Exclusiv 1.6i 16v 5dr People Carrier

Amazing value for £11k

Vauxhalls in general get a bad press, but this has been a great purchase for us, a family of 5. Was bought for 11k new instead of the Golf estate for 24k we were a week away from ordering. The Zafira is only 4.4m long but is vast inside, I am 6ft 4 and behind me the rear passenger has 23cm of knee room, compared to 13 cm in an Astra, golf or 11cm in a Focus. The car came in red with tinted windows, cruise control and front and rear parking sensors, which is pretty much all the twiddly bits we needed (paid extra for Bluetooth hands free). It is comfortable, relatively quiet inside, very good suspension (little body roll, might be a bit of the firm side for some esp compared to a Citroen) and has been totally reliable in 3 years.

The cabin is fairly grey and boring but has survived extraordinarily well up to my 3 little kids getting various fluids on it, spilt drinks, food, crayons etc, plus climbing inside when they are playing in it whilst parked. The seats only move as one bench, but we've needed the full seven seats maybe 20 times in all in 3 years so not really an issue. We can get 3 child / baby seats across the back easily, although finding the belt connecting points is tricky.

Now, the bad side - only 5 gears and a 1.6 means it struggles past 70 mph, really feels it needs a sixth gear. That's the one big penalty for buying a cheap end of line model. Around town, which is 90 percent of the time, it is fine, for those saying it's underpowered with 115 bhp should remember their dads cortinas with about 70 bhp. It's just quite low geared so not the car for doing lots of motorway miles in with this engine and only 5 speed gearbox.

The car also makes a weird vibration noise around second to third gear from the dashboard.

But it's a very, very easy car to live with, cheap to maintain, economy not too bad (around 280 miles per tank in mostly urban use), quite easy to park for a MPV with big turning circle and long nose overhang, and really spacious. I don't know it's current value but do not really mind as was only 11k to begin with. I would totally recommend it.

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