Faults:

Cooling fan, radiator leak, brake booster, brake pipes corroded, etc.

Central locking developed a fault.

Leak in boot area.

Rust in final years leading to MOT failure.

General Comments:

My Senator was a classy upmarket sedan that was sold by Vauxhall in the 1980's and early 1990's as their executive offering along with the Carlton. Both were a lot of car for the money.

I bought this used in 1998, beautiful dark red metallic standard model with wheel trims, but still looked the part. "Chip cutter" grille was always considered ugly, but given how nowadays most cars have a massive grille, looking back it really does not look out of place at all. Mind you, it was better looking in CD spec with alloy wheels and a boot spoiler.

Inside this basic model still had very nice and comfortable seats, and electric windows and mirrors, luxury for the time. Great smooth ride, handled OK as well despite its size and weight.

The 2.5 was a basic six cylinder petrol engine however; not very fast nor economical either. I think it did less than 20 mpg if you drove fast, and about 25 mpg at best motorway cruising. Very relaxed drive with the auto box.

So the basic 2.5 model was not bad, and at sixteen years old and almost 140K on it, it was time to move on, bad rust killed it off so I scrapped the car, would love another but only a mint condition 1993/4 model CD spec 3.0 24v engine car. These early Senators are exceptionally rare even in their time. Most enthusiasts held onto top spec faster models.

Faults:

Only that the original clutch cable snapped after 10 years of use!

General Comments:

In the 5 years I have owned this car, it has been completely reliable.

Performance wise it's a big car and really is most at home on the motorways. It tends to wallow somewhat in corners, but, when pushed, can attain a serious licence losing speed.

Its definitely thirsty! Too thirsty with the present price of fuel (around town, on short journeys, I only got 15mpg. Despite renewing lots of consumables etc etc, I found this was about normal.

Its major fault is rust- and they just rust everywhere, the rear arches first, seals then bulkhead.

Faults:

Timing chain had gone before I bought the car causing £3000 worth of damage at 69000 miles.

Electric's are the cars real problem

Drivers side door mirror only tilts, does'nt pan.

Heater fan inoperative.

Cruise control failed 5 weeks after buying the car, (common problem)

Treat the headlight wipers with respect, now on No. 3!

O/s/r electric window now failed.

Nearly all the dashboard lights have been replaced, which takes ages.

Brakes could do with being more fade resistant.

Continual small rust spots.

Dreadful CD player which has been professionally rebuilt twice.

General Comments:

A lovely relaxing car to drive, capable of getting from A to B quickly.

Handles very well given size and weight of car.

Wonderful brakes, as long as you don't keep using them - see above.

Leather interior in very good condition, but it's treated regularly.

LCD dash unusual, but excellent at night.

Air conditioning/heating system is great, when the fan works.

Heated front seats are now a necessity for my next car.

Dealers have a well deserved truly awful reputation, I heard that much sarcasm at a main dealer, I complained.

Some parts are expensive, electrical items mainly, but the rest is solid and reasonably reliable and cost effective.

Steady 75 gets 32mpg.

Genuine 152mph 4 door saloon.