1985 Opel Monza GSE review from UK and Ireland

Rear driveshafts regularly came undone.

Viscous fan seized up.

Fuel tank rusted out

Inner wings rusted out.

Electrics iffy.

Front discs cracked (twice).

Front spring broke.

These are fantastic cars, I owned two of them. The GSE has much better suspension and the four speed auto is a must.

Fuel consumption is surprisingly good and the straight six engine is a classsic.

The big problem is the lack of rust prevention. The fuel tanks rot out and are very expensive to replace. The inner wing areas do not have sufficient bracing and literaly crack after a bit of rust sets in - check for this very carefully if buying (do front wheels tilt inwards at the top).

The handbrake is only just good enough to scrape an MOT when in top condition. This means a brake rebuild at least once a year!

Front suspension suffers and is a garage job to service (very, very tight nuts - very big springs).

A rattling timing chain (common) is bad news, supposedly an engine out, head and sump off job to fix - some magicians claim they can do it without!

Apart from that a brilliant car, if I could find a nice one that had everything fixed, I would buy another.