2001 Vauxhall Zafira Elegance review from UK and Ireland

Loose trim panel on left B pillar.

Performance is particularly good; economy on runs is also good, but compromised by the roads in SE England where we live because so many junctions are present and thus there's a lot of stop/ start driving.

Handling is surprisingly good; I'm still pleased by the car's roadholding.

I'm concerned about the worse-than-expected NCAP test result; the Astra received four stars, but the Zafira, using the same chassis, received only three. The lap strap in the rear central seat is no longer acceptable in a family car, but with only three of us it's not necessary. However, primary safety - the tools needed to avoid an accident if you can - are well provided for; ABS, traction control, and a Porsche-designed chassis. Yup - GM used Porsche's R&D department to design this car. 3/4 of Porsche's staff design thid-party cars and not their own performance cars. Maybe this is why the chassis is so good.

As a family with a special needs child, the car is ideal - the doors open wide, the boot is large, with a rear hatch that drops nearly vertically, unlike the Picasso or Scenic.

I recommend installation of the Vauxhall-Fix child seats. These improve on Isofix by using two small seat belt buckles on the rear seat outer seats that clip into a subframe on the Vauxhall-Fix child seat, locking the child seat to the car's rear seat. The child seat's own harness then only needs to hold the child, for smaller children; toddlers up to age 5 are held by an additional pad that is held by the adult belt. The system is very secure in operation; the seat cannot be moved laterally once fixed. This is an excellent design - I've only seen a better system on Volvos.

The auto transmission is very quiet, as is the engine (I recommend that you replace the oil at 2000 miles with a synthetic).

Oh, and I have a few options that would have boosted the price to over £18500 in the UK: cruise control, darkended rear windows which are useful in Sussex in the summer heat, cargo nets etc. I paid only circa £14K by importing from Holland myself; I bought the car with Vauxhall trims, which really winds the UK dealers up. The only Opel designation is on the engine head!!