Question about Vauxhalls

[kiraanastasia]

Hey guys. I know this is irrelevant but my boyfriend took a corsa for a test drive not long back and said it was the slowest car he had ever driven (1.2 petrol and 1.4 diesel). Recently I've noticed 2 things about modern Vauxhalls, particularly Corsas.

1) why do their indicators Never turn off?! I followed a Zafira for 2 miles down an A road last week with it's left indicator still on the whole time. Is this a design fault or something as I've seen it many times on my drive to work.

2) well after the test drive incident I've noticed the amount of Vauxhall Corsas I've had to overtake. Must be 15-20 in the last couple of weeks. None of them looked like newbies or old drivers. I don't even go fast on A roads, normally about 75 sometimes 80- the 74bhp Citigo does not struggle at all.

Does anyone have/have had/ has a relative that drives a Corsa or vauxhall in general and can enlighten me? They are very common after all.

[mannyo]

I had a 1.2 Corsa as a hire car in Spain last year, it was terrible and struggled to maintain speed on some motorways when the road was anything other than flat.

 

The indicators do not click in position when using left/right, they start flashing and the stalk returns to centre. To cancel you either depend on the self cancel, or make a small movement of the stalk in the opposite direction, move it to far and the other indicator comes on all the time instead.

[Ally_bassman]

Rubbish engines.

 

My girlfriend is a driving instructor and she's on her second one now (MY15). The 1.3CDTI ecoflex has enough grunt to get you off the line quickly...but that's about it.

 

They're town cars and the new one is a real step up for the last one with plenty of toys as standard.

 

Regarding the indicators, they don't auto-off and they aren't particularly loud!

[James3107]

My friend has the Astra 1.7 cdti GTC And it is nippy enough but it's rated the same BHP as my skoda and he gets left on any straight line.

But the build quality feels very cheap. I wouldn't ever buy a Vauxhall. Especially not a new one. I just don't think they're given the same level of care when been built as they used to.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Phil-E]

The last Vauxhall I drove was a Mokka 1.4 Turbo 6 speed auto... that was anything but slow! 140bhp so it fair shifted!

[James3107]

Did you feel like a soccer mom on a budget though?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Phil-E]

Lol... no.

 

It was a very well specced model.

 

It had;

 

Alloys

Leather seats (heated)

Heated steering wheel

Dual zone climate control

Auto lights

Bluetooth

Auto dimming rear view mirror

Multi function steering wheel

Cruise control

Tyre pressure monitoring

230v socket in the back

 

But... as per your comment... build quality was awful!

 

It only had 6500 miles on it but the rattles! They drove me insane!

 

Phil

[James3107]

There is so much pressure on car manufacturers now to produce highly specced cars as standard, for the same money as low spec cars used to be produced for that build quality is suffering. They have to cut corners somewhere and it's often build quality. Even vag s have their fair share of niggles now. That's why I try stay old with my cars, I had an 11 plate corsa Sri 1.6 for 2 months and that's the only Post 2010 car I've had

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited 8 May, 2015 by James3107

[KenONeill]

1) Depending on age it's either a design fault with the self-cancelling or a "design feature" resulting from a failed attempt at designing a better indicator switch.

2) Based on the last one I drove, they're stupidly high geared. My Octy (TDi) can run happily at 30 mph in 4th and 40mph in top, but the Ashtray hire car wouldn't take higher than 3rd at 30 or top below 50.

[philbes]

 I don't even go fast on A roads, normally about 75, sometimes 80 - the 74bhp Citigo does not struggle at all.

 

Interesting definition of "not fast".

[Phil-E]

Interesting definition of "not fast".

 

Lol. To me 75-80 mph on A roads is fast.

 

60mph or less is not going fast.

 

Phil

[Aspman]

Yeah Vx indicators are  strange form of self cancelling. I could never get used to them. they never click to one position or another so there is no cue other than the relay clicking that you are indicating. Thought it was really rubbish when I tried it.

 

And I agree with the others about the terrible engines. the current ones might be better for for the last ten years VX seems to have made engines with varying fuel consumptions but the same power output.

 

SWMBO had a Tigra with a 1.4. It felt like a moped engine towing a ship and needed to be thrashed everywhere. With the result that is got terrible mpg (sub 30) and the engine was pretty much knackered at 80k. She tried the 1.8 which didn't go any faster at all but used much more fuel.

