Wife wants a Vauxhall petrol for £3,000. Carrying kids shed

[HannsG]

Hi guys,

well the wife wants a Vauxhall (don't ask me why!), and it must be a petrol.

Her previous hack was a TTiD Saab 9-3, and she hated the sodding thing due to smoke, DPF and just the general fact it was a diesel.

Here I am looking at Focus ST's and saying I can afford one for her. Yet she is banging on about a Vauxhall..fk knows..

So anyway, is the 1.8i really such a st engine? circa 2007ish?

Also her brother just bought a 2007 Vectra Sri, it has a massive boot, and she wants something similar.

What about the 2.2i? I am not allowed to go for anything 'tuned', as she has my M3 for that. Which is a load of fking bks as I have seen the way she drives!

Anyone here tell me the best petrol engine Vauxhall made which was 'economical'? and had a bit of poke?

Cheers

[johnfm]

Do you share cars? Or do you have yours and she has hers?

Let her buy what she likes - and just don't let her drive yours. Simple.

[Crafty_]

You sound like a thoroughly reasonable sort of chap.

Buy a car in decent condition thats been looked after, continue to do so and it will be of little bother. Manufacturer is irrelevant at this sort of money.

[DickP]

Crafty_ said:

Buy a car in decent condition thats been looked after, continue to do so and it will be of little bother. Manufacturer is irrelevant at this sort of money.

I disagree.

[Simbu]

HannsG said:

Hi guys,
well the wife wants a Vauxhall (don't ask me why!), and it must be a petrol.

...

Also her brother just bought a 2007 Vectra Sri, it has a massive boot, and she wants something similar.

Methinks the causal link is quite obvious here. Aspiring to a Vauxhall though... my sympathies.

[HannsG]

johnfm said:

Do you share cars? Or do you have yours and she has hers?

Let her buy what she likes - and just don't let her drive yours. Simple.

She has hers and I have mine. But sometimes we share.

I might just go for a 1.8i Vectra. Anyone know if they are dog slow?

[Ilovejapcrap]

take her to a loads of secondhand car dealers so she can get ideas maybe she'll see something she likes more then buy a nice example private,

Show her petrol Honda Accord

[vikingaero]

Both 1.8 and 2.2 Vauxhall petrols have cambelts. I still can't get my head around the varying intervals that differed for each model year, but at a minimum it's every 40k. Some places will tell you it's 60k or 80k.

[iSore]

1.8 Vectra C's are a lot of car for the money and £3000 is too much - leggy early Insignias are down to that now. They're fairly robust and have the old Ecotec engine which isn't a bad old thing. Also look at Mondeos as they're a decent no frills motor for bugger all money.

[Blue Oval84]

Drove a 1.8i Insignia and it was woeful, don't imagine the Vectra will be any better.

If I were you I'd be looking at the 2.2, or perhaps the 2.0T if they did it in this budget...

[PlayersNo6]

2.0T (Z20NET). SAAB chain engine will do 30 mpg combined. I'd for Elite spec over an SRi for a more comfy ride. Much more common in the 9-3 and 9-5 than the Vectra though

[Spangles]

Blue Oval84 said:

Drove a 1.8i Insignia and it was woeful, don't imagine the Vectra will be any better.

This is for somebody who wants a petrol Vauxhall, I suspect they won't care how woeful it is to drive. A to B, white goods etc.

[vit4]

vikingaero said:

Both 1.8 and 2.2 Vauxhall petrols have cambelts. I still can't get my head around the varying intervals that differed for each model year, but at a minimum it's every 40k. Some places will tell you it's 60k or 80k.

The 2.2 in the Vectra is the one with the cam-chain, and they are prone to stretching. The 2.2 in the Omega/Frontera etc was a different engine and had a belt.

They did a 2.0 Turbo in the Vectra which is supposed to be a pretty good lump with no major issues, I nearly bought one that ran really nice (112k but well-serviced) but ended up with a silly-cheap Omega instead. I'd try to find one of those personally. People look down on them because of the badge but they're good cars and very underrated IMO.

[anonymous-user]

HannsG said:

Anyone here tell me the best petrol engine Vauxhall made which was 'economical'? and had a bit of poke?

Cheers

Mine has over 800hp, not very economical though.

Vauxhall have made some brilliant cars over the years (Astra GTE, Cavalier SRI 130, Monaro) so nothing to be ashamed of.

[ecsrobin]

She is aware that her Saab 9-3 was basically a Vauxhall vectra??

[HannsG]

ecsrobin said:

She is aware that her Saab 9-3 was basically a Vauxhall vectra??

Yup, as am I.

She used to have an Astra 1.4i before we met, which is where the love comes from. And since we had a kid she does not really look after her transport etc.

So she wants a car she wont give a toss about.

[Crafty_]

wormus said:

HannsG said:

Anyone here tell me the best petrol engine Vauxhall made which was 'economical'? and had a bit of poke?

Cheers

Mine has over 800hp, not very economical though.

Vauxhall have made some brilliant cars over the years (Astra GTE, Cavalier SRI 130, Monaro) so nothing to be ashamed of.

c20let in cavalier/calibra turbo was a good engine, but suffered from lack of development by tuners (compared to the cosworth).
c20xe (N/A variant of the above) was a brilliant engine, got stuck in everything from minis to caterhams

The c20leh in the previous gen astra vxr is a great little unit, has stacks of torque all through the rev range and a simple remap livens it up no end. I used to do 60 miles round trip commute on fast b-roads and never got less than 30mph even with some town driving mixed in.

I can remember seeing the 1600 xe engine on the SBD stand at the autosport show, using their stuff they had got something like 270hp from it (motorsport application, obviously), not bad for a little 1.6?

In the US GM got over 1000hp from 2.2 ecotecs.

People need to move on from the "Vauxhalls are crap, they made the vectra hurr durr" mentality. Yes the first vectras were crap, we know but it was 20 years ago! Sure, they still have problems but you show me a car manufacturer that doesn't?

Ford once made Mk3/4/5 escorts which were pretty rubbish, but now get lauded for the Focus. Move on people!

[Bonefish Blues]

What about a Signum? Seem decent, mahoosive, and cheap as chips, too.

[Crafty_]

RobinBanks said:

Was the vectra 2.0 turbo the z20ler?
They're quite good, aren't they?

there is an ler engine, yes. I think thats used in sri astras/vectras/maybe insignias.

bit biased but I always thought Vx engines were pretty good.

[MissChief]

You do realise that if she 'wants a Vauxhall' you'll have a devil of a time convincing her otherwise? Any change of her mind has to come from her and her alone. She's free to change her own mind but you can't change it for her. Such is the way of women.