2006 Vauxhall Zafira Design review from UK and Ireland

The car has an intermittent fault with the coil packs, and will just stall randomly at low speeds.

This happens once a month or so, and the dealer is dragging their heels over fixing it until it breaks so the car won't move!

The timing chain also seems very noisy, I suspect the tensioner is faulty. Again, the dealer is reluctant to investigate.

Other than that, everything has been fine. I just need to find a better dealer.

We're very lucky with our Zafira. As well as all the normal features of the Design model we have: Sport button (improves throttle and steering response), heated seats, full leather, passenger seat height/tilt/lumbar adjustment, climate control (with full size hi-res screen for the controls) and driver's armrest.

All it's missing to take it to the "Elite" spec (like the Astra version) would be the electric folding mirrors.

One feature that is missing that I'd like is the colour sat-nav (partly to get the built-in MP3 compatibility and upgraded speakers), but other than that, we're very pleased with the spec.

We don't use the back 2 (of 7) seats very often (probably twice in 6 months), but appreciate the big boot, high seating position (great view out back for our toddler) and general cabin space.

Comfort is good, although the seats are a little flat for my liking. The convenience features are very nice and help make it a pleasant place to spend time, especially when doing family things, like going to the beach or safari park. In fact, this car is so perfect for cruising round safari parks with the kids glued to the windows, it should be called a Zafari!

Performance is OK from the 2.2 engine. Obviously the old tech 4 speed auto saps power quite a bit, but in general the get up and go is acceptable. Only when trying to power up steep slip roads and the like does the lack of true grunt really show. For overtaking and regular motorway work, it's just about OK.

Economy is reasonable. We get about 30mpg in mixed driving, with nearer 35mpg on long motorway runs. That's with the air-con always turned on (climate system) and some heavy right foot usage!

Being so tall and heavy, this isn't a car for track days, but it's better handling than you might think. Good for a MPV, average for cars overall.

My one real complaint about this car is visibility, the A-pillar is so thick that whole cars disappear from view round sharp bends and roundabouts. Very dangerous. I understand the need for a strong chassis in one-box cars like this (see old shape Zafira crash results), but manufacturers need to innovate more to solve this problem of 6" thick pillars exactly where you need to see to give way! Simply adding more metal seems like lazy engineering.

One minor complaint: there's not enough storage or cup holders in the front of the car. Poor for a MPV really.

One last thing: indicators. I love the new style Vauxhall one-touch column stalks. Seriously. When I drive other cars without them now, the old style stalks seem so old-fashioned and clunky.

Yes, it does take a bit of getting used to, but when you get the hang of it, it just seems right somehow. Like this is how it always should have been done, although I know few agree with me!! :)

Overall, I like the car. In an ideal world I'd like the SAAB derived 2.0 turbo with a DSG Volkswagen style gearbox, but until Vauxhall do such a thing, this Zafira will do just fine.