Faults:

Car kept cutting out at low, or idle speeds - got part (ignition amplifier) £60 fitted myself.

Exhaust silencer collapsed on the inside - £25 fit.

General Comments:

A very good all round car.

Good acceleration in Lower to mid range.

A bit sluggish at accelerating in 4th and 5th gear, but gives a decent top speed (118mph so far).

Looks good and you can do plenty of things to it at good prices.

Good standard sound system.

Faults:

At the moment nothing has gone wrong.

General Comments:

This car is a bit slow at pulling away.

For an old diesel it isn't very noisy though (when inside the car)

Faults:

The drivers side door panel had become loose.

On pressing the fog light button nothing would happen, minutes later, they would come on.

The fog light buttons are too close to the steering wheel which makes them hard to find.

Gear changing can be difficult for normal driving.

General Comments:

The previous owner of this car had lowered the suspension by 40mm all around, added 15" alloy wheels and converted the headlights.

The handling was amazing. Cornering at 80 miles per hour was effortless on country roads and the more power that was applied the more it would stick to the road.

Taking this car to its limits I have seen a top speed of 130 miles per hour, 0-60 in around 8 seconds and an amazing surge of power at around 3500 revs in all gears.

This car is also very practical and economical with a huge boot and excellent fuel economy.

The interior is superb and spacious with great extras.

The engine bay is very tight and can be hard to get into for repairs.

Faults:

Temp sensor went at 74k.

Rear Shocks died at 76k.

Spring on Door handle isn't springy any more, can't remember when that happened.

General Comments:

The hi torque engine on this car is excellent, it nips around the hilly twisty roads of hastings just great, and cruises on motorways (all the way up the m1) superbly. Did start to handle badly, but was fixed with new rear shocks. It has a very plasticy feel on the interior, but I don't mind too much, and a sunroof is a real plus.

Faults:

Blew a couple of bulbs in the first week I had it, i. e number plate light and head lamp.

Handbrake cable snapped.

General Comments:

Considering the high mileage, the car has never broken down on me and has started first time every time.

Slow pick-up, but once it gets going it cruises well, especially on the motorway. Very quiet.

Steering is rather dull on corners, but that's probably down to the small standard wheels.

Very comfortable inside, even on merit model.

Faults:

The ICV (Idle Control Valve) needed removing and cleaning. This is a common problem, and took about 2hrs to do using the Haynes Manual as a guide.

The cam belt rollers went on the previous owner. The engine was replaced under warranty by Vauxhall, which means I picked up a bargain M-reg GSi with only 17k on the engine.

General Comments:

A lovely looking car as standard.

Later ones come with 14" 5 spoke wheels instead of 15" blade style wheels, this was done to try and combat the torque steer of the car. The 14" wheels really ruin the look of the car, so I replaced them with 17" alloys.

I wasn't very impressed with the braking system on the GSi, despite disc brakes front and back, along with ABS. I upgraded the front brakes to 300mm discs, and put drilled and grooved ones on the back. Lots better.

The Traction Control system is a joke, and should be turned off as soon as you start the car. It takes all the enjoyment out of driving the car, especially in the wet where the 150horses will quite happily light up the tyres all the way through 3rd gear.

With a standard exhaust and air intake system on the car it is very quiet and peaceful and you become very unaware, especially on the motorway how easy it becomes to drift about 120mph without realising. The car feels so at home at 120mph+