Faults:

Broken coil spring on the front right wheel. This was after a session on the track but the car behaved well and let me cruise to a stop. New coil springs for both front wheels cost me £140 including fitting.

General Comments:

Absolutely great car. The 2001 GSi was a limited run of 500 cars and Vauxhall finally got it right! If you can find one of these extremely rare cars and you're a Vectra fan... grab it!

Very quick but equally, very thirsty. Don't bother unless you have deep pockets for petrol! I average about 28MPG when driving "sensibly" and about 21MPG when going nuts...

The GSi will eat most BMW's for breakfast and spit out a Porsche Boxster or two. It will comfortably keep up with a Scooby. As for boy racers in their little Saxos' and Astras', you'll be showing them the error of their ways in no uncertain terms.

Reliability wise, I've had no issues with the car. Very solid and well built. Gear change is crisp and steering is immaculate. However, the steering is Power Assist, not full Power Steering and those huge tires can be difficult to steer in tight spots!

Check service history before buying! Pay particular attention to timing belt, if it wasn't done at 40k miles, steer well clear!

Faults:

At 55,000 miles the Air bag warning light came on - it was the wiring in the switch under the passenger seat. Fixed under warranty.

At 72,000 miles the Diesel Pump Leak-off pipes perished and had to be replaced. Sourced pipes from a dealer for £10.

Struts that hold the boot open wore and didn't hold very well at 120,000 miles.

Air con needs re-gassing at 147,000 miles.

General Comments:

Fairly quick for a Diesel.

Excellent on long motorway journeys.

Good fuel economy.

Not the best handling car in the world, but it's not a sports car!!!

Faults:

Radiator fan cracked, a/c pipe had to be replaced and rear passenger door became jammed shut.

General Comments:

On the whole I have been pleasantly surprised with my Vectra. It has been very reliable, starting first time every time, which is the main thing with a car. It's also very comfy and excellent for cruising on the motorway. Overtaking in 5th gear is no problem at all. Of course it is a big heavy car so it's not the fastest off the mark, but once you are moving it is fairly sporty.

The level of equipment on this model is excellent, a/c, lots of airbags, leather bits, electric heated wing mirrors, sports seats, etc. I bought it when it was 2 years old with 25,000 miles on the clock for a measly £7000, that's a lot of car for not much money. It is spacious inside and has a huge boot. All in all pleased with it.

Faults:

1st & 2nd gear is hard to locate.

General Comments:

For a 1.6 it goes well no probs getting to 120mph, but not so good on corners.

Faults:

Nothing yet.

General Comments:

Goes well and looks good, and even has reasonable handling up to a point, but still understeers too much and has horrible numb steering. The SRI badge is a marketing ploy clearly, but at what I paid for it, I couldn't care less.

Despite it's awful reputation, the 2001 Vectra is a reasonably pleasant, if very unremarkable car. Comfortable enough, reasonably economical, and typical fleet market standard equipment. Good reliability so far.

The main reason I bought one was it's dirt cheap. UKP 2600 for a 69k warranted miler at the local auction. If I can get two years out of it, it will have paid its purchase price back in profit (car allowance scheme).

Goes up and down motorways as well as anything else, not totally horrible to drive, and disposable at the end of it. A tool to do a job, and it does it well enough. No complaints.