Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

ukdave2002 · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 4231 Location: South Cheshire

Now I'm all for tradition and nostalgia, but did wince slightly when I saw the new Vauxhall Viva, I think it's a budget version of the Corsa. I'm sure it will be a really reliable little motor, but it's not really in the Viva tradition?

When I was growing up and aspiring to own a motor the Viva was one of the older cheaper cars on the market, having been replaced by the Astra. I never owned one but a few of my mates did, I recall they often spent more time welding them rather than driving them, a feature that will probably not be present on the new Viva!

But back to the point do you think dragging a name from the past has any merit?

Dave

christine lowery · Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 6:51 pm Post subject:

we had a hc that wouldn't start if it was damp
one day I came home from a local scrap yard with 2 wings and a bonnet strapped to my triumph Bonne for the dam thing but we sold her and bought a triumph 2000 mk 2 auto for £50
chris Confused

MikeEdwards · Joined: 25 May 2011 Posts: 2701 Location: South Cheshire

Ray White · Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 7075 Location: Derby

One of the 'recreational' options for 6th form pupils at our school (Winston Churchill) was driving lessons with BSM. Three of us per car with 20 minutes each at the wheel. The car in question was a new Vauxhall Viva HA. I thought it was a delightful car to drive compared with the 1OOE that I had been practising on and of course a world away from my primitive Isetta 300.

The Viva is quite interesting in that it had developed dramatically from it's inception so perhaps we should not be surprised that the new car is significantly different and possibly better? The new Viva (to me) looks just like every other contrivance that is being offered these days.

Reviving an old name is nothing new but does it smack of desperation?

Penguin45 · Joined: 28 Jul 2014 Posts: 384 Location: Padiham

They've forgotten to call it an HD. Or is that excessive pedantry?

P45.
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Ray White · Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 7075 Location: Derby

Dipster · Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 6:48 am Post subject: Re: Brand new Vauxhall Viva

colwyn500 · Joined: 21 Oct 2012 Posts: 1745 Location: Nairn, Scotland

It's nothing new...the new Fiat 500 is actually the third time the name has been used on totally dissimilar cars; even the so-called Classic 500 is the second incarnation. Morris Minor.....the one most of us think of was not the first inception. The Austin Cambridge on its frst outing was the sit-up and-beg-shaped car of the mid-thirties. Wasn't the Mini sometimes called the Austin 7 Mini?

It is of course. all marketing nonsense but the worst part of it for me is that it makes trawling for spares on the internet so much more confusing. Rolling Eyes

Rootes75 · Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:58 am Post subject:

Yes, the Minor name was re-used, and what about the Minx. Used over and over.
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mikeC · Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 9:44 am Post subject:

And Austin celebrated the 21st birthday of the Austin Seven in... 1931! The first Seven was a single-cylinder car of 1910 Shocked

Penman · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 4850 Location: Swindon, Wilts.

Hi
Have you seen the ads for the new Viva?
One of them features the city power steering and comparing it to the "need" for a body building course with the HA.
Do they think we were weaklings?
The old HA was only on 5.50x12s, possibly cross plies, power steering totally unnecessary IMO whereas the new one is sitting on 185/55 R 15s
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emmerson · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 1268 Location: South East Wales

What about the claimed forty years of VW Golf? Or the sixty years of Toyota Corolla?
The only forty or sixty year old bit is the name!

goneps · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 4:06 am Post subject:

MikeEdwards · Joined: 25 May 2011 Posts: 2701 Location: South Cheshire

humberian · Joined: 03 Aug 2015 Posts: 2

My driving school car in the early 80's was a HC Viva ; I took my test in another borrowed schools Viva as just before my test was due, the instructor filled it up with two star instead of four and it was pinking badly. The other Vivas clutch felt a bit different but I got through my test ok!