That’s why I wrote for many. I know the badge can be everything for a lot of buyers.
Even safety ratings can be misleading. The Zoe is a good example. It used to have a high star rating but the changed the criteria and it suddenly looked unsafe. No modern car that makes it through to production is unsafe. Car buying is a very individual thing. Safety is important to a lot of people, as is the badge or the colour. There are however still a lot of people who want nothing more than a middle of the road car that ticks a lot of boxes. Dacia seems to appeal to those people.
I’ve been in a couple of different model Zoe’s - they make a 2CV feel solid.
I did not say otherwise but there are a lot of people who simply want a car. The people who won’t consider a Skoda are foolish. The VW group have a history of putting their new platforms in Skodas before VWs.
But you are misquoting what I said. I didn’t state the obvious but I pointed out that there is still a large market for people who aren’t focussed on the badge. 4
Erm, I didn’t quote you at all, I replied to someone else entirely.
Anyway, none of us are talking about absolutes and we’re all basically correct in the basic point that different people have different drivers in choosing their cars. I’d say that we’re all in agreement really.
I’m curious as to why you seem to be numbering your replies to me in some posts
We have always bought second hand cars so that we can enjoy the comfort etc of cars we could not afford to buy new. So we’ve had two Corollas two Camrys and others I can’t remember but the Xantia has been one of the best so it is quite sad now to have to buy a plasticy car. But having a secondha’d car in the UK seems to be so much easier than in France. There is the language problem of course. For instance our current problem was caused by the installation of a faulty starter motor last year. I am communicating by email with the garage repairing the car and I assume because the part is under guarantee he wants the invoice for the part which of course I cannot get because the garage that did the repair is closed. I have said to him endlessly that we wanted the car back soon as possible. His latest reply is
Nous faisons le nécessaire M. CROSHAW
whatever that means
Back in the UK we lived in a small village in North Devon with a family run garage and they always managed to service and repair the car without any fuss whereas here they either don’t want to know or they can’t get the part. So on hindsight the first thing we should have done when we came to France is buy a new plasticy car! It would have saved a lot of hassle
Unless you buy some junk made by Stellantis. Take a gander at some of the crap they have foisted on the public in the last 10 years. The 1.2 puretech engine with the timing belt that runs in oil (?) and grenades. The Adblue pumps that fail on the C3 and 208 diesels and cost 2k euros to replace…
That’s why I bought an older one and put up with the maintenance issues.
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Well we’ve got our Xantia back after 3 weeks. The différence in the ride between the Xantia and these ‘cheap’ entry cars is incredible so we might still keep it especially as we do seem to have found a garage that isn’t just interested in making money as fast as possible and the owner/chief mechanic speaks excellent English which is a big bonus. Unfortunately he’s been in holiday for the last 4 weeks. The garage who’s just fixed my car charged €250 for the starter motor the final bill being €470. The garage that put in the faulty starter motor last October charged €140 for the motor and the final bill was €300.. If I go to Mr Auto and type in the plate number for the car it comes up with a starter motor costing €40. So what’s happening here am I paying for different qualities of starter motor or am I being ripped off?
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Garagistes will probably only fit genuine parts. Motor factors can sell OEM or generic parts much cheaper.
Mr Auto generally offers a range of prices for any given component, ranging from dirt cheap Chinese copies to manufacturer’s genuine parts so you need to be sure that you’re comparing like with like.
Nice colour. Of course shown up to perfection by clever photographer placing it next to a yellow field with perfect wedges of blue sky and green grass framing it. Even the tree shadows on the road seem to point to it.
I had always presumed that farmers only grew yellow flowers so we could use them
as a backdrop to vehicle photos.
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That’s a bit of a broad brush statement. They make some great cars. You can choose from Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, and Vauxhall.
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I’m amazed by the number of Dacia Sandero Stepways in my area. No idea how reliable they are or what “Stepway” signifies, but they clearly have a following. A couple of days ago, I found my venerable Peugeot SW flanked by a pair of them in a car park. And the owner of a local hotel is now driving around in a Dacia Logan.
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Yes, same down here, seems every other vehicle is a Dacia of some sort and I did read they are the most popular make for “ordinary working” people who don’t want to be tied to expensive loans. They are also pretty reliable with having less bells and whistles that you don’t really need.
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Yes, you are right. I was focused on the cars I was considering buying a couple of years ago, specifically the C3 and 208, both of which have had major issues.
Yes, those engines, if I am thinking of the right ones, have a dreadful reputation in the trade.