Faults:

Alarm fault. Would go off at any time of the day or night.

I fixed it by removing the power sounder, de-soldering the batteries, and soldering new batteries in place.

Loss of power. The car would go into limp home mode at any time usually when driving in the outside lane of the motorway (not nice). Coped with this for nearly two years until I cleaned the EGR valve two weeks ago, and haven't had a problem since.

General Comments:

I like the car a great deal, it suits me very well, unfortunately there are a few issues that I believe are a manufacturing fault/poor design that have left me disappointed with the manufacturers. If the car was reliable, I would keep it for longer, but am looking to replace it with something similar, but from another manufacturer such as Toyota.

Faults:

At 16000 miles, glow plug fault, displayed by EM light flashing at switch on, and then staying on for several minutes while driving.

At 54000 miles, EGR valve and sensor faulty, EM light came on intermittently with a loss of power, limp home mode.

Vacuum tubes poorly run in engine bay, and chaffing wires and rubber tubing.

At 68000 miles, engine management light coming on intermittently with a loss of power, limp home mode. Unsure of the fault yet, but it is my mobile phone that causes the car to go into this fault mode, suspect a sensor is failing and RF from phone is interfering with the signal to the engine management.

Faults:

Before reading this site, I thought it was just me experiencing these problems with my Zafira; these problems are obviously more common than people realise.

Like many of the writers elsewhere on this site, I have been experiencing problems with the Engine Management System light coming on since I purchased from new in 2004. It's become gradually worse, to the point that now every single time I take it onto the motorway, the light comes on and the car loses power and reverts to limp mode.

I have mentioned it countless times to several dealers and during services, but each time I get the same response - 'it's a software glitch mate I've reset it for you'. It's now got to the point that I have no faith in dealerships to solve the problem. I have written to GM customer services hoping for some assistance.

I was led to believe these were reliable cars, however this is plainly not the case.

On top of the EMS fault, I like some of the previous writers, have had the same problem with a sticking ignition barrel causing the starter motor to burn out - that set me back £600.

Additionally a faulty door-locking motor which cost £180 to fix.

General Comments:

I have read other peoples comments with interest, and depending upon the response I get from GM, I may take it to a independent garage and ask them to check the EGR valve and the Mass Flow meter.

If anyone has any advice for me, I would really appreciate it. I was thinking of upgrading to a new Zafira, but don't have any confidence in them any more, especially since when on holiday in a service area which I pulled into to reset the car for the 100th time, a new Zafira owner pulled in next to me and did the same with his car. I think I'll go back to Toyota - I had a Carina for 6 years, and the only thing I had to change was one light bulb.

Cheers Chris D.