1998 Holden Vectra JS review from Australia and New Zealand
"An extremely bitter lemon"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
The following is a list of all of the problems we have had with this car along with the odometer reading:
2487 handbrake not holding
3343 handbrake not holding
6823 handbrake not holding
12392 erratic idle and stalling
13810 clunk in windscreen wipers
13810 erratic idle and stalling
14539 click in wipers
14539 clunk on start
23597 creak in seat
34055 clunk in steering
43176 tyre wear and noise
48114 tyre wear and noise
49575 handbrake not holding
51562 clunk on start
55802 erratic idle and stalling
55802 squeak in steering
55802 tyre wear and noise
58082 r/h/f door handle catching
58082 tyre wear and noise
61250 erratic idle and stalling
61250 reverse light not work
61250 tyre wear and noise
62836 tyre wear and noise
64391 clunk in steering
64391 erratic idle and stalling
64391 tyre wear and noise
64391 tyre wear and noise
64603 clunk in steering
65411 faulty auto windows
65411 squeak in steering
65411 tyre wear and noise
89246 Coolant level indicator on
94600 erratic idle and stalling
94654 erratic idle and stalling
? clunk in steering
? clunk on start
? creak in seat
? erratic idle and stalling.
General comments?
Don’t touch it!
We have had over seven types of fault with this car, with all of those faults being addressed multiple times by Holden dealer mechanics. The most significant being the stalling problem.
It has been addressed six times and is currently being addressed again. On the fifth occasion, a new re-designed IAC valve was installed. It lasted just under a year until it caused our car to stall in the middle of a four-way intersection. This was a life-threatening situation.
It should be noted that the day before this life-threatening situation, the stalling problem had been addressed by Holden dealer mechanics during the car’s 90,000km service. We were told the idling mechanism was fixed, clearly it wasn't!
During the first two years of owning this car, we had it in the repair shop on average one day a month. Currently, it’s back in the workshop for five working days, to have four outstanding problems addressed.
The following is a summary of the key problems and the number of times we have had them dealt with.
Idling mechanism (8) ; clunk in steering (5) ; clunk on ignition (4) ; handbrake not holding (4) ; knock in steering (3) ; tyre wear and wheel noise (10) ; click in wipers (2) ; failing reverse light (1) ; and creak in seat (2).
Clearly, Holden believes that these faults and having this number of faults with a car is acceptable.
Readers probably wonder why we haven’t rid ourselves of this car. Holden insists they can fix these problems and it has only been over time and with patience that we have put up with this lemon car. We now have no confidence in Holden being able to fix these outstanding problems, in particular, the stalling problem.
We decided to buy an Australian-made car to support our local industry. We will never buy a Holden again and will think very carefully before we buy another Australian-made car.
Clearly this country needs lemon laws.
Our advice … don’t touch a Holden Vectra!
Recommended Reviews:
  | If you want to move up to a sports sedan with low kms for under $20,000, look no further!! |
| The high rate of faults is totally unacceptable |
All 1998 Holden Vectra reviews
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| First year of ownership | 1999 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2002 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.2 Manual |
| Performance marks | 8/10 |
| Reliability marks | 2/10 |
| Comfort marks | 7/10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 5/10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | |
| Distance when acquired | 1500 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 95000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Suzuki Swift |
| Date of Entry | 10th August, 2002 |