Ok so its time to get another car
I have been looking at some vectra’s (diesel estate)2003-2006

just wondered if anybody has any real world advice on these
reliable ?
mpg ?
what to look out for ?

budget about £4500

avoid the V6 diesel.

Lovely car, but fragile engines.

NO directly related but you should get a lot of car for that. I’ve just bought a 2005 55 mondeo tdci hatchback with 55k on the clock for £3k. You have to look around but there are some great deals available.

If you haven’t considered them already check out mondeos. generally thought of as the best car in the class of that vintage.

Buy a mondeo instead.
Seriously, I had one as a hire car once, wooly steering, gutless engine (although it was petrol) and cheap tacky interior.
The only one good thing about it was the air con had vents in the rear.

I’ve got a 54 plate 2.0 Vectra TDI hatchback. Later models had a 1.9 CDTI which is meant to be more refined.

Euro NCAP 4
50+ mpg
Cruises nicely
Enough torque to overtake at motorway speeds with ease.
I suspect it will blat along at 100mph+ if you are that way inclined.
Comfy.
Bags of space (but rear seats don’t fold flat).
Had some wear on the anti roll bar bushes that will want replacing at the next service – 55,000 miles (£300). Wiper rack failed (£120).

Not the raciest car in the world, but I need a family taxi/load lugger and this is fine. I like mine because people think (wrongly) that it is rubbish.

As an example there is a place near me doing a 55 plate petrol estate with 60,000 on the clock for £3.5k so you can get a lot for your money.

I second the Mondeo option, Go for the 115 diesel and off you go.

Conks

I have had a good look at the mondeo and it just doesn’t do it for me.
the model I am after is the 1.9tdci (120-150bhp)so should be ample

1.9 CDTi 150 ps is the best option and you should be able to get one dirt cheap now as the new Insignia has just come out so the value of Vectra’s has dropped. You might even be able to get a very new pre-register brand new from a dealer for a bit more than your budget – they were giving them away at silly prices a couple of months ago to run out stock but I dont know if there will be many left

We had a ’99 plate vectra for about 5 years – did 120,000 miles and didn’t give us any trouble at all. I wouldn’t hesitate at buying another.

I got a 1.9cdti sri.. company car
If you like to drive you wont get 50mpg, but is possible, think my average is about 41-43mpg
its fairly comfy on long journeys, cruises easy at speed
its fairly ordinary and not sporty in anyway even with an sri badge, some people hate vauxhaull steering feel, i know what they mean but it dont mean **** all on a car like this, if you want a more direct, sporty, feedback type steering get something else,
fairly big car, plenty room for bikes
if all goes well getting an ecoflex in april

well I should get on with the steering ok as at the moment I have a saab 95 estate which is basically the same

oh by the way its for sale 99t plate 2,0t red 120000k i think,
good cond also has aero wheels on it
£1000 if anyone is interested

wife gets hire cars for work hates the Vectra

mentioned this to receptionist last time she took it back and the reply was yeah thats what everyone says, we are doing away with them
cant understand how these 2 cars are rated best in class on tests.. the rest must be pretty bad.

the only car wife has rated worse was toyota avensis

Mines a 54 plate petrol Estate so can’t comment on the engine.

The boot is huge, it’s been reliable so far, reasonably comfy, better kit than equivalent priced Mondeo when I was buying. Get one with rails if you go for an estate as the mounts are gash.

Chris

blinkin’ heck its been 12 hours and no ones suggested an octavia!!

a friend of ours has got a vectra through work (57 plate) – he hates it (came from a golf which was his previous work car) – although he rates it higher than the renault he had prior to that (laguna or megane). Have to agree the interior felt/looked pretty pap – and the fact it was a vauxall ruled them out when we recently changed.

the mondeo estate we have at work for one of the practice cars is great – comfy, good ergonomics and nice ride and that boot is just huge. was a definate contender, but pleased with the octavia we plumped for as a general family taxi. Also looked at golf plus and a seat altea (essentially same base cars – the golf was ok, but the seat felt like a non-car – didnt rate it at all)

How do Octavias drive? Are they basicly Taxis or can they be compared to mondeos?

VW’s and Skoda’s tend to be a bit soft in my opinion and feel fairly unstable at speed. th cabins are also fairly basic (especially the Passat estate) I wouldn’t say that they inspire confidence. Audi’s on the other hand are good at high speed but steering efforts at low speed are very poor. The Mondeo is probably the market leader at the moment in terms of dynamics but there is always a big press debate between Vuaxhall vs Ford sterring feel as dobo said. The Mondeo is ahead of the Vectra in the interior quality but you pay an additional premium for that. I wouldnt say the extra money for a Mondeo justifies the differences. Just my opinion though!

Is the 1.9Deisel the same as the Renault one??

If so, turbocharger failure is well known. Turbo oil seals go, engine runs on engine oil, blows up.

Conks

ive got a 52 plate ‘C’ 1.8 club, had for 18 months, love it – great car. reliable, fairly economical and very comfy.

and yes you’ll get a lot of car for your budget!

Lovely car,

Please tell me that was a keyboard error? A Vauxhall ‘lovely’? Surely there is some mishtayk?

There’s nowt wrong with them!

No its a Fiat powertrain originally I think!

