are being replaced.

If you are thinking of one of the petrols, then ensure it has the new type of oil (Dexos 1 Gen 2) the earlier 1.0T and 1.4T astra K's used Dexos 2 oil and some of the engines suffered from LSPI.

Fuel economy in my 1.6T is actually quite decent. Better than the 1.0 eco!!!!! focus I had before. I average around 35 mpg around town and on a long motorway run managed 54 MPG!

shinytop

Some really good advice, thanks. Like someone said, this will be my "white goods" car so has to be good value and reliable. Unfashionable or even ugly is OK. My washing machine is a last-year's-model Zanussi, not the latest Miele or Smeg . It sounds like a late model, well cared for Astra/Insignia might do the job for me. I'll keep looking around though.