[manticore]

ok.......i've seen dat one in the mags. how does it look in the real?? any pix dude?

[ajmat]

75000 for a CD player - all you need to do is find who the original manufacturer is and plug their product in

[amit]

I am a huge Europeon car fan myself and i have also failed to understand why the Vectra and Mondeo don't sell here. Some reasons according to me are:

1. Indians don't like to drive. For 99.99% Indians driving is something u have to do to get from point A to B. Europeon cars are built with the Fun to drive factor. For a Europeon a car HAS to be fun to drive.

2. opel and Ford do not have the brand image that honda and toyota have. In the latest J.D.Power survey, the most respected car companies were Japanese (Honda & Toyota) followed by Korean! (Hyundai), then American (Ford) , Europeon (Skoda , Fiat, opel) and lastly Indian (Maruti and TATA). No wonder Europeon car's are struggling here.

3. both the Mondeo and Vectra in Europe are entry level mid-size cars like the Accent and Ikon here. Therefore, the plasticky interiors and cramped room. In Europe a Accord with fake wood interiors will draw guffaws but here fake wood trim is considered upmarket.

If u read Autocar india's review of the Accord V6, they have clearly said that the V6 build quality and road manners are not as confidence inspiring as the Euro cars.
Also opel and ford are considered to be low on Fuel efficiency as compared to the Japanese cars and nothing screws a products market in india as well as low mileage reports. Ask Fiat!!
I personally love the vectra's looks and of course it's ride quality , handling etc etc are stuff no one doubts. If i was looking for a D segment car, I would look at the Mondeo and Vectra first and then the accord and others. Probably i would buy the vectra.

[Prasanta]

Well! guys, I am a bit short on cash and can’t afford to (or I won’t!!) buy any one of these Mondeos or Vectra’s brand new in India. I lived in the eastern part of India and it still amazes me what people would actually do with a V6 engine or anything with a more than 1.2 ltrs engine! (probably build their own private road).

Now straight to the point. To me the reason is simply reliability. I have been driving a few Japanese cars for long (right from our lill own Maruti in India to Nissan, Honda and Mazda). Unfortunately none of the Japanese cars I have driven were bought new and so my comment is more to do with 3-13 year old cars rather than the brand new ones. The Mazda 626 (GLX version 2.0 ltr fully loaded with all electric’s) I owned a few years back was almost 13 years old with 125K (miles!) on clock when I bought it. But the reliability was simply superb. I drove it for nearly 2 years and another 15 K later I sold it with a whisper smooth engine and hopefully she has completed her 200k (miles!) by now. I have seen many new, newer, brand new European cars on the motorways with engine problem than any of their Japanese cousins.

I changed to a MG-Rover as my Brit friends were constantly telling me that Japanese cars are boring to drive, and I would confess though it is slightly better to drive, It is hopeless on reliability. The price of Mondeo or Astra falls sharply than a similar Jap car at least in UK. This shows the consumer confidence in Jap cars.

To me if you are buying a brand new car and driving it reasonably for a few years and get rid of it, get any car which suits you. The reliability issue comes after 3-5 years and then you would appreciate the Japanese value. Also the re-sale value of a Jap car is more than their EU cousins.

[lamborghini]

well guys
ford has a reason to thank me
i got 3 of my relatives to sign up for a mondeo
trust me
i wouldnt mind a preowned mondeo any day and mod it
man those cars are sweet
sat in one when the driver was driving... loved the experience .
i mean cmon , i aint too much into wood and all, i prefer aluminium finish so mondeo was one of my fav. cars
dreaming about owning one but turbo diesel for me
as fast and with good economy to boot....(still an indian - money matters)

[drifter]

I would buy the accord v6 if i had to. Because the vectra well....i dont like its looks that much and the mondeo well like others have said...spares arent available...i'd rather be driving the car instead of having it in the workshop waiting for spares. Sonata i will not even consider....i just hate its looks and plus its no drivers car by any means.

One more thing guys....(for GTO n shatanu)

I have been driving a vtec for past couple of days. Now i know why you guys rave so much about it. That engine is a complete knockout!!! That alone outweighs its bad interiors and high price (atleast when it used to sell). I had driven a vtec before but not for long periods of time so i was not able to judge its true performance.

The car still feels like new even though its covered more than 77000kms. And i've been told its never given any sort of trouble throughout its life even though the car has been driven pretty rough. I say thats bloody reliable.

You have got yourself another vtec fan.

Drifter

[ameya]

I would list these amongst the Indian buyers top priority list :
1. Space
2. Fuel Efficiency, mileage
3. Running costs and basically costs, costs and costs.....

According to me the majority of the Indian car buyer still looks at a car as something that transports people from one place to another.

