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Can you really get a 3.0 ltr diesel for that price range? Gosh people must really hate Vectra's.
3.0 v6 turbo diesel vectra ?
- Thread starter GeX
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Can you really get a 3.0 ltr diesel for that price range? Gosh people must really hate Vectra's.
I don't know what all the fuss it about to be honest, a mate of mine drives a 56 plate 1.9TDI Veccy and it's fine.
Far from the most exciting car granted, but it goes along nicely, especially on the motorway, the interior is a little bland but certainly not bad or uncomfortable, it looks no worse from the outside than any other car in its price range and he usually gets about 650miles from a tank.
Far from the most exciting car granted, but it goes along nicely, especially on the motorway, the interior is a little bland but certainly not bad or uncomfortable, it looks no worse from the outside than any other car in its price range and he usually gets about 650miles from a tank.
Drove the 1.9 SRi Diesel, nice looking on the outside, was a bit plain on the inside, my main gripe was the gear stick was too far away from my normal seating position 
Had a V6 version pass me the other day, like iaind said, it makes a very interesting noise
Had a V6 version pass me the other day, like iaind said, it makes a very interesting noise
the asthetics/build quality are no different on the mondeo.
The dash is made out of exactly the same sort of plastic as the vectra, and the switchgear looks just as tacky. Just look at that horrible fake silver finish around the clock on the mondeo !
Dont get me wrong, im not preaching that the vectras interior is amazing, but the ford is no better.
Nor is the ST TDCI substantially more reliable either. As others have said, they're wll known for going wrong a lot.
About the only thing that the ST tdci would be better at is the handling. But the vectra hardly rolls in the corners like an MPV or anything. So it all depends on what you want.
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Vectra gets bad press on here but really it's just a bit bland like must other cars in this market segment. It won't be the best car in the world but then I'm sure you already know that, it will however be reasonable at most things.
Have to agree, people seem to bang on about the mondeo being infinately better in every aspect. Yeah the mondeo's may handle a bit better but people seem to use that as an excuse to say everything about it is better. Interior wise the mk3 mondeo looks pretty dated, could say the same about the exterior as well, looks like a stretched out mk2 focus and that was well bashed for being very conservative in its looks compared to the impact the mk1 had when it first went on sale.
Obviously the vectra interior isn't mind blowing either but its not as bad as people on here seem to make out. Neither is any other aspect of the car imo. Read plenty of positive reviews about them, but around here it seems to be the case that if clarkson doesn't like it then the pitchfork and torch patrol are out in force.
I had an 04 plate Vectra and...well...where to start really.
I had a big, thirstly car that was about to give up so I needed something a bit more "normal". I initially went looking at a Focus (had one previously) but the seats looked like a sofa we had in 1989 so I decided to give it a miss. As I was leaving the garage, I saw this Vectra in black - looked immaculate so took it out on a test drive and everything went ok.
I suspect it was out of desperation more than anything else but I agreed to buy it and for the first few weeks, everything was fine. Ok, I missed my old car but at least £20 in this turned the petrol light off! Then the problems started. I was driving along the M56 one night when the oil light came on. "That's odd" I thought, as it had been serviced by Vauxhall when I bought it. So I pull off the motorway, check the oil and it was dry as a bone. Not a drop of oil on the dipstick. Thinking the garage hadn't topped it up, I went and bought some oil from a garage (not easy in a strange part of Warrington on a Sunday night), topped it up got it home and thought nothing more about it. I took it easy for the first few days - checking the oil and by Wednesday, it was gone again!
It goes in to Vauxhall for them to have a look at and when I go to pick it up, the once unmarked car had a big chip on the boot down to the bare metal (which in fairness to Vauxhall, never rusted) and a girl on the desk tell me I must have misread the oil light. I asked all kind of probing questions only to be presented with the service manager who said it was fine, hadn't used any oil and the light I had seen can't have been the oil warning light. (It was a picture with an oil can dripping and a ruler so there's only so many ways one could misread that). Deciding that the car was in more danger being left with these clowns I took it away and continually topped it up but at £50 every week I could only do that for so long.
I took it to a trusted garage who took the head off and then said everything had fallen to bits....the shells? had cracked and it needed 4 new pistons. (I actually got given the old pistons and they looked like they'd been in a blazing inferno.)
So, £1500 later, I thought "Ok - a rocky start but let's try again." I should add, that 1500 quid (which I didn't have) would have gone a LONG way to fixing my old car but anyway...)
