Macduff said:And the scary thing there is that the Vectra is better built. We looked at a 9-3 before we bought the A4. It was trully appalling inside for a "premium" brand car. Had a Vectra hire car shortly after and it was definitely better built.
Still wouldn't use my own money to buy a new Vectra. 50% depreciation in the first year is scary. Could stand the indicator/wiper stalk operation either.
Yeah,I look at the 9-3 too.
As you say,the interior is shocking.
With regard to Vectra depreciation,those sorts of figures are very misleading.
They always take into account full RRP.
Who the hell pays full RRP for a Vectra ?
No-one.
So the depreciation figures become a nonsense.
An example for you.
My Bro-in-law bought a diesel one for use as a taxi about 6 months ago.
Full RRP was something like £16900,but he got it for £12000.
What you pay new doesn't affect re-sale values too much though.
So,in three years time,it'll still be worth roughly the same whether you paid £16900 or £12000.
Say,for the sake of argument,it's worth £6000.
Suddenly,the fact you only paid £12000 makes your depreciation percentage (50% over three years) on a par with the likes of Audi !
A much better real-life indicator of depreciation is to llok on Autotrader and see what 3 year old examples of the car you want are going for.
Factor in what you're actually paying for the car and you get a proper,real-world,depreciation figure.
I've never found the push to work/push to cancel indicator stalk a problem in Vauxhalls.I find it becomes intuitive after a while,but bikes operate a similar system,so it's not alien to me.