Abroad, your personality is often judged by the car you drive. Basically, we still have not matured as a car buyer. We pick up any **** as long as it is cheap. Safety doesnt even feature on the Indian´s priority list.
We still dont know class, tradition, taste, style, quality, brand name, performance, safety etc.
Which is maybe why poorly engineered korean and japanese cars sell like hot cakes in India.

[Beemer]

Everytime i see a Honda Accord or Sonata passing by me , i ask the same ques what manticore has ..... Its not that Accord is a bad car , i personally like the looks and love the pricing , i mean it has everything a man could ask for (in its segment) except for one Major or should i say THE MAJOR thing and that ofcorse is
POOR RIDE QUALITY AND EXTREMELY POOR HIGH SPEED STABILITY .
And these two things 've always kept me in two minds whether to own this car or no cos deep inside i know this car definately 'll fail to provide me the Driving Pleasure i look for ....

I mean if Honda can work out in these two things , it would be extremely hard to beat . But having driven many hondas i doubt they ll ever succeed in getting rid of these problems(espically in this part of the world) and only because of this i ve never been a great fan of Honda or should i say , i ve always disliked Hondas and i do till date .....

As for the Vectra , i just love that car and i wish it wasn't been
discontinued .As someone has said , it has the Blend of the best ride quality ,good engine ,excellent features, excellent looks(subjective) !

If Vectra was available , i am sure i would 've been a proud owner of one but never the less the NEW OCTAVIA is on its way and i am sure it 'll take the **** out of the Accord (cant say sales wise but for sure quality wise) .

[Vikas Mawandia]

I totally agree with Beemer coz i have driven all the cars u have mentioned but ……
nothing compares to a Opel Vectra be it the handling, pick-up, comfort, i use to love my car but its very sad its not there with me anymore plus it has been discontinued by GM otherwise I would have loved to own it again coz Vectra gave me the best driving pleasure of all the other cars I have driven till date.

[devarshi84]

GM sucks.

If vectra was priced against the accord(minus the number of buttons it had)

It would certainly have sold well. Opel still remains to be a luxury brand seen by the people as the epitome of luxury.

[streetlife]

Originally Posted by amit

1. Indians don't like to drive. For 99.99% Indians driving is something u have to do to get from point A to B. Europeon cars are built with the Fun to drive factor. For a Europeon a car HAS to be fun to drive.

Also opel and ford are considered to be low on Fuel efficiency as compared to the Japanese cars and nothing screws a products market in india as well as low mileage reports. Ask Fiat!!
.

Right said buddy!!
thats why some of the best products get failed in indian market
i personally am a VECTRA fan and i think its one of the best buy in the sub 20 lakh braket
sad GM discontinued it

[tifosikrishna]

hi, i would like to view it differently. time and time again indians fall for one thing, thats value for money(vfm). though the cars that are discussed here doesnt fall into different category, still vfm proposition works in every segment. i wouldnt buy the the arguement of indian not liking the european cars. indian consumers seem to have a uncanny knack of identifying VFM cars and rewarding it suitably. skoda is a case in point. it was a non entity before it was launched. to be fair, i wasnt aware of a company called skoda until they launched octavia. another classic example is hyundai, though many may attribute its initial success to sharukh factor, i am sure it wouldnt have been a huge success had the product has not been good.

having driven the likes of ambassdor (no offence meant), many of us are first generation of people getting exposed to these beasts it will take some time for appreciate some finer aspects of the car like upholstery or plastics or finish.

i basically feel some are really good cars that are launched at a time when the market is not mature to absorb them. our market is still in its nascent stage of its life cycle and still factors like FE,SPACE & PRICE are the major factors affecting consumer buying behaviour.

i personally feel a hatchback like getz wouldnt have received the same response had it been launched a couple of years back.

give sometime for the market to mature, i am sure people people will start noticing these subtle differences and would be ready to pay a premium for it.


thanks for reading.

krishna

[nbr]

IMO, the parameters which an Indian buyer considers while purcahasing an automobile are,
1) SPACE -- the car should easily carry 5 people, { ocassionaly 6},
2 )PRICE----the vehicle should be within the budget and also, should fetch some reasonable rupees at the time of sale.
3 )HYPE---this greatly influences the purchasing decision....
4) MILEAGE---how many kilometers ,the car will actually travel
5)ENGINE----should posses reasonable low end grunt ,if not top speed.

[mithun]

There is nothing to astonish why Vectra & Mondeo failed in India, It's because of the huge initial & running cost tag attached to them. The price list of Mondeo's spares will put even Merc's to shame and GM & Ford is still having zero brand value solely because of their own practices. There is no one else to blame for their own shortcomings.

[nbr]

IMO, VECTRA is still the best looking D-segmet sedan inspite of revamping of ACCORD, CAMRY, SONATA.