Opinions Please - Vectra C Diesel or Petrol

[Nige_GTI]

Right,

Me and the missus are currently selling a 206cc to get a Vectra (missus wants one, can't be purseuded otherwise unless its a ST220)

The question is petrol or diesel?

The choices are
1.8 petrol (slow?)
2.2 petrol (common faults with fuel pumps?)
3.2 petrol (expensive to tax/insure/run?)
1.9CDTI (expensive repairs leggy for the price?)

We have around £3.5k to spend

She does around 10miles a day, short trip to work/school and a bi-weekly trip to Bideford-120miles round trip.

What are peoples opions?

Hold off the get an avensis/mondeo/accord comments (I know they are better but she wants a Vectra)

Thanks

[Howard-]

Nige_GTI said:

Me and the missus are currently selling a 206cc to get a Vectra (missus wants one, can't be purseuded otherwise unless its a ST220)

No brainer then, surely..?

[HellDiver]

If you can get the 1.8VVT petrol, then it's the one to go for. It's a hoot - mine totally standard dynoed to 161hp. Got 37mpg out of it too.

The diesels will die horribly with those short journeys.

[blackcab]

I have a 1.8vvt vectra - now done about 75k - never missed a beat, does nearly 40 on a run and 30 stop start stuff, can only reccomend them - great value !

[Nige_GTI]

Howard- said:

Nige_GTI said:

Me and the missus are currently selling a 206cc to get a Vectra (missus wants one, can't be purseuded otherwise unless its a ST220)

No brainer then, surely..?

ST220 for £3.5k?? Hmmm

Cheers for the replies, 1.8 not too slow then?

[chrisispringles]

I'm sorry, she's said that the only way she won't have a Vectra is if you buy an ST220 and you'd rather have the Vectra. Are you clinically insane? Your wife has just given you a mandate to go and buy a fast Ford, that should have made the decision for you.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1938808.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1903369.htm

If those don't tempt you then you know just what to do...

[Howard-]

That top one is FAR too cheap and the second one seems too cheap even considering it looks shabby!

[OnTheOverrun]

Wouldn't you be better off asking your boss rather than us?

[Nige_GTI]

OnTheOverrun said:

Wouldn't you be better off asking your boss rather than us?

Assuming thats aimed at me, its her car, her choice!

I have my car. Just after genuine opions from people who may have experience with the cars, I take it you have nothing to add to this discussion then?

[Trevelyan]

I've got a Vectra which I bought new and is now approaching seven years old / 120k miles and hasn't let me down yet. It's got an engine which you didn't include in your list - a 2L turbo petrol (actually a saab built engine I think). It's a great engine in most ways and goes like st off a shovel.

The problem with it is the fuel consumption. I struggle to get 26mpg out of it for general bimbling and commuting use, and am lucky to get 35mpg out of it on a long motorway run (although admittedly as I tend to travel overnight I'm usually not hanging around!). For this reason alone I'm planning on getting a turbo diesel engine in my next car but I'm undoubtably going to miss the current one. Out of your list I'd go for the 1.9 TDi, but make sure you get higer powered 16 valve version (150PS) rather than the 8 valve (120ps). There's a significant difference in performance for virtually no penalty on fuel economy.

[DennisTheMenace]

SRi spec vectra-c's are pretty tidy through the bends , i had a 1.9 cdti 150 and loved it. they are good cars , and from 1st hand experience are a togh nut to crack if a volvo fh12 wants to sit on the rear seat

[Buzzkill]

Had the pre-facelift 1.9CDTi 150 with some minor adjustments. A fair amount of car for the money and drove as you would expect - distinctly average.

Edited by Buzzkill on Friday 6th August 23:38

[maurauth]

Nige_GTI said:

Right,

Me and the missus are currently selling a 206cc to get a Vectra (missus wants one, can't be purseuded otherwise unless its a ST220)

The question is petrol or diesel?

The choices are
1.8 petrol (slow?)
2.2 petrol (common faults with fuel pumps?)
3.2 petrol (expensive to tax/insure/run?)
1.9CDTI (expensive repairs leggy for the price?)

