What kind of car / vehicle do you drive?

[toomanymikes]

Hi all
I was talking to a few folk at work about this and that and the topics of cars came up. It was wierd but you could almost picture the person sitting in the vehicle - for example, one guy tends to like designs with little funky touches that arent really needed but look cool and he drives an Alpha Romeo.
Anyways I was wondering what cars / bikes etc you guys drive (if any at all) and what you would like to drive / could see yourself owning in the future.
I have a humble Volkswagen Polo 1.4CL which I have owned since I finished uni but im trying to convince my girlfriend that a Mercedes SL500 would be practical as it could fit a child seat in the back... I tried the 'you can keep the polo' line but I dont think it really worked. Also, the new Ducati 1098 has my name written all over it - sooooo cooooool!

[Stephen Coates]

A pushbike. Nothing perticulaly special about it.

[Tiago]

My car:
Opel Astra GTC 1.4

Dream Car:
Ferrari 288 GTO (1984) with 2855 C.C ; twin turbo; 400 cv; 305 km/h
It is 23 years old, but it is pure art.....
As we say here in Portugal "bela maquina"

[Harrison]

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.

So what is Opel's reputation like on the continent.

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.

[Tiago]

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...

[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.

[Tiago]

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.

[AlexJ]

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.

[Tiago]

That's it AlexJ.

[Harrison]

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.