I have owned a Vauxhall Vectra 2.0DI Club now for just over 3 years. It has had a few reliability issues. First of all the 'Air Intake Management' or regulator had to be replaced, apparently a regular fault. The symptoms were engine management light coming on, Lack of power (no turbo) The manual says stop, turn off ignition, re-start...then head for nearest Vauxhall Dealers for diagnostic check! Next car not starting after being left for more than 24hrs. This was caused by a split in a fuel return pipe...apparently another regular fault on these diesels. Although the split could not be seen.. another trip to the Dealers & a cost of £60.00 for a poxy little inferior pipe! (not covered on vauxhall warranty) 15 months down the line and I have the same problem of the car not starting after being left for more than 24hrs.. It is drawing in air but not sure where from...looks like a mobile mechanic job as it will probably cost more for towing in than the job...(get homestart if with the AA) The drive is good though (when it goes) and handling is excellent. I'm dissapointed with the paintwork though, mine is silver in colour and if you sneezed it would probably chip the bonnet. The hinges on the hatch became rusty after 12 months and were done on waranty, although since the hatch was refitted it has developed a leek.(Dealers again) The oil has to be checked as it does need topping up every now & again. At present the car has done less than 40,000 miles. Beware of Vauxhall Dealers who fail your car on its first M.O.T on emissions..& then ask for a total of £60.00 just to add an addative! I took my car elsewhere after running it for a couple of miles and it passed first time Hmmm. (name names) ok Kirkby Central in Bolton. (or whatever it may be called now) Oh and before I forget when I first purchased the car ther was a strange noise when you turned the steering wheel on nearly full lock clockwise...That was a washer (seal) on the servo causing it to leak.. overlooked on the 114 point check or whatever it is..(same dealer) So to some it up... If you Decide to purchase one of these cars, check it's had the jobs done as above.. Join the AA with homestart and relay, be very carefull which dealers you use! I think we could do with more feedback on dealers on this site! Ronnie
Owned for 3 years.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed December 2003.
Performance
Reliability
Parts Availability
Overall Value for Money
Crashed the car with family on board. The car did exactly what it was supposed to do. Family walked away from the crash. Not a scratch on one of us.
When i brought it i thought is was a nice car fast and looked nice just was cutting out so i change camshaft sensor/crankshaft sensor and cleaned idle control valve and was ok then after 6 months the waterpump decided to go what aload of rubbish they are and took cambelt out and bent two valves so had the head done then two weeks later the gearbox went and its a big job (subframe off) gearbox is crap on these the only decent vectra is the diesels and the V6s the rest need scraping,blown up or somthing.If you want a reliable car get a 1.4 astra mk2 or mk3.
fast,looks good, drives nice and parts are cheap
waterpump,gearbox and idle control valve
Reviewing a 1997 model.
1.8 16v artic (AC)
Owned for 6 months.
Last year i bought a 2005 Vectra 1.9CDTI ex-demo car. The car came with a new car guarantee, and everything was fine until one morning we came out and the motorised tailgate was open. quickly returning to Opel, the car was taken in for repair no less than 7 times with this fault, eventually changing the main control board. Then the brakes began to scrape, again a factory fault apparently, over 3 months these have also been changed twice. The latest problem has been the airflow sensor, causing engine management to cut in, then last week large plumes of smoke coming out from under the engine, apparently caused by soot build up in the diesel warmer. this they say is caused by short runs under 10 minutes. Opels answer was a cowboy repair by adding an extra exhaust to let the smoke come out from the back of the car from the burner and by adding a tacky push button on the dashboard to switch off the burner when we make short runs, this on a new car is unacceptable, and trying to get Opel to admit liability is near on impossible. The car has been in the workshop a total of 13+ (i`ve lost count), most of the time for 2 days. In this day an age you would think that design faults like this would have been repaired before the car was ever sold. Overall i am not impressed with this car,and having been previously a Vauxhall Cavalier owner, who never had a problem, someone cut corners with this hunk of junk ....
powerful engine with good exceleration
bad electronics, no internal rear light, no cup holders ;-)
Reviewing a 2005 model.
Opel vectra 1.9 CDTI estate
Owned for 1 year.
