2001 Vauxhall Zafira Elegance 2.0 DT from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Never buy another!!!

Faults:

I had the car from new in October 2001. Within 17,500 miles the engine failed and had to replaced. The garage said it was driver error and Vauxhall would not foot the bill. There were no warning lights to tell me there was no oil and the dipstick showed oil everytime. So £4500 later I had a new engine.

13/11/02 Engine caught fire and seized. Now on a Diesel that's quite something. The new engine had only done 15000 miles, again no warning lights!

General Comments:

I chose the car as I have a bad back and the seats actually help. Shame the seats won't fit into another car!!!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th November, 2002

15th Nov 2002, 18:20

You must be very forgiving to say you would purchase another car from this manufacturer, after the treatment you have received.

I sure as hell would not!!!

22nd Sep 2007, 07:06

Vauxhall Zafira Elegance 2.0DTi.

Being a life long owner and user of Vauxhall cars and vans, we decided to purchase a new vehicle. Yes! Another Vauxhall, but a brand new (Oct 06) Zafira Elegance 2.0DTi. I decided to keep our trusty Vauxhall Astra Estate 1.7TDS (96-P) I originally purchased this vehicle with less than a 1'000 miles on the clock, it now has over 237'000 mls, and still on the original engine (Isuzu Diesel) apart from the usual servicing, i.e. brakes, oils, filters, belts, seals and a new clutch etc it has never let us down! This is where the irony starts!

As for the so-called super duper new Zafira; well, it has managed to reach the great total of 11'368 miles.

To date, we have had nothing but trouble with it; it died on the M1, and on another day, all the warning lights came on, then the car suddenly decided to slow down in the middle lane of the Autobahn in Germany. I got towed to a Vauxhall / Opel dealer whose chief engineer advised me to cut my losses and get rid of it! It is currently situated in the repair bay, of the dealer we purchased it from. After numerous letters to Vauxhall and the dealers head office, I now have a solicitor and citizen’s advice for dealing with the claim for compensation.

Ironically, we are still using the trusty old, but very reliable Astra Estate 1.7TDS. It has just had its annual MOT and this cost £115:00 (Brakes, Exhaust and a bulb) and it still manages to return an excellent 45 to 50 mpg.

We are now contemplating purchasing a Kia Seddona (these have a Mercedes 2.9DTi engine) and are ultra reliable, though they only return around 35 to 40 mpg. The main reason for purchasing the Zafira, was the brilliant seat layout.

Will I purchase another Vauxhall in the future???

Am I happy with the way that Vauxhall have dealt with its customers? ************

2001 Vauxhall Zafira Club 1.6i 16v from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Very good MPV due to Flex-7 design

Faults:

Glove box drops down without warning at times, not really a problem just annoying.

Paint work seems to scratch easily (dark blue)

General Comments:

A very well designed car for family use.

Flex-7 seating is fantastic, fold away seats invaluable, but limited storage space when used.

The 1.6 is not fast as you would expect, but it pulls OK in most circumstances and returns 400 miles from full tank to warning light.

I have no problems except the annoying glove box.

Right hand drive model affected by lack of visibility in rain because wiper does not wipe to full extent of windscreen on right hand side.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 25th September, 2002

2001 Vauxhall Zafira Club 2.0dti from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Nice engine management light

Faults:

I can forgive the squeaky drivers seat, turn the radio up and it's soon forgotten.

At about 2000 miles I found that the engine management light kept coming on. This caused a real problem when pulling out from a junction as it would slow the car down to about 20mph and infuriate following drivers who think you are doing it on purpose.

I took the car back to the dealers at 3000 miles and complained about this problem, they took a look and told me the oil was low. I asked them if the oil should be this low at this mileage, they said that the Zafira Diesel engine does use a lot. I changed the oil myself at 5000 miles and was surprised to see how little oil drained out. I filled up with Castrol Magnatec diesel oil, no cheap stuff.

Air-con packed up shortly after.

I took the car into another main dealer at 9,600 miles for its first service. I told them about the air-con not working and about the engine management light and performance slow down, they fixed neither of them, telling me that there was no problem.

I booked the car into the same main dealer to look at the same problems, this time they actually managed to fix the air-con and topped the oil up to do a 500 mile oil test.

After the requested 500 miles, I returned. They checked the oil level and found that the car had used ¾ of a litre of oil, now I had their attention.

I booked the car in for the following week for a 4 day strip down and rebuild, I sorted my insurance and took the loan car, 4 hours later I received a phone call to tell me that the car was ready, they had done nothing.

To date the car still isn’t fixed, I wish I’d bought the Chrysler Voyager.

General Comments:

I like the design of the car, a lot of thought has gone into the clever seating arrangement.

This is my 3rd Vauxhall diesel car, the others being second hand purchases and mostly very reliable, but if I'm spending £14,000 of my hard earned money then I expect better than this.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 12th July, 2002

12th Jul 2002, 13:09

You don't mention if you have tried raising this with Vauxhall's customer service team in Luton. I have found them very good at giving the dealers a bit of a shove and getting results; the dealers hate it when they get involved - I suspect it creates a lot of hassle for them and gets them a poor reputation.

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