2000 Daewoo Leganza CDXE from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing.

This car is fantastic value for money, with up-market good looks, good build quality and fitted with every extra you could want including satellite navigation.

It was designed by ITAL design of Italy and is based on the Jaguar Kensington concept car of the 1991 motor show

General Motors Holden Australia manufactured the engine and Porsche designed the automatic gear box

I prefer to drive this car at weekends, instead of my company car - a 2003 Vectra Elegance 2.2DTI.

Shame that they stopped making them

As someone who has done over 100,000 miles each in a Ford Mondeo and a Daewoo Leganza as company cars, I find your title comment somewhat difficult to fathom.

My recollection of the Leganza is somewhat less rosy. In brief terms:

Falling apart by 100,000 miles with squeaks and creaks everywhere.

Cambelts snapped on all six on the fleet before 40,000 miles. Eleven non-scheduled dealer visits in 100,000 miles for my car, and it was one of the better ones.

Vague steering with no feel whatsoever.

Appalling damping, with floating and wallowing, yet crashing over really rough roads.

Dangerous ABS, particularly in the wet. Cuts in far too eagerly.

Abysmal handling. Car could steer, handle bumps or accelerate just fine, but could not cope with doing more than one at the same time. Vicious understeer and traction problems in the wet. Rehashed GM components showing their colours here.

Rough, intrusively boomy engine that struggled to better 25 mpg average. In its defence, it went well though.

Reasonable comfort and excellent equipment.

A heck of a lot of car for the money if viewed in size / standard kit terms.

In comparison with the Mondeo, which I recall as having:

Truly excellent handling with perfect damping and lots of feel through the steering. Read any car magazine.

A smooth, supple, well damped ride. Read any car magazine.

Strong brakes, with well set up ABS. Read any car magazine.

A slightly noisy, but smooth, torquey engine which averaged 10 mpg more than the Daewoo's.

A slightly cheap looking interior, but one which held together well over 100,000 miles.

Generally solid build quality. Doors thunked shut, everything worked from day one until the day it went back.

Lovely seats and driving position.

One non service fault in 100,000 miles (electric window switch).

See my confusion? I will concede Ford auto boxes are awful, but my comments relate to manual versions of both cars.

Do you like your Leganza with cheese, meat, or spinach?

Mr 26 Aug 14-30, your comments are better than most reviews.

I have owned or had the use of many cars over my driving career including new Xantia 2.0 16v, Audi A6 1.9 TD, Toyota Avensis D4D and Seat Leon Cupra, and in all honesty my Leganza is the best overall.

I bought the car one owner,19k miles,2000 CDX model with leather, auto, CD, air con, electric mirrors, windows, drivers seat and sunroof, ABS etc for £2,600.

It has been totally reliable, economical and a pleasure to drive as long as it is driver in a relaxed manner that suits its chracter, it is superb. It looks good too in a nice metallic Merlot red with beige trim.

It makes other cars seem a rip off, and they are!

Steve Chapman Liverpool.

Compare your Leganza to the list of other cars in your first paragraph when it's done 50,000 miles, and again at 100,000 miles.

Don't get me wrong, they are attractive when new-ish as they represent lots of car for the money. Unfortunately the build quality and cheapened down Vauxhall components won't go the distance. Even the cambelts don't last to the recommended change intervals.

I purchased a brand new 2000 Leganza CDX in 2002 - I read other comments about timing belt breakage so I had mine replaced at 55,000 and 110,000. I had to replace the AC condenser (rock?) and brake pads a couple of times.

I currently have about 120K on the car and it looks and drives like new.

I drive mostly highway, never beat on it, and change the oil every 6-7 thousand miles.

It is a well engineered, solidly built vehicle.

Hmm, I think that some car manufacturers/salesmen have been let loose on this site, I have found my leganza to be a real nice car. I recently bought my wife a Focus, but she has refused it preferring to drive the Leganza. As for crashing and dodgy handling comments etc. I think somebody must have chosen the wrong car for their rallying, or they have been undertaking the type of driving that gives us company car drivers a bad name. If you drive sensibly and service it regularly it should provide many miles reliable/comfortable motoring. If you want to rally choose something else, but remember to watch for those trees, because they are unforgiving no matter what you drive. Its funny how, people hammer their cars yet expect them to last for ever. Guess what they don't! Daewoo does not deserve all the bad press it got from the likes of Top Gear etc and the rest of the motor trade putting the boot in.

