Vauxhall Vectra Elite 1.9CDTi (120ps) Estate

Advantages: Great drive
Disadvantages: Economy suffers when driven hard.

...I had a couple of these as hire cars, covering about 15000 miles over 6 months. They were pre-facelift models (04 and 54 reg). If I was in the market to buy a car in this class. this would be a sure contender. The SRi badge is probably pushing things a little. I always associated SRi's with BIG engines, and certainly not diesels! However, while the diesel (150ps) does a good job, I have to say the handling is the thing that justifies that Sri badge. The car feels really safe cornering and in general driving situations. While the Vectra has yet to reach the NCAP safety ratings of 5* acheived by manufacturers such as Renault, I would suggest that improved handling offered by a Vectra over a competetive model would actually reduce your need for this higher rating. I always felt that I could fully trust the brakes on the Sri, which I... Read review

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Advantages: Spacious, comfortable, well equipped and economical.
Disadvantages: Sounds like a diesel, accelerates like a diesel!

...I recently decided to change my car and started to look for something suitable. I had already decided on an estate car to cope with the dog and I wanted to swap to diesel to reduce the fuel bill; however, that's as far as I had got. Now there are loads of decent diesel estate cars out there, so whats the best way to choose one? My advice is to follow the basic steps of, listing the contenders, going to a car supermarket to test drive as many as possible and then searching for the right car. Anyway, I test drove the Renault Laguna, Ford Mondeo, MG ZTT, Honda Accord, Peugeot 307 and the Vauxhall Vectra. They all had good and bad points but I chose the Vectra as the one that suited me best. Because I like all the toys, I wanted the top of the range Elite and although they are not too common, I searched the Internet and found... Read review

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Advantages: Styling, Wide range of engines, Decent mpg figures
Disadvantages: 2006 model had gone downhill

...OK, I know that practically every sales rep has one as a company car and that this extends to a fair amount of families but I have always fancied owning a Vauxhall Vectra. Why, what makes it so good? I believe it's a combination of a vast range of engines which give you some great mpg figures and the wide range of trim levels which provide you with a good handful of extras as standard. More about the styling... Although the new styling which was introduced back in 2002 was rather radical at the time compared with older models, it still had that lack-lustre effect like the Ford Mondeo. Luckily Vauxhall had an SXI and SRI trim which made the Vectra more sporty looking and many people went for these trims and still do to this day. On top of the standard equipment, Vauxhall had introduced some rather luxury items... Read review

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