1997 Vauxhall Frontera Sport 2.0 from UK and Ireland
Summary:
Don't bother with this rubbish - if you need a cheap 4x4, go and buy an old Cherokee!
Faults:
I can't remember all the parts; all I do recall (I sold the car 6 months ago so my memory is not fresh) is that I ended up spending £1000 on this retched piece of junk.
General Comments:
Every winter I buy an inexpensive 4x4 as I live out in the country and we often have deep snow. Usually I buy a Jeep Cherokee XJ, but as these are becoming thin on the ground (in decent condition) I was struggling to find one. When I found a blue 2.0 Litre Sport Frontera, it looked like it was a bargain, especially as it had very low miles for its age (55,000 miles in 17 years).
Unfortunately this did not turn out to be a bargain: I paid £750 for the car and ended up spending £1000 fixing all the problems, yet only got £400 for it when I sold it!
Now you could say that’s what I get for buying such an old car, but I've owned 4 Jeep Cherokees from that same era and they have all been vastly better than this great lump of pig iron.
Let’s also talk about the size of the thing: it’s a 3 door 4x4 which is almost the same size as a 5 door Cherokee, but with only a 2+2 seating configuration! It has terrible packaging - the car is huge but the interior is cramped and badly laid out. The seats are low to the floor and uncomfortable, the gear stick is set so far forward that if you're tall you have to lean forward when you change gear so that you can grasp the stick. The rear seats are damn near impossible to access.
Acceleration could be timed using a calendar rather than a stop watch, it didn’t like making tight turns (it just crabbed), and even though the engine was small, the huge body meant that the MPG was only in the mid – high 20s.
The only good feeling I had for that car was the day it was taken away by the new owner. I’m about to go and buy another winter car today (09/09/2015) and I’ll be going back to a Cherokee – never again will I buy a Frontera!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 9th September, 2015
3rd Mar 2019, 17:20
Yeah these got less than average reliability ratings back in the day, both the Frontera and the Monterey. Shame really, as they were otherwise pretty decent 4x4s. To be fair Cherokees are getting on a bit now as well, and one from the same time period will likely cost a fortune as well to keep running.