In the further 14 months I had the car I suffered a rear view mirror that detatched itself from the windscreen at the most inopportune of moments, a failing thermostat, spurious bulb warnings, 6 headlight bulbs (all replaced with proper bulbs), a juddering clutch whenever there was the slightest bit of damp in the air, a wheel that refused to come off, a jamming cd changer, a complete loss of ALL gauges (including speedo) which usually happened when going past a speed camera or police car, speakers that sounded like a shipping forecast from 1942 and the most terminal drive I could ever have experienced.
I went nearly the life of the car trying to change it with my limited funds for a Mondeo and even got as far as picking the car and going in to sign when I realised I'd be spending MORE money on an older car so I just held on.
The car was reasonably comfy and it did have more toys than an equivalent Mondeo (that screen in the middle was quite handy) but in everything else from gearchange, drive, power and quality, pretty much any Ford trounces it. When it was working, on a motorway, it was just about ok - and you could see why it was a repmobile. Anything else though and it just highlighted that the car had all the driving dynamics of a lump of coal.
My Dad bought a Mondeo in the last few months of my ownership - a few trim levels down from my Vectra and I remember thinking then that the Mondeo was twice as good. That's what prompted me to get rid.
I realise my experiences are probably not the "norm" but I have driven other "working" Vectras and they all suffer the "Oh my God, what have I done" problem. It wasn't a complete write off though; if nothing else, it served as a warning to me. Never again shall I ever buy a car in haste....and when I'm in a showroom drooling over a car and about to sign on the dotted line, I'll think back to that horrible machine and promptly walk away, sobbing.
I'm sorry for the big rant but I had to get that off my chest.
Adam
I had a big, thirstly car that was about to give up so I needed something a bit more "normal". I initially went looking at a Focus (had one previously) but the seats looked like a sofa we had in 1989 so I decided to give it a miss. As I was leaving the garage, I saw this Vectra in black - looked immaculate so took it out on a test drive and everything went ok.
I suspect it was out of desperation more than anything else but I agreed to buy it and for the first few weeks, everything was fine. Ok, I missed my old car but at least £20 in this turned the petrol light off! Then the problems started. I was driving along the M56 one night when the oil light came on. "That's odd" I thought, as it had been serviced by Vauxhall when I bought it. So I pull off the motorway, check the oil and it was dry as a bone. Not a drop of oil on the dipstick. Thinking the garage hadn't topped it up, I went and bought some oil from a garage (not easy in a strange part of Warrington on a Sunday night), topped it up got it home and thought nothing more about it. I took it easy for the first few days - checking the oil and by Wednesday, it was gone again!
It goes in to Vauxhall for them to have a look at and when I go to pick it up, the once unmarked car had a big chip on the boot down to the bare metal (which in fairness to Vauxhall, never rusted) and a girl on the desk tell me I must have misread the oil light. I asked all kind of probing questions only to be presented with the service manager who said it was fine, hadn't used any oil and the light I had seen can't have been the oil warning light. (It was a picture with an oil can dripping and a ruler so there's only so many ways one could misread that). Deciding that the car was in more danger being left with these clowns I took it away and continually topped it up but at £50 every week I could only do that for so long.
I took it to a trusted garage who took the head off and then said everything had fallen to bits....the shells? had cracked and it needed 4 new pistons. (I actually got given the old pistons and they looked like they'd been in a blazing inferno.)
So, £1500 later, I thought "Ok - a rocky start but let's try again." I should add, that 1500 quid (which I didn't have) would have gone a LONG way to fixing my old car but anyway...)
In the further 14 months I had the car I suffered a rear view mirror that detatched itself from the windscreen at the most inopportune of moments, a failing thermostat, spurious bulb warnings, 6 headlight bulbs (all replaced with proper bulbs), a juddering clutch whenever there was the slightest bit of damp in the air, a wheel that refused to come off, a jamming cd changer, a complete loss of ALL gauges (including speedo) which usually happened when going past a speed camera or police car, speakers that sounded like a shipping forecast from 1942 and the most terminal drive I could ever have experienced.
I went nearly the life of the car trying to change it with my limited funds for a Mondeo and even got as far as picking the car and going in to sign when I realised I'd be spending MORE money on an older car so I just held on.
The car was reasonably comfy and it did have more toys than an equivalent Mondeo (that screen in the middle was quite handy) but in everything else from gearchange, drive, power and quality, pretty much any Ford trounces it. When it was working, on a motorway, it was just about ok - and you could see why it was a repmobile. Anything else though and it just highlighted that the car had all the driving dynamics of a lump of coal.
