VAUXHALL VECTRA 2.2 DTi Elegance 5dr (2003)

2004 Vectra 2.2 DTi Elegance - A Big mistake!

I should have been a bit wiser than to buy a second hand car at seven years old and with over 50 thousand on the clock, but it was cheap enough and I kind of needed a car in a bit of a hurry after our old Astra finally gave up the ghost. So I went for the Vauxhall Vectra without really thinking too much about it, which was my first mistake.

Basically it's just been a bit of a headache all along, lots of repairs needing. Thankfully this wasn't a case of dealer deception as they gave a one year warranty with it, so they've footed the bill for most of the work, but it's been really disruptive having it back with them so often. Off the top of my head it's had a steering rack replaced, the turbo failed a couple of times and needed doing, and it had a lot of persistent trouble starting up in the really cold weather, which never got sorted out.

It's been a few months since the last problem and I can only hope that's the end of it. I really don't want to go through the whole car buying process again, and I want to believe the Vauxhall Vectra will up its game and just behave from now on. Thing is, when it's working, there is a lot to like about it. There's the lovely enormous boot which is fab with two kids around (one with a pram, the other with a little bike).

Cruise control is a big bonus as well, felt like quite a luxury at first but now it's just a must. The diesel engine I thought was quite big when I was shopping around, but the dealer said it had good fuel economy and that's turned out to be true really. Our Vauxhall Vectra manages easily 50 miles a gallon most of the time, and we keep quite tight tabs on that.

I just really hope it stops messing about soon, it could be and should be a really nice family car.