2001 Holden Vectra CD review from Australia and New Zealand

Constant slow coolant leak from 100,00 Kms

Crank angle Sensor failed at about the same time

Drivers side electric window winder failed at 88,000 Kms

Dash indicator led's failed.

I bought this car (the V6 2.6 hatch version) just under 3 years ago and up till recently have had a reasonable experience, (the car has had the correct servicing) but a trip to my mechanic last week to fix the slow coolant leak (which the local Holden dealer advised was not serious) and was leaking through the oil cooler, said just keep an eye on it and top up when necessary, suggesting that it would be better to wait till the next service to get it fixed. My mechanic had the car to carry out the work, the following morning he called me and told me to come in asap as they had found some serious problems. He advised me that coolant was seeping from several locations now,including the water pump, and that the car could be a terminal case and be very costly to fix in the long term. He promptly advised me to get rid of the car sooner than later, and he said that there could be leakage on the inside of the engine as well as the outside, this was indicated by poor performance for a few hundred meters when driving the car from cold first thing in the morning, (my wife said this had happened several times) Although he buys suitable cars for some of his customers he sadly declined to buy ours. He also suggested that other problems would crop up which were yet unknown to us like not being able to take the ignition key out of the ignition (a little plastic tab is prone to breaking off, guess what you have to replace the whole steering column at over $1000! He said the car is "poorly engineered" and not built to last and the last model to be imported into Australia is also plagued with many similar problems. I asked him what to go for he said Honda, Mazda or Toyota! in other words Japanese in preference to GM or Ford. I have recovered from this shock now and am hoping to trade the vehicle for something that has a proven track record.