What’s a car brand you trust completely, and one you’d never buy again?

And why??

You don't have to be biased here becasue your on a Ford club 🙂 Just go for it!

I only buy Fords because I have a small local family run Ford dealer that I have been using for the past 40 years, who don't charge ridiculous main dealer labour prices and I trust completely. If they switch to another car brand I will buy that brand instead. I don't Trust a brand (any) I trust that dealer. They can't sell new Ford cars any more but they still service them and sell used ones.

20 minutes ago, pcaouolte said:

I only buy Fords because I have a small local family run Ford dealer that I have been using for the past 40 years, who don't charge ridiculous main dealer labour prices and I trust completely. If they switch to another car brand I will buy that brand instead. I don't Trust a brand (any) I trust that dealer. They can't sell new Ford cars any more but they still service them and sell used ones.

good point. goes to show the dealer customer service is so important. not easy these days, used to have a great relationship but now your a number with some of these large franchises.

So, is there a brand you wouldn't touch or is it the same reason? 

I'm in the same position as Paul. I'll still get my present car serviced at my local family owned Ford place (now just a service point), but as for the future who knows?

I used to be happy with VW Group brands some years back until the dealerships (who were previously very good) were taken over by big groups and they seem to lack any interest in selling me a car these days. (My wife still has a SEAT but that has been looked after by the lads at the village garage for the last 8 years since the end of warranty.)

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I wandered into the local Renault place (a Vertu dealership) a while back to take a look at the new 5 which could possibly interest me. I was there over 30 minutes and totally ignored. The reception desk was unmanned so I couldn't find any one to speak to.

Probably the main issue these days is there are simply very few cars (of any brand) that I aspire to owning. A car isn't quite the same as a domestic appliance in that, if you're at all interested in driving, you interact with it in a way you just don't with your fridge.😀

 

Sadly I have to speak in the past tense.

The two brands I have trusted the most is Ford and Jaguar.

I started my driving way back in 1977 with a Escort Mk1, paid £90 included 10 months MOT and 6 months tax.

I then went on to have, 3 Escort Mk2's followed by no less than 5 Orion's before switching brands.

I then had 2 Jaguar X-Type's and 2 Jaguar XF's and finally a Jaguar F pace.

Then changed back to a Ford Focus and also have a Ford Ranger.

Now mixed in with those cars I've had Vauxhall Cavaliers and Vectra's all of which were company cars and I didn't have a choice. In fairness I have to say all of them were generally good and reliable.

The very worst car I ever bought was the 2016 Land Rover Discovery Sport HSE Lux. The car was bought brand new and had a never ending list of serious problems and malfunctions all in less than 4000miles and 3 months old. It finally broke down at a motorway services near Manchester and had to be recovered by the AA. Then after 2 weeks garage got Land Rover involved and the found major wiring harness faults. At that point I rejected the vehicle completely. I replaced it with the Jaguar F pace, that I would still love to have back.  [SF17 XMU]

What will be my next car ? A very good question. I actually think that unless there is a major change in government policy I will end up keeping my 2019 Focus and 2022 Ranger until either they or I, expire.

13 hours ago, Steve said:

is there a brand you wouldn't touch

No, I can't think of a brand I absolutely wouldn't touch but, to be honest, I haven't really looked round much. I simply select the Ford that I believe best meets my needs from the range available.

I won't ever be likely to afford 'luxury' brands like Land Rover, Mercedes, Jaguar, Audi or BMW and I don't aspire to own any of those. A car isn't a status symbol for me, I just want a practical method of transport.

I would be happy with some of the VW, Skoda, Honda, Vauxhall, Toyota, Seat, Cupra (I realise that some of these are in the same group). What I would regard as small practical family cars.

 

22 hours ago, pcaouolte said:

If they switch to another car brand I will buy that brand instead.

Going back to the dealer point, there is a similar Ford dealer to the one I frequent nowadays, back where I used to live.

I had a couple of cars from them years ago when they were BL dealers, and when they eventually switched brands to Ford, virtually all their customers (including my late Uncle) stayed with them. 

I can see that if they (or my current dealership) now switched to, say, Dacia or Hyundai, most of the local customer base would stick with them, particularly the non-enthusiast types.

Interestingly, I passed my nearest remaining dealership for new Fords the other day, which is part of the Stoneacre Group. The Ford sign was still there, but a new one has appeared on part of the site - Geely!

 

 

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

 

Interestingly, I passed my nearest remaining dealership for new Fords the other day, which is part of the Stoneacre Group. The Ford sign was still there, but a new one has appeared on part of the site - Geely!

 

 

Out local very large Bristol Street ford( vertu)  has changed to byd recently. Quite a few ford dealers in the UK have jumped ship to the Chinese brands. 

As for trusted brands , used to be Suzuki, nissan, Toyota in the 1980/90's . Working for Suzuki dealer after rover/ Peugeot was astonishing difference. Couldn't believe what a difference in quality a Japanese  manufacturer could be. Then was back to being disappointed again at ford dealer in the early 2000 's , had a brief experience at Peugeot, not an experience I want to repeat. Nissan next . They were good before Renault got involved . still it got worse at vauxhall dealer.  So to summarise, I rate the Japanese/Korean  brands still. 

Just now, iantt said:

Quite a few ford dealers in the UK have jumped ship to the Chinese brands. 

I suppose it's not really surprising.

I wonder if Jaguar dealers might follow suit?

Toyota Land Cruiser.My mate has one, it's indestructible.I've owned 4 x Toyotas, all very reliable in you get in, twist key, and they all just started...

14 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I wonder if Jaguar dealers might follow suit?

My neighbours Jaguar SUV is in the garage right now getting the turbo replaced, it's the engine used in the Range Rover, famously unreliable...

16 hours ago, iantt said:

So to summarise, I rate the Japanese/Korean  brands still. 

Of cars I've test driven in the last 3 years or so, I've been favourably impressed by Honda, Toyota and Hyundai. 

The local dealers certainly gave a better impression than VW Group and Renault, for example, but I was a bit disappointed with the Toyota place.. On several occasions they promised to get back to me with more info, test car availability, etc, and didn't, but now keep sending me details of special offers at regular intervals "as a previous customer", which I might be If they'd responded when asked!

Having mentioned Stoneacre Group earlier, I see all their dealerships in Yorkshire and Humberside are now doing Geely. Taking account of Ian's earlier comments also, I wonder if Ford have dumped the wrong dealers - the smaller ones seem more loyal to, and experienced with, a brand, the big boys just jump ship in search of something to sell?

The small family ford  dealership  I worked for from 2003 to 2016 no longer sell new fords. Been ford dealers since 1980's  Still service them and sell used fords along with other brands. . They have 3 garages all within 15 miles of each other. 

The one now sells kgm/sangyong.