Ok so most of you will be probably be sick of these threads from me about this car or that car. Though the Vectra VXR has me interested. I apologise in advance for this thread as most of those who hear Vectra boil red straight away.
I will be selling my current car (leon tdi mk2), and I want to move back to a petrol. As much as I love my leon diesel, I now do less then 10k miles a year and with the government changes to MOT and this whole eliminate diesels from the face of the earth I think it's best to move on and actually enjoy a car.
Before even considering the Vectra as a potential candidate, I had looked at VW Golf R32 MK5/Golf Edition 30 (alas my last thread). I ruled them both out on the basis I felt they were a tad expensive for what they offered (not bad cars by any means), and most of the r32's I looked at in private sales had seen better days.
I want a car now which I'll keep for at least 2-3years with some performance circa more then 250bhp. A large hatchback seems the most practical option for me (mainly due to the large bootsize). A saloon is no good for me.
I have a budget of £7k Max, this is just for purchase of the car. So this budget would get me a very nice example of a Vectra VXR though I feel the same way as I feel about the Golf's and that is £7k on an old Vectra would be bonkers no matter how mint it is. Looking around online sale adds (pistonheads/gumtree/ebay/facebook/AT), it seems the going price is anything between £3k for dogs upto £6k for decent examples.
So having done my research I understand the major issue with these which can go wrong is the timing chain stretching. Now this doesn't fill me with confidence as sometimes there is no sign of this happening. Other time there can be symptoms though having this fixed via main dealer costs around £2k (possibly more) or a guy on vxronline can do it for cheaper. This is my main concern with this car, I have seen some adverts that say they've had the work carried out but some of this work has been carried out over 5 years ago. So I am unsure on this aspect.
The other issues with the car such as alloys wheels/suspension issue don't bother me as they can be rectified quite easily.
The exclusivity of this car really appeals to me. I have never seen one on the road for a very long time now. Maybe because most have died with blown engines, or the high running costs put people off.
I would be looking to get a 280ps version of the car so this falls in the £520/year VED. Though some of these can be the cheaper VED rate. Insurance is the same as my leon which was rather surprising. The 255ps can be cheaper though I haven't seen many of those for sale.
Tuning there isn't much else to do apart from a stage 1 remap. This should be close to 300bhp which I think is more then enough.
Apart from the interior being very marmite (which I can live with), I can't seem to fault it on anything else.
Speaking to a friend who's had a couple he tells me not to worry, though with my bad experiences of sometimes making bad car purchases it worries me.
I know somethings can occur in life though I guess the biggest concern in my head is I could buy one which is perfectly fine with brilliant history which may not have had the timing chains replaced, then it blow up on me.
Just not sure if it's worth the risk at all.
Back-up candidates are as follows;
Subaru Impreza WRX (ppp possible?) - What attracts me is the performance that can be had from these and 4wd. Bugeye/Blobeye seems in budget I don't mind either shape though I don't find them the most best looking of cars. The hatchback or wagon versions are practical but to me they seem to look very dated now. Consumables are reasonable and there are some decent specialists my way.
Leon Cupra 240 mk2 - Performance can be extracted for not much money. Loads of modding possibilities and it looks decent. A damn sight cheaper then the edition 30 golf/gti. So I do feel they're worth their value and can be had less then my budget with some change left over. I know my way around a leon so it's familiar territory. It is reasonably practical, and parts are quite cheap.
I will be selling my current car (leon tdi mk2), and I want to move back to a petrol. As much as I love my leon diesel, I now do less then 10k miles a year and with the government changes to MOT and this whole eliminate diesels from the face of the earth I think it's best to move on and actually enjoy a car.
Before even considering the Vectra as a potential candidate, I had looked at VW Golf R32 MK5/Golf Edition 30 (alas my last thread). I ruled them both out on the basis I felt they were a tad expensive for what they offered (not bad cars by any means), and most of the r32's I looked at in private sales had seen better days.
I want a car now which I'll keep for at least 2-3years with some performance circa more then 250bhp. A large hatchback seems the most practical option for me (mainly due to the large bootsize). A saloon is no good for me.
I have a budget of £7k Max, this is just for purchase of the car. So this budget would get me a very nice example of a Vectra VXR though I feel the same way as I feel about the Golf's and that is £7k on an old Vectra would be bonkers no matter how mint it is. Looking around online sale adds (pistonheads/gumtree/ebay/facebook/AT), it seems the going price is anything between £3k for dogs upto £6k for decent examples.
So having done my research I understand the major issue with these which can go wrong is the timing chain stretching. Now this doesn't fill me with confidence as sometimes there is no sign of this happening. Other time there can be symptoms though having this fixed via main dealer costs around £2k (possibly more) or a guy on vxronline can do it for cheaper. This is my main concern with this car, I have seen some adverts that say they've had the work carried out but some of this work has been carried out over 5 years ago. So I am unsure on this aspect.
The other issues with the car such as alloys wheels/suspension issue don't bother me as they can be rectified quite easily.
The exclusivity of this car really appeals to me. I have never seen one on the road for a very long time now. Maybe because most have died with blown engines, or the high running costs put people off.
I would be looking to get a 280ps version of the car so this falls in the £520/year VED. Though some of these can be the cheaper VED rate. Insurance is the same as my leon which was rather surprising. The 255ps can be cheaper though I haven't seen many of those for sale.
Tuning there isn't much else to do apart from a stage 1 remap. This should be close to 300bhp which I think is more then enough.
Apart from the interior being very marmite (which I can live with), I can't seem to fault it on anything else.
Speaking to a friend who's had a couple he tells me not to worry, though with my bad experiences of sometimes making bad car purchases it worries me.
I know somethings can occur in life though I guess the biggest concern in my head is I could buy one which is perfectly fine with brilliant history which may not have had the timing chains replaced, then it blow up on me.
Just not sure if it's worth the risk at all.
Back-up candidates are as follows;
Subaru Impreza WRX (ppp possible?) - What attracts me is the performance that can be had from these and 4wd. Bugeye/Blobeye seems in budget I don't mind either shape though I don't find them the most best looking of cars. The hatchback or wagon versions are practical but to me they seem to look very dated now. Consumables are reasonable and there are some decent specialists my way.
Leon Cupra 240 mk2 - Performance can be extracted for not much money. Loads of modding possibilities and it looks decent. A damn sight cheaper then the edition 30 golf/gti. So I do feel they're worth their value and can be had less then my budget with some change left over. I know my way around a leon so it's familiar territory. It is reasonably practical, and parts are quite cheap.
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