Question about Vauxhalls

[mac11irl]

I have driven one 2005 diesel vectra. Fou d it comfy but meh on the power.

And the MIL had an 09 corsa petrol 1.2? Probably, for a while, took that a for a pootle once. And it was a pootle... foot down in any gear just made more noise but no go.. and i jusr didnt feel confident chucking it into too many corners with steering as numb as an epidural... as for the op... i know what you mean, i find many pasat quite slow when over taking on the mway doing my the limit +10%+2 mph and they are cruising at just the limit... same with bmw 5 serieses....

[meta55b]

I work for the local council and we have loads of basic diesel corsa pool cars. These things are terrible, as said above of the mark they are quite nippy, once on the move, try and maintain a constant speed, no chance. From what I've heard, because the council bought so many they got them cheap, so if any get a serious enough bit of damage, it's bye bye car. Not even a hint of insurance claim.

[mender]

Vauxhall indicators of 2005-2013 model years are a Marmite feature as they attempted to improve on the standard design and some people cannot get their head around the way they work.

 

Simply, the indicator stalk does not click into on position, it always returns to centre off position; if tapped flashes a few times and cancels, to cancel it mid-use you tap the SAME way.

If pulled hard until it overcomes resistance, it will return to centre, then operate until the turn is complete, like any other car; again to cancel tap the SAME way.

Those who don't understand it, or have it explained to them will find it infuriating.

 

I find the VAG beam lights switch far more irritating as you can turn lights on and they are on beam from last time, or the Ford system of pull once for on, once for off for beams as you can turn them on by mistake if you think they were on and try to turn them off.  The Vauxhall stalk is way better.

 

I find the system to be excellent once learned after 45 seconds (I read the manual) and miss it on other cars, that said it was universally criticised so dropped on the Astra J and Zafira C etc.

 

Corsa engines are designed in the main for young and new drivers, so the entry levels are very underpowered (0-62 18.9 secs for the 1.0) to please the insurers and also ensure the engine is under-stressed for longevity reasons.  Our Mirage (Corsa size) does 0-62 in 11-7 seconds and makes the Corsa feel glacial.  That said, if I wanted a safe, simple small car for a new driver, the Corsa fits well as a safe, easy, strong car for a learner as steady and reliable would be the most important factors when choosing.

[mender]

Just to update/correct above

 

I drive hundreds of cars a year and I like the Vauxhall stalks best, particularly the beam operation, as when headlights are on, you can flash the lights by pulling towards you, put beam on by pushing away and cancel beam either by pushing or pulling, so you can't accidentally put beams on when off by mistake and you can still flash beams with lights on.

 

I hate the Ford (and others') system where it is pull once for beam (headlights on), pull once for beam off, as it is harder to flash and you can switch the beam on by mistake if you think it is on and are trying to cancel it.  On Fords the stalk has long travel and clicks late too, so it is tiresome turning them on and off constantly on back roads at night.

 

Once learnt, the Vauxhall (now sadly obselete on new models) stalks as fitted to my Zafira are the best of any I have ever used and can be used thousands of times on a cross-continental journey without irritation or mistakes.  

 

If only people read the handbook......

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Just to update/correct above

 

I drive hundreds of cars a year and I like the Vauxhall stalks best, particularly the beam operation, as when headlights are on, you can flash the lights by pulling towards you, put beam on by pushing away and cancel beam either by pushing or pulling, so you can't accidentally put beams on when off by mistake and you can still flash beams with lights on.

 

I hate the Ford (and others') system where it is pull once for beam (headlights on), pull once for beam off, as it is harder to flash and you can switch the beam on by mistake if you think it is on and are trying to cancel it.  On Fords the stalk has long travel and clicks late too, so it is tiresome turning them on and off constantly on back roads at night.

 

I think (If I'm reading correctly) I totally agree re the headlights/full beams. We have all different types of stalk setups at work in the buses (as you'll know Mender) 1 stalk for everything, 2 stalks, 3 stalks etc. The ones that have the full beam setup so you pull it towards you a little bit for a flash and towards you a bit more for it to 'click on' are always the ones being driven round with the full beam left on blinding everyone. Out of all of them the one stalk operation is my fav in a bus, ideally with the door button nice and close to hand too.

 

As far as the indicators go, I think Vauxhalls problem was being the first to do that kinda setup, my E90 has the same thing and I've not heard anyone moan about them. (cue the jokes blah blah) 

[mender]

I think (If I'm reading correctly) I totally agree re the headlights/full beams. We have all different types of stalk setups at work in the buses (as you'll know Mender) 1 stalk for everything, 2 stalks, 3 stalks etc. The ones that have the full beam setup so you pull it towards you a little bit for a flash and towards you a bit more for it to 'click on' are always the ones being driven round with the full beam left on blinding everyone. Out of all of them the one stalk operation is my fav in a bus, ideally with the door button nice and close to hand too.

