Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 DTi Hatchback > Reviews (12)

I found this car to be a great disappointment due its;

lack of refinement

lack of reliability

lack of power and

poor handling

If you read the specification, it's a well equipped car, with electric windows all round, electric sunroof, climate control, cruise control, radio cassette and 6 cd player, trip computer, heated seats and alloy wheels.

Unfortunately, the moment you start the engine, its lack of class and refinement becomes apparent. The engine is both noisy and rough. On the road, its lack of power is a problem. Often a single carriageway road, it just doesn't have the power to safely overtake another car.

The car is very nose heavy and consequently it doesn't handle well.

I had the car for a little less than 3 years. It was about 18 months old, and had done 33,000 miles when it was transferred to me. I kept for about 2 1/2 years and its mileage had increased to 97,000. In that time, I had the following problems:

Driver’s window rose and fell slowly, requiring resetting of motor and linkage.

CD player gave up. Leasing company put in a new CD player and radio cassette.

Exhaust manifold blew, resulting in engine sounding even rougher than usual.

Power steering rack developed a leak.

One of the pipes blew off the turbo, resulting in a lack of power, (unable to keep to even 70mph, when climbing motor way gradients) lots of noise and lots of black smoke.

Final insult was that it developed a fuel leak on the day it was due to be returned to the leasing company. It went back to them a week later on the back of a recovery truck!