Great car had for a while now done 102000 miles as good as the day i bought it smokes a little on starting but dissapears after a minute or two.Have a small crack in the rocker cover where somebody has tightened the bolts too tight and have very slight leaking from it cannot find replacement on net what can i do? dont really want to buy from scrappy. Does anyone know where i can find a new one? Already have the new gasket.
Bought a '99 Vectra in January (2.0 DI) after blowing the engines on two Astravans in 9 months. Started out with 173 000 on the clock and I have racked up just over 24 000 in 8 months...pretty good going until......
...front brakes attempted to catch fire!
Pads and a caliper were replaced only 3 months earlier, after it spat them out (well worn) and was limped home on handbrake and good gearing...but it was the attempted firing that led to her going to the garage, and the saga unfolded....
..eventually billed for...
Tyres x 4 Handbrake cable Suspension bushes front and back Nearside wheel bearing Brake discs, pads, drums, shoes, brake pipes (flexi and rigid) 3 bulbs Full service
Grand total - £700.89
Just got the car back on wednesday (31st Oct) and she has now developed a starting issue (which seems to be easily remedied after reading other posts), however it's the black smoke that accompanies the starting problem that is more worrying...I'm thinking injectors, unless anyone knows otherwise....
...and just to sympathise with others, I too have lost pixels on the dash and the drivers window has collapsed off it's mechanism and lets wind and water in through the quarter inch gap. Although the creaking in the dash when the blowers are on is merely the plastic (of which there is a lot!!) warming up and expanding, so don't fret, it's just annoying.
Overall, I would have another, my poor old lass now has over 196 000 on the clock and has developed those usual inherent old car, high mileage issues (...she doesn't know it yet, but she WILL be run into the ground!)...I will spen a bit more brass getting her right and limping her on, so if anyone has any suggestions as to how to improve her lifespan, please let me know...many thanks and good luck.
1996 (P) VECTRA PREMIER 1.6 - 156,000 MILES - I HAVE BEEN OWNER FOR 7 YEARS.
BAD - AIR CON NEVER REALLY WORKED. ALL BULBS (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) BLOW ON A REGULAR BASIS. CENTRAL LOCKING DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE. CLOCK , RADIO LEDS DO NOT WORK. ELECTRONIC FAULT LIGHT COMES ON EVERY SO OFTEN BUT DOES NOT SEEM TO AFFECT PERFORMANCE.
After 18months of difficult starting to my diesel 2.0dti and reading endless internet accounts of how others have failed to solve the problem (small fortunes spent unneccesarily on seals, pumps etc) I finally found this solution: check the integrity of all electrical connections. I had a bad connection between the solenoid and starter motor. This caused the engine mis-management system to malfunction. Main dealer was useless.
Great mpg, good high speed cruising with full load
when slowing down into the last 15 10 mph the engine will jutter untill the stop why is this? over all the car is sound and is very classey, a well good buy and good value for money
i had my vectra 2.0 dti for 18 months and i have more probs than i care to remember, but the the one i have right now is te most anoying. my car works fine from a cold start but when the engine heats up i lose my rev counter, it just falls to 0, the car doesn't idle when sitting at lights dont know what may be causing this has anyone any ideas as to what may be causing this
Okay...got myself a 1997 P plate GLS 1.8 DOHC this week...Swapped for my Transit van which kept overheating!
Things wrong with car...
Cat/Exhaust rattle Airbag light on Erratic tickover when cold Radio display dead pixels (they left the factory like this didn`t they?) LOL
Pros: Very nice looking car, finished in Champagne silver/gold. Drives very nice, plenty of power. Nice looking interior, no major rust problems...Look at it and be proud!!!
Cons: However... What the hell happened to the build quality between the Cavalier and Vectra? The Cavalier was bomb-proof in just about every way (wheel arches excepted!). When you put the blowers on when the car is just getting warm, the dashboard creaks, just feels too plasticy inside. The TID display is a nightmare on older models... Mr N-Reg vectra driver, can you still read your radio display??? Hmmm...thought not! And when cold, the tickover is between 300 rpm and 1600 rpm...Dodgy idle valve or something...Will sort it eventually!