You don't need to hammer a Leganza to notice the numb steering, lack of front end grip in the wet, vicious understeer and cheap build quality.

Just hope you never have to take avoiding action at speed in the wet. Otherwise it will be a big insurance claim.

It's not a case of people putting the boot in. It's not a very good car. That's why the company went bust. If they couldn't sell them with that aftersales package, what did that say about the car itself?

Besides which, a Ford Mondeo is hardly the epitome of image, but at least it's a decent drive.

Having read the various comments on the leganza thought I would add my own. purchased my leganza 3 years ago at auction paid just over £3000 for car under 3 years old, its top of range cdxe electric everything,leather sat nav etc etc.have to say this has been the best car I have owned. am taxi driver and have owned mondeo, skoda octavia, vauxhall vectra, the leganza beats them all for comfort,drive and running cost (has sailed through every mot no problem) i might just have been lucky, but if I come across one of the last ones made with low miles would certainly consider buying again. however for now mine still going well,for the money paid and spec of car a great buy and a good car.

I am a mechanic, and with all the cars I have fixed and driven, honestly the Leganza happened to be the best luxury car ever (apart from the Vauxhall engine). Trust me it is.

I bought my Leganza in Feb 07 for £1800. It is a 1999 CDX that had 54000 with only 1 owner from new. Buyer beware, as these cars have a tendency to blow their head gaskets if not serviced properly. The previous owner (an old man from Southampton) had religiously had it serviced at the same garage since new regardless of the mileage he had driven that year. Unfortunately for me, he traded it in before it's next service and along came me and thought, "what a bargain!" The garage told me they had serviced it when I pointed out it was due, but didn't check the book when I picked it up. Carried on my way, and 4 months down the line and I started losing coolant; I checked the engine and realised the oil was as black as the ace of spades, and dirty. I rang garage to be told that they didn't service it as their mechanic was off sick and the bloke who handed me keys was meant to ask me to bring it back (hmmm, sounds like I was being fobbed off). Garage wasn't interested as I was out of my 3 month warranty period so had to fork out £300 to fix (should have been nearer £600 but have a friend in the trade). Moral of the story: the Leganza is a reliable car if it is maintained; if it isn't, it can fall apart very quickly. Other than this, I have to agree on the handling, but this is only when I'm pushing it. If you go into relax mode and just let the car take you from A to B, I cannot recommend any other car for your money. Fuel consumption isn't great around town (I've had it down to around 20mpg) but I have had it up to 38mpg on a long motorway trip averaging 75mph (and I have the automatic). There are a lot of buttons, but within a week, most people should have gotten to grips with what does what and after a month you'll jump into other cars and wonder why there are knobs and twirly bits when buttons do things so much easier! The standard Sony 10 CD radio cassette stereo is another one for the button fetishist, but again, is actually very user-friendly if you take 10 minutes to read the manual. With split/folding rear seats, decent leather on the seats and loads of cabin space, my Leganza is not just comfortable; but practical and ferries my wife and 2 kids plus myself on many a long trip with ease (and with no bags stuffed around the seats either--the boot is massive and deep). I would recommend this car and despite my initial problem with the head gasket, this car has given me no problems so far.

I'm in sales traveling in the USA. I put 240.000 miles on a Daewoo Leganza, it's the best car I ever drove. Last year I rented close to 20 brand new cars, every time a different automobile model, and none of those were as comfortable as reliable as Daewoo Leganza. I love that car; the engine performance, brakes, transmission, design, everything, including the price I missed, and I just love.

The best car I ever had.

I am considering buying a Daewoo Leganza and I wanted any feedback that would help with my decision. I haven't bought it yet, and the owner said that the only thing that it needed was a timing belt what should I do. This is my first car so I want to think reasonably and responsibly. Please provide your feedback.