My Dad bought a Mondeo in the last few months of my ownership - a few trim levels down from my Vectra and I remember thinking then that the Mondeo was twice as good. That's what prompted me to get rid.
I realise my experiences are probably not the "norm" but I have driven other "working" Vectras and they all suffer the "Oh my God, what have I done" problem. It wasn't a complete write off though; if nothing else, it served as a warning to me. Never again shall I ever buy a car in haste....and when I'm in a showroom drooling over a car and about to sign on the dotted line, I'll think back to that horrible machine and promptly walk away, sobbing.
I'm sorry for the big rant but I had to get that off my chest.
Adam
Just sounds like you got a dodgy one, can happen with anything you buy.
That being said sounds like vauxhall were being **** with regards to the oil issue. And i would have put the boot in about the scratch on the boot.
The problem with the Vectra is really that it has nothing going for it compared to any of it's rivals, the VXR I accept is fast, it is faster than a Mondeo ST220 or a Mazda 6 MPS in a straight line and has a boat-load of torque. But with regards to the rest of the range, I really see nothing the Vectra can offer than others can't do as well or better, and provide an all-round better package and a more entertaining drive.
I've never had a Mondeo that rattles or squeaks, ever - the poorest built Vectra I had was clearly a Friday afternoon one with the dash that moved about under heavy braking/accelerating / cornering. The Vectra VXR's special seats creaked about a lot - this is for the flagship car and an odd choice, can't say the same for the seats in the ST220.
I'm taking the whole interior as a whole, yes it's all just dull grey plastics but the feeling of quality is so much more apparent when you compare the Mondeo to the Vectra when you press buttons, close doors, use the leavers etc. The truly worst quality plastics is still however reserved for American equivalents, those thing scratch with the wind.
All high performance diesels can be dodgy, it goes without saying. I believe there were dodgy injectors in 53/54 and then separate injector issues with 54/55? Then with people driving them hard from cold and generally driving unsympathetically/missing services.
Exactly like I said, not everyone wants the best handling car in the world, or bothered about build quality or even car looks/image. So it won’t hurt to give both a drive.
3.0 v6 diesel vectra is a really pointless car with poorer mpg...it only goes 0-60 in 9 seconds. In other word, if you really want a vectra, you would be better off with 150bhp 1.9 tdi vectra and get much better mpg.
EDIT: A couple of weeks ago, I have been in my mate's diesel v6 vectra and it was nothing special. The rear windows are non-electric.
EDIT: A couple of weeks ago, I have been in my mate's diesel v6 vectra and it was nothing special. The rear windows are non-electric.
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same with all SRI trim levels
its billed as the sporty trim level, having stiffer suspension and more sporty looking wheels
but yet sits one up from the bottom trim level and thus is specc'd accordingly
Theres no specification level that combines sportiness with high specification apart from the VXR.
its billed as the sporty trim level, having stiffer suspension and more sporty looking wheels
but yet sits one up from the bottom trim level and thus is specc'd accordingly
Theres no specification level that combines sportiness with high specification apart from the VXR.
You could well be right BUT I bought it with less than 20k on the clock! Visually it was absolutely unblemished inside and out. Although it looked like it was an ex-Vauxhall car so I should have read the warning signs....why get rid of it so soon?
Not that I intentionally mean to play the "Fords are clearly better" card but by comparison, my ex Focus (was owned by Dad before me) was looked after in terms of being serviced every year but in later years got...more of a thrashing than it should have done - lasted 8 years and 120k with us. In ALL that time, the battery failed 7 years in stranding me and 4 mates outside a takeaway late at night in the middle of winter, and a coil pack went too leaving me driveable but only on 3 cylinders.
Hardly a scientific comparison I'll grant you but it's personal experience that I and I'm sure many others would consider when purchasing a car.
Adam
EDIT: A couple of weeks ago, I have been in my mate's diesel v6 vectra and it was nothing special. The rear windows are non-electric.
My cousins avensis also has rear manual windows for some reason and its one of the higher spec trim levels.
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I love the way that the best defence the people suckered into buying Vectras can come up with in these threads, after they've thrown abuse at those who dare not to share the same taste in cars, is that its 'average' and 'not bad'.
Life is too short to spend thousands of pounds on products which are average, or not bad.
Life is too short to spend thousands of pounds on products which are average, or not bad.