Faults:

Nothing big has gone.

The only annoying thing is that the 'check parking light' keeps being displayed on the computer. The lights have been checked by my local dealer a few times, but they seem unable to rectify this. Not particularly bothered since I am getting rid of the car in 3 weeks.

General Comments:

Have had the car 8 months and covered nearly 22,000 miles. Car goes like it's new despite having 70,000 on the clock.

I drive the car hard and it takes as much abuse as you can through at it.

Very quick. Great fun on the back roads and great cruiser on the motorways. Only real downside is that it is not as comfortable on long journeys as I had expected.

Fog lights on the SRi seem to have a problem in that that they mist up from the inside. Have had a new lens on both lights, but after a while the problem re-occurs.

In summary excellent car and beats all other cars in its class hands down. I am changing cars at the end of the month and I am getting a new Vectra Design 1.9CDTi. Bought a pre-registered car brand new for £11,988 - a saving of nearly £7,000 on the list price.

Faults:

Since having the car, nothing has gone wrong - 100% reliable.

General Comments:

I traded my last car (Astra Coupe Turbo) in for the Vectra diesel as I was spending a fortune on petrol. I expected a drop in performance in changing to diesel, but I was surprised at how small the difference was. The engine has lots of torque and sits silently at 80mph at just over 2,000rpm in near silence. One prod of the accelerator and the car takes off!

Fuel economy is great, on a motorway journey, 60mpg is easily achieveable.

The interior is solidly built and is extremely comfortable to drive on long distances.

Having recently driven a Peugeot 407, I can honestly say the Vectra rides and handles better, and the engine response is superior.

All in all, I'd thoroughly recommend the Vectra SRi CDTi to anyone thinking of buying one.

Faults:

Initial teething problems, more down to a poor pdi by dealer. Handbrake would not stay engaged and a new mechanism was needed which is a different trim type from original, but works, Paintwork was very dull, headlamps were poor and parts were falling off from interior trim. At roughly 3months old the Cd player had to be renewed, at 12000mls the cruise control switch had to be renewed, and again just this week the Cd player is AGAIN not working correctly and will have to be renewed.

General Comments:

On a possitive note the car does handle very well indeed both loaded and unloaded.

Fuel economy is excellent for the size of car and she is quite nippy when she wants to be.

Upholstery and trim I find very difficult to keep clean and the drivers seat is showing cloth wear.

The boot space is very generous, but the side panels are a let down if you are a dog owner, as they tend to be very easily knocked inwards by your pooches butt! Perhaps stronger panels should be considered?

The range of accessories for the car is very good and sensibly priced too.

Faults:

The boot needs a decent slam to close - easily adjusted if I bothered to take it to a dealer.

General Comments:

How do you replace a Jaguar XJR? If you were looking at life without a 370hp, computer-suspended, leather-smelling, walnut-trimmed Porsche-worrying happy-maker, would you usually turn to a Vauxhall?

And if the wife's complaints about 17mpg and 10,000 miles to a pair of rear tyres were getting too voluble, what then?

The Vectra was chosen as the follow-up to an unfollowable act. I'd been dating Helena Bonham Carter, and I'd just ditched her for the girl from Tesco's. I knew there'd be tears before bedtime.

So where's the pain? OK, so the acceleration doesn't move your hairline an inch backwards, but it's still plenty to embarrass most challengers. And with a top speed of 154, you're within 1 mph of the Jag's restricted maximum. On England's crowded motorways, you're only going to get near that speed at 12.15am on January 1st, so what's the difference?

Where this car shows real class is in its power delivery. BHP is a relatively modest 211, but it feels much more powerful than this. Before the XJR I drove a 3.0 Jaguar S-Type, whose 240bhp engine always felt gutless. The Vauxhall always has power on tap - it pulls cleanly from 1000 revs in top gear.

I'm not a fan of front wheel drive, but this car suffers very little from trying to pull and steer from the same pair of wheels. It feels confident and understeer is well under control. The ESP (Electronic stability program) system seems unobtrusive, and it's never yet punished over-enthusiasm by confiscating all the power.

The stereo system is way above average - better in fact than the Harmon Kardon in the XJR. The 6 disc changer is in the dash, making it (theoretically)possible to change music on the move.

So is the car perfect? Very nearly. In fact if Vauxhall hadn't chosen to install their ludicrous indicator system, I'd be hard put to find anything to criticise.

But they did.

We've been working the indicators by a stalk on the column for 50 years. It works. Don't fix it. The idea that we want an indicator stalk that that sometimes cancels itself, sometimes doesn't, and often encourages you to indicate the wrong way is very hard to understand.

Vauxhall, if you read customer opinions, PLEASE listen to your drivers. You've come astonishingly close to producing something outstanding. We have a high performance car that's cheap to buy, cheap to run (32mpg!), fun to drive and exceptionally well equipped. You've proved that the girl at Tesco's can have the beauty and staying power of a movie star.

And then you've stuck a wart on her face.