The Reverend Bluejeans Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 I sometimes HAVE to use the works BMW 325 Touring (not sure what E number it is, itsmon a "64" plate) but it has an absolutely horrendous interior-in particular the hard plastic steering wheel, which the one on my 1994 Citroen AX put to shame. F31. The E's have long gone. They all have leather rim wheels, even SE base models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerzy Woking Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 Well, our F31 has no leather on the steering wheel. It really feels awful-horribly textured, hard, cheap plastic that doesn't reflect the brand that they have built. I would defy anyone to say it feels good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiltox Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 I was in a 12 plate 320d the other day (Uber) with cloth seats and proper base model trim - only ever seen leather in them even in rentals. Wasn’t very inviting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerzy Woking Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 I'll get a photo of it. I doubt that someone has swapped the steering wheel f from their personal car for the one out of this. Happened on our V6 Vectra SRi when someone took the Irmscher rear exhaust box off of it and swapped it for a cheap 1.6 exhaust box. I've remembered now that it was a nice car-abused from day one for 120,000 miles with no trouble before it got sold off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Reverend Bluejeans Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 You'll be fending off the Eastern Europeans on the Insignia, they love them. Possibly but petrol might put them off, maybe. It's worth £2900 fixed as a Cat S so it needs to be bought, fixed and on the road for £1800. Black doors should be common enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesapandre Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 Just seen another chocolate Mokka looking very nice - a brown interior too in what looked like leather. So brown is back? It's taken 40 years. AMC Rebel and The Reverend Bluejeans 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavcraft Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 As above, there does seem to be a lot of Mokkas about. The Vivas have clearly risen rapidly in price, the salesman I got mine off did say at the time they were going up £500 very soon after, and clearly they’ve gone much higher than that now. Finance on the scooter is up next year I think, once paid for I might buy a new Corsa. The Reverend Bluejeans 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dozeydustman Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 I like Saabs - basically Vauxhall's underneath, but just feel much different, even that little bit special. Didn't stop them going out of business though. Wasn't that because they took a Vectra, said "this doesn't meet the Saab standard", then totally redesigned it! Cost GM millions by doing that so they pulled the plug. My 93 sport wagon drives nothing like a 1.9TiD Vectra estate. Saabs always sold, could easily have been the premium end of the market for GM, took most of Saab's tweaks and improvements, especially the handling, over into the Vaux/Opel range and kept Chevy/Gaywoo as the Dacia level brand. Jerzy Woking 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkman Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 abused from day one for 120,000 miles with no trouble before it got sold off. Why would anyone in his right mind sell a car that gives no trouble?Oh wait. This forum, innitt? Partridge and chaseracer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 No, we just buy ones that have very obviously given trouble from day one. Junkman, The Reverend Bluejeans and AMC Rebel 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam simmons Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 As above, there does seem to be a lot of Mokkas about. The Vivas have clearly risen rapidly in price, the salesman I got mine off did say at the time they were going up £500 very soon after, and clearly they’ve gone much higher than that now. Finance on the scooter is up next year I think, once paid for I might buy a new Corsa. I prefer the look of the new Viva to all the other city cars but swmbo wanted the Aygo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuvvum Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 Finance on the scooter is up next year I think, once paid for I might buy a new Corsa.Good Lord, you really are beyond hope aren't you? Junkman, cros, sierraman and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiltox Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 corsa with them in 02 when it was new thought they were crap , i'm now driving an 09 corsa that has them and in a coupel of weeks i got used to itNo you didn’t - they were introduced to the Corsa with the launch of the Corsa D in 2006. Vectra C had them too though, so around 2003. Astra H too in 2004. They are crap but you get used to them pretty quickly. Do newer Vauxhalls still have them? twosmoke300 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dozeydustman Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Those double push indicators were the world's most pointless motoring invention. What was wrong with a proper indicator stalk that clicks on and off, which cancels when you start to turn the steering wheel the opposite direction, mounted on the column, preferably right hand side? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Reverend Bluejeans Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Good Lord, you really are beyond hope aren't you? Not really - a new car is a nice thing to have and Vauxhall are as good as anything else these days. Yes they can go wrong - but what doesn't? Oh and W-A-R-R-A-N-T-Y. face and sam simmons 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam simmons Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Not really - a new car is a nice thing to have and Vauxhall are as good as anything else these days. Yes they can go wrong - but what doesn't? Oh and W-A-R-R-A-N-T-Y. Like many i enjoy owning something different/left field/wierd etc but i also like something reliable/dependable/boring and my Astra does the latter well while my motorcycles give me the former well too.... I still believe that even with all this Vauxhall bashing they do make a few decent mile munchers and i looked at a few other makes before i went to my local Vauxhall dealers. Thing is i now have my eye on a rather nice 2005 Saab 9-3 vert that has just come up for sale at a small indy near me and will be viewing tomorrow and we all know what a 9-3 is based on The Reverend Bluejeans, Cavcraft and Jerzy Woking 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuvvum Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Not really - a new car is a nice thing to have and Vauxhall are as good as anything else these days.Ah yes, I forgot - advanced European engineering for a fun dynamic drive and all that. My comment to Billy was tongue in cheek obvs, but (unless it's a VXR) I really struggle to see the point of forking out £10K plus on a new Corsa when you can buy a 12-year-old example of what is basically the same car for a few hundred quid. OK it won't have warranty, but the >£9K you'd save would pay for a whole lotta repairs. I can see the appeal of owning a brand new car, but the appeal of saving nine grand is greater. catsinthewelder, Cleon-Fonte, GrumpiusMaximus and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Snipes Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 I always enjoy how Saab apologists like to blame GM for running down the brand while at the same time celebrating how Saab basically told GM to fuck off and did their own thing, against GM'S wishes. Can't be both, so which is it? Rusty_Rocket and twosmoke300 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpiusMaximus Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Ah yes, I forgot - advanced European engineering for a fun dynamic drive and all that. My comment to Billy was tongue in cheek obvs, but (unless it's a VXR) I really struggle to see the point of forking out £10K plus on a new Corsa when you can buy a 12-year-old example of what is basically the same car for a few hundred quid. OK it won't have warranty, but the >£9K you'd save would pay for a whole lotta repairs. I can see the appeal of owning a brand new car, but the appeal of saving nine grand is greater. Unfortunately the raw figures aren't what's important with regard to sales any more, though. It's the 'pay £199 a month!' (for a 5K mileage limit a year, services only with main dealers, owe us £3,000 at the end, etc.) PCP-style deals that get new cars sold. In the head of the consumer, they can 'buy' a new car for that. Obviously, that's not how it actually works and they won't own the car after forking out that money after three years without a large, lump payment but the immediacy and accessibility of a brand new car is appealing. I've read stories of how some dealers have actually refused buyers a single payment up-front for the vehicle to buy it outright. There was one I read a while back that made me laugh although I'm a little hazy on the details, so forgive me. Chap goes in to buy a new car and has the money outright in the bank. Let's say it was around £25,000. The dealer tells him he has to take it out as a PCP and won't take the money up front. Chap looks at the details, checks the PCP agreement and because it is still considered a finance package, sees there is a 14-day cooling-off period. He agrees to the PCP and drives the car away. A day or two later, he calls to dealer to cancel the PCP having driven the car around in his name for a bit. He then offers to pay for the car outright. The dealer has to accept. That car has now lost a lot of its value to another purchaser because it's technically second-hand and the customer is legally entitled to cancel the agreement under the 14-day cooling-off period. They can't make a profit on the car unless they accept the buyer's offer of buying the car outright. Sorry for the irrelevant aside but I just thought it was amusing. The Reverend Bluejeans, catsinthewelder, chodweaver and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavcraft Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Ah yes, I forgot - advanced European engineering for a fun dynamic drive and all that. My comment to Billy was tongue in cheek obvs, but (unless it's a VXR) I really struggle to see the point of forking out £10K plus on a new Corsa when you can buy a 12-year-old example of what is basically the same car for a few hundred quid. OK it won't have warranty, but the >£9K you'd save would pay for a whole lotta repairs. I can see the appeal of owning a brand new car, but the appeal of saving nine grand is greater. Was certainly taken that way, no problem. See your point about an older/cheaper one, but retirement (hopefully) looming and (laughably) want something that's going to last a few years and can hand down to my daughter. Obvs like a second hand one would do the same, but just fancy a spanker again at some point. But I'll probably just end up with a rusty 2004Transit beavertail recovery truck instead. chaseracer, The Reverend Bluejeans, wuvvum and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiC Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 He agrees to the PCP and drives the car away. A day or two later, he calls to dealer to cancel the PCP having driven the car around in his name for a bit. He then offers to pay for the car outright. The dealer has to accept. That car has now lost a lot of its value to another purchaser because it's technically second-hand and the customer is legally entitled to cancel the agreement under the 14-day cooling-off period. They can't make a profit on the car unless they accept the buyer's offer of buying the car outright. Sorry for the irrelevant aside but I just thought it was amusing.That seems to be the recommended way on PH to do things if you want to pay cash. The best car prices are the only