Can any readers confirm or deny that Vectra seats are the most uncomfortable of any comparable vehicle. There was uproar over this when they were still new and I believe Vauxhall may have been forced to modify later versions.
Also they have as much grip as a well greased 3 legged pig on an ice rink covered in marbles.
and finally they crumple like paper when involved in collisions with a Datsun Bluebird of 1970's origin.
anyone care to inform us of other "Characteristics" of this lovely vehicle ?
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Hmmmm, Vectra 'eh ?
To change the clutch involves removing the front subframe assembly, therefore it takes ages. On the Cavalier it took half an hour. The Vectra was seen as a step back from the Cavalier, it goes to show that a new model is not always best.
Ash.
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Ashley
Your comment about the Cavalier Clutch taking only 1/2 to change relates to the early models 1400/1600cc, I believe the latter 16v Cavaliers 1994 onwards
had virtually the same power unit as the Vectra, in any case I would love to see the reaction of Vauxhall Service staff if I said i was only prepared to pay for 30 minutes labour & parts for a new clutch on an F Regd Cavalier 1600cc.
Certainly it is acknowledged that the early Vectras had many problems, in the words of my friendly Vauxhall mechanic,-Good for Service Depts-Poor for the
Owners!!
Andrew
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Comfort is subjective - what might be comfortable for my frame, may not be for my neighbour. I drive a Vectra which I have owned from new 4 years ago. Apparantly it is a model that came out to address complaints about seat comfort (amongst many others !). The car is comfortable....It takes some doing to set it up correctly but when its right its ok. I mean I don't even think about seat comfort when driving it so it must be doing something right. Compared to my wife's Pug 106 - this is actively comfortable, i.e. I find the comfort something that springs to mind as a driver or passenger. I used to drive an Orion for work purposes and found this comparable with the Vectra. As regards your other moans, I do drive it on the limit (very occasionally) whilst it may not be the best handling saloon it has never felt as anything other than "safe" It lost its grip once (to my recollection) but feel that there was diesel on the road which contributed to the loss of grip - the car was easily recovered from this situation. I have yet to hit a 1970s Datsun Bluebird (probably cos they've all rusted away) so I cannot comment on their crumpling ways.. I am no defender of Vauxhall products and certainly woud not buy another. Plus points ?- Reliable
(Yes reliable...!!) Economy - constant 35 to 40 mpg even when thrashed, smooth to drive and can swallow huge amounts of luggage. Cheap to service, Cam belt service, synthetic oil £205.00. I will keep this one for another 12 to 24 months then swop it for a new A3.......Now I wonder what sort of seats they've got ?
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Gywn
Thanks for the support! Exactly my view of the Vectra, which was my high mileage company car for 4 years. I happily bought it when I left. I don't recall any other people in my company moaning about Vectras - excellent long distance cars and far more economical than a Mondeo. Don't forget too that the Vecta won Fleet Car of the Year Awards many times - and the guys voting there are paying the bills!
Having since driven a number of different hire cars I never felt I was getting back into something old or inferior when I finished the hire. If you want to be underwhelmed - try a new model Laguna.
I've now swapped it for a BMW. Yes it handles better, but for the price so it damn well should!
Regards
John
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Whilst accepting that the Vectra is not the most dynamic of drives I always find it hard to believe how low it comes in the JD Power surveys in Top Gear. I am now on my second Vectra and average about 25000 miles pa. I find it well equipped (in the CDX form I have), very reliable and one of the most comfortable Motorway cruisers I have ever driven. I will accept that the build quality isn't the best, especially the interior - my old Vectra went through 3 internal door releases in 3 years and in the end they gave up trying to fix the ashtray. Also the paint seems very soft but that seems to be a common problem nowadays. As a leased company car I never saw any garage invoices so I can't comment on costs in that area but I know of at least 15 other Vectras on our fleet and other than complaints about performance from the boy racers I have not heard of any problems. It does however seem very expensive especially in CDX trim (just under £20k list) and suffers horrendous depreciation from new. Oh, and to answer the original question, I have yet to find more comfortable seats although Volvo is one brand I have yet to try.
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My only gripe with Vectra seats is on behalf of front seat passengers, in that it is almost impossible due to the shape of the backrest/head restraint to find a comfortable sleeping position. The head rest is too far back, it does not bother me, as the driver, the head restraint is in case of a rear end shunt.
My main complaint is the suspension, which is fine when you are wellying round the lanes, OK so the handling is a bit dead. But honestly most of us spend most of out time on normal mile crunching either motorway or sub/urban. In this case the solid suspension is a real pain, literally.
Robin Hall wrote:
>
> Whilst accepting that the Vectra is not the most dynamic of
> drives I always find it hard to believe how low it comes in
> the JD Power surveys in Top Gear.
I believe this survey is fundamentally flawed in that it is volunteer only. This results in respondents with high volume cars replying because they have a gripe and want a, probably justifiable, moan. Yet many of the high scoring cars are what I might call "oddball" cars. In that case the people who respond will be those who have had a good experience and want to justify their choice. Those with poor experience will not reply because of the told you so mentality.
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Having had the (mis) fortune to borrow a few different vectras from my company over the course of the last couple of years I can give you my thoughts. These were all fairly low mileage (less than 20 k). Generally I felt that the handling is pretty good. They could never be described as inspiring but these are some of the most chuckable cars about because you can trust it not to bite you back. As for comfort they are average, not bad not good just average.
1.8 petrol - Go's OK but the power delivery and the controls always felt like a couple more months in development would be useful. Difficult to drive smoothly.
2.0 petrol - Much better. Probably the most rounded. More power improves the smoothness of progress but the whole car is still very plasticy. Stalks feel like they might break of if you pull them too hard.
2.0 t.Diesel - All that weight up front seemed to improve the handling and the car felt very solid, but the engine has no power and was very dissapointing after trying some of the VAG Tdi engines.
2.5 V6 auto - Easily the worst of the lot. A lot of this could be blamed on the auto box which insisted on kicking down whenever you touched the throttle (and take a long time over doing it). The suspension was too stiff and the plastic wood very tacky.
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