Brand Loyalty

[surprisingskoda]

I started out with Skodas. Hence the name. I'm not loyal though, certainly not to the newer cars sold under the brand.

At the minute I have - Skoda, MG, Alfa, Fiat, Austin, Cadillac, BMW. & Triumph (bike).

 

I have never been afraid to try a new car, if it's cheap enough to throw away when it goes wrong. As someone wisely said above, you have to start from scratch with a new car. And I don't really want to learn a whole load more things about parts sourcing and common failures and how certain bits are removed for a whole nother make of car.

 

I've tried

hundreds more BMWs,

several other Skodas,

a couple more Alfas

Fords, Vauxhalls, Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, VW, Mitsubishi, Rover, Lexus, Austin-Rover, Subaru, Seat, SAAB, Mini, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mazda, Porsche, and Kawasaki & Suzuki (bikes).

 

There's not many manufacturers I haven't had a pop at.

There are cars from the stable of Mazda, Chevy, Rover, Subaru, Oldsmobile, Nissan, Lotus, Toyota, and Ferrari that I have my eye on.

 

There's a few I've missed narrowly. A diesel Lancia Delta. A CRX in the nice blue they did them. RA28 Celica, annoyingly.

 

Funnily the three makes I really dislike, Citroen, VW and Vauxhall, I've had multiples of them all - reluctantly, sometimes.

 

Volvo and Mercedes are the ones that really stand out as being missing. They have nothing at all to offer me. I doubt I'll ever own either - but then, if I'm ever stuck and an 850 AWD or 500sec pop up, they'll join the list. But I'm not looking for them.

 

I've driven a couple of Ladas, Wartburg etc that you'd think would be on my list, but I've never owned them, and don't need to. I would like a Tatra though. Plenty of time yet! Marque variance is fun.

 

 

 

It would be interesting to compare if people that were brand loyal were the same with sports, shopping, other products?

I.e. I support certain racing teams, but can appreciate good racing from any source (except certain cheating rival teams), music tastes are any genre as long as it's good quality music, dont care much about TV brand or who makes the cereal I eat but I do usually stick to the ones I know to be reliable and good value. Would interest me to know if someone that's only ever driven Kias always buys the same brand of beans or whatever - is it a car-related thing, or is it a pathological trait?

[Uncle Jimmy]

I saw The Damned in Gloucester in 1989.

[doobietoo]

Despite owning 300ish cars none of them have been either a BMW or a Merc.... Austin is my favoured brand and I have owned more of them than any other make I still have 3 at the mo... probably because an A40 was my first car...

[PiperCub]

None here, I buy a combination of what I like, what I can afford and what is practical to run - tools for the job if you want. Have owned over 150 cars (& dozens of bikes) and there's no pattern, they've been British, French, Japanese, German, Italian, Swedish & Russian.

 

My fleet is two Pugs, a Mazda and a Yamaha. I've been asked if I'm a  serious Peugeot fan as I have two, the answer is no, not as such, I love my 205GTi and am keeping it long term (as the MX5 & LC), the only reason I have another Pug - 406TD, is because when looking for a hack, that came up. If it had been a Mondeo in similar state for similar money, I'd have bought that, no loyalty, just suitable for the job. 

 

That said, I like Peugeot, Mazda & Yamaha but only certain ones, some, esp the newer ones, I wouldn't touch. 

[rml2345]

Volvos. Okay so I've not had one for a while now but it's the marque I always check first when eBay browsing and there will be more because I like the way they're engineered and built to last. Or at least the older ones were, I'm not so sure 25 year old S60s will be as common as 740s are. Other than that I tend to go by how a particular car appeals rather than on strict brand loyalty. Currently the Xantia is ideal as it's modern enough to be reliable without constant tinkering but interesting enough that I'm not bored to tears with owning it.

Yet.

Of the numerous untried marques VAG products are probably the least likely to feature as they just don't interest me at all. It's not a Germanic thing either as I'd love a crack at a Mercedes. Go figure.

 

TL;DR Fickle bastard only attracted consistently to boxy Swedes.

[Mr A Lawrence]

We've had 8 Vauxhalls, 5 MG's, 3 Landrover's, 3 fords 2 Jaguars, 2 rover mini, 2 bmw mini, 1 skoda, 1 VW, 1 Citroen, 1 abarth.

 

In 16 years!!!

[xtriple]

When I started out on my motoring career (sic) I was a staunch Kawasaki man. Loved them and rode nothing else. Then I tried a 350LC (Yamaha) and so I oscillated between the two brands. Then I got into Yam 4 strokes and R1s were the thing, then I got British fever and had a new Sped Triple Triumph and then a 69 Bonneville, and a Greeves and ...

 

Cars, not really any loyalty at all, more, like Junkman said, brands I actively dislike and will not own... VW for definite.  Did have a phase of nothing but BMWs but that was back in the 90s and once I noticed that knobishness was a pre-requisite for ownership, I considered my work to be complete and moved on

 

Before that, it was always Jaguars, loved them with a passion but too many of them fell apart or cost millions to keep in good order.

