Vauxhall Merits.

Sir,
Perhaps Mr. Bradpiece has not heard of the Vauxhall, now sadly Americanised until one can only recognise it as a descendant of the 30/98 Velox by its big heart.

The modern Velox costs, initially, the same as its Dagenham counterpart, but, according to both Road Tests, and my personal experiences, can out-perform it on all points; 0-50 m.p.h. in under 14 sec. after being hastily run-in over one weekend 18 months ago. This car regularly does 25 m.p.g. around town, and on long runs 28-32 m.p.g. It cruises effortlessly at 70-75 m.p.h. and reaches its maximum, over 85 on the clock, quite easily and it has yet to have a replacement rear axle, after 23,000 miles. Personally, I dislike the suspensions on both cars, they are both very similar. But I will give Fords one thing, they do have good service, but then they do seem to need it !

Before finishing, I must just say that I think both methods of operating the windscreen wipers are terrible. Excepting on the over-run the Fords are stationary, and the Vauxhalls just wipe the air at speeds over 50 m.p.h., and not very effectively at that ! What on earth is wrong with the electric-driven wipers ? On the old Austin I have, the original electric wiper still works, after 18 years.

I am, Yours, etc.,

Solihull. B.O.B.