There’s nothing right with them either! I don’t doubt their practicality, but to describe them as lovely is simply wrong.

An Elise is lovely, an Atom is lovely, a Vauxhall is just a car.

And the new ‘Insignia’?

hahahhahahahahhahhahahhahahahhahaha! It looks like a 1990s Hyundai.

If it must be a Vectra why not look at the Saabs as well? They will be cheap as well. Plus the Vectras will seriously dive soon in value due to the better replacement AND the company woes

prefer the drive on the octy to the golf plus and seat – mine feels responsive and is good at speed – but then I guess its all relative to suspension fitted, tyres etc etc.

Agree with robbo that the interiors are a bit sparse on the base models – which is why we didnt plump for one but went for the L&K spec with lots of toys – quality feels better than the mondeo in this case, but then I guess there is an age difference (the mondeo I know is a 53 plate with >100k miles on the clock, base level model, whearas the octy is a 55 plate)

You are right. Mondeos, Octavias, Vectras and Passats are not terribly lovey, they are just big practical cars. The Insignia does look a bit odd.

If I was buying again i’d get another Vectra or a Saab now that the ass has fallen out of the market. There is something about Mondeos that makes me really not want one, my Vectra has an air of “I know its a Vectra, so what?” about it (and the sound system is pretty good).

What worries me- every Vauxhall Ive driven the faster you go the lighter (vague) the steering becomes. WHY?”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know its electric but surely its counter-intuitive.

Vauxhall’s are decent cars so long as you don’t pick a low volume variant.
I’ve had four of them over the years and did high mileage in them. The new Insignia looks the part btw.

I saw on Watchdog that the 2.2 engines had some sort of fuel pump issue that kept recurring, costing owners several hundred times a pop.

If I was buying an older car, I’d go for a Passat TDi 130hp. A brilliant engine – pokey and very economical. Audi’s are even better if you can afford the extra.

Hope you get a “goodun” whatever it is.

due to the better replacement

Now that WAS a joke wasn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Vauxhalls (I had an Astra till last year) but any car of that type can never be lovely.

Apart from MAYBE the new Passat – that does have a certain beauty about it.

I have a 1.8, 2003 Vectra SXI, grey, its been a great car and I had a good deal when I bought it. Got it from my partners work place, it belonged to one of the managers.

Its a 2003 (52 reg) and it only had 29k miles on the clock and the condition was immaculate.

I am just about to put it up for sale, as we are downsizing to one car from two as I now work from home and no longer require it.

It has 5 months tax, MOT has just been completed and passed, around 64k on the clock now…

Not sure if you would be interested …. just a thought….

due to the better replacement

MF ANYTHING is better than a Vectra. Hence the Insigna wins.

4.5k for a diesel estate? – If it was me I’d go for a Skoda Octavia. Sorry, its dull but at least its abit better than wifebeater special 😉

No offence kona_Uk intended

hora….Vectra’s are ok….. all cars are better than other cars, didn’t you know that ! 😉

Aye, its all relative.

Nobody is going to admit to currently owning a rubbish car as it is a slur on their judgement. Once it has been sold it is a different matter as then you can be seen as having the good sense to get rid of it. Out of all the cars I have owned the vedicts are as follows.

1) Austin Metro 1.3 HLS – Rubbish (even if it did have a digital clock)
2) Mk2 Golf – Rubbish
3) Citroen AX GT – Ace, but too small and fragile
4) Fiat Bravo 1.8 HLX – Fun/Rubbish depending on whether it was working
5) The mighty Vectra – Steady

That Passat CC is a very car nice indeed. Shame it’s priced so high.

I just configured a 140hp Diesel with metallic paint and leather and the list price came out at £23,700 – Audi money?

I thought car companies were trying to be competitive with pricing at the moment!?

No wonder the auto industry has seen a 60% drop in sales year on year!

ANYTHING is better than a Vectra. Hence the Insigna wins.

Accepted.

Nobody is going to admit to currently owning a rubbish car as it is a slur on their judgement.

Had the old forum been around, I would have been able to prove that wrong with my repeated slagging off of my (dis)Astra. Awful, truly dreadful car and I hated it from almost the first moment I got it.

1) Austin Metro 1.3 HLX – Rubbish

Being a pedant, but it was a HLS, NOT HLX. And I had one. And I quite liked it. It even had a digital clock and everything!

My previous cars, the only ones I liked was the MX5. Sorely miss that and I see both of them from time, one on my road! …the other in town (new owner lives in Prestwich).

Get a 406 estate – there’ll be 2 of us laughing our heads off. Cheap – under £1k, economical – £45-55 mpg (town/all over the place), soft – travel sickness for passengers, spacious – family of 3 plus buggy plus 2 bikes inside.
2.0 Hdi is great, 1.9Td is cheaper to insure (some 20% less).

A lot of car for the money. I hope it doesn’t go wrong!

Not at the same price level as you’re looking at but I recently picked up a 2001 diesel vectra. It’s surprisingly nice, feels better made than a ford. Acceptable power, 45mpg+, comfortable and handles very well. The only things I don’t like are the steering wheel isn’t totally centred on the drivers seat and it doesn’t have a cold air vent for the driver that can work simultaneously as the demister.