Vectra 2.0 turbo

[andy118run]

I know the Vectra is not much of a forum favourite, so I may regret posting but here goes anyway. My Vectra 2.0 turbo, acquired yesterday. I've been looking to replace my Mondeo 1.8 zetec for a few weeks with something a bit swifter yet roomy enough to carry a pushchair, bags, small family etc - considered various options in my limited £4-5k budget - Octavia VRS, Leon Cupra, Civic Type R, Impreza WRX (have owned the latter two before) as well as a few turbo diesel options.

However, I happened upon this fairly tidy Vectra with 42,000 miles a the clock, 12 months MOT, a bit of warranty for just under £4k at a decent dealer and thought that's not bad, actually. Having had a couple of Vectras in the past (a 2.2 direct and a hopeless 1.9 CDTI) I sort of know what I'm getting myself into. Also did a bit of research into the 2.0 turbo engine and there appear no major issues there.

Having done less than a 100 miles in it it's early days but I have been fairly impressed - with its 195 lb ft it has loads more go than my 1.8 Mondeo, which was beginning to frustrate me really. Can't say I have any real plans to spruce it up or have the engine re-mapped as I like the fact that this is a nice, clean unmodified car. However, would be interested to hear from anybody who has as I understand these 2.0 T engines are quite keen when re-mapped.

[andy118run]

[andy118run]

[decadent]

looks a nice clean example, i guess with 42k on the clock it was a careful (judging by the pics) private owner.

Can't help you with the remap Q but 2.0 Turbo, 4 doors, large boot, comfy ride makes it an excellent family car imo :thumbs:

[mwstewart]

That looks like a lot of car for the money. I didn't know they were available with the 2.0T - there was certainly no shortage of engine choices in these!

[mwstewart]

P.S. What's the average MPG over a mixed cycle?

[s_zigmond]

Very nice mate. Get signed up to vectra-c.com there is lots of advice on there re: remaps. The saab tuners are the experts on this engine, and I think its neo brothers that currently do the best Vec specific maps using Maptun. Otherewise the likes of RS tuning are known to have got decent results form this engine.

[rumple]

Im one of the few that think these are a good looking car, especially from the back, a lot of car for the money OP.

[andy118run]

Thanks to all, nice to see all positive comments. Yes, I have just signed up to the Vectra forum so hopefully I will be able to post on there soon.

Obviously I agree with the above, a Vectra gives you plenty of car for your cash, whichever engine you go for. I think this one has had a couple of owners but the last one had it for 3 or 4 years before trading it in for an Audi A5 apparently, which is fair enough!

I gather the 2.0 turbo is not that common (seems to appear more in the Astra). I had to travel about 50 miles for this one and there were no other decent looking, low mileage face-lift cars within 100 miles, so I like to think it's something a bit different, even if it is just a Vectra!

[andy118run]

mwstewart said:

P.S. What's the average MPG over a mixed cycle?

I think it must be around the 30-35mpg mark, certainly one of the thirstier cars I have had though I swapped my 80 mile round trip to work for something closer to 8 miles a few months back so such matters no longer cause me stress!

Interestingly, when I swapped my insurance from my 1.8 Mondeo to this, I only had to pay £13 extra (insurance runs until March 2014) which seemed a real result.

[mwstewart]

andy118run said:

I think it must be around the 30-35mpg mark, certainly one of the thirstier cars I have had though I swapped my 80 mile round trip to work for something closer to 8 miles a few months back so such matters no longer cause me stress!

Interestingly, when I swapped my insurance from my 1.8 Mondeo to this, I only had to pay £13 extra (insurance runs until March 2014) which seemed a real result.

That's not bad at all. I would be tempted to remap though to really capitalise on the engine without impacting MPG too much.

I actually had a look in the classifieds after reading your post, as I'm looking around for a replacement for a Mk4 Golf GTi. The residuals on the later Golf's seem disproportionate to what you actually get for the money, and though the Vectra is obviously larger, but seems to offer much better value.

[skene]

Out of interest, what was wrong with your 1.9 CDTi? I've had one for e last 18k miles, (bought it on 100k) and it's been faultless!

[andy118run]

skene said:

Out of interest, what was wrong with your 1.9 CDTi? I've had one for e last 18k miles, (bought it on 100k) and it's been faultless!

That was a few years ago - my memory is a bit hazy now but I certainly remember being well acquainted with the AA at that time. I do remember one cold December night, making my way from visiting the in-laws in Ruislip back to Luton with a months old baby on board and suddenly losing power, leaving us stranded by the side of the road in the cold and dark. The alternator had gone and we had to be towed home. I think that was when I decided it really wasn't the car for me.

However, on a 100,000 miles car, the chances are the alternator was knackered and replaced some time ago, it may well have had a new clutch (something that cost me an arm and a leg at 80k miles on my 2.2) so all's relatively well. Certainly the 1.9 CDTI was an engine I enjoyed for the performance and economy, just not the reliability. As mentioned in a previous post, check out the Vectra C forum for loads of hints and tips.