Overall, not a bad car. Looks better than a Cavalier, but will never be as well built or as bomb-proof. In my opinion, when the Cavalier was discontinued, they just about got it perfect...Then went and scrapped it for the Vectra...WHY??? They must have been short of pennies... I would have another Vectra I suppose, but please fellow readers...Get them checked out by a professional before you buy. They drive and look lovely, but build quality is CACK! Rovers are(were) built better! Seats feel solid, doors close with a reassuring CLUNK, but after that, Mr Cheap-Plastic seems to possess the vehicle. I still stick to my original overview..."OPEL: You should have updated the Cavalier (Vectra A) rather than putting out something with such bad bad quality. If BMW/VW had built this, it would be great...(They build their dashboards/chassis out of solid rock dont they?) Overall... 3.5 out of 5!
i've had one vectra cdx 2.0. 16v, two omegas both gls 2.0, all of them were crap. now i'm getting a 56 astra, fingers crossed. i am one unlucky b*stard, 5 cars in one year and they were all cursed from day one....the other two were 93 astra 1.4i and pug 406 2.0 guzzler.
I have a 99 vectra 2.0 DTL - great motor until recenty, 90,000 on the clock, engine management light comes on when idle or when accelerating and won't go off, cause the engine to run like a truck. Restarting the engine solves the problem until it comes on again. I have a read a bit about it, changed the mass air flow meter but no effect. Read ona form that I can carry out engine diagnosis myself by link ports 5 and 6 together (16 pin daignosis port) but port 6 is only a dummy - i was persuming that mine is a Simtec 56.5 (i attached the procedure from the website i looked at) but I must be wrong. Can anyone assist me on how to read the engine fault as making a dogs dinner out of it! cheers peter
I once hired a Vectra with manual gearbox for a couple of days and it was a great car with only one small criticism. The 1st gear was so low that it was virtually pointless, as you were changing into second by the time you got to 5 mph and could easily pull away in 2nd. Get an automatic if you plan to have the car for any length of time.
Had a cavalier for 11 years and made a dreadful mistake of getting a vectra assuming it was the same type of car. Am afraid I couldn't have been far from wrong. Have paid dearly in repairs. Idling sticks in high rev, seals licking, noisy, not powerful enough compare to my 2.0 GLS. A great dissapointment. I couldn't encourage anyone to get one! What a crap piece of metal!
nasty horrible and utterly rubbish vectra 1.8 estate my cars usualy get over serviced as i try to look after the important bits engine n gearbox etc. had the car four yrs cost to much to keep in good order as kept falling to bits rubbish construction ecotech engine must be one big money spinner for vauxhall my advice buy the skoda its better made .stay away from lookers in chester poor dealership after sales service etc
Well... it makes me laugh.... I bought my Vectra 1.8 estate at a time when money was tight and I needed a smartish-looking estate.....Glory me! What a find!...T-reg and fab! Listen-up.....it doesn't matter what car you fancy......they all have inherant faults and only long-term experience can help you determine the best overall motor for you.. I've always been a 'Ford' fan but this car, for the money,leaves them gagging.
Idle Control Valve I own a N reg Cavalier 2.0LSi 16v saloon which I believe housed the to be Vectra Ecotech engine. During warranty I have problems with this valve sticking but in the on position making the engine race,despite filters and new valves the problem persisited for 18 months off and on. I even got an extension on the Network Q warranty specifically for the part. In the end I found the answer myself. Fully synthectic oil. The bog standard multigrade oil mists too easily and ends up settleing on the valve and making it stick. As a lot of my car's journeys were short the valve tended to be on more. It would make sense for cars covering greeater distances to stick shut. Why did this all happen? Vauxhall saved a few pence on the rocker breather pipe. My previous G reg 2.0GL Cavalier had its rocker breather tube directed to the air box where the airfilter would clean out the oil deposits. The new engine to save 18" of rubber tubing took oily air and deposited it in to the post airfilter clean air just before the Idle Control Valve. The make do in line filter was too small to make much difference and would most likely not be cleaned at services.
So there you have it trouble free Idle Control Valve courtersey of fully synthetic oil at approx £20 per 4.5 litres.
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