2001 Vauxhall Zafira DTi from UK and Ireland - Comments

The high oil consumption was a concern initially and before I realised it was a problem I came very close to loosing the engine completely! Since then oil consumption seems to have become less, but it is still a factor. Indeed recently a puddle of oil has appeared on the drive and initial investigations indicate that it might be a leak from the cylinder head gasket! This is still being investigated.

The mud flaps have rubbed off the paint underneath - a potential design fault and issue for me in future years.

The windscreen wipers seem to be designed with a left hand drive in mind.

Last summer when the car was 2.5 years old (2003) the engine management light started to come on shortly after start up. It went out after the engine had been revved. When I took it to my local garage and they plugged it into the fault finding machine they could not find anything wrong with it. In the end I left it with them so that they could start it in the morning. Sure enough they saw the light come on, but they could not identify the fault (good old CPU's).

Some time later, whilst driving home down country lanes, the drive belt snapped. This caused a loss of power steering amongst other things that was almost fatal on the country lane that I was on. The car is incredibly heavy without power steering and virtually impossible to steer without it (so I found anyway). I was towed to my nearest garage where they slowly and painstakingly removed the remains of the drive belt from the various pulleys etc. They fitted a new belt and tensioner.

A number of months passed by before the car developed an irritating rattling/grating noise in the engine compartment. The noise was not there at start up in a morning, but as I made my way to work (15 miles) it slowly got louder. By the time I got to work it was making quite a lot of noise and people started looking around to find out where the noise was coming from (hopefully a good advert for Vauxhall Zafira). When I took it to the garage (Feb '04) they checked all the pulley alignments, put a new belt on it and replaced the tensioner yet again. This did have the effect of stopping the engine management light from illuminating after start up (but then again the bulb in the warning light has probably blown). The noise stopped at first, but then it started up again in June '04. This time a new water pump, water pump pulley and drive belt was fitted. However the noise has just returned once more (July '04) and I'm getting to the stage where I've had enough of the miserable machine, as it's getting very expensive to maintain. The noise starts off quietly, but then gets louder. It seems to change in tone with the speed of the engine so if the car is revved it speeds up as well and whilst the car is parked it seems to get slower (but not quieter). It is definitely coming from the auxiliary drive belt side of the engine. I'm off to a different garage tomorrow to see if they can work it out.

Carpet mats have worn through in places.

I bought my Zafira Diesel 2.0 in Jan 2001. It is now July 2004 and it has 46000 miles on the clock. I would highly recommend that people consider carefully before buying one of these cars, as mine seems to be turning into a bit of a money drain! The advantages of the increased mileage associated with the diesel seemed a good idea at the time, but now with various garage bills etc, I'm not sure it was such a good buy after all.

The driving position is excellent and long journeys are relatively comfortable.

Good visibility for all passengers.

I went for an upgrade to the radio when I bought the car so that it had a CD player in it. However this must be the most basic CD player I've ever possessed as all it does is play and flick between tracks. There is no fast-forward through individual tracks or random selection function. For the price of it, I would have expected it to do a little more than it does. My daughter has a CD player that she paid £20 for and it does more than the CD player in my Zafira.

Has anyone else had any experiences like mine?

I agree with this review in every aspect as I too own the same model. I have also noticed that the paint is now starting to bubble up which is rather worrying on such a modern car... The truth be told; a Zafira is just a van with extra seats and windows... and probably overpriced at that.

Great review and honest. The one thing the Zafira does have going for it is... it does go rather fast...

Steve Ralphs.

Hmmmm.

This is my second Zafira now my first one was bought in 1999 2dti comfort model which I sold in 2003 the only problem I had was The high oil consumption only which lasted for the first 10000 miles.

Then I bought an Audi a4, had that about 7 months which was a bit small and I missed the Zafira so much so I went and bought another Zafira 2dti this time the elegance model.