We have around £3.5k to spend

She does around 10miles a day, short trip to work/school and a bi-weekly trip to Bideford-120miles round trip.

What are peoples opions?

Hold off the get an avensis/mondeo/accord comments (I know they are better but she wants a Vectra)

Thanks

The 1.8 VVTi petrol is hardly slow; it's 140BHP with 0-60 of 9 secs, but it's got a fair whack of torque that makes it feel quick, and it cruises very well.

Never heard of many problems with the 2.2 petrol- I was a member of the vectra-c forum for 2 years and the 2.2 and in it's tuned state the 2.0turbo are pretty bulletproof engines. I owned the 2.0turbo and it was pretty damn quick and accepts a hell of a lot of tuning if you are that way inclined. with 250bhp being available with just a remap, exhaust, induction, and injectors.

The 3.2 V6 GSi sure is expensive but it sounds fantastic, although if you're going to spend that sort of cash you might as well stump up more and get the 2.8T V6 VXR.

The 1.9CDTi only seems to have a lot of expensive repairs because it is obviously the fleet choice and will get hammered day in and out, plus the fact that you don't really post on the internet saying how good your diesel engine is, rather than when it goes wrong you ask for help. Also seen some very high BHP figures from the 1.9CDTi when running methanol/water injection! And there's a bloke on the vec forum who's used the 1.9CDTi in various cars and driven something like 250,000 miles (on various different engines) without anything going wrong with it.

Why are the other options better than the Vectra? I'm sorry but the parts will be much cheaper than the japanese ones, and it is cheaper to buy than the mundano.

chrisispringles said:

I'm sorry, she's said that the only way she won't have a Vectra is if you buy an ST220 and you'd rather have the Vectra. Are you clinically insane? Your wife has just given you a mandate to go and buy a fast Ford, that should have made the decision for you.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1938808.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1903369.htm

If those don't tempt you then you know just what to do...

What's with the hate for the vectra and love for some other bland repmobile?

[DrYazz]

Mmmmm. Vectra.

I choose walking.

[Yodafone]

I had a pre facelift 1.8 ls petrol as a company car it was really under powered, you set the cruise control on at 70 and when you reach a slope it would drop in speed by 10 to 15 mph, pretty much nothing happens when you put your foot down in 5th at 65.

But overall it was pretty good cruiser for long journeys and did 40mpg to 45mpg, but as personal purchase I would not buy one unless I had a lot of motorway miles.

[Don]

I have the 2.2 SRi Estate.

Its a bit thirsty and also a tad gutless but it has a huge boot along with loads of rear legroom. I love it, actually.

My old Mum has the 3.2 Elite Estate - top of the line with all the toys. It actually goes well. It's thirsty too but honestly it's no different to mine!

They've upgraded the plastics and build quality over the previous Vectra by quite some margin: it's actually quite a nice car. And also cheap.

Oh: I would seriously recommend the auto. It's an A to B car and the autobox is quite good. Very relaxing.

[HellDiver]

Yodafone said:

I had a pre facelift 1.8 ls petrol as a company car it was really under powered,

The 1.8VVT is lightyears better than the old 125hp 1.8.

[Nige_GTI]

Thanks for the replies.

We need the room, like somebody said a lot of car for the cash.

Think for £3.5k we would be looking at a 2.2 Sri with around 50k miles, so not bad.

Just need to shift the cc.

[Don]

Nige_GTI said:

Thanks for the replies.

We need the room, like somebody said a lot of car for the cash.

Think for £3.5k we would be looking at a 2.2 Sri with around 50k miles, so not bad.

Just need to shift the cc.

What I will say is make sure it's had the recall work done.

[chrisispringles]

maurauth said:

What's with the hate for the vectra and love for some other bland repmobile?

The interior is even more bland than that of any other repmobile, everything feels cheap and nasty, too much engine and road noise, the ride is shocking and the seats are the worst car seats I have ever had the displeasure to sit in, I have found the seats in a 20 year old Land Rover Defender more supportive and comfortable than those in a Vectra and the window line relative to the rear bench is far too high and made me feel sick and I have never felt carsick in all my life. It's a damned shame as well because the styling ain't half bad.