 

As far as the indicators go, I think Vauxhalls problem was being the first to do that kinda setup, my E90 has the same thing and I've not heard anyone moan about them. (cue the jokes blah blah) 

We have a lot of Merc Sprinter conversions, all different, some have different controls for the door, some on panel under the window, some on dash top, some left of steering wheel, some right, some on top of dash, some hidden behind steering wheel.  Just to confuse us.....

 

The one I'm in today has to have the handbrake on to activate the door which is really slow, so on certain runs, I put it up one notch whilst braking (takes up slack, does no braking, but activates relay) and press the door early so it opens without a 20 second delay when stopped.....

 

My favourite is the 13 plate with the cruise, limiter, LED mood lighting, banging stereo and steering wheel controls.  Nice!

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

haha, yeah sounds like or fleet. We have a set of 10 VDL Cadets. Lovely buses but they have a halt brake fitted too, older ones are ok, open the doors and the handbrake comes on, once doors are shut the brake releases. The slightly newer ones you have to have the handbrake on or the doors wont open. Not a huge issue when new but now they're getting older some of the doors are slow, so you put the handbrake on and wait for them to open then shut them and sit for another 10 - 20 seconds before the handbrake will release. Gerrrr. 

 

The Merc Citaros are quite nice, auto hand brake etc but I think the best for laziness is the new (13 plate) VDLs we have. At the traffic lights you can just push the brake pedal a little harder than normal and the halt brake clicks on to hold it. When the lights turn green you just floor it and the brake clicks off. 

[mender]

haha, yeah sounds like or fleet. We have a set of 10 VDL Cadets. Lovely buses but they have a halt brake fitted too, older ones are ok, open the doors and the handbrake comes on, once doors are shut the brake releases. The slightly newer ones you have to have the handbrake on or the doors wont open. Not a huge issue when new but now they're getting older some of the doors are slow, so you put the handbrake on and wait for them to open then shut them and sit for another 10 - 20 seconds before the handbrake will release. Gerrrr. 

 

The Merc Citaros are quite nice, auto hand brake etc but I think the best for laziness is the new (13 plate) VDLs we have. At the traffic lights you can just push the brake pedal a little harder than normal and the halt brake clicks on to hold it. When the lights turn green you just floor it and the brake clicks off. 

For those who don't drive buses and wonder why we indicate and then don't pull away-often it is because the door mech is slow or playing up; trust us, we want to get moving!

[sigarland1987]

I don't think vauxhalls are that bad, having had the Astra J sports tourer since last year is comfortable and a good cruiser for long journeys.

[camelspyyder]

Only ever owned one, rubbish build quality and dealers too.

 

However I drove a lot of the last shape Astras on the works fleet and they were surprisingly good.

 

The indicators take about 10 minutes to get used to and the 6 speed ecoflex diesel doesn't seem to use much fuel at all.

[Guest BigJase88]

What im wondering is.....

Can a citigo even do 80mph?

Must have to rev the balls off it. Will be sitting at 6k rpm at those dizzy speeds

[mac11irl]

What im wondering is.....

Can a citigo even do 80mph?

Must have to rev the balls off it. Will be sitting at 6k rpm at those dizzy speeds

[mac11irl]

Gnaagh stupid phone..

yeah it will hit 80, even the missus's 60bhp sill do and you wont be totally deaf while sitting on it. Not great mpg at it though

[mender]

Only ever owned one, rubbish build quality and dealers too.

 

However I drove a lot of the last shape Astras on the works fleet and they were surprisingly good.

 

The indicators take about 10 minutes to get used to and the 6 speed ecoflex diesel doesn't seem to use much fuel at all.

I spend my life taking cars to bits and driving them and have been staggered at the high quality of our Zafira-though it was one of the last of a long production run at the Bochum German plant.

 

I can't fault the build in any way, no creaks, rattles, squeaks, faults or anything and the paint quality beats ANY premium model currently sold-it is outstanding; and I paint cars for a living!

 

Always best to choose your build factory carefully* and we've always found run-out (old/last of line) models to be far more sorted than the new model: this is perhaps why a 2014 built 2005 design car is so good.

 

Careful with Vauxhalls as some are Chevrolet/Daewoo built (Antara, Mokka), some Suzukis (Agila) some Opels depending on model and build factory.

We have been extremely impressed with our German Opel built Zafira and both the Suzuki built 2013 and 2104 Agilas in the family too-basically an M&S wearing Suzuki "Top Shop" Splash.

 

My experience of the Antara has been very poor and the Mokka is far too expensive for a Daewoo built model. 

[J306TD]

I would never buy a brand new model. Too many production or vehicle problems to be ironed out. I agree with Mender.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[GentleGiant]

To answer one of the original questions asked - why are there so many on the road when they are not very good cars.

 

Vauxhall aggressively pursue corporate customers, so have large numbers of 2-3 y/o cars coming back from various lease companies that are then fed into the car auctions and then to dealers/ traders.

