Geely LC-Now available in SA, Is it worthwhile?

Rouxenator said:
Sure, Korean is better - but back in the 60's everyone said the same about the Japanese and look at how good Toyota is now. In the 90's we said the same about the Koreans and now Hyundai is well known for their quality. I think the Chinese are making good progress.
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By your logic we should only buy Chinese in 20-30 years?
 
Actually no, the Korean makers made head way more than twice as fast as it took the Japanese. By that exponential rate you might be looking at buying a good quality Chinese car much sooner than you think.
 
Naks said:
Yeah, but have you ever driven a genuine Tata? They are sh*t. In Mauritius a lot of the buses are Tata, they are even sh*ttier.

Jag & LR may be owned by Tata, but Tata doesn't build them, JLR does.
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have you ever driven a tata ?

i own a 05 1.4lsi model
never had any major issues with it and it is a pleasure to drive.
i have had issues with a fan belt noise but other than that no other real issues to speak off.
the car is really very zippy and i often drive to the coast with it, can easily average 140 to 160 when i need to. granted alot of peeps had problems with the first batch that were released into the country but most of that seems to be sorted out and IMHO its far from a ****ty car! well worth the money i paid.

my only gripe is the resale value but i would consider buying another one in a heart beat.

i dare say in 5 to 10 years time tata will be in the same league as the koreans are now!

edit: btw i just had a look at the new tata range recently and was very impressed, saw a vista i think with on board steering controls, modern dash packed with features incl a\c and p\s side impact bars a\b etc for around the 100k mark thats much more value for money than say a vivo for around the same price ... without any of the above
 
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The Chinese starting to build a in house Passenger Jetliner also....Comac C919. Not sure if I would like to fly in it though. :-) They are taking over the world people! RUN!!!!!
 
@OP - All I can say is that you had better consider joining the Darwin Awards if you want to buy one. They may eventually turn into respectable vehicles but at this stage, a Geely is still a Geely, no matter how pretty they make it look.
 
jvk said:
have you ever driven a tata ?
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OMG, yes, as a rental. What a piece of utter crap!

I drove a friends KIA once and that was bad. But the Tata makes even Kia look good.

I love driving and driving those cars spoilt my whole day each time
 
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maybe you just a bad rental ? oh well look i've gotten only miserable looks or comments when i tell ppl i drive a tata so i'm used to the negative feedback other drivers had... im just glad i was lucky enough to get a good one which hasnt given me any problems.
 
jvk said:
maybe you just a bad rental ? oh well look i've gotten only miserable looks or comments when i tell ppl i drive a tata so i'm used to the negative feedback other drivers had... im just glad i was lucky enough to get a good one which hasnt given me any problems.
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I didn't say anything about problems, reliability and whatever else. I can't comment on these points. All I know, driving these cars is as much fun as peeling potatoes.

And whatever the safety specifications may be, those cars just don't feel safe.
 
Wow Tim do you actually have anything positive to say at all. It's like you are anti anything, I've read some of your comments with regards to Petrol, LCD's and now cars? Life must be great being a negative nancy like you are.
Back on topic, give it a little time and the Chinese probably will have taken over the world, we all complained about Korean cars ten years ago or so, even though the Hyundai's I test drove weren't to bad back then. Now I know a few people with Kia's and Hyundai's who love them.
 
Lupus said:
Wow Tim do you actually have anything positive to say at all. It's like you are anti anything, I've read some of your comments with regards to Petrol, LCD's and now cars? Life must be great being a negative nancy like you are.
Back on topic, give it a little time and the Chinese probably will have taken over the world, we all complained about Korean cars ten years ago or so, even though the Hyundai's I test drove weren't to bad back then. Now I know a few people with Kia's and Hyundai's who love them.
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Haha, I have plenty of good things to say. Just not about Chinese knock-off TVs and Asian cars :p. Both suck and Petrol was just a joke.

I also know plenty of people who love their Kia's and Hyundai's but most of them have ever driven a premium car :D. Which makes me remember, I had to drive the Hyundai Atos once too, rental, oh boy. Felt and drove like a can! It did not feel safe.

Does the Geely LC come with Airbags and ABS?
 
Tim182 said:
I also know plenty of people who love their Kia's and Hyundai's but most of them have ever driven a premium car :D. Which makes me remember, I had to drive the Hyundai Atos once too, rental, oh boy. Felt and drove like a can! It did not feel safe.
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IMHO that has a lot to do with it. We drive an A3. Last rental I had was Renault Sandero... man, I felt this was the sh*ttiest car ever! Once you taste german luxury (and the A3 is not even THAT luxurious), you cannot go back :)
 
Naks said:
IMHO that has a lot to do with it. We drive an A3. Last rental I had was Renault Sandero... man, I felt this was the sh*ttiest car ever! Once you taste german luxury (and the A3 is not even THAT luxurious), you cannot go back :)
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I am so happy someone else shares my opinion! Thank you, Sir :D! Please tell me you also didn't feel safe in the Sandero compared to your A3?

I could not imagine having to swerve or do an emergency break in one of the small Asian cars. Especially not in rain.

The performance stats of the Geely LC are also less than impressive. The car has a top speed of 155, acceleration of 14s and still uses 6.8L? Boy that's bad economy for a modern car of that size with such a small engine.
 
Why are we comparing R300k cars to < R100k cars? I am sure your A3 will feel like a tin can compared to some cats A8.
 
Brawler said:
Why are we comparing R300k cars to < R100k cars? I am sure your A3 will feel like a tin can compared to some cats A8.
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And that's where you couldn't be any more wrong. You clearly have never driven any of these cars to actually know what it feels like. I have driven many different Audis and BMWs across the whole range and let me tell you: you can drive an A8 or 7er; the second you get into the A3 or the 1er you will feel right at home. Everything around you is quality, you feel safe, the car has distinct handling characteristics and the handling is great. So even someone who owns an A8 can you will get into an A3 and enjoy the ride and have fun driving. Of course, the same goes for many other good car makers.

Of course you can't compare a <R100k car to an Audi A3. But you definitely can compare it to some of the European/American/Korean and Japanese cars. You can also very well compare it to second hand premium cars. Many of these cars are of good quality, they are nice to drive and most importantly they have character.

The second I get into a Tata/Cherry/Geely and some of the other super low range models I know that I just stepped into a car which was produced with absolutely no character. These cars feel as if the people who built them have had no love for what they were building. Put the cars next to each other, take off the badges, tape the lights and 99% of people won't be able to tell the difference.

Take the Yaris, this car is also relatively cheap but at least it has character (To be clear I am not of a fan of that car either :D)
 
Tim182 said:
Please tell me you also didn't feel safe in the Sandero compared to your A3?
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We had to go to a wedding in Polokwane, so it was a return trip from & to Lanseria - 600 odd km. Let me tell you, I felt safer the time I was hiking in Vic Falls and came face to face with a massive male baboon who bared his fangs at me.

SWAMBO & I decided next time we have to rent a car, we'll go for something better even it it costs 3x more - we'd rather live and be broke than dead with a few bucks in the bank :)

Mind you, the Defender is in the shop atm and they gave me a Freelander 2 as a courtesy car. The other day SWAMBO drove it to the local pizza place 3km away. She parked it, said 'it's a dog' and refused to drive back!
 
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Again, i'd take a polo vivo second hand over a geely brand new any day. At least it has resale value apart from quality! No, it's not an A3 but that's not what you want in that range. Regardless of my budget, for me I want to know I've got the best value for my money and it's still way too early to say that you'd get that from something that hasn't been on our roads in any great numbers.
 
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