Vauxhall Vectra 1.6i Hatchback > Reviews (9)

Was this car really worth me buying is the question I ask myself now a year down the line.
Previous to my Vectra I had owned a Subaru Impreza 2.0L Turbo but sadly I got one to many kids to fit in my nice fast & furious sports car so the plan was to buy something cheap with FAMILY in mind .

I came across my Vectra Through a friend who is a mechanic and knows his stuff he checked it over and although it had high miles it was perfect or so I though.
The car itself to start with was good it has electric windows in the front and manual in the back an electric sunroof and mirrors, ABS, Airbag in the steering wheel and various other buttons to push.

The general Drive was a bit slow and sluggish and I found that trying to overtake in high gear was dangerous as it just didn't have the pull but I just put this down to me from driving something so powerful to a little 1.6, so never really though much else about it until I got a shot of a mates 1.8 and the difference was astonishing.
I got about 6 months of no problem driving and then it started I could put it down to the age of the car but I swear this car was out to get me and my wallet. First off it started leaking oil just a little out of the top rocker cover seal not much to worry about but just keep this in mind as you carry on through my hell  .

Then the exhaust blew (quite regular on 2nd hand cars) so I replaced this with a brand new one and then it blew again another 6 months down the line and I don't mean just a little hole the whole exhaust fell off due to the brackets on the car that hold it onto the car snapping . After that all fixed and my wallet a bit lighter the passenger window started to play up It was a little sticky when you tried to put the window up but worked fine when going down until one day in traffic and slight rain it fell right down into the door with nobody even touching the switch. I had to take the door card off and replace the clips which of course VAUXHALL didn't have in stock so I had to drive for about 2 weeks with a bit of cardboard with a hole cut out and cling filmed so I could see.

((Update : Aperently Its not just Vauxhall this happens to it has just happened to my 3 seriesBMW aswell lol God i wish i had my SUBARU back i had almost 4 years of no fault quality driving i am really considering one again after all this :) ))

The next major thing to happen was the sunroof jammed open and after I eventually got it to close leaked when it poured rain and I never touched it again. If that wasn't enough one night when I was driving home (with the wife and kids with me) I fancied a cigarette so I clicked in the car lighter on and when it clicked out the fuse blew and also triggered a chain reaction and blew almost all of the fuses Including my headlights so here I was driving at a reasonable speed of 55mph when "tink" all of a sudden I am driving BLIND, thankfully I had a spare fuse which fitted for the lights but for the rest of the drive home I had no heating and of course no fag either.

After that the central locking went on the blink and whenever i opened the door the alarm would go off untill you started the engine not only that one time it never even went off and i had to drive home with the alarm blaring.

Well my list could go on and on but the last thing that happened (which was the clincher and well deserved the crushing it got down the scrappy) remember the oil leak I told you at the start? Well it progressed from a slight oil leak to having to replace the oil on a regular basis and as it was my main car I never had the time to fix it. Well it decided that enough was enough and right in the middle of Very busy traffic just made a giant squeal and dyed from oil starvation.

As I have a tendency to get attached to my cars funnily enough I never cried when it went to the scrappy in fact am pretty sure I heard my wallet yelp with glee.

Ok I think you got the picture now I hope you have enjoyed reading this review as it has been treat getting all this off my chest, it may not be every Vectra this happens to but in my opinion I wont EVER be buying one again.

Thanks for reading and I hope this maybe changes your mind before you buy one or at least make you have a second think about it.