Faults:

In the main the car has been very reliable apart from 2 catastrophic failures both tied into the cambelt area.

In 1997 the cambelt snapped at 29,000 miles and required a complete rebuild costing £2,300, new cylinder head, valves, guides, etc. After much discussion managed to get Vauxhall to pay 90% of the bill.

In August 2000, car died on me again and seemed to indicate same fault at 52,000 miles. On strip down the main agents in North Cardiff said the failure was due to the cambelt tensioner (roller) collapsing. I asked them to speak to Vauxhall - as the car had all the full service history mostly with the dealer doing the repairs. They said it would not be covered under warranty. I had taken out a mechanical warranty on the car after the 1997 failure and the company sent a loss adjuster to investigate the damage. As soon as he saw the damage he said that the cambelt tensioner (roller), was a known faulty item and that the S.M.M.T. had been advised of the problem in 1998. They had asked Vauxhall to do a recall, but they preferred not to and to "Treat each individual case as they occurred" {All very good - but the main dealer kept mum and did not tell me about this), if it had not been for the intervention of the loss adjuster I would have had to pay for the new engine £3,400. In the event Vauxhall paid 50% and my insurance company paid 50% (My own view was Vauxhall should have paid all of it - for a known faulty part).

General Comments:

In between these catastrophic failures the car has been very reliable - only one bulb blowing - but it has been quite hard on tyres.

Faults:

Joint on manifold/exhaust.

Handbrake shoes. Both fair wear and tear, handbrakes never are that great anyway.

General Comments:

Bought mine cheap with high miles.

Well built, lots of room, even my basic spec has what I need except air con.

Good ride and handling, wouldn't buy a 2.0 litre again though, only sufficient power. Better off with V6 or even better a 2.5 TDS.

Faults:

Camshaft sensor failed at 80,000 miles.

Timing belt pulley disintegrated at 83,000 miles, was this a recall, does anyone know?

Loads of space, very comfortable to drive.

Fuel consumption good on long journeys, quite thirsty on the shorter ones.

Paint peeling from the front spoiler, still to contact the dealer about this. Not sure if covered by the warranty.

Tonneau cover quite fiddly if not located in holders properly when removing from the vehicle.

General Comments:

Overall quite satisfied with the vehicle, but prefer the Ford Granada which was a 1990 2.0 GL model.

Faults:

Engine - major water leak from the head. Involved a complete strip down and skimming of the heads. This was done under a third party warrenty which was useless as it ended up costing me over £1000. Had to take car back soon afterwards due to a complete loss of water coolant as garage had not fitted one of the pipes correctly. Fixed but still loosing water. Now have misfire when accelerating - possibly problem with cam shaft sensor. I have had 4 Vauxhalls company cars previously and done over 100000 miles in each with no major problems.

General - Air conditioning steams up windows and the blower motor failed which meant it was blowing at full speed even when the engine was off. Replaced several lamps behind the a/c display. Door handles seem prone to working loose and not working. Cruise control wire from control switch broke. The paintwork seems prone to stone chips and scratches. Brake pedal sensor failed. The trip computer display has missing columns of dots. For several months the ABS light would come on intermittently on startup, but now OK.

General Comments:

On the plus side this is a very comfortable cruising car with lots of toys. The heated seats and electric rear blind are great.

I have replaced the big bulky steering wheel with a Momo wood/leather one which makes it look and feel a lot better. The stereo has also been upgraded.

I bought this car thinking it was good value for money and would last along time - how wrong I was. I will be buying Japanese next time.

For more info email mjeremiah@hotmail.com