This had the same oil consumption problem which lasted about 9000 miles, I has had this car almost 2 years now and done 85000 miles no problems at all, but the arm rest is annoying when in raised position your elbow will hit it while changing gears I normally leave it down as soon as I has started the journey.

OK now my first problem the engine management light started to come on shortly after start up, I have checked for coded from ecu, but nothing, its no point taking it to the garage to read the code they will also get nothing and charge me as well, but as soon as you start to drive and just rev it the light turns off.

I will take it a garage to checked all the pulley alignments hope this helps my tiny light problem, but I love the car I would recommend it to all my friends.

Re: Zafira fault light problem: I had a problem first with the "spanner" light coming on after about ten minutes, this would disappear when the ignition was turned off then on again, would reappear after another ten minutes of driving. I surmised that the fault could not have been a serious one in those circumstances, so ignored it. After another twenty thousand miles, alas the engine warning light came on, which was diagnosed by an independent mechanic as a problem with emission, based in the throttle area. He suggested that I must be having black smoke from the exhaust, which there wasn't, and heavy fuel consumption, which there wasn't. Apparently the fault code said that "the throttle load signal was not plausible". A new throttle body would have cost about £300 so as before, I ignored the problem. After a couple of days the engine light went out, although the "spanner" light appeared in it's usual friendly fashion. The engine light reappeared a couple of times after, so getting fed up with it, I opened the throttle body and found considerable muck around the inside which I cleaned off with a solvent. Believe me, there was a lot of it! The car now runs like new, smooth as silk and lo! not a warning light to be seen!. This taught me a few things: If a warning light comes on, it doesn't necessarily mean an expensive repair bill, but it's a good thing to investigate.

The car (a 2001 1.8 Auto Comfort model) has done 94000 miles, does around 35 mpg, over 40mpg on a long run, and I expect it to do at least another 70k. The best car I have owned! Viva Zafira!

Incidentally, like another writer I owned an Audi A4 for a few months and found it to be the most irritatingly badly designed car ever. Glad to see the back of it!

I change my company car every three years with 145,000 miles on the clock. The Zafira is the first to have shattered its wipers every winter (that's 2 out of 2) as they cross over each other, it's a very poor design.

The clutch has just failed (95,000) in an instant - no warning whatsoever, it's £1,112 to replace the clutch, drive-plate, and cylinder which was blamed for fluid loss and subsequent overheating - but no noises, no smells, no slipping - no warning - this is yours!

I have had the pleasure of the engine management cutting in every so often, usually when I attempt to do a steady 70 mph (a steady 80-90 mph is OK), which results in a very sudden loss of power in the third lane, very scary, not sure says the main dealer - probably the core plugs need changing £250 - see how you go on till the next service (in 20,000 miles)!

Well if I survive, I will get rid of it at asap and get something a lot better, and more reliable, at the money.

This is an 03 plate, Vauxhall 2.0 DTI serviced from new.

I have had a new Zafira Club 2.0 DTi since September 2002. It was purchased as a "replacement" to my ex-lease VW Sharan. I was a little spoiled by the Sharan with its split air-con, auto gearbox (even though it was a diesel), and cruise control, as the Zafira had none of these. However, I found the Zafira about half as much to run.

I have done 90,000 miles in it and it is still going strong. I have not had the oil consumption problems as previously posted, and can go 20,000 miles without ever needing to top it up. In fact, when I do check it (about every 5000 miles) it is only half way between the high and low marks on the dipstick after 20k miles.

Most of the problems I have had have been with the trim rattling. I once was given a bill of £220 for curing a rattle in the roof lining after it was out of its warranty. I managed to barter them down to £30 though. The main problem I find is with its pathetic towing capability. For its size and weight, 1050Kgs is useless. Who in their right mind designs a 7 seater, offers a tow-bar, then only allows you to tow a 2 berth caravan. We are looking at the new Zafira as it can tow another 250Kgs more.