 

Since I got older and wiser (Ha!) if I want reliable transport, then its got to be Japanese. Not the last word in dynamic ability or excitement but solid and trustworthy and so they get my money. I do love my Bentley and if money allows will keep it forever and, even though this bugger near bankrupted me, I would have another... as well as, not instead of! I love my MX5 yet Mazdas in general are on the 'ignore' list as they are definitely the worst of the Japanese brands, at least as far as rust goes, and I am not a fan of rust at all

 

I used to love Citroens, CX were my favourites and had a few along with 2CVs and while they are deeply flawed, they are quirky and charming in ways that the uninitiated simply do not understand. I would have another like a shot but prices have gone up rather while so has the rust quotient

 

Mercedes are another brand that I do (did) consider myself loyal to, but they have gone downhill rather in this century  and are now bought by the deeply uncool on PCP (I still think that's a drug) and run on a shoestring.

[RRT22R]

I've had 1x Honda, 1x Mazda, 1x Citroen, 1x Peugeot, 1x Audi, 1x BMW MINI, 5x Fords. 9x VW and 10x BL/Rover.

 

Despite all the horror stories, most of my recent moderns have been VWs. I wouldn't say I was loyal, but I like them. So there.

 

I do need to buy an Italian car at some stage....

[Supernaut]

50% of the cars I've owned have been from the PSA group...

 

Hmm.

[rantingYoof]

Volvo are now in the lead in my ownership table with four to Rover's three.

 

For me personally there is no such thing as an uncomfortable Volvo, although the lack of refinement in the 480 did try its best to cause discomfort.

 

I'm now off tangent and thinking about a 480 with an S60R's engine, running gear and interior which is entirely unhelpful.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[DaveDorson]

Everyone knows me as a VW guy.

My car history in no order...

 

Citroen BX 14RE

1970's Beetle

Pug 405 SR

Pug 309SR Injection

205 Junior

205 GTi

205 Trio

1970's fastback

1970's beetle

1980s VW Jetta

Renault clio diesel (1990's)

Ford Mondeo

MK2 Escort

MK3 Escort RS Turbo

MK4 Escort RS Turbo

Renault 5 GT Turbo Ph1

Renault 5 GT Turbo Ph2

VW Scirocco MK2 (injected and carb'd)

Merc W114

Merc W124

Golf Mk2 GTi 16v

Golf MK2 GTI 8v (Kjet and a couple of digifant ones)

Audi 80 (80's)

Audi 90 (late 80's 90's)

Audi 90 quattro

Audi 200 quatto

VW t3 Caravelle

VW T3 Transporter

Subaru legacy

Toyota Celica ST205

Mazda MX5 mk1

Vauxhall Frontera

Vauxhall Nova SR

Cavalier Mk3 SRi 8v

VW Golf MK4 1.6

VW Beetle (2000)

Ford Focus MK1

MK3 Fiesta

B4 Passat Saloon

B3 Passat Estate

Merc W124 E 300 12v

Jag XJ40 4.0

Jag XJ40 3.2

Lexus LS400

Golf MK3 VR6

Golf MK3 GTI 8v

Vento Diesel

Golf MK3 Diesel

Vento GLI 2.0 Petrol

MK3 Cavalier 1.7TD

Landrover Defender 90 2.5 TD

Smart "Pulse"

Proton Wira 1.5 pez

BMW E36 Coupe 318iS (both versions)

Rover 400 Diesel

MGZR 1.4 kettle

VW Polo 1.2 3 cylinder

 

They're the ones I remember owning.. Sarah keeps reminding me that I've owned more than that though

 

I do seem to keep going back to VW's, mostly because I like them.

[doobietoo]

Looking at that list you really need to own an Allegro...

[LabRat]

Dunno about loyalty as such, had quite a few cars in the 11 years I've been driving:

 

2 breadvan polos (84 and 86)

90 1 mk2b polo coupe

92 Fiat uno 1.1 start

96 Vauxhall Astra td

96 Saab 900 2.3i

98 Saab 900 2.0i

94 Saab 9000 cd 2.0 ecopower

06 Saab 9-3 1.9tid sportwagon

94 Volvo 850 2.0 10v saloon

94 Volvo 940 2.3 lpt

89 Austin metro 1.0 clubman

98 Rover R3 214 hgf special

94Toyota hilux surf 2.4 td (known as bastard)

99 Ford mondeo 2.5 v6 ghia X

04 mondeo 2.0 tdci 130

98Ford Puma 1.7i

02 Vauxhall Omega 2.2i (succumbed to timing belt failure)

96 Mitsubishi Carisma 1.6i

00 Subaru Forester 2.0i

84 Range Rover 3.5 v8 twin carb manual

00 Skoda Felicia 1.3

00 Alfa 156 1.6 twinspark

99 fiat punto 1.2 active spot

04 fiat panda 1.2 elaganza

03 Peugeot 307 2.0hdi 90 (utterly fucking awful in every way possible!)

 

 

Looking at that little lot, it seems I have an affinity for big comfortable barges and utter sheds...

[oldford]

In 33 years of driving I've only ever owned cars from two manufacturers.  These amounted to two BL cars in two years from 1983-1985, which were an Austin 1300 and a Triumph Dolomite 1850, from then on it was 3 MK3 Cortinas, 1 MK4 Cortina, 4 MK5 Cortinas and a MK2 Sierra.