Faults:

Everything was great until the fuel pump died, then I was told I needed a new ecu, some old biddy ran up my rear and broke the brackets on either side of my bumper and broke of the tow hook cover. other than that its been the car I wanted it for bags of power which is great in the dry can be a bit hairy in the wet, and I drive it very easily in snow or ice now. had a 24v gsi before now its in the garage for spares. bit of ice jumped out in front of me on a bend,

General Comments:

This car has all the comfort of a luxury car.

The power is always there.

Parts can be very hard to find.

Parts are quite pricey.

A really underrated car.

Faults:

Electric sunroof jammed open.

Mileometer never worked.

General Comments:

I always liked these and wasn't disappointed. What a lovely, comfortable old barge.

Mine had 155,000 miles on the clock, but the mileage reading had stopped and we think it may have had almost 200,000 really!

I got this car at the bargain price of £350 as I had a mate working for a Vauxhall dealer and it came in on p/x.It was silver blue and looked a treat when polished up, its probably the best £350 I've ever spent. The ABS saved my bacon once, it rode as well as many modern cars, and was lovely and quiet at 70-80 mph.

Minus points were that the back end broke away quite easily in the wet, and performance wasn't exactly scorching (I found this out when an Escort 1.6 pulled away from me!).

I think it was at least as well built as the same age 5-series BMW, a fact shown by how many are still on the roads.

I sold it for £650 (making £300 in the process) when I got a job with a company car, the phone rang off the hook. Even today, if I lose my co.car, I'd gladly have another.

Faults:

NOTHING!!!

And I seriously abused it for the whole time I owned it!!!

General Comments:

When I bought the car it was filthy and I thought "What have I done?", but after a clean and a bit of a polish, it looked a whole lot better.

The performance of this vehicle is absolutely outstanding, the dashboard has a digital readout for the speedometer, and on a number of times I saw over 150 mph displayed. Sorry Officer!!!

0-60 was respectable enough to blow away all the Nova/XR3 chimps.

Although it looks a fair bit dated, there is enough extra plastic (wings, spoilers, skirts etc) to give it real road presence.

Faults:

I havent had the car long enough for anything to go wrong yet.

General Comments:

I used to own a 12v, the engine was gas flowed and ported which did not help with the fuel consumption. (14mpg).I have had my 24v for 2 weeks and absolutely love it, especially when the dual ram kicks in at 4,000rpm, it does 24mpg round town. it has lots of toys including air conditioning which is a nice extra.

Faults:

Drivers seat started to wear badly.

When the engine is running I can hear a "Ticking" noise.

Digital Dash Failed at 200,000k.

General Comments:

I am 17 and yes, my first car IS a Carlton GSI 3.0 12v (183bhp), I'm getting insured onto my dads account.

The as I mentioned above has a ticking noise, my dad suggested buying a cheap Senator 3.0 and dropping a newer engine in, does anyone know what the problem could be? Can someone please try and help with this problem? If a new engine is the answer, that's a pain I'll be with out a car for weeks.

Is 206,500k high for a 3.0?

My Carlton does about 23mpg around town, and 32 on long distances, I have got 146mph out of it and it still had more!