Apart from the rattly trim and low towing capability, my Zafira is a dream to drive, handles well, is comfortable, and economical all round to run.

I own a 2000{x reg}zafira dti club. apart from a wheel bearing and injector seals I have had no problems at all. it has done nearly 140,000 miles. would recommend one to anybody. brilliant car.very good mpg and performance.

I have a vauxhall zafira 2.0 dti 2001 reg. Great car to drive, but the oil consumption is bad. I have an oil leak coming from somewhere around the air manifold where the inter cooler pipes connnect which blows oil all oner the inner cabin of the engine. This has had numerous attemts to fix, but has never been sorted for more than a couple of weeks. The sooner I get rid of it the better.

I have owned a 2001 Zafira DTI for over 3 years and generally found the car to be versatile and economical to run.

One particular problem has been a loss of power when the turbo cut out while I was overtaking on the motorway - quite a scary experience. I managed to complete my journey without the turbo and with the appearance of the engine management light illuminating (the car and spanner symbol). This was fixed at the Vauxhall dealers by replacing the air flow micro-switch.

The engine management light still appears after about 10 minutes of driving and stays on until I brake which seems strange. My wife also notices a loss of power especially when pulling away at lights or junctions.

The latest fault has been that the engine will not start. I suspect a faulty fuel pump or blocked fuel filter - we had no warning of this. I have not currently resolved this problem so it looks as though I will be forced to get the garage to rectify it at some expense I expect.

I have a zafira dti 51 reg, good on the motorway, i had the oil leak and the mechanic tried to unscrew the bolt which he couldnt, but since then it has stopped leaking. the pulley tensioner has started to make a noise, but not a major problem.

I have a second hand Zafira 2002. 67000 miles, currently using about a litre of oil every 700miles - which is within acceptable parameters. I think this is incredibly high.

Hi to all zafira dti owners,i must be one of the lucky ones

i have had my 03 dti zafira for 2yrs I bought the car on 19000mls ond it is now on 43000mls and with regular servicing and using a fully sinthetic 5w/30 top spec oil

it has not used a drop. it has a full service every 10000mls what ever the car needs.it has been a super reliable mpv and dose just about everything I need it to do.

Thankyou zafira.

I bought a 3 year old Vauxhall Zafira 2.0dti 2003 on about 21000 miles. I started getting some dips in the performance (as though the engine was cutting out) at about 50mph. Each time the dip occurred the engine mechanics warning light came on. After this occurring 3 times I stopped and the engine died. I managed to restart and pull to a safe zone before the engine died again. The warning light now remained on. After restarting, the car would cut out in 20 seconds. After recovery etc. the garage tells me the diesel fuel injection pump has gone. Lucky I have warranty, but the tell me it'll cost about £2k.

During my time using the car, The plastic around the catches for the seat connection have shattered. The faux Leather/Plastic seal by the rear car door windows have bubbled and the plastic backing of the front car seat has torn easily.

I would get warranty on the car, but I still like the versatility, size etc.

I have a Zafira 2001 1.8dti. Had the engine management light problem for a while like loads of others have, but now power steering keeps coming and going!! Took it to local garage who say it's not the power steering fluid or belt, but a common fault with this year! Apparently, I need a 'power steering modification kit' which is going to set me back £1000!!! Has anyone else come across this problem?

We have a Zafira 2.0DTi and have had similar problems to people here.

Spanner light comes on from cold start, goes out when its revved to about 3000rpm.

In the last 2 weeks though its been hard to start of a morning. I took it to a local garage who did a diagnostics test and found a few things wrong, but he wasn't sure if they all applied or the ECU had held the error codes from previous work being done (but hadn't been cleared). He cleared them out and left us to it, but said if the light returns, to go back and he'll scan it again.

Next morning, struggled to start it, light came on. Took it back and he eventually found that the injector seals had eventually failed and that was causing the diesel to flood back on itself (hence poor starts and a rattly old-style diesel engine sound when driving).