 

Vx has used fiat designed diesel engines for the last few years. I belive the 120hp 1.9 was reasonable but the 150hp had quite a lot of expensive common problems.

 

I used to consider Vx to be a maker of solid if dull cars, above Ford in that respect but imho they've really slipped. The cars are boring and not particularly reliable now. Which is a dangerous place to be when plenty of other manufacturers can do cars that are more interesting (if not more reliable) and cheaper.

 

I think VAG is going a similar way and trading on past glories and good name a bit too much now.

[Gaz]

I took a diesel Antara out for a long test drive last year, and for a new car, I found it mediocre and underpowered.  Very dull 

 

It was also the only car in their range which had any rear legroom if I was driving.

 

Gaz

[Norco]

My first car was a 1lt Corsa C (3 pot) and to be fair it did ok. I had a 1.2 Corsa D as a courtesy car when someone drove into me and it was in for repair and it was much much slower than mine. The problem was that the car has got fat with loads of extra poor quality plastic. When I returned it the guy even said "Oh you'll be happy getting out of that and back into yours wont you, the C model is much better"

[James3107]

Yeah I had a 1.4 c as a first car, was spot on. Simple and reliable but had a fair grunt to it if you worked the gears. The corsa D's are just awful. I had a 1.2 SE as a courtesy car. Yeah it was pretty specced up being the highest model. But the engine was terrible. Absolutely no guts. A friends fiesta also 1.2 was ten times more responsive

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vindaloo]

Vauxhall indicators...

 

For some reason they've decided the stalk needs to be ultra-sensitive. They can work as you'd expect but in my experience, that's sitting in the drive with the steering set straight and no distractions. Trying to use them on the road results in amusing left, no right, left again indicating as the driver struggles with the urge to drive the entire car into a concrete post just because Vauxhall decided to **** about with the sensitivity of the indicators.

 

As for gutless.... Cars are getting heavier and bigger generally whilst there's pressure on engine sizes to go down for emissions. What makes it seem worse is modern electronic controls. You can feel the car wanting to respond immediately.... aaaaand there's nothing more there.

 

J.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I've never had an issue with the Vauxhall indicators, that said our two shuttle drivers at work can't manage to work them very well

[FUBAR]

I've never had an issue with the Vauxhall indicators, that said our two shuttle drivers at work can't manage to work them very well

 

No issues here either with the indicators. Had fleets of vauxhalls at work for years, the indicators do seem pointless the way they are, but work perfectly fine. Have driven all over Europe in 1.3CDTI Corsa's, they get to the speed limit and can stay at it, not designed for anything else, they are what they are, a basic budget car. 

[kilted]

I've never had an issue with the Vauxhall indicators, that said our two shuttle drivers at work can't manage to work them very well

Once you figure out how they are supposed to work they seem ok but it certainly isn't clear without reading the manual

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Don't they work like other cars. Small tap and they flash a few times, hard tap and they'll flash until they self cancel or you turn them off.

[Brianpilman]

As for the indicators all vauxhalls from 2000-2008had the same wiper stalk and there made it f cheap bits of plastic which the cancelling bit usually snaps off hence the permanently on wipers.

[philbes]

Lol. To me 75-80 mph on A roads is fast.

 

60mph or less is not going fast.

 

Phil

So you are basically saying that you have overtaken 15-20 Corsas because they were driving at the speed limit and you want to drive above the limit?  I assume that you also overtake many cars that are not Corsas?  Or are the roads around you (Essex) like those in Gloucestershire where many drivers think 40mph (or even less) is the speed for A & B roads?

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I assume you're talking to the OP and not Phil who you've quoted? 

 

I'm not shocked the OP is overtaking a lot of cars if he's doing 80mph on A roads Even more so if they're single carriageway 

[adamal]

My daughter had a 1.2 Corsa. It looked quite nice but driving it was a right chore, and it felt it had less oomf than the 55bhp 1.2 Polo she now drives. She loved it but I wasn't too annoyed when it got written off (and she was ok of course)...

[vindaloo]

I assume you're talking to the OP and not Phil who you've quoted? 

 

I'm not shocked the OP is overtaking a lot of cars if he's doing 80mph on A roads Even more so if they're single carriageway 

 

 

If it's a "he" ....   My guess is it's a not-so-stealth girly... Given the username an' all.