I used to do that, buy British only, long before (and long after) a certain politician jumped on the Buy British bandwagon whilst with the other sleight of hand signing off european treaties such as the ERM to the detriment of most home bred manufacturers and especailly the workers in those factories.

I realised finally that i was one of only a few doing so and retailers and manfacturers of the time were deliberatly misleading the buying public though disgraceful use of the Union Flag applied to Indian, such as Tata's offering behind badged Rover, and Chinese made items, such as Belling's microwave...both complete with our national flag...Victoria would have rightly sent a gunboat.

As regards the two cars here, there's probably not a lot to choose between them one might have a better badge even if its currently discoloured, you could do worse than be swayed by how good, or not, the people who are going to look after the vehicle prove to be, maybe ask around about that.

One of the qualities I like about my old corolla is the made in Britain sticker in the corner of the windscreen. But like you say, that can sometimes be a tactic to sell us products by pulling on our heartstrings.

Thanks for your input.

Neither-A Fiesta is better than both.

Keep British (as much as possible) and go for the Astra or Auris.

Er...Vauxhalls are re-badged Opels, designed in Germany. Vauxhall and Opel are both owned by US car giant General Motors.

Toyota is a Japanese company and the Auris was designed in Japan.

All the mass-market cars made in Britain are made by foreign companies.

I know the Astras are designed in Germany and US owned but they are still manufactured in the UK in Elsmere Port by British workers using a lot of British sourced parts so they maybe foreign owned but the wages they pay out to the workers and the the money that goes to British suppliers is all good for the British economy.

The same goes for Toyota - they maybe designed elsewhere but the are manufactured here.

That is why I did say to 'keep British (as much as possible)' as I know there are not British owned mass producers now.