Buying a high-mileage Vectra C

Buying a high-mileage Vectra C

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alangla

Original Poster:

4,723 posts

180 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
quotequote all
Hi all,

I've been tasked with buying a family wagon for my sister in law. Budget was £2k and they wanted an estate (bit of an ask, but anyway) - my eye's been caught by a couple of Vectra C estates. I've been thinking 1.8VVT petrol rather than the diesel, especially after reading the thread a couple of pages on about the problems the diesels have & some of the horror stories elsewhere.
One of the prime candidates is a 58 plate sitting on 165k miles, I'm not scared of the mileage & will judge it mainly on condition, but is there anything I really need to look for when inspecting the car or its paperwork? From what I can tell, it's a belt cam engine, so I imagine it will have needed at least 1, possibly 2 cambelts before now. Anything else?
I've had a look round online & can't find any real horror stories about this particular engine, is it generally a sound & reliable lump?
Reviews of the petrol ones on Honest John seem to be universally positive, but I'm not sure how representative that is. Any help gladly received!