What kind of car / vehicle do you drive?

Originally Posted by :
So what is Opel's reputation like on the continent.

Well, there is allways someone that dont like one car...
and there is allways someone that had a problem with some brand...

Sorry my english, is not easy...

As i can say, Opel (i will talk about Astra) is very solid inside with good materials.
My model "GTC" is a litle different from the usual Astra, it is lower, the front is arrow chape, the seats are better, they fix better to your back.
the engine is a 1.4 with 90CV not good but not bad... in lower regimes (1500/2000 rpm) is a litle slow, it takes a litle to start getting up in revs, but after 3500 it's quite nice. The suspention is good and it has really good stability.

But you know.... if you like wolkwagen golf you will lot like the astra, if you like the peugeot you will not like the renault ..... it's allways like this.
But apart from the engine, the car is very good, i'm liking a lot. The engine... could be better...
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It was always the engines that I never liked in the Vauxhall's I've driven. They never felt very strong and the power delivery was never that great. Even a 1.4 in a Corsa wasn't very nice, which should have been much better considering how light those cars must be. Also the steering was quite horrible with a ridiculously wide turning circle.

I do agree with you. If someone likes a specific make of car they will always find something they don't like about other makes. It is why there are so many makes and models of car on the market.
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Originally Posted by Harrison:
It was always the engines that I never liked in the Vauxhall's I've driven. They never felt very strong and the power delivery was never that great. Even a 1.4 in a Corsa wasn't very nice, which should have been much better considering how light those cars must be. Also the steering was quite horrible with a ridiculously wide turning circle.

I do agree with you. If someone likes a specific make of car they will always find something they don't like about other makes. It is why there are so many makes and models of car on the market.

The turning circle is good.
well with a litle more money you can go from the 1.4 to the 1.7 Turbo Diesel, that's different. But it was more expensive, so i went to 1.4.... But i think the car is great, and is quite good looking the GTC version.
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Originally Posted by Harrison:

Originally Posted by Tiago:
My car:
Opel Astra GTC 1.4
I have often wondered something about Opel and wonder if any of you can answer it.

As you probably know most Opel models are sold under the Vauxhall brand in the UK and are mainly just right-hand drive rebadged versions of Opel's with a few cosmetic differences such as changes to the front grills.

In the UK Vauxhall has a really bad reputation for being mechanically unreliable and for having rubbish build quality compared to most other makes. Is this the same for Opel?

The press in the UK have also always been quite puzzled as to why Vauxhall's tend to sell quite well because I don't think there are any motoring magazines or Car related professionals who actually like them.

I personally would never buy one because I've driven a few over the years, owned by family or friends, including Corsa's, Cavalier's, Vectra's, and Omega and haven't liked driving any of them.

BTW, the second car make with a very bad reputation in the UK is Ford. My favourite acronym for FORD is Fix Or Repair Daily.

The latest batch of Vauxhall's isn't that bad. The ones in the late '90s and early 2000s were pretty awful but the latest Corsa for example is a solid (if not spectacular) car. Same with Ford - the new Mondeo is a great car by all counts, with a lot of journalists rating it above the VW Passat. Checking a few ratings in Autocar, we've got Vauxhall's Corsa & Zafira (4*/5), Astra (3.5*) & Vectra (3*) while Ford have both their Focus & Mondeo (4*). Unfortunately it's going to take a few generations of good cars for both manufacturers to shake of their bad image.
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That's it AlexJ.

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That is always the problem. It takes people a long time to forget. It is much the same for French cars, with many people in the UK still thinking of them as they were in the 80s, suffering from bad build quality and poor reliability. That hasn't been the case for a long time now but still many refuse to look at them as a purchase because of this old reputation.
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With Engines, a lot of manufactures are sharing engines because the cost of development is very high. GM (Vauxhall/Opel) and Fiat have jointly developed engines as have PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) and Ford. The 2.7 HDi engine in the 407 is one of these Peugeot-Ford engines.
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It makes sense as different manufacturers have strengths and experience in different areas. Ford have always been good at making Diesel engines for example. Did you also know that Peugeot and Citroen are actually now the same company? Although these two have actually been using the same parts in their cars for many years prior to the merger. My 405 for example had the same model engine as some Citroen BX's.
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I drive people, up the wall.
Apart from that, it's busses for me, but only as a passenger.

Don't particulary want any car.
Well real one that is.
Obviously some cars in films would be great.
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Originally Posted by Demon Cleaner:
I have a VW Golf IV V5 2.3 since 2½ years now, a real fuel eater.

A friend had one of these, great car it was, pulled very well. He chopped it in for an R32 (not the new shape, but the lovely previous shape) and that was ace. In fact, I was going to buy the V5 from him but at the time couldn't really afford the insurance on top of buying the car, running costs etc. Now he drives a volvo diesel estate.... very exciting

And another chance for me to post up my pics if I can find them

We have a Focus ST - it's a fair brute of a car, but a bit more refined than you may think, it doesn't have to be thrashed everywhere and the engine (2.5 litre 5 cyl turbo) is nice and torquey for just skulling around in traffic in 2nd/3rd, or motorway cruising. But give it some welly and it hustles. It's not the fastest car in the world but it always puts a grin on my face and leaves most everyday cars behind. Also very comfy and spacious, got most of the toys you'd want, and massive boot to, er, boot. I'm hugely pleased with it, but that's not to say it isn't without it's faults (rattles at times, poor A/C control, large blind spot, annoyingly hard headrests to give a few niggles)

Not actually our one - ours has a double silver strip along the bottom with the 'ST' logo.

My one, but a crappy pic:

We also have Ford Racing Puma 398 (out of 500). It's low, very stiff and dreadful low speed manouvrability.... and I love it. Superb grip and handling and looks brill too. And it's got a bit of a bad boy, yet tastefully done exhaust that pops and crackles like crazy. Only a 1.7 but it's 150 BHP, it's no slouch but isn't tarmac shreddingly powerful.

As for dream cars, well, there are too many to choose from. I love the exotica. A friend is getting a Gallardo soon, I hope to get a ride in that thing (it was his Audi RS4 that got trashed, I mentioned it somewhere else a few weeks back).
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