Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 CDTi SRi 5dr

[Deleted User]

Seen a 2007(57) Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 CDTi SRi 5dr with full MOT with 115K miles on the clock for £2250.

Are these cars worth it for the money or is it overpriced? Bodywork and interior appear to be in good condition.

Anything to watch out for?

Advert doesn't state what sort of service history it has so won't know until I go to view it.

Strider590

Diesel is a bad idea, they're nothing but trouble. Have a poke around https://www.vectra-c.com

It's the main reason I went from a Vectra to a Mondeo, the petrol Vectra is a reliable beast, either 1.8 or 2.0 (but the petrol gearboxes are made of chocolate). When my 1.8 Vectra destroyed it's 2nd gearbox (1 every 70k miles) I scrapped it and got a Mondeo.

I'd heard the Insignia was pretty terrible for reliability, but what put me off was the lack of a proper handbrake. I looked for newer Vectra's (anything around 2007-2008), but it was extremely hard to find any good cars of that age (2007-2010) with petrol engines, purely because the govt had pushed diesel cars so hard during the recession.

The Vectra is a good solid car, compared to my Mondeo the Vectra is soooooo much better built (it's like night and day), but the diesel engines are historically bad for turbo failures, DPF failures, DMF failures, etc.
I know that a lot of owners remapped the 1.9CDTI for 200+bhp and if I came across one of those i'd run a mile, it's a world of pain waiting to come down on your head.

As for Vectra in general, check for rust on the lower part of the tailgate and lower door seams, check for water in the spare wheel well (caused by leaking window seals or the aerial seal), grab the rear wheels and check for movement vertically and horizontally, check the springs if you can get to them, as the standard VX springs/shocks only last 40k miles, make sure the heater fan motor doesn't screech (these cause the res pack to give up and fake/cheap res packs can cause fires).

On top of that the usual stuff for most cars, check the colour of the brake fluid (black = never been changed), with engine on hold the wheel at full lock and check for any nasty noises (other than a loud hum) from the power steering, mayo in the coolant or inside the oil filler cap, check for noisy cambelt tensioner/rollers, all the typical stuff really.

arcon5

All cars have known issues that make people squirm...

Mondeos aren't immune, injectors for starters. DMF certainly not renowned for lasting massive miles. And the calipers tend to seize up just at the sight of dirt. Even the Petrols are renowned for piston rings wearing much quicker than you'd expect and finding their way to a scrap yard when they fail on emissions

bigjl

The 1.9cdti engine is actually a nice engine if you find one with all the common issues fixed.

They can be remapped for not far off 200bhp (the 150bhp version, not sure about the 120) but here are twin cam and single cam versions.

If it had a DPF I would avoid. It it is one of the last without a DPF then it could be a reasonable buy, they are a roomy enough car but the driving position is a little low for some tastes.

Decent used diesels are not easy to find, though parts for Vauxhalls are usually competitive especially if you use Autovaux or similar.

Not sure where Strider gets the info about the life of the suspension. The last person I knew that owned a Vectra never touched the suspension, his was an 08/08 2.2Direct SRi. He had to replace the fuel pump and regulator and the camchain but never touched the suspension, was well over 100k when he got rid (bought with 15k miles on it at 3 years old)

Maybe the SRi suspension was better than the normal ones?

motorguy

Dual mass flywheels go on them from around 80,000 miles onwards. Its approx a £600 job to fix.

As bigjl said, the DPFs are troublesome if fitted.

Personally, unless you're doing well above average miles, i'd go for a 1.8i which you could pick up for probably not much over half that price and will still do 35-38mpg.

Exemplar

1.9 CDTI is a great engine. When I worked in car hire we only used Vauxhall and all the managers had this engine as it was strong, delivered great economy and was reliable. I would have one in a heart beat if I was looking.
My neighbor has one. He bought it at 1 year old in 2009 and loves it.

motorguy

Exemplar wrote: »

1.9 CDTI is a great engine. When I worked in car hire we only used Vauxhall and all the managers had this engine as it was strong, delivered great economy and was reliable. I would have one in a heart beat if I was looking.
My neighbor has one. He bought it at 1 year old in 2009 and loves it.

Yes. The engine itself is great.

Its the ancilliary bits around it - such as the DMF and DPF - that concern me.

[Deleted User]

It's the 120bhp version. Didn't get a chance to view it today as by time I got there they had closed early.

I'm certain it hasn't been remapped as they advert states they can do it if so wished but it's not something I'm bothered about.

Retrogamer

The 150bhp variants of these engines are a bit hit and miss.
As mentioned a simple remap on them takes them to approx 195bhp.

Gearboxes are really feeble though and have been known to grenade them self under standard power let alone in a tuned state.

If i remember as well the engine has swirl flaps which are recommended to be removed as they can ruin the engine if they fail.
Engines are FIAT from memory as well.

BeenThroughItAll

Retrogamer wrote: »

The 150bhp variants of these engines are a bit hit and miss.
As mentioned a simple remap on them takes them to approx 195bhp.

Gearboxes are really feeble though and have been known to grenade them self under standard power let alone in a tuned state.

If i remember as well the engine has swirl flaps which are recommended to be removed as they can ruin the engine if they fail.
Engines are FIAT from memory as well.

The swirl valves on. The Z19 are in the inlet manifold and their failure mode is extremely rarely any worse this them sticking closed or open. They can safely be ignored or fixed in the open position, and 99% of people would never notice or care if they are working.

The basic 1.9JTD/CDTi/TID is a very good engine, but does suffer like many diesels from EGR issues, DPF issues and duff glow plugs.

Low mileage and short runs will clog them up pretty quickly. A decent one used properly will easily return 200K+.

bigjl

One point regarding longevity of the 1.9cdti limp.

The LAS still has 55 and 56 plate Rapid Response Cars on the run 24/7 in London. (Zafiras not Vectra). Though GWAS had both Vectras and Astras with the 1.9cdti lump and YAS had Zafiras with the 150bhp engine.

They had loads of engine failures due to diesel contamination of the sump.

But lowered oil change intervals seem to have sorted that out.

These are 120bhp versions, 57 plates had a different power delivery to 55/56 plates, very peaky.