2004 Vauxhall Zafira Design review from UK and Ireland

Fuel tank gauge erratic (has been like that for 2 years) - faulty sender unit I am told.

Poor radio reception.

Only had the car for 5 months. It was exactly 3 years old and just out of warranty when we bought it second hand.

Very impressed with practicality, best 7-seat solution in compact sized MPV out there. Easy to covert and no heavy seats to remove/store when converting to van layout (unlike our Premacy).

Interior is sporty (ish), white dials, leather steering wheel and all seems very robust. Nothing broken or worn (yet) and has been used as a 7-seater, rubbish transporter several times.

All seats are firm and comfortable, but obviously the second row middle and the rear-most two are best for smaller folk. However, we do carry 3 children abreast in the middle all the time and no complaints (Zaffys have 3x3-point belts in rear from 2003 onwards). Rear most two seats are actually more spacious than most other slide into the floor jobs out there due to the extra footwell space allowed due to the sliding seat arrangement for the middle bench seat.

Seems pretty economical for a heavy car and I reckon we must be averaging mid 40s (not measured though) also plenty of pulling power giving a relaxed and quiet drive - more-so than the 1.8 petrol Premacy.

It's going in for it's 4th year service next week so can give feedback on serving experience and costs soon.

I researched all sorts of 7-seaters but with my criteria of

a) fold flat rear-most seats (ruling out Galaxy/Sharan etc)

b) diesel

c) not too big or expensive to run and insure (ruled out Voyager)

d) not tin can french/italian (ruling out Scenic, Doblo)

e) must be £6,500 or less (ruling out S-MAX, new Galaxy, C4 Picasso)

I ended up with VW Touran, Toyota Avensis Verso and Zafira.

Drove them all and ruled out the toyota for cost and old-fashioned seat layout. The VW drove well but was very expensive compared to Zaffys and other reviews were less than impressive - so a Zaffy it was.

Considered a LPG version but lack of filling stations and local availability put me off.

Can get bikes in the boot no problem.

The only real niggles are the fuel gauge, radio reception and the fact that the wipers are designed for left hand drive. The wiper pattern leaves a large unswept area against the A pillar. 3/4 visibility in all these sort of cars seems poor so it's not bad enough to put you off but you need to be aware of it.

Have driven the new Zafira a few times since and reckon that the diesel engines, although are more powerful have a narrower torque band, and that handbrake - why?!?. Overall, I'm not sure it's any better than the old one.

Overall - well recommended for economical family transport.