[andy118run]

• ***************************UPDATE*****************************

So here I am, a year after I first posted this thread. I don't usually bother with updates as I tend to change my cars on a fairly regular basis. However, perhaps due to my modest bank balance at the moment more than my love for the Vectra, the car will be staying for a bit longer.

So how has the year been? I really can't complain - the Vectra has been faultlessly reliable and pretty much does what it says on the tin. It's now done around 59950 miles - still pretty low miles for an 8 year old motor. However, the 17000 or so I've done this year have certainly worked it a bit harder as it was averaging 6000 miles a year prior to me getting my hands on it.

Considering my commute to work is a 10 mile round trip, I did ponder where all those miles have come from. However, I suppose residing in Norfolk, having in-laws we need to visit in London and being partial to the odd trip to the likes of LEGOLAND Windsor, Alton Towers, Chessington, Peppa Pig World (I could go on), may explain many of these miles. In terms of MPG, upper 30s has been pretty typical on most of these longer runs though I was quite chuffed with 41mpg on a recent 400+ mile round trip to Alton Towers. In terms of how it has been to drive, nothing much has changed from my initial impressions. It's certainly happiest as a motorway cruiser and I've never particularly wished it had more power while driving in these conditions. However, as a daily driver, pulling away from lights or roundabouts, for example, I do sometimes wish I was in something a bit more nimble and fleet of foot. The SRI suspension is also firm - fine on nice A roads but you tend to feel every bump or pot hole on lesser roads.

With regard to maintenance there has been nothing major - I had it serviced by the local VX dealer a couple of months back and it got pretty much a clean bill of health. I asked them to have a look at one of the fog lights while they had it as the warning light for that had been intermittently appearing for a while before the light stopped working completely. Apparently, the unit had corroded so this was replaced at a cost of £140. Just prior to its MOT a couple of weeks back I noticed one of the front tyres had some damage so I replaced both the fronts with a couple of Nexen N800s. It passed its MOT with no advisories so its got pretty much 12 months ticket on it now.

As for the future, well if I had a bit more cash I would probably look for something a bit different and part-ex it. However, the part-ex value is probably somewhere between £2000-£2750 so not great. I did look into having a remap a while back - Clive Atthowe Tuning in Norwich is pretty close to me and seems to have a good reputation. A stage 1 remap with them would have been just under £400 (this was a good few months ago though) and most likely increase power to just over 200bhp. I'm not sure I would go down that route now though.

I have been looking for a sub-£1000 car for the other half - she's been learning to drive on and off for a while now so if I can get that sorted then it may well scratch my itch for something different to drive and prolong the Vectra's stay for a bit longer. If not, then it will probably be moving on to pastures new in the next few months.

A couple of pics for the sake of it, though nothing has really changed in the last year:

[imagineifyeswill]

Not everyone on these forums can afford Ferraris,Lotuses and the like, contrary to Clarkson on top gear the Vectra is a perfectly good and reasonably reliable everyday car, and thats look a rather good example.

[H100S]

They are good honest cars they don't pretend to be anything flash or sporty yet do everything quite well with few drawbacks, engine is good too. A SAAB unit, not to be confused with the 2.0 turbo in the Astra H or Zafira B that in higher tune powers the VXR in the same model that dates back to the old ecotec family.

The Vectra c 2.0 turbo engine was revised for the Insignia and once again gives little trouble. I'm not 100% but I'm sure in a higher state of tune it powers the new Astra J VXR.

[jebus]

I have a Vectra C SRI as well, with the 1.8 petrol, you really can tell that they where designed for motorway work, A roads and the like, no much feed back from the chassis when pushing on twisty roads but with Goodyear F1's all around it handles well and can corner quite well.

If this car hadn't cost me so much in maintenance, my next car would be the Vectra VXR as I do like the car, but planning on a something maybe a little smaller as don't need a big car with turbo engine, or something with a V8

The 2.0t remap quite well, should get over 200 without any issues the Vectra C Forums are quite helpfull.

[BricktopST205]

I would hazard a guess but I presume the 2.0t is from Saab? If so should remap pretty well.

[andy118run]

BricktopST205 said:

I would hazard a guess but I presume the 2.0t is from Saab? If so should remap pretty well.

Yes, as mentioned by H100S above, the Vectra 2.0 turbo uses the Saab unit. There's certainly 1 or 2 on the Vectra C forum who have taken their cars to the stage 3 remap with some impressive power gains. Even if money was no object I wouldn't see myself doing that but a few hundred quid to take it above 200bhp has always been a bit tempting.

[Garybee]

Do these have the same gearbox as the Astra of the same era (with the bearings made from cheese)? Looks like a lot of car for the money, Clarkson did 'non pretentious' people a favour by lowering the value of these with all his muppetry.