1996 Vauxhall Vectra LS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Head lamp motors both failed at 65000 miles.

Head gasket blew at 70000 miles.

Just recently the front off-side suspension coil snapped! (apparently a defect when manufactured).

One main point I can't avoid is the rattles on the dash. Left & right hand side corners by the windscreen have the most annoying rattles, with no apparent cure. Long journeys leave you tempted to kick the dash out of the window!!!

Staying with the interior, I have to comment on the front seats. Squeaky & rock solid, with no support, these seats are sure to leave the most healthy person with painful back complaints.

Engine is fairly smooth & responsive, but fails to return good fuel figures, even when driven easy.

Handling is acceptable, but the rear end can step out unexpectedly in the wet.

The ride isn't bad, but it seems worse due to the sub-standard build quality.

The Vectra is fairly genuine, but hard to live with. I might buy another Vauxhall, but I'll steer well clear of the mk.1 Vectra in future.

I didn't think there were any genuinely bad cars still on sale until I recieved a Vectra 1.8 as my company car. Anything that could go wrong did. The car was returned to the dealer (who was as useless as the car) almost weekly for repairs. I agree with all the above faults, mine also rattled, squeaked and generally fell to bits. A truly awful car.

I have a 2 litre Vectra LS. X reg. I aquired the car with 13000 miles on the clock. Today's mileage reads 32000. I have so far replaced one headlamp bulb. Petrol consumption is possibly a little heavy, but the performance well compensates for that, and generally I am happy with the car. As I have read in one of the other comments possibly overall the car does not feel quite as good as my previous Cavaliers, but replacements never quite measure up to the originals.

I recently part-X my other car for a 1996 P Reg Vectra and it generally is a good feel on the road, however, it seems to just cuts out (literally stops driving) and the steering locks up. Only control I have when this happens is the brakes (Thank God.) There seems to be an electronic fault with the car (apparently a manufacturing defect)... a bit of a nightmare and definitely now a safety hazard. HELP!!