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Post by michael on Jun 26, 2019 20:23:57 GMT
Another holiday rental, this time the Volkswagen Troc. I’d booked a Citroen Cactus or similar and I got this instead. Such is the state of the car market these days I don’t know if this indeed is in the same class of car or not. For that matter I don’t really know what the class in question even is. It’s meant to be a crossover (obviously) but it felt really very low. I felt sat at a similar height to a Golf driver and the door belt line is high so you feel quite low. The interior itself is crap. It’s not a case of spotting the cheap plastic but finding the good stuff - I didn’t. It had loads of equipment like distance keeping cruise control, lane detection and an automatic handbrake but it also had a manual gearbox and with all this technology it makes no sense to have an archaic stick shift that doesn’t work well with it. I’d never buy a manual again. The engine, diesel, sounded like a fiesta popular circa 1990. Made a terrible noise but it was properly efficient. I think it must have averaged well over 40mpg. I wish I had got the Cactus. They seem interesting and designed with a buyer in mind. I don’t know why anybody might buy a Troc.  |
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Post by Martin on Jun 26, 2019 20:35:38 GMT
The T Roc is awful inside, feels cheaper than a Polo, more like that awful thing they used to build in Brazil.
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Post by Tim on Jun 27, 2019 9:26:27 GMT
The Troc has the fantastic advantage of a VW badge so a Cactus is unlikely to be on a Troc buyers list.
A colleague at work has got one to replace a company A6 diesel and seems happy with it, he's not a car guy but is a financial planner and clearly sees the benefit at the bottom of his payslip.
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Post by PG on Jun 27, 2019 20:06:58 GMT
You mean VW's are not awash with high quality plastics any more? Gosh. Has anybody told the motoring press?
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Post by Tim on Jun 28, 2019 8:18:07 GMT
Apparently not.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2019 8:45:16 GMT
Mat Watson said the interior plastics were unforgivably bad in the carwow video review and said just get a Tiguan instead as bigger discounts mean it's virtually the same price.
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Post by humphreythepug on Jul 2, 2019 22:18:39 GMT
When I was invited to see a pre production 2020 Captur last year, amongst the static competion was a T-Roc; I too thought the interior was terrible, very average looking and with very poor plastics.
I seriously don't get the obsession with VW, if someone is in at work looking at a car and they mention that they are also looking at a VW (particularly Polo) you can guarantee 100% they will buy the VW, it's almost as if they are looking elsewhere just because they feel they should but they actually already know what they should have.
I stopped myself having an argument with someone once when they looked at a Twingo, they had also driven a Mii and an Up!, they prefered the Up! over the Mii as it was "bigger inside"!
I get the higher end models but not the run of the mill stuff.
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Post by Andy C on Jul 3, 2019 6:15:09 GMT
When I was invited to see a pre production 2020 Captur last year, amongst the static competion was a T-Roc; I too thought the interior was terrible, very average looking and with very poor plastics. I seriously don't get the obsession with VW, if someone is in at work looking at a car and they mention that they are also looking at a VW (particularly Polo) you can guarantee 100% they will buy the VW, it's almost as if they are looking elsewhere just because they feel they should but they actually already know what they should have. I stopped myself having an argument with someone once when they looked at a Twingo, they had also driven a Mii and an Up!, they prefered the Up! over the Mii as it was "bigger inside"! I get the higher end models but not the run of the mill stuff. Yeah but if they’re looking at a polo, they’d be looking also at a clio. And the clio interior is awful compared to a polo/Ibiza |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jul 3, 2019 7:19:00 GMT
When I was invited to see a pre production 2020 Captur last year, amongst the static competion was a T-Roc; I too thought the interior was terrible, very average looking and with very poor plastics. I seriously don't get the obsession with VW, if someone is in at work looking at a car and they mention that they are also looking at a VW (particularly Polo) you can guarantee 100% they will buy the VW, it's almost as if they are looking elsewhere just because they feel they should but they actually already know what they should have. I stopped myself having an argument with someone once when they looked at a Twingo, they had also driven a Mii and an Up!, they prefered the Up! over the Mii as it was "bigger inside"! I get the higher end models but not the run of the mill stuff. They're not obsessed, they're merely responding to over 40 years of careful brand building by VW. They've been consistent with their message, built conservatively styled, classless products that are reliable and to a higher perceived quality than their rivals - even those brands that are part of the same VW group. Yes, it's taken a knock with the emissions scandal and other manufacturers have, in some cases, better quality now but they have a reputation the likes of Renault, Peugeot and even Ford can only hope to emulate. |
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Post by PG on Jul 3, 2019 13:11:36 GMT
They're not obsessed, they're merely responding to over 40 years of careful brand building by VW. They've been consistent with their message, built conservatively styled, classless products that are reliable and to a higher perceived quality than their rivals - even those brands that are part of the same VW group. Yes, it's taken a knock with the emissions scandal and other manufacturers have, in some cases, better quality now but they have a reputation the likes of Renault, Peugeot and even Ford can only hope to emulate. Spot on. You've got to repeat your message ad nauseam to get it into people's heads. Pretty much everyone can remember "The Ultimate Driving Machine", "Vorsprung durch technik" and "If only everything in life was as reliable as a Golf" messages as much as "probably the best beer in the world". I can't even tell you what Ford, Renault etc have as their message. The only non-German one that people still know is probably "the best 4x4 by far". |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jul 3, 2019 13:23:39 GMT
The best one Renault had was; "Papa?" - "Nicole?"
When you think it took Audi about 25 years to move from a fairly niche brand sold in the corner of your local VW dealership to one of the big premium marques today, with consistent marketing adding value all the time, it amazes me that companies like Citroen think they can just launch a brand like DS and expect everyone to accept it as premium, and then wonder why it fails in a couple of years.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2019 14:33:46 GMT
She still has it imho.  |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jul 4, 2019 14:44:48 GMT
She still has it imho. Well she'd certainly get it. |
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Post by PG on Jul 8, 2019 21:29:28 GMT
An interesting letter in Autocar this week from a brand consultant talking about car sales and marketing. She (yes it was a lady) stated that research shows that for a lot of people "95% of decision making is made in the subconscious, which is almost entirely driven by cultural association and visual storytelling". So, their decision has pretty much been made before they even set foot in the showroom, let alone test drive the car. All the test drive really does is allow them to post rationalise and justify the decision they've already taken.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jul 9, 2019 7:49:41 GMT
An interesting letter in Autocar this week from a brand consultant talking about car sales and marketing. She (yes it was a lady) stated that research shows that for a lot of people "95% of decision making is made in the subconscious, which is almost entirely driven by cultural association and visual storytelling". So, their decision has pretty much been made before they even set foot in the showroom, let alone test drive the car. All the test drive really does is allow them to post rationalise and justify the decision they've already taken.
It's long been the opinion in marketing circles that car advertising on TV serves the same purpose. |
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 9, 2019 11:37:56 GMT
Another holiday rental, this time the Volkswagen Troc. I’d booked a Citroen Cactus or similar and I got this instead. Such is the state of the car market these days I don’t know if this indeed is in the same class of car or not. For that matter I don’t really know what the class in question even is. It’s meant to be a crossover (obviously) but it felt really very low. I felt sat at a similar height to a Golf driver and the door belt line is high so you feel quite low. The interior itself is crap. It’s not a case of spotting the cheap plastic but finding the good stuff - I didn’t. It had loads of equipment like distance keeping cruise control, lane detection and an automatic handbrake but it also had a manual gearbox and with all this technology it makes no sense to have an archaic stick shift that doesn’t work well with it. I’d never buy a manual again. The engine, diesel, sounded like a fiesta popular circa 1990. Made a terrible noise but it was properly efficient. I think it must have averaged well over 40mpg. I wish I had got the Cactus. They seem interesting and designed with a buyer in mind. I don’t know why anybody might buy a Troc. We've got an "Intermediate SUV - Fiat 500X or similar" booked from Hertz for our summer holiday. I shall be interested to see what it turns out to be. Hopefully not a Troc judging by this thread! |
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Post by michael on Jul 9, 2019 11:59:11 GMT
I seem to recall Europcar at least had the 500x in a different class. Whether that is larger or smaller I couldn't say but I hope you're spared.
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