RE: Shed of the Week: Vauxhall Vectra SRI

[varsas]

I used to be a Vauxhall fan (learnt to drive in a Mk2 Cavalier, first car was a Mk3 Cavalier/Vectra 'A', second car and first few track days was in a Vectra 'B', parents always had them, Cavaliers and then Astras). As you can imagine I was quite excited when my friend bought a Vectra 'C', only to be really disapointed when I drove it, I just found it very dull. It was quiet and comfortable but made my Vectra 'B' feel like a sports car. I then drove a Mk5 Astra round Germany and that killed my final enthusiasm for the brand. I moved on to BMW and my parents now have a Ford (which is great fun).

Edited by varsas on Monday 31st July 12:01

[mybrainhurts]

Very strong, these Vectras.

One wrote off our 2009 Volvo V70, bouncing off the offside doors, then beetled off home without stopping.

We tracked it down a day later, hidden in a car park, with surprisingly little damage.

[carinaman]

A Signum with the same 3 litre diesel for new £1500 SoTW money.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Signum-3-0-CDTI...

[R400TVR]

aaron_2000 said:

edward1 said:

Whilst this may well be a pretty dull uninspiring car, that is probably best used for lugging stuff up and sown the m/way. What I don't get is the real hate for anything VX on here vs the love for Ford. I know we are all obviously driving gods who can instant;y tell the difference between the subtle handling differences between the standard models of ford and vauxhall. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference and once a car gets to shed value how tired the dampers are will probably make more difference than the relative out the show room abilities.

We used to get lots of mondeo's and vectra's of this era as hire cars and to be honest the vectra handled OK and under normal driving the mondeo was no better. What was bad was the Mondeo diesel engines, horrible things compared to even the 4 pot vectra engine. Those indicators that BMW and VX fitted around this time were dreadful though.

Ford: Escort MKI, MKII, XR3i, RS Turbo, Cossie. Sierra Cossie, Xr4x4, Xr4i Capri, Cortina, Granada, Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo.

Vauxhall: Astra GTE, Nova SRI, Cavalier GSI, Calibra.

Ford make cars that the average guy can enjoy driving, they pretty much reinvented the hatchback with the Focus. Vauxhall on the whole make soulless appliances, even the VXR's understeered and torque steered like crazy.

You seem to be forgetting the Carlton GSi 3000, Lotus Carlton, Senator 24V, and the VX220? The Vauxhalls you've listed are some great cars ; the Astra was faster than the XR3, the Nova was the first 'fast' car that a lot of people on here probably owned, and the Calibra still looks fresh today. On the outside at least. The Escorts were nothing special in their day, the Granada is as dynamic and fun as I am on a Sunday morning, the Fiesta is a dull, souless box that's best left to rust.

[GSX]

Littlered2 said:

I understand the comments about the Vectra indicators and chassis dynamics but the petrol engines were superb like most Vauxhall engines since the 60s, superior in every way to the equivalent Ford, longer lasting, quieter, smootherand more economical. My 2.2 SRI Vectra covered 370miles at an average of over 94mph including stops on one occasion [I don't propose to say where or when] and never missed a beat all the time I owned it. Properly maintained they are unbeatable. Clarkson's stupid comments did a lot of damage to the brand, now sold to the French. Don't expect improvements!!!

And before anybody says.... yes i know this is years old, do i care, no..

They're basically all internet mechanics/ experts ect that probably believe everything Clarkson ect says ??

Edited by GSX on Thursday 21st October 08:31

Edited by GSX on Thursday 21st October 08:31