[Spantara]

Hi Guys and Gals,
I have just come in from the cold having left the "other forum" before Christmas after disagreeing with the way in which it was run. I will not dwell on that - those of you who were regulars there no my reasons.

On the "other forum" I was known as Voyager but quick changes of name are permitted on the Internet so, after a digital facelift, I am now Spantara. Why Spantara? Simply because both my Antara and I are based in Spain. (No comments about sunny Spain please - here in Galicia it has been teaming down since well before Christmas).

I now have a confession to make: my Antara is not a Vauxhaul but an Opel. The badge may be different but the guts are pretty much the same. I hope you will welcome your continental cousin even if the steering wheel is on the other side. (photo below).

I want to thank Antarius for introducing me to this forum and wish all of you a happy Easter.

Cheers // Stephen

 

[Spantara]

Too early in the morning to be doing this .... it should have read, "those of you who were regulars thereknow my reasons"

 

[Inchindown]

Welcome to the forum Spantara. Hope you have better luck here.

As for the rain staying mainly in Spain, I'd take a little rain right now if it would get rid of the cold weather we've had for the last few weeks.

 

[Busterboy]

When you refer to the other forumI presume you mean Vauxhallownersnetwork or the Vauxhall Fan Club as I call it, full of people with rose tinted glasses and blinkers who have bought Antaraswhich are apretty bad vehiclereally but are tooembarrassed to admit it.

 

[Spantara]

Indeed I do Busterboy. I agree with your opinion also, although I do not share your belief that the Antara is " a pretty bad vehicle".
Let's be honest about it, whilst I really like my Antara it is a heavy and capable road vehicle but that is where it ends. It is not an off-roader. The "other place" seems to abound with people who would like to rate their Antara in the same class as a Range Rover. I would too but that is just not beingrealistic. The Range Rover, for example, is more than twice the price of the Antara.
The Antara is a reasonably priced, comfortable, safevehicle with a great driving position. I like it a lot and the only cause for concern I have had is the fuel consumption but, again to be perfectly honest, it is what I expected from a car weighing in at well over 2 tonnes

Aye // Stephen

 

[Dilligaf]

Hi spantara good to hear from you again. I too have grown to love my Antara despite some shortfalls, but agree you can't compare it to a Range Rover or the likes. It is a good motor for the price (especially with 0%), handles well on the road especially down country lanes but I sure as hell wouldn't want to try off roading.
I hope you stick around and will wave to you in July when I fly over to Gran Canaria.

 

[Busterboy]

I also have a problem with the fuel..my last Isuzu Trooper did more to the gallon and it was not common rail therefore there is no need for a modern diesel to be this bad, other than being designed to be bad.
The suspension is appaling, it's bouncy and if you are that way inclinedI am sure it could make you sea sick. Along with the heavy banging of the tyres as they hit very shallow pot holes. Mine has Dunlop Sport and they are rubbish. This makes things in the boot, door pockets and centre console crash about to the point where you need to stuff rags in the door pockets and centre console to stop things rattling

Vibrations right throughout the vehicle annoy me.

I am not used to this sort of thing in a vehicle and it really pi...s me off.

Isuppose it could be worse but am not sure on that one....IfI had paid anywhere nearthe the full retail price then I would have committed suicide by now...I only paid £18,200 for it brand new ( 163 Exclusive AWD Carbon Black )butI think they're overpriced even at that money.


If you go on the Captiva owners website there is aguy on there complaining that he has paid nearly £30,000 for his and the engine has blown up. He obviously failed to realise that for that kind of money he could have bought a decent vehicle. One born every minute.



Edited by: Busterboy

 

[Spantara]

LOL Busterboy. Indeed you are right - there is one born every minute, or maybe even more often!
Strange that you should find the ride bouncy. I think the Antara gives a firm ride which also makes the cornering good for such a high vehicle. Fortunately I should add because my yongest son always has had problems with car-sickness but, so far, not in the Antara.

I have no problems with stuff bouncing about or rattles (except when just ticking over there is a little rattle somewhere in the dash - but I don't spend much time idling the engine so that's ok)

Have you had your suspension looked at? It should not be as you describe it.


Edited by: Spantara

 

[Dilligaf]

Busterboy
As you say you get what you paid for. On the mpg side, I new a guy who raved about how his Peugeot 405 diesel would do 60+ mpg, but when he bought another one, emissions rules had changed and was getting less than 50 mpg. I had a 407 sw that started off at about 42 mpg and by the time I had done 40, 000 was averaging 48-50. The mpg may improve it may not.
When I read the reviews on the Antara they said that the suspension was harsh over speed bumps but I find that it grips well down country lanes.
The review for a Qashqai was a sogt suspension but warbles round corners.
I'm not saying the Antara is brilliant, but I'm sure there's a lot worse
out there.
What you need to ask yourself is what else could you afford and what made you buy the Antara.

p.s. sorry for mentioning French cars Grumps

Edited by: Dilligaf

 

[Antarius]

Hi Guys and Gals,
I have just come in from the cold having left the "other forum" before Christmas after disagreeing with the way in which it was run. I will not dwell on that - those of you who were regulars there no my reasons.

On the "other forum" I was known as Voyager but quick changes of name are permitted on the Internet so, after a digital facelift, I am now Spantara. Why Spantara? Simply because both my Antara and I are based in Spain. (No comments about sunny Spain please - here in Galicia it has been teaming down since well before Christmas).

I now have a confession to make: my Antara is not a Vauxhaul but an Opel. The badge may be different but the guts are pretty much the same. I hope you will welcome your continental cousin even if the steering wheel is on the other side. (photo below).

I want to thank Antarius for introducing me to this forum and wish all of you a happy Easter.

Cheers // Stephen

Hi Stephen


Nice to see you so to speak

I like the new name

and as you rightly state, it makes not a jot of difference whether it is an Opel or a Vauxhall, the main thing is that it an Antara

.


I'm sure that we will all be looking forward to your usual wit and humour.

 

[Spantara]

Thanks for the welcome John.

I promise not to inflict too much of my wit on you good people. I have no reason to make you suffer. The way fuel prices are going we are all suffering enough as it is.

 

[Grumps]

Hi Stephen

Welcome to the forum. Glad to see you still have the Antara and its going well.

Busterboy sorry to hear your not happy with your Antara. Yes many of us were and are still over at VXON and we do like our Antaras but we are not oblivious to its problems but most have us have been lucky and have good one and apart from the poor mpg their is not that much wrong with it. If I had more money to spend on an SUV like most I wouldn't have bought one but now I have i really enjoy driving it.

 

[Antarius]

When you refer to the other forumI presume you mean Vauxhallownersnetwork or the Vauxhall Fan Club as I call it, full of people with rose tinted glasses and blinkers who have bought Antaraswhich are apretty bad vehiclereally but are tooembarrassed to admit it.

Hi Busterboy....I don't think that I have "spoken" with you, so its nice to meet you so to speak. If I have liaised in the past, then forgive me as my mental faculties seem to be waning slightly

Having been the owner of my Antara for just over three weeks, I feel that I am able to make comparisons with the Ford Kuga that I owned previously but that is where the Antara's problems lie. Too many so called experts tend to use other SUV manufacturers such as Range Rover and BMW to make comparisons with the Antara and others have stated, there is no comparison.


I really do get annoyed when I read or hear these reviews and I may not be alone in that regard and that is why in my humble opinion, Antara owners tend to go overboard in support of the car.


While some Antara owners may be disappointed in the car, others are happy and others may just be sitting on the fence but that is what is so good about having a forum like this, no matter our own personal thoughts on a particular subject, we can almost guarantee that someone, somewhere will disagree with them and try to change our minds.


Isn't that right John ? No it isn't John !

Edited by: Antarius

 

[Spantara]

I remember I remarked on the "Antara issue" in a previous life. If my memory serves me correctly, it went along these lines.
The Antara is not best at anything!

If she were a school child, the report in every subject would state, "tries hard but could do better" and the assessment wouldrange betweenB- or C. As we will all remember from our school days, those who were top of the class in some subjects could be very poor in others. Their average mark might not have been so good. On the other hand, the Antara steadily gets a fair to good but not excellentmark making a very good average. No, top of the class she may not be but she is, on average, closer to the top than the bottom.

And that is what the Antara is - she is not a road-racer, she is not an off-roader, she is not a luxury car but she is a very good all-rounderand thatrocks my boat



Edited by: Spantara

 

[Inchindown]

When you refer to the other forum I presume you mean Vauxhallownersnetwork or the Vauxhall Fan Club as I  call it, full of people with rose tinted glasses and blinkers who have bought Antaras which are a pretty bad vehicle really but are too embarrassed to admit it.

I think it is a little harsh to characterise those Antara owners who are happy with their cars as looking through rose tinted specs and blinkers.

I take it from your tone you have had a poor experience with your Antara. Lots of people do not have these bad experiences and it seems a little insulting to group a whole bunch of people who appear to be happy with their cars as some sort of morons.

No one would deny some people have experienced problems. No new car on the market today will have a 100% customer satisfaction score. My current car - a Volvo XC70 SE Lux Auto - is a much more expensive car than the Antara, yet I have had problems with it since the day I first picked it up from the dealer. So no car is perfect. You just have to look on any car make forum to see the truth of that fact.

In fact I find it quite refreshing to see posts on car websites from people who like the cars they have bought. It makes a change from websites where the only posts are negative.

So how about easing up on people who happen to be happy with the car they have purchased.

 

[Grumps]

When you refer to the other forum I presume you mean Vauxhallownersnetwork or the Vauxhall Fan Club as I  call it, full of people with rose tinted glasses and blinkers who have bought Antaras which are a pretty bad vehicle really but are too embarrassed to admit it.

I think it is a little harsh to characterise those Antara owners who are happy with their cars as looking through rose tinted specs and blinkers.

I take it from your tone you have had a poor experience with your Antara. Lots of people do not have these bad experiences and it seems a little insulting to group a whole bunch of people who appear to be happy with their cars as some sort of morons.

No one would deny some people have experienced problems. No new car on the market today will have a 100% customer satisfaction score. My current car - a Volvo XC70 SE Lux Auto - is a much more expensive car than the Antara, yet I have had problems with it since the day I first picked it up from the dealer. So no car is perfect. You just have to look on any car make forum to see the truth of that fact.

In fact I find it quite refreshing to see posts on car websites from people who like the cars they have bought. It makes a change from websites where the only posts are negative.

So how about easing up on people who happen to be happy with the car they have purchased.

Excellent post, I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately some people like Buster boy or Hobbynut as we know him from VXON

has had a bad experience but instead of accepting that he has a bad one he then slates every Antara because he's not happy with his one.

The fact that the majority of us are happy with our Antara seems hard for him to accept.