1993 Vauxhall Calibra 16v 2.0i from UK and Ireland
Summary:
High performance sleek-looking bargain
Faults:
Got the car knocked down from £4k to £3425 due to 2 months MOT, so expected to do some work on it. Therefore budgeted £600 for work required. Have had:
Whole new exhaust (except CAT). Considering fitting a CAT replacement pipe cheaply and then refitting the CAT only for the MOT (since probably on it's last legs and NOT cheap to replace).
New oxygen sensor - tell tail sign was drag over 3000 rpm.
New pads and discs all round along with standard springs (lowered springs only left about half an inch of play and caused a very rough ride).
New battery and alternator. Beware! Some brushes in the alternator had gone which is not reflected with the alternator light! Therefore had no idea I was just running off the battery until all the dash lights came on and it cut out!
With 2 tyres, total cost about £900. Not bad for a now-sorted car though ;o) Incidentally, flew the MOT.
Still gotta fix the heater dashboard bulbs (common fault) and ashtray (broken runner), but quite trivial at the moment.
General Comments:
Very fast car when pumped hard. Tends to be slow on the uptake, but soon picks up over 3000 rpm when the lambda sensor turns off. About 8.5 seconds 0-60.
Excellent cornering on 205/65s (but perhaps not QUITE as well as when lowered).
Ageless design - 10 years old and still makes people look.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 21st July, 2001
6th Feb 2008, 16:49
Why were the AWD systems so unreliable on the calibra and cavalier turbo's?