Faults:

In the five years and huge mileage I covered in this car the only things to have gone wrong are:

Rear wheel bearings suffered wear (right hand side only).

A metal pipe at the front of the engine corroded and burst, which was my fault for not putting corrosion inhibitor in the coolant.

General Comments:

The best car I have ever owned.

When I had this car, I was a seventeen year old obsessed with driving fast. Living in the countryside, I had the opportunity to do this every day, and so I did. The poor car barely dropped below 80mph and quite regularly reached 130 mph on the speedo. I used to get through tyres and brakes (consumables) quite rapidly, but the car shockingly never missed a beat. If I drove current day Vectra like I used to drive my 19 it would be dead.

The car was always waxed and washed, suffered no corrosion what so ever.

I fitted a tow bar, and used the car to launch and recover a 14ft jet boat, which it did effortlessly.

The handling was very precise and the car would always let me know before it was going to lose grip via a unique rumbling feel through the steering. When grip was finally lost, the car slid sideways gently in the most predictive way I have ever known.

The seats are extremely comfortable and long distance cruising on the motorway could be done with ease.

The only downfall with the car is that it lacked torque low down in the rev range, although for a 1.4 petrol it flies at higher revs and beats anything ford and vauxhall can offer for a similar age and size of car.

Faults:

One of the rear shocks is broken.

General Comments:

The stereo is of poor quality, but the steering wheel mounted controls are a nice touch.

The interior is a little old fashioned, however the seats are very comfotable and there is plenty of room.

The RT has many extras, all electrics are good quality.

There is plenty of power, and it is faster than most 1.6 petrol cars.

Very Economical, I can get over 250 miles from half a tank of fuel.

The handling is quite good and the RT model comes standard with a strut brace under the bonnet, this helps with cornering.

Faults:

Radiator leak when I bought it. Fixed (temporarily me thinks) with rad-weld.

Rust on the bonnet leading edge needed attention.

Wheel arch rust and sills needed a minimal amount of welding to pass last MOT.

The previous owner had to replace the alternator at 100,000 miles.

General Comments:

A pleasure to drive. Reliable, always starts first time. Even in the wettest weather.

The most comfortable seats of any car I've been in and that includes my brothers BMW. Very relaxed drive on the motorway and with plenty of boot space and leg room.

Niggles are that being the diesel version the clutch and accelerator are very heavy and need strong calf muscles to drive in stop start traffic. Also the cooling system does not like traffic jams in the summer and heats up quickly.

The best bits are excellent seats, power steering, electric everything! (Mirrors, sunroof, windows, central locking) and the solid and reliable drive. I've never had it let me down so far.

Brakes are excellent and stop the car in good time without locking under all, but the worst weather conditions and with a good set of tyres the road holding and handling is exceptional.

It drives on the nose and is very well balanced, the steering is so sweet. You have to drive very unreasonably to induce understeer and more so to induce oversteer.

It is very sluggish accelerating from a standstill, but has a power spot at about 30 MPH and 2700 RPM. If you put your foot down at this point you get a big kick in the back and can pretty much pass anything on the road including new hatchbacks.

With its Phase II styling, alloys and rear wing it's still a looker after 10 years.

I love driving it for it's practicality and for the buzz you get from the rock solid handling and performance when you put your foot down.