Walked into VW dealer, and was surrounded by Vauxhalls

[Watts]

My OH is changing her Lupo which we've had from new for a Fiat 500. Oh the horror! Or so I thought. We had a look at them a couple of weeks ago and compared with VW offerings, they seemed really good. The interiors were very nice, stylish and of a decent quality. Was a bit of an eye opener tbh.

[SRGTD]

My OH is changing her Lupo which we've had from new for a Fiat 500. Oh the horror! Or so I thought. We had a look at them a couple of weeks ago and compared with VW offerings, they seemed really good. The interiors were very nice, stylish and of a decent quality. Was a bit of an eye opener tbh.

For an ‘A’ segment city car, I think the Fiat 500 is a great little car. I’ve looked at one or two non-VAG’s recently and build quality seems pretty good; most seem equal to or better than VW.

IMHO VW have been complacent of late and much of the competition has caught up - or overtaken - them in the build quality stakes. When I bought my first VW (a mk4 Golf) back in 2002, there were lots of little touches that made it feel quite special compared to most other C segment cars. IMHO VW’s no longer feel special.

It’s very easy to not consider the competition if someone’s become loyal to, or out of habit doesn’t really consider anything other than VW because that’s what they’ve bought for many years. Admittedly choices are more limited if a person’s must-have requirement is a performance model, as much of the competition no longer have performance models in the vehicle line up. However, for non-performance cars, there are lots of good non-VW / non-VAG alternatives.

[Adam T7]

I noticed that Fiat have stopped manufacturing the ICE 500 Abarth earlier this year - real shame IMO.

[EB2019]

My OH is changing her Lupo which we've had from new for a Fiat 500. Oh the horror! Or so I thought.

When any member of staff gets a car at our place I have a look/poke around, being a car nut I like them all and find it interesting to see other makes and the solutions and innovative things they do.  I would have an Abarth tomorrow if I could get the bikes on one. (I have looked into it)

I watched this video from Harry's garage this week, and although its talking about supercars, it does resonate with all the thoughts we are having and what's going on in the car industry.

Not sure if you can embed a link but this will do 

https://youtu.be/bs0-G2vIWiU?si=HEv6TqtdNJHm-hyW

[Watts]

I noticed that Fiat have stopped manufacturing the ICE 500 Abarth earlier this year - real shame IMO.

They are about to finish all petrol 500s. I think it's great value as you can get a new one for around £13k there or there abouts. OH is looking forward to joining the modern world with such amazing features as electric windows and air conditioning let alone sat nav!

[willni]

Likewise was in the dealer not long ago and there was a lot of drab stuff around, but I will say the new Touareg and Arteon R Estate look exceptional.

[Adam T7]

I noticed that Fiat have stopped manufacturing the ICE 500 Abarth earlier this year - real shame IMO.

They are about to finish all petrol 500s. I think it's great value as you can get a new one for around £13k there or there abouts. OH is looking forward to joining the modern world with such amazing features as electric windows and air conditioning let alone sat nav!

My sister is on her third 500, loves them.

[P6GTD]

Just going back to my post of 9 Nov about the 40k “tax cliff” and VW’s model range, when I was in the showroom the salesperson pointed to a new model Tiguan in the showroom.
She said the problem with that car was it would come in just under the threshold as standard but the factory had sent it with black alloys which took it just over the threshold.
No amount of discounting or dealing is going to change the tax. A hard one to shift I reckon.

[jon87]

I hate to be negative, but I think this is the start of the end for Volkswagen. Just can't see them competing with the storm of Chinese cars which will come through over the next 2-3 years. I really do think the tariff's will be overcome once they start opening factories in Europe, so the models will be much better priced.

I've had VW's for the past 20 years, can definitely notice a big drop in build quality and cost-cutting.
I was at Westfield shopping centre a few weeks ago in London and was surprised to see a BYD showroom there. My perception of these Chinese built cars was not that great and lower quality but I was surprised when I was in the showroom. The build quality, the interior materials etc was a step above VW. The other thing that surprised me was how busy the showroom was, it was a Saturday and the showroom was quite small, but still it was packed and all the staff were busy with customers. I've watched so many videos after that as it got me interested and learned a lot more about what's coming down the line.

I'll be keeping my 7.5 GTI for another couple of years max, but that will be my last VW. I'm looking forward to test driving a Zeekr car once it's launched in the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UrgCbzOGpU

[fredgroves]

It used to be that German car makers had the edge because the Chinese couldn't copy or create a complex ICE engine design.

This obviously has changed and electric motors are much simpler to design and build even starting from scratch.

Thats the cliff edge the German car industry has fallen off of.

On top, their factories in Europe are just too expensive vs China - basically the same problem the rest of manufacturing has had for a very long time now but the German car makers never grasped that nettle unlike the rest.