1997 Vauxhall Tigra Coupe review from UK and Ireland

I've owned this car 14 months now and so far... the cam belt has broken, both rear wheel bearings have needed replacing, and again after 14 months, deadlocks wouldn't engage, overheating, electrical problems, poor performance and we found an accident damage repair that the dealer hadn't told me about.

The Tigra was my dream car. I'd admired them from a distance since the launch. So when I popped along to a local dealer to get a "reliable and fairly new car" and saw the Tigra in the forecourt I fell in love with it. It was black, sleek, stylish, everything I wanted. The dealer cut me a good deal and even gave me £500 for my clapped out old escort. He promised me a full 12 months MOT and a 3 month warranty. I'd read up on Tigra's on this site before hand. And i'd heard about the cam belt problem at around 40k. This Tigra had done 34K, so I mentioned this to the dealer who assured me that it would be changed as part of their "88" point inspection. Ha...

I collected the car, and drove it home wondering what the grinding noise was. Yep, the bearing. I returned it to the dealer. 2 weeks later the noise was back, another rear bearing. I returned it to the dealer. Then I noticed that one of the front headlights wasn't in alignment with the other. A closer look revealed accident damage. I returned it to the dealer and enquired about whether the "88" point inspection had actually been done. Guess what? It hadn't. When the dealer actually did the inspection they found a whole host of faults including the dodgy accident damage and electrical faults, together with a whole host of problems (listed above). So I collected the car that I'd bought 4 weeks ago and went merrily on my way. I was truly fault free for 3 days when the cam belt broke. The AA returned my car to the dealer... again. And I mentioned my previous enquiry about the cam belt which hadn't been changed as promised. It must have cost the dealer a small fortune to get the car right. Thank god that I'd had warranty. I've now had the car for 14 months. Things have been OK, but the rear wheel bearing has gone again and theres a fault in one of the sidelights that a bulb can't cure. My handbrake light is constantly illuminated and the car seems to have lost some performance since the cam belt problem. Other than that, I still love driving this car. It looks gorgeous when its polished up and it's a brilliant little car around the town. So its kind of worth the hassle. My advice to anyone buying a Tigra is: take someone with you who knows enough about cars to spot the problems. Go over it with a fine tooth comb and take it for a test drive. If your seller/dealer objects, walk away.