 

I used to deliver and collect demos and lease hire cars for Vauxhall for many years. I cant comment on the current crop, but I always found the 1.4, 1.8 and 2.5 engines to be the best, the diesels were awful, gutless unless rev'ed to the limiter.

 

Vauxhalls big weakness is poor quality control, brake pedal switches falling off on brand new Vectras and Astras, WINDOWS falling out on the old Sintras, dodgy brakes on the lower spec Corsas (I crashed one of these); I once went to collect a demo Vectra from PDI at Swindon for a major corporate customer, the dash was in three different colour plastics (should have been all the same colour); I refused to accept it and had to go back the next day for the replacement - which had a huge chemical burn scar across the dash (2" wide and ~20" long). Needless to say, I rejected that one as well - and ended up in the depot managers office.

[mender]

WINDOWS falling out on the old Sintras

Another non-Vauxhall, this was an American built rebadged Chevrolet which was appalling, 182nd of 182 cars for reliability in JD Power 2001.....whereas the German built Omega was a decent car.

 

With Vauxhall, you are buying any old GM product/product tie-up under the UK name of Vauxhall; so the quality is variable.

Stick to the Agila, built by Suzuki or the German built Opel models and all is well, but avoid anything born of Daewoo, Chevrolet etc.

 

Corsas seem to vary on build plant and date of manufacture.

[Tilt]

 I don't even go fast on A roads, normally about 75 sometimes 80- the 74bhp Citigo

Note, no mention of mph,

 

But I bet she was doing her nails at the time, with a can of 'Steller' (ha) in the other hand.

[GentleGiant]

Another non-Vauxhall, this was an American built rebadged Chevrolet which was appalling, 182nd of 182 cars for reliability in JD Power 2001.

 

I agree, nearly every one I took out of PDI arrived at the customers address with the sliding door trim in the footwell.

 

Vauxhall were also very good at buggering up the BETTER spec models in a range.

 

The original Tigra wasnt a nice car, but the 1.4 was FAR better to drive than the 1.6; the suspension on the 1.6 was AWFUL - like driving a pogostick.

 

The Calibra 2L was OK, even if the roof line was too low, but the gearbox on the 2.5L V6 was like something out of the Ark (or possibly a Fordson tractor). Strangely, he same engine in the Vectra had a MUCH better gearbox.

 

The torque steer on the higher powered Astras was enough the snap the CV joints if you got over aggressive too often, even on a car 6 months old or less. I drove more than one demo car home with one wheel drive.

 

Rear view mirrors routinely fell off because the glue wasnt strong enough.

 

Other than the Isuzu diesel engines, trying to pull away - even on the flat - without enough revs to spin up the turbo meant you would stall, especially the old 1.7 Tdi. BTW, that engine in the Cosra made the car shudder so much at idle/low speed, that you couldnt see out using the mirrors - everything was a blur.

 

And of course, they ALL stank for the first few hundred miles, as they burnt off half the paint from the exhaust and cat box.

 

On the other hand, I do think that the Astra and 1.8 Zafira are very good family cars, just buy them used, so someone else has sorted out all the bits that fall off.

[mender]

The torque steer on the higher powered Astras was enough the snap the CV joints if you got over aggressive too often, even on a car 6 months old or less. I drove more than one demo car home with one wheel drive.

 

 

How, did they have LSDs?  Usually once the one side goes, it gets all the power through least resistance and the other wheel gets no drive, so you grind to a halt!

[GentleGiant]

How, did they have LSDs?  Usually once the one side goes, it gets all the power through least resistance and the other wheel gets no drive, so you grind to a halt!

 

I dont know, all I know is that I regularly had cars where only one front wheel had any power - trying to drive them was a real challenge, because pulling away from a stop meant they pulled horribly to one side.

 

I forgot to mention the game we used to play in early Zafiras, they aircon was VERY variable, some units would barely cool the car, while others could recreate Siberia during a bad winter. I remember getting a "good" one where I was driving around London during a heat wave (one of those rare 30+ c days), with ICE forming on the inside of the windscreen.

[Aspman]

My 97 Astra Arctic Sp Ed, had very good AC.

 

Didn't have many problems with it other than a transponder in the key stopped working at a petrol station which was a bit embaressing

[kiraanastasia]

Lol I'm a girl and I've just checked my average speed on the A12 was 73mph half of the cars drive at around 50/55 and the other half drive at about 100. It's always the same models driving slowly and the same models driving erratically.

[kilted]

Have to say all my dealings with Vauxhalls in the recent past have left me very underwhelmed.

 

Courtesy car corsa- very poor to drive, no power, no feel.

 

Colleagues Vectra - constant problems with the alarm system (about a dozen return visits to the garage). Eventually told that it was his fault and "just bypass the alarm by soldering some wire between the contacts on the window in question" by a Vauxhall mechanic. Since then, he got rid of it and bought a Kia and been over the moon with it (with none of the issues).

[vindaloo]

A12 = dual carriageway mostly so I'm guessing the speed limit is the national one mostly = 70 mph for a DC with divided carriageways.