Faults:

Where do I start?

Water valve (£130).

Failed MOT (wishbone, brakes, tyre - ~£230).

Crankshaft sensor (£230), then loss of power - found to be high tension leads, coil pack and rocker/cam seals were leaking oil (£860 with new sparks).

Failed 2nd MOT - Coil springs and emissions (£185), then the piste de resistance - timing belt snapped today.

Owned for 18 months - spent over £1600 - plus now there's cost of fixing it after the cam belt snapped (estimated to be around £2k). Barely travelled 8000 since I have had it - and the cam belt was changed at 57k (it's done 79k now).

Oh, and when it was running - the petrol gauge dropped faster than if I had pushed the car off a cliff.

Would I buy another one - this is a tough one...

General Comments:

Do not buy one.

Faults:

The fuel gauge makes me vomit, but other than that nothing.

General Comments:

Bought the car in August 2006 and its just brilliant.

Great performance from the big v6.

Recently had an encounter with an integra type r when a boy racer tried to overtake. He must have had a 1.8 liter WOW RUN FOR COVER ;-) OK fair enough he could have had it chipped with a cold air intake and a go faster stripe, but I have 2.5 liters and 6 cylinders and that's um... eh.. MORE

Its even funnier with a civic :-}

However there is one huge problem. Every time I go to a garage for petrol I fell like I've been mugged.

I'm going to get a 3 liter next summer HE HE!!

PS. There is no replacement for cubic displacement.

Faults:

No faults yet, not had car long.

General Comments:

Big comfy beast of a car. handles well for its size and weight. I love dashboard and cream leather upholstery. drives smoothly and quietly, but pulls like a train with that v6 growl if you want it to.

Faults:

Oil leaks. Car was taken to a friend who is a specialist in these cars. When he slowly looked at me, I knew I was doomed. 'Why?' was his first word.

The standard fault was explained as a rocker cover gaskets leak, and is a design fault, so replaced these.. this lead to second fault.

Mis-fire... This was a fault on the leads, that are one offs for these cars ie:- only Vauxhall parts work best, at a huge cost for a lead set for both banks what a rip off!!! Got both fixed £400.00 thank you GM.

It's annoying that a manufacturer will make these, and yet is still unable to design them to repair at a cheap price or make them overcomplicated to repair.

2k miles later, the oil leak returns. Not a happy bunny. It turns out that it might be the oil cooler, but sadly not, it is a suspect head gasket out on to the side of the block. Has not affected the engine YET, but in the end has written off the car..

Total mileage 108k, FULL service history with GM.

All other parts working well, apart from the cruise control, where the connector to the accelerator is plastic. This has hardened and has broken, again poor design and poor choice of materials.

When asked how much to repair the head gasket, my friend just laughed and said go banger racing instead with the car.

General Comments:

It is a shame as the car is very rewarding to drive. It's just a shame that GM still make economic cuts just for the bottom line, and have no respect for the buying public.

PS noticed that a person said that Police were happy with these cars. They have no choice in the end. They drive what they are given and these cars are regularly checked, regardless of cost. Any car is going to be good with a blank cheque book to pay for repairs!!