2005 Holden Vectra CDXi from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Front sway bar not connected properly from new.

Loose seatbelt pretensioner.

Wheel alignment required 1,000kms.

Front bumper chipping very easily after 4,000kms from very soft paint.

A serious competitor for BMW and Mercedes in terms of build, power and especially handling, and a car that puts the rest of the Holden line-up to shame.

Outperforms most competitors easily, with great chassis balance, tenacious grip (albeit noisy Goodyear's), and loads of power delivered efficiently and smoothly from a gearbox which makes the car.

Styling gets plenty of looks, and the overall feel of the car is of something very classy (both inside and out).

Great headlights for country driving, and a great information display which provides all the information you could ask for (speed alert is notably absent however -especially getting out of a WK Statesman which had 4!).

Front passenger legroom is strangely limited, however bootspace is great and easily accessed.

Overall a great driver's car you can't get out of!

When test driving new cars recently I had to go back a second time to prove to myself that the Vectra ZC CDXi was really as good as I thought it was the first time I drove it and it was. After only 1100kms of both city and country driving the Vectra is the most enjoyable driving experience I've had in along time. The grip this car has on the road is stunning and the performance of the 3.2 litre V6 is delightful. The adaptive 5 speed auto transmission heightens the experience with its silky smooth shifts. The interior space has been cleverly utilised with all instruments visible and all switches easy to reach. At 6'3" tall I can adjust the drivers seat to suite my frame and still sit in the rear seat with room to spare. On a recent country trip the car returned 7.5 litres/100kms or close on 38 mpg in the old measure and seems to be returning better than 9.5 litres/100kms around town.

After previously owning a BMW3251 (2002 model) I am having a little bit of trouble falling in love with my Vectra CDXI. The engine certainly has more punch that the bimmer and while it is quite refined it doesn't have the same smoothness or sound of the BMW. The handling of the Vectra is very good and in some ways I prefer that to the BMW because it tended to be a bit soft for my liking. There is some pitch on bouncy roads that feels like the damping could be a bit firmer on rebound, but I can live with it. What I dislike most about this car is the well documented tyre noise. Not much sound deadening material in a car that has so many luxury features. Not good enough. Perhaps frequent rotation of tyres will help stop it getting much worse or I'll be replacing them with something quieter. Overall I suppose it represents better value than the BMW because it's not far short of the BMW in terms of refinement and a hell of a lot cheaper. Probably won't hold its value, but then neither did the BMW despite their reputation for doing so. No more BM's for me.

I bought a vetra 2.2 CD hatch back in May 2005. Although it handles superbly on the road and I love the direct steering I have had several problems with mine. At 5000 kms my oil light came on and I was very low on oil. This has been rectified. Sometimes when going down hills the car breaks on its own accord. Once on Sexton Hill in Tweed Heads The car started to speed up for no apparent reason. After breaking I had control of the car again. My car also had afaulty radio/CD player that would come on in the middle of the night or whenever it felt like it, even when the car was locked. After a couple of months the battery went flat and I had to call roadside assistance to my home to start it. This also (I hope) was rectified yesterday. But finally on a very disturbing note, an acquantance that purchased his fourteen months ago brand new lost his Tuesday week ago when it burst into flames whilst driving down the highway. The damage to the motor was so severe the car was written off. He only had it insured for $24,000 so perhaps as a word of warning, make sure you insure your car for what it's worth not at what the insurance company determines its value.

Libby June 1st, 2006.

Well it's Libby back 2 years later and my car radio is still turning itself on in the middle of the night. They now think it is the ignition switch so will replace it tommorrow.

I can't drive my car when it gets below half full as it loses power and they claim I have rubbish in the bottom of my tank due to dirty petrol. Funny, I have had many cars, most old and NEVER had that problem. I have also found that on numerous occasions I have not been able to open the boot it just buzzes at me and as there is no facility to open it with a key, I am unable to access it without tearing the car apart. They allegedly fixed that today, we will see.

Well its Libby again. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours after work waiting for the problems to be fixed, only having to return today for another couple of hours to fix the radio that continues to turn on.

Only an hour and a half after returning home I hear the radio on downstairs in the car. I have it booked back in this Tuesday for a day.

It doesn't come into account with holden that it is an 80 km trip every time I take it in and I definately see no light at the end of the tunnel.

I have called Holden and stated to them categorically, I only have one year left of warranty and as this is an ongoing problem, the three year warranty should continue, until the initial problem I have wasted so much work time on, is rectified.

I believe there is a major problem in the computer chip. They can change every bit of my car as they are doing, but the problem will not be fixed until they deal with the programmeing chip.

Funny the first comments were so positive... sounds like a Vectra! That's the problem with new cars today. They're making them very high tech and as cheap as possible. Problem is us Mechanics are High School drop outs that just like working on cars not studying Engineering at Uni. Just keep that in mind next visit to a Holden Dealership as they fit another new module hoping the problem goes away.

Paddy here.

Libby, very keen to find out how the repairs went. Have they chipped it yet? Does the radio still turn on by itself? Have you checked the setup of the radio on the onboard computer as I seem to recall that there is an option for independent radio operation. From what I've seen this means the radio can be turned on without the keys in the ignition. Either way it seems to be a fault and should be dealt with as a continuing warranty issue.

Anyone else having problems with the radiator leaking into the transmission and causing it to fail? This happened to my 2005 2.2 Vectra at 73,000 kms, and this despite me identifying problems with the transmission to the Holden dealer who has serviced the car since 2007.