Faults:

Quite a lot be honest, the previous owner fixed the famous weak timing chain before I bought it, the rest was mechanical wear and tear. A/C and cruise control never worked properly, also common faults that I never bothered fixing. Noisy differential started to whine in my last year of ownership. Apparently it had also been replaced before.

Rust usually kills these cars but mine was OK - garaged since new (I know the previous owner) and I kept it garaged also in my ownership.

General Comments:

One of my favorite cars that I had quite a while ago, but at the time was glad I finally got round to buying one. The Senator had quite a following as a used executive car, but never really was a great selling car when new, shame really, was probably Vauxhall's best kept secret.

My CD model had everything - leather and electrics. Ride was smooth and the car had a split personality - could be a smooth cruiser and then hit sport mode on the auto box and the car accelerated like nothing else I had driven before at the time.

Like many Senator owners I sold it years ago when it was not worth much, but wish I had held on to it as they are so rare now and worth a few grand.

Faults:

When I bought the car the previous owner said he had the weak timing chain replaced (with receipts), expensive but worth it and a very well known weak spot on these cars. Shame, as the rest of the engine is otherwise solid if serviced on time. Auto box never gave any bother, but felt a little hesitant in my last year of ownership.

Usual exhaust / suspension / brakes / replaced various mechanical wear and tear parts as the miles rose.

Interior quality was pretty poor, yes it was comfortable and well equipped, but many electrics failed to work or were intermittent as the years went on, the leather seats held up OK though. Air con and cruise never really worked properly since I bought the car.

Rust is not usually any worse than any other car from the time period, but mine had some round the arches when I sold it. Never an MOT failure, but did have a bit of welding at one time for a small part near the front chassis frame.

General Comments:

What a stunning car in wine red, this Senator that I bought in the year 2000 on the strength of how popular they were in the police force. And they had a rep for being very fast...

CD model is top range, leather and electrics, as best as you can get at the time. Very comfortable car. Loved driving it, and passengers loved being in it.

3.0 24v engine was very fast even with the auto box, 7.5 seconds to 60 mph, and it will do 150 mph. Impressive for its time. Fuel consumption was actually reasonable for its time also - I regularly got 26 mpg, a touch more on a nice long drive on a sunnier day. Around town or driving very fast, expect less than 20 mpg however.

It had a very clever "dual ram" system that when kicked in felt like a proper turbo charger. Would love to cruise about slow then shock passengers with seat-pinning acceleration ;) The car was very unassuming looking apart from that fancy black square cut exhaust at back and the 24v badge. Mine was a 94' L reg, last of the best... though I heard police used them up to 1995 on M reg.

In short it is a car I miss and I only sold way back in 2008 it for fear the rust was getting bad, and there are not many of these cars left, mint condition ones command a premium. There is also a club called "autobahnstormers" that can apparently help you out a lot with these cars, so they would be a usable classic to buy now, a quick look around the internet shows they still have quite a following, (this and the Carlton), probably Vauxhall's most underrated cars ever.