Vauxhall Vectra Query

shaz77_2

Hi All,

I am considering the purchase of a Vauxhall Vectra 2.0, DTi Club 2004 model, it's diesel with 117,000 miles on the clock..

The car seems to be in good order and the seller is asking for £2500, however I do have some questions relating to this car,

1. Is it fuel efficient?
2. Are these types of cars reliable?
3. Is £2500 a fair asking price?

Thanks in advance.

Strider590

The 2.0 and 2.2 was discontinued and removed from the range on reliability grounds.

If your intent on a diesel, it needs to be either the 1.9 CDTI or the 3.0 V6 CDTI.

Personally, with the highly possible costs of DMF's (dual mass flywheel) and DPF's (diesel particulate filter) at nearly £2000 a pop.... I wouldn't touch a second hand diesel from ANY manufacturer.

In the Vectra the petrol 1.8 or 2.0T is the way to go if your looking for long term low cost ownership.

The beauty of the Vec is that you get a hell of a lot of car for the money compared to buying a similar year/price smaller car

LandyAndy

Never owned or driven a Vectra so I won't comment on that but the price looks sensible. Here's a similar vehicle at a dealer for £2895. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201045372697312/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-to/4000/maximum-age/up_to_10_years_old/fuel-type/diesel/price-from/1000/maximum-mileage/over_100000_miles/engine-size-cars/2l_to_2-5l/transmission/manual/model/vectra/make/vauxhall/page/2/keywords/club/radius/1501/postcode/sp61ej?logcode=p

hartcjhart

Hi I have a 2000 vectra 2.0dti and apart from changing a MAF sensor I have had no trouble(*touch wood*), excellent fuel economy and a nice allround drive

johnnyroper

They are an old type direct injection diesel with injection pump rather than common rail and as such are a bit agricultural.
Having said that when running ok they are not bad and do return half decent mpg,however they have got reliability issues with injector seals/leak off pipes can cause fuel to drain back to tank when parked facing uphill and be a pain to restart.but the biggest problem is the Bosch vp44 fuel pumps are very common to pack up generally happens anytime over 90k miles vibration and heat cause the PCB in controller to fail.
Pump cost new approx£1500,recon £700 or diesel bob will repair the fault for £350 ish all are plus labour to remove/refit.

The vectra are not that bad but what I would say is make sure you get a very good deal should you still want to buy.
Don't touch the 1.9cdti it is a crock of fiat built !!!!!!

bigjl

The earlier 2.0 and 2.2 DTi are noisier and a bit more agricultural.

I am in the position to give advise based on using both of these engines in Zafiras over the last 6 years.

From a noise and refinement persepective the 1.9 CDTi is a lot better in that it has almost petrol like NVH levels.

They are however rather unreliable, the DPF goes wrong all the time, they have a habit of filling the sump with diesel and going bang, they are rubbish on fuel, direct comparison between a 2.0 DTi Auto and 1.9 CDTi 120bhp Auto.

You may have issues with turbos on the 2.0 DTi if they are thrashed and then turned off when not given time for oil to cool down the turbo after a long run.

The above also affects the 1.9 CDTi, however these have been used as Response vehicles for the LAS so this may not be a regular occurance for those used by private owners.

The LAS had around 300/350 120bhp0 CDTi Zafiras at one time, they also had about 60 2.0 DTi's.

The 2.0 DTi has proved to be more reliable and economical, though both where worse in all respects than the 1.8i Auto Astras that they replaced, though the 2.0 DTi may have had slightly better fuel consumption.

A few blokes at work have got Vectras with the 2.0 DTI engine, one had a 52 reg Passat for years for a 150mile daily commute, he replaced it with a new shape Passat and found the fuel consumption and quality to be worse, though a lot better looking.

He got rid of the new shape Passat and bought the Vactra which was one of the last with the 2.0DTi engine, the fuel consumption is better than either Passat, but it is a noisy engine, always has been, it is a workhorse with no pretentions to compare with petrol in terms of noise and vibration.

The 1.9 CDTi has issues with the EGR and DPF, the older 2.0 has some occasional MAF sensor issues, though mone of ours seem to have suffered this in any great numbers.

Not sure if the Auto Zafira has a DMF, we have only had a few issues with failed gearboxes, wether this was due to a DMF I can't tell you.

Though all diesels these days have issues with DMF's so this isn't something that would put me off an individual car.

The 1.8 petrol in vvt spec can apparently be converted to LPG now, as it couldn't be initially, but the only confirmation I have of that is the greenenergy website.

The 2.0 T, I wouldn't consider a car with the added complexity of a turbo that will return high 20's or low 30's to the gallone to be an example of a low cost ownership proposition.

My suggestion would be to either find a decent 2.0 or 2.2 DTI, revel in the old school "oily diesel" racket, or go for a Mondeo Tdci, just be careful about what Mondeo you chose, try to find one with a new DMF and clutch if possible.

I bought my 2005 130bhp for under £2500 2 years ago, and it is completely original at huge mileage.

I did see a 2003 Vectra 2.2DTi go through Chelmford Auction a month or so ago for less than grand, with FSH and long MOT, even had a months tax if I remember right.

That Vectra would be a good long term bet at that kind of price, though in Autotrader you won't see the same car for much under £2200.

And strider I don't know what experience you have with long term ownership of a 3.0 V6 turbo diesel Vectra but the Met Pol had a lot of them as area cars and they didn't buy that many of them, they also had to have them chipped by a motorsport specialist to give them decent pick up from standstill.

Though going by the amount of smoke that used to come out the back of them on acceleration I don't think they had a DPF.

I also believe the fuel consumption was a bit, erm, heavy!

They replaced them with 530d's and laterly they have 330d's.

Traffic eventually let them get rid of the Omega estates and went over to 530d estates, though some traffic plod at Chadwell Heath traffic garage hid the keys of their Omegas for months to stop them being taken away.

But I digress from the original point of the thread.

andy208833

I had a Vectra for 18 months and did not have a single snag with it other than changing worn out tyres. Very Reliable.

Got rid of it because i hated the engine (1.8 petrol allegedly fuel injected) was like a cart horse in 5th Gear.

TVR2

So diesels aren't all that on the reliability front then? Didn't they do a nice direct injection petrol 2.2? How's the reliability on that?

nmonline

Hi, with that kind of mileage, make sure it has been serviced very regularly. Most diesels can suffer from turbo issues if oil is not changed regularly.

Strider590

andy208833 wrote: »

I had a Vectra for 18 months and did not have a single snag with it other than changing worn out tyres. Very Reliable.

Got rid of it because i hated the engine (1.8 petrol allegedly fuel injected) was like a cart horse in 5th Gear.

The "air box mod" make's quite a difference to the 1.8 in the circumstances you describe.

VX restricted the air box so that only half the air filter was effectively being used, this was something to do with achieving slightly higher MPG on tests at motorway speeds (apparently).

With the restriction plate removed, the 1.8 can breathe properly and it open's up to be a much more well rounded engine.