Faults:

Head gasket and valve gasket had to be replaced, as expected I suppose.

Ghosts in the electrics. Sometimes, when idling, the engine would just turn off on its own. I replaced sensor after sensor, some wires, had the computer diagnosed, but nothing would seem to fix it.

General Comments:

It had all the frilly-bits a man could want: steering wheel buttons for the stereo, AC, a snow driving button, TC button, seven or eight cup holders, and a cassette storage unit, which is funny, because it had a CD player.

It handled like a bus when driving in town; heavy steering and HARD suspension.

But when going just under 190 km/h on new asphalt, the car would just glue itself onto the road. That was the sort of driving this car was made for.

Faults:

Air conditioning hasn't worked since I bought the car. (I haven't got it repaired)

Coil pack went at 35,000mls (cost 200 euro to replace excl, labour)

Water pump bearing Started to fail at 50,000mls (Complete failure would have meant that timing belt would fail too, meaning serious cylinder head/engine damage)

A few minor electrical faults, Such as:

Fan control/Heating panel lights stopped working at 55,000mls (think it's a loose wire??)

Driver electric window switch gets sticky at times (needs to be taken apart and contacts cleaned)

General Comments:

When car has no problems it drives very well.

Very comfortable on long journeys, nice smooth ride and good handling.

Very reliable if looked after, and as long as any faults are repaired before they become too serious.

Can be a bit heavy on petrol.

Faults:

1. Evaporator of the air conditioning has developed a leak and been changed.

Other than that, nothing really wrong, except standard maintenance.

2. But I don't exactly realize why the water pump must be changed with the timing belt (every 60 000 kms). Why not only the timing belt??

General Comments:

1. It is very good doing 125 km/h at 3000rpm in fifth gear, when driving on motorway.

2. Requires more gear changes when not driving on the motorway than a 1.6 compact car (e.g. Golf), because of long gear ratios.

3. Engine is too noisy for a car of this segment at low speed, but OK when driving faster than 80 km/h.

4. Bad driving position in my view (steering wheel too low, seat too high, and I am 190 cm.). The Vectra A that I had before this one was perfect on this point.

5. Very good automatic air conditioning.

Faults:

Airbag warning light came on after about 11 months (14000 miles). Dealer fixed this under warranty.

'ECO' button light stopped working after about 18 months (20000 miles). Asked for it to be fixed during service, but dealer didn't do it.

Accelerator pedal started to 'squeak' around the same time. Dealer charged over £30 to fix this - pedal had to be removed and lubricated!!

General Comments:

Overall I think it is a great car and the things that have gone wrong have been minor and only slightly annoying.

I bought this car as an import from Republic of Ireland and saved £6500 on the new price... so I can't really complain!!

On the negative side, I was horrified recently when told the value of the car after less than two years..£9500. You lose so much money so quickly, it really doesn't justify buying a new car.