Faults:

Warped brake discs on purchase - something to watch for.

General spots of rust (typical old Vauxhall).

General Comments:

Cheap to insure but the engine is underpowered. Far too basic and badly needs a 5th gear! Recommend the 1400 and 1600cc.

Ideal if all you want is a car to get you from A to B - useless if you are looking for a fun car.

Faults:

Lost water due to the water pump being worn, but the age may reflect on that.

General Comments:

Bad ass car.. nice looks if not hard and it has some kick from 0-70mph, very fast...

Also unleaded... cheaper as the tax on petrol keeps it more expensive..

Faults:

Nothing really, just recently purchased new distributer and offside headlamp. Nothing needed doing at all for MOT last August. What I have done, has been to improve it, not to fix things.

General Comments:

An excellent car, that's why it's my second one. Cheap and easy to modify. I've fitted SR front, GTE back bumper, rear head rests and 15 inch alloys, and it looks mint. I definitely recommend them, to anybody. It's been 100% reliable, starts better than some modern cars, even at minus 5 deg.C ! i.e. instantly.

Faults:

Basically it only starts when it bloody wants to. Very temporamental in the wet.

General Comments:

No body roll, good handling, nippy with an acceptable top speed, responsive and a good first car.

Faults:

I have only had the car for 3 months and it is running great. I have had to treat some rust around the rear arches but nothing major. And some other bits of rust on the doors and a small part under the bonnet. Most of the rust is just surface rust which I think is very good being that the car is 13 years old.

General Comments:

I think Nova's are great cars, and if they are kept in good nick then they will last for ages. My car is a 1.3 GL 5 door with central locking, sunroof, rev counter, Vauxhall's own alloy wheels and with only 76,000 on the clock. And I picked it up for only £1000.

Faults:

In the 12 years (and 100k+ miles) we've owned it I'm struggling to think of any mechanical problems other than wear and tear.

The master cylinder for the brakes had to be replaced twice in one year, although one of the occasions was possibly a dealer fault.

Like most Vauxhalls of this time and size, the camshaft wears by 60-70k miles and makes the engine sound like a bag of nails. Can be replaced by non-Vauxhall garage for less than £200.

Biggest problem now is RUST. Wheel arches, bottoms of doors and parts of the front wings are classic problems. But get a good touch-up job done and it'll last for years.

General Comments:

Should be good for more than 200k miles if you can keep the body together.

Faults:

Cam shaft worn needed replacing, distributor replaced after being found to be badly worn. Although this has to be expected after it has done 108,000 miles.

General Comments:

Although the car has had problems it is a nippy car, and looks good.

Faults:

Radiator, brakes, clutch.

Rust around the sills and the rear arches.

General Comments:

A great car that is definitely worth a good look at, is very cheap, easy to modify and will perform well. Looks great but look out for rust around the arches and the sills on the earlier models as this is a common problem.

Faults:

What things haven't?

General Comments:

N/A, but it has nice wheels and the bird that sold it to me was nice which persuaded me to buy it. I'm taking her out to dinner tomorrow night!

Faults:

General wear and tear.

Brakes.

Rusty rear arches.

Cam shaft.

Seized front calipers.

General Comments:

Very good car.

Great fun to drive.

Good handling.

Faults:

New cam followers and tappets at 80K, BIG end and cam at 90K plus little bits + bobs.

General Comments:

Not bad considering I screw 10 tons of sh*** out of it.

Fast car for 1.2 especially when you take out the rev limiter. ha ha ha

Faults:

No major mechanical faults. I did have to buy a new clutch and water pump shortly after buying the car (1 year ago).

As with all Novas, prone to rust on rear arches and doors.

General Comments:

A reliable car with much better trim than the Merit (Sports seats and yellow/grey striped interior) help excuse joggly ride and poor cornering.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing, save a little rust on the bottom of the drivers door

General Comments:

As my first car, a very sound little motor. Well cared for, these things will just run and run, by the looks of it. I've been very happy indeed with mine.