Faults:

ABS, air con never worked, plastic trim interior broken here and there, passenger window failed, gearbox felt a bit hit and miss as the miles rose, plus all the usual wear and tear of age and mileage.

General Comments:

A Vectra estate car that I had a while ago. It was a fantastically reliable car contrary to popular belief. I looked after my car well and it lasted 20 years!

GLS model was mid range. But the car had plenty of electrics for a 1990's vehicle. I liked the interior. Dull, but very comfortable. Radio was decent quality. Also it was actually pretty quiet and smooth once heated up and on the motorway (but noisy around town). Being an estate car I got plenty of materials in (I was a joiner and used it for work at the time) and the car never missed a beat.

2.0 DTi had OK performance while doing over 46 mpg. For an early diesel of its kind, it didn't get any better than that, plus fuel was cheaper back in the day. That combined with low insurance, the car was as cheap as chips to run. Very cost effective. Repairs and servicing were always reasonable as well.

Was actually OK to drive as well. I had a go in a Ford Mondeo of similar age to see what the fuss was about. Yes the Ford certainly drove better, but I do not think the Vauxhall was as bad as the motoring press claimed at the time. The cars were comparable and good at everything.

What more can I say, I had it a long time and it never let me down. Only scrapped due to being too high mileage, old and uneconomical to put through another MOT. In short, the 1990's Vectra was a solid long lasting economical car that didn't deserve its bad image.

Faults:

Quite a lot as expected over many years and miles. But mostly wear and tear items - not many breakdowns. The only one was due to an ageing battery and alternator that had to be replaced.

Think I also replaced the brakes and suspension parts pretty much entirely over time.

Oil leaks but never serious.

Clutch @ 95K miles.

Interior rough as you can imagine, lots of broken low quality plastics. Exterior also looking very tired.

General Comments:

People can say what they want abut the Vectra of this generation - I liked mine.

It was reliable and plodded on no matter what. Service these cars on time and reliability is as good as anything. Mostly due to this being the 2.0 petrol engine - probably the pick of the petrol engines, and certainly better than the diesels of this time. Simple and reliable.

Performance was good as well. And it did average a genuine 36 miles per gallon.

GLS model was middle range, had enough toys for me. Seats were OK, a little uncomfortable on longer journeys. I have heard later updated models were much better, but these early cars were not as bad as people made out.

Decent to drive, reasonable running costs, and the fact I have had it 20 years and it's still going says it all.

Faults:

Slow warm up (thermostat fault).

Sticking/jammed electric windows.

Gear lever felt very loose but never actually broke.

Engine management light came on.

Brakes were weak even after new discs and pads.

Lots of squeaks/rattles!

General Comments:

Back in 2008 I picked up this Vectra Estate car in dark blue for very cheap and used it for work for many years. For all the stick this car got in the motoring press, I can tell you one thing - it really was not that bad.

2.0 DTi was from a time when diesels were starting to get really good. Performance was OK and it did 47 mpg on average, very good for a 1998 car when fuel was not really expensive so you really felt the benefit of that economy. The car handled poorly however, as people always say in reviews of this car. Gear change also felt weird, but maybe there was a fault with the selector on my car as mentioned above.

Inside was actually pretty comfortable, GLS model was mid range and well equipped. Nice alloy wheels. Lots of space as expected from an estate version, and the visibility was good and I liked being in this car. The Vectra was also not as uncomfortable as people said. And my car was a 1998, just before the updated version that apparently made it much better. Mine had a "traffic master" button that was like an early sat nav/online traffic warnings that you could subscribe to for traffic updates in your area. A good idea but very 1990's. "In between/early" technology always made me laugh.

So generally I liked it, but it does not get off so lightly, the Vectra of this generation is still a very poorly built cheap looking car that had its issues. Mine was a bit rough but looked after with all services. Common small faults would occur frequently but never any major breakdowns. The engine management light came on in my last year of ownership and I knew it was not worth fixing so that lead to it being scrapped. But it lasted 20 years so overall not a bad car, just boring and could have been better.