ones on finance - often works out less than if paying cash. This is because the manufacturing sets up the deal and offers deposit contribution (basically a manufacturer discount) and other things to work the price down. You don't get these if paying cash. GrumpiusMaximus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooSavvy Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 wuvv "..but the >£9K you'd save would pay for a whole lotta repairs. I can see the appeal of owning a brand new car, but the appeal of saving nine grand is greater.." I scored spectacularly with ToMM© then.... Datsuncog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpiusMaximus Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 That seems to be the recommended way on PH to do things if you want to pay cash. The best car prices are the only ones on finance - often works out less than if paying cash. This is because the manufacturing sets up the deal and offers deposit contribution (basically a manufacturer discount) and other things to work the price down. You don't get these if paying cash. Which is why these deals are so popular and they get pushed so hard. Buying anything on finance should cost you more as a consumer than paying for it outright, that's how the industry works (obviously) but to try to withdraw cash buying as an option is, in my opinion, deeply anti-consumer. I understand why it's the case - with profit margins being so small and competition so fierce - but to have to engineer work-arounds like this means that only those willing to play a strange game get the best deals. By all means, offer an incentive for PCP purchasing. Make it as tempting as you like and provided it's sold sustainably and affordably I have absolutely no problem with the business model - but withdrawing outright purchases without a work-around isn't on. Ultimately if enough people latch on to the work-around, it'll cost the manufacturers and dealers in the long run because they can't operate without the improved margins of the finance. If the manufacturers withdraw the discounts because of consumers gaming the system, they lose out and so do the dealers. With that said, there aren't many people around that can buy outright - unless they have a loan from a bank, etc (which might prove to be the way to do it in the long-run...). I've ranted for long enough. Apologies. It's probably only semi-coherent. chodweaver, SiC and Datsuncog 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesapandre Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Saw another Mokka this morning. So quite a lot about in central London. Hope they are making them ok because they are proving popular here. Neat looking. They seem to be taking over from the quivalent Nissen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam simmons Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 I had a good look around the new Insignia yesterday at my local dealers and i will say this new version is so much better than the last with a far more upmarket interior and the petrol 1.5t engine on paper seems decent. I was chatting with the fleet guy about it and he offered me on lease a 2.0t 4x4 260hp auto for approx £1300 dep and £190 pcm for 3 yrs with 10,000 p/a ...which is far better than the deals on the Astra due to the bad residuals.. He also said fleet sales are very good for the Insignia again.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braddon81 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 These latest sales figures from the Smmt make interesting reading. Vauxhalls main sales players currently are the Corsa and the Mokka. Ironically the latest Astra and Insignia which are probably the best cars that Vauxhall have in its line up don't get a look in....... egg 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 You can sell a lot of something and still be losing money hand over fist. Lacquer Peel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkman Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 _20180424_104722.JPGThese latest sales figures from the Smmt make interesting reading. Vauxhalls main sales players currently are the Corsa and the Mokka. Ironically the latest Astra and Insignia which are probably the best cars that Vauxhall have in its line up don't get a look in....... That's exactly what I was saying earlier.Despite not significantly more expensive than a Corsa, people won't even look at an Insignia just because similarly sized 'aspirational' tosh exists.And there exactly lies Opel/Vauxhall's problem, which is entirely self inflicted. Opel, which damn well was an aspirational brand until the Seventies, left nothing whatsoever untried to dismantle that status,first by cancelling the posh cars, then by fanning out their lineup until nobody knew whom they actually build those - errr - vehicles for.Note: A few fleet sales of Opel Asconas with the controls copypasted to the other side and a chromed vulture stuck on exclusively for a tiny island,is not sufficient business for a major European car maker! What they then did is 'modern management', i.e. if something isn't immediately profitable, it gets scrapped, instead of being made profitable.Then shit is thrown at the wall to see whether some of it sticks, with no consideration whatsoever how much this costs and what signals it sends to the 'public'.The result - a chaotic lineup with too much overlap, no real product identity, no real USPs and at least in certain European republics a reputation for passingthe entrepreneurial risk onto the back of the workers (I know, the latter is not an issue in the UK, where the working class seems to enjoy being arsefucked). flat4alfa, Vince70, chodweaver and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuvvum Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Good rant. A solid 7/10. (It's a griffin, btw.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Can't see them bringing out something like an Opel Diplomat again, they looked proper regal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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