Brand new SUV for €15k

unkel

Dutch dude just secured the exclusive rights to sell this in 27 countries in Europe. It is made in China and based on the Opel Frontera. It has aircon, leather, all electrics, CD, ABS, alloys, etc. as standard

Unbelievable price if you think that €15k will just about buy you the most basic Toyota Yaris 1.0 liter

Of course the car is a POS though

dahamsta

And it won't be 15k in Ireland anyway.

Have to admit I've always quite liked the shape of the Frontera.

adam

Alun

I couldn't find a price on that website, but remember that if this is a street price in the Netherlands that they have an equivalent of our VRT, called BPM which is 42.5% of the net price excluding VAT minus €1540 for petrol and €328 for diesel. VAT (at 19% in the Netherlands) is added on top of that.

So, in short, if that's an on-the-road price in NL, it might be not so bad here as you think, depending on what mythical selling price the Revenue put on it.

unkel

dahamsta wrote:

And it won't be 15k in Ireland anyway

It's gonna be around €16.5k in the Netherlands, where a similar VRT regime is in place. Here it might be around the €17k mark. The engine is from Mitsubishi by the way

The cheapest models of the Toyota RAV4, Nissan X-trail, Landrover Freelander, Kia Sportage, Hyundai Santa Fe are all around the €30k mark and none of these would have the likes of leather as standard...

Would there be a market for this yoke?

dahamsta

I'd say so, if the Ssangyong is anything to go by; you can't move for Rextons down here. Ok, the Rexton it isn't a rehashed Frontera, but the Frontera wasn't a bad looking car in it's day, and looking at it now I'd be inclined to say it hasn't dated that much. Half the people buying them've probably never seen one anyway -- when was the last time you saw one?

adam

unkel

Just done a bit more research. It'll be €16950 in the Netherlands. I've just read a 4 page review from the leading Dutch car mag and apparantly the car is not bad at all, just old technology and the build quality is not great, but adequate

http://www.jmclandwind.nl/media/beelden/autovisie-2005-04-14-pag-1.jpg
http://www.jmclandwind.nl/media/beelden/autovisie-2005-04-14-pag-2.jpg
http://www.jmclandwind.nl/media/beelden/autovisie-2005-04-14-pag-3.jpg
http://www.jmclandwind.nl/media/beelden/autovisie-2005-04-14-pag-4.jpg

There is no ABS :eek: Apparantly ABS as standard in the EU is not a law yet, just a convenant between car manufacturers from Europe, Japan and Korea

The Chinese manufacturer is Jiangling Motor Corporation (JMC) and is owned for 30% by Ford



Other extras: metallic paint, parking sensors, central locking, 16" Alloys, Foglights

alias no.9

The frontera was a terrible machine but at least the engines don't includs GM's 2.2 diesel which came out of some old bedford van.

MercMad

The Chinese manufacturer is Jiangling Motor Corporation (JMC) and is owned for 30% by Ford

JIANGLING !!

They obvioulsy examined a Frontera closely and this was the noise they heard !!

I'd say pretty much anybody good put this vehicle together better than Vauxhall so it'll be an improvement over the Frontera's dismal last place on the JD Power survey either way !

Dont forget the originbal Frontera was actually an Izuzu Rodeo in the first place. This was a very reliable car in US markets too !

One hiccup is that the VRT people will actually have a say in the Open Market Selling Price upon which they base their VRT, meaning it'll never see this side of 25K

bazz26

As far as I know the Frontera was based on an Isuzu 4x4 from the early 1990s like this one.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=Car&carID=244328&message=You%20searched%20for%3A%26nbsp%3BIsuzu%20MU%2C%20Year%3A%201995%2E%20Your%20search%20returned%20one%20vehicle%2C%20which%20is%20shown%20below%2E&CFID=13433130&CFTOKEN=12688744

So the design of this Chineese 4x4 is about 15 years old.

MercMad just beat me to it.

drdre

if its around 16000 in netherlands then i will guarntee it will be over 20000 in ireland. it was in the sunday business post last week about us paying 1/3 more than anywhere in europe

Cyrus

theres gonna be serious money made on importing chinese cars me thinks

peasant

Just look at the TATA Safari (made in India) that you can get for next to nothing on the continent. The few examples that Irish Rover dealers brought in still were 28K.

But with the demise of Rover that's history now anyway...

Pataman

I wonder what Jeremy Clarkson would say :rolleyes:

unkel

Pataman wrote:

I wonder what Jeremy Clarkson would say :rolleyes:

Well I don't buy his "telling the truth no matter who or what" image anymore after the sneaky Ford GT debacle. JC is fooked

AMurphy

Based on the vehicles I saw that were made in Shanghai, (VW & GM), which were not that bad at all, so don't write them off completely.
they are capable in places at least, but that does not mean everyone is capable.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/insiders/0504/16/autos-151749.htm

I think they are planning to release a similar vehicle here, but not sure if it is the same company or not.

unkel

$9500 that's about €7900 :eek:

dahamsta

unkel wrote:

Well I don't buy his "telling the truth no matter who or what" image anymore after the sneaky Ford GT debacle. JC is fooked

Bit presumptuous imho, unless you've been secretly appraised of the facts unbeknownst to us.

Mailman

Sports Utilities are passe.

Now if they start making old models from companies that have a history of licensing their technology like Mitsubishi then we can look forward to some very nice Chinese Galants in the coming years.
The Chinese Rover 75 will be a sweet car too.

unkel

dahamsta wrote:

Bit presumptuous imho

Indeed

I've lost a lot of respect for Clarkson over it though...

Corben Dallas

If it has a Mitsu engine then thats solid, maybe same ones as Pajero etc.

The Frontera was a hound of a car, huge problems, recalls etc.

---

Clarkson is at least being honest and has commented on the miriad of Fcukups with his GT40, one sweet car but for that money u have to be able to drive it everyday problem free.

Ford need to ditch Rousch Racing as the service ppl for this in the UK, and get ppl who can actually fix problems. I'd say any Ford Dealer mechanic's would love to work on one of these babys.