Citroen Xsara or Toyota Corolla

Oakey22

I work at toyota making the Avensis and i must say they are built very very well, every car is checked at the end of the line for everything you can think of. It is the same in the shop next to us, which is the Corrolla. Everything i can say is spot on, i havent heard of any major problems from people having them through work as they are very very reliable.

jjames_3

Totally agree, the Japanese way of doing things is extremely exacting. I know folk who work at the Nissan factory in Sunderland and they're the same. If a car has a fault, it more often or not is destroyed or used internally rather than being repaired and sold as happens with most European car manufacturers. The tolerance levels required of parts being manufactured by third parties is an order of magnitude higher than the Fords and Vauxhalls of this world as well. In short, they're just in a different league. The Euroboxes might finally have a modicum of reliability about them these days but they just don't come close to the major Japanese manufacturers for engineering excellence.

shellsuit

I agree with whats been said about Toyota. Their lean manufacturing processes are world class and everyone wants to be like them and copy their methods and techniques.

I know the Corolla is built in the UK but i still stand by my point about parts & repairs e.t.c. being more expensive than a ford or vauxhall.

As for build quality the company i work for sequences parts for Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port for the new Astra and with my hand on my heart say that their standards are as high as Nissan and other japenses manufacturers. TBH i think most car makers have had to raise the bar quality wise in order to survive. The new Astra is the best car quality wise ever built at the E Port factory. First time right is currently at around 99.7% which is world class and the direct run rate is also at a high level.

Suppose it depends on what you want. End of the day they are all cars and all do the same basic things all that matters is that you are happy with your choice.