tinyurl.com/cu9qv7
The picture on this link shows an Opel badge on the front of a Google earth camera car with a UK registration.
Is it possible to buy a RHD Opel Astra?
An acquaintance had an Opel Corsa, but only because he got his rellies in OZ to send him the badges. I suspect the V5 said Vauxhall.
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As with most of Europe, General Motors calls itself Opel in the Irish Republic. Its only Vauxhall in Britain (and Northern Ireland).
So most RHD Opels will have been sourced via Ireland.
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I live in Manchester which still has a lot of Irish people coming to visit so right hand Opels are very common here. It is also very common to see UK registered opels. When I was younger about 20% of GM caers had an Opal badge but the Irish imigration has slowed down a lot since then.
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A Vauxhall forum I drop in on has some contributors who think it's cool to change the badges on their Vauxhalls to Opel ones. Apparently this pleases them.
No really, it's true.
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When I was in the motor trade, an Opel was always of a better build quality than the Vauxhall offering - I'm thinking of the Kadett and the Ascona etc., does that still apply today I wonder?
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When I was in the motor trade an Opel was always of a better build quality than the Vauxhall offering - I'm thinking of the Kadett and the Ascona etc. does that still apply today I wonder?
No it do's not apply today. You could take a assembly line worker from Germany / Belgium, bring them to the UK and they would know exactly what to do. Likewise for a UK worker
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back in the days of mk1 astras i would much prefer to buy one badged as an opel as the build quality was always better
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sorry perro never saw your post
great minds think alike eh?
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They were better all round really BB - better engines, Bosch elecs. and Solex (I think) carbs.
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A Google Astra lives near me, its got Opel badging and is actually on Spanish plates.
parks outside a house, camera tripod folds down and is wrapped in a big cover thing that does not disguise its shape in any way!
Wonder how much these guys get paid and what exactly is involved in their job? They obviously drive over predetermined routes but how much of the technical stuff do they do or does the camera do everything and they just upload it at end of day???
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I do wish Gm would drop the Vauxhall name. It is pointless, a waste of money and no-one buys Vauxhall thinking it is a British company. GMEurope might actually end up with lower losses or better profits if they had one brand to promote. Think of the saving in priniting and designing costs.
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and no-one buys Vauxhall thinking it is a British company.
.... but Vauxhall is a British company just as Opel is German and Holden is Australian.
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>> and no-one buys Vauxhall thinking it is a British company. .... but Vauxhall is a British company just as Opel is German and Holden is Australian.
Indeed it is
Vauxhall is in fact called
General Motors UK Limited,
a company incorporated in England and Wales (Company No. 135767) with VAT Number 382 3240 67 and having its registered office at Griffin House, MP UK1-101-135, Osborne Road, Luton, LU1 3YT ("GM UK").
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It might become a UK or European company soon though...
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I do wish Gm would drop the Vauxhall name. It is pointless a waste of money and no-one buys Vauxhall thinking it is a British company. GMEurope might actually end up with lower losses or better profits if they had one brand to promote. Think of the saving in priniting and designing costs.
Why not drop Opel then, and call them Vauxhalls?
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I do wish Gm would drop the Vauxhall name. It is pointless a waste of money and no-one buys Vauxhall thinking it is a British company. GMEurope might actually end up with lower losses or better profits if they had one brand to promote. Think of the saving in priniting and designing costs.
Indeed, and I'm also slightly surprised that GM Europe's marketing people never dropped the Vauxhall name in favour of Opel in order to let them exploit the reputation of "German engineering" - though now Citroen have taken the mickey out of that notion with their C5 advertising campaign, the opportunity may have passed...
Edited by Typ 8L on 27/04/2009 at 13:08
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A Vauxhall forum I drop in on has some contributors who think it's cool to change the badges on their Vauxhalls to Opel ones. Apparently this pleases them. No really it's true.
With respect, shouldn't that be, "YES really it's true.
MD
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As you wish. Happy Sunday !
;-)
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Friend of mines company car, a Vauxhall Vectra estate arrived with the griffion on the front vauxhall words on the back and Opel badged wheel trims and opel badged Steering wheel boss.
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When people started ordering RHD drive cars in Europe to save money years ago, Opel cars could be obtained without a problem.
I remember when there was an Opel dealer opposite the Vauxhall one in the 70s/80s in my home town though. Opel was considered to be more upmarket...
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>>An acquaintance had an Opel Corsa
OP should've read Holden, not Opel.
I should go to bed earlier. ;>)
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I think Trade Sales in Slough sells a lot of Opal badged cars imported from some other RHD place - somewhere like Cyprus or Malta?
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I had an Opel Kadette estate in the 80s for a while. same as a MK1 Astra. A customer gave it me as it had thrown a rod. Got an Astra engine from a pal and ran it for a while. That was a right hooker. Brown and boring but it did the job until the MOT killed it !
Ted
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"I remember when there was an Opel dealer opposite the Vauxhall one in the 70s/80s in my home town though. Opel was considered to be more upmarket..."
Surprised there was two dealers, I seem to remember most of them being tri-branded Vauxhall/GM/Opel at the time.
The Opels may have been better built and with different components back in the 70s and 80s but now they are the same car. The Vauxhalls are just rebadged. I remember seeing a brand new Omega in the dealers a couple of years back with a bag of OPEL badges for the wheels and steering wheel inside - they had presumably remembered to change the badges on this particular example.
Edited by Marc on 27/04/2009 at 13:08
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I'm standing up for my old 1994 UK 1.6 Astra Estate which was a good car and did 150,000 and 15 years.
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I'm standing up for my old 1994 UK 1.6 Astra Estate which was a good car and did 150 000 and 15 years.
>>>>>> we are talking astra/kadett of the mk1 era built of granite and paint thickness you could measure ,the later astras were tin boxes in comparison ,especially the 3 door estate
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Friend of mines company car a Vauxhall Vectra estate arrived with the griffion on the front vauxhall words on the back and Opel badged wheel trims and opel badged Steering wheel boss.
Opps, someone in Germany made a mistake, or more likely a shortage of appropiate parts, no in fact both of the above. However should not have left the plant untill rectified.
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SWMBO's Zafira A has been in exactly the same state since we bought it at 4 years old, not sure if it left the factory like that or someone wanted to re-brand it Vauxhall ( it's an Opel on the V5) and gave up halfway through.
Edited by SpamCan61 {P} on 28/04/2009 at 09:29
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Google do have an office in Dublin, but if the cars had been sourced from there, you might expect them to have RoI plates.
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Just to throw a spanner in the works on this one - I live in ROI and saw a Google car last week with an Irish reg and a Vauxhall badge...
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They could be Maltese or Cypriot imports of course - Impression I get from this forum is that buying a car in ROI for use here would be rather silly on the cost alone.
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Do Vauxhalls still have loud and annoying springs on the clutch pedal or did they finally fix that? Every Vauxhall I remember being in during the 80's and early 90's had this 'feature' - every gear change punctuated by "g g g g ggrruunch" and "t tt t t t twaaang"
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Do Vauxhalls still have loud and annoying springs on the clutch pedal or did they finally fix that?
We used to call it the Cavalier Creak after my mk2 SRi did it, and several friends mk2's as well. Then I discovered it affected the Astra and the Nova!
I actually quite liked it. Character, or something. :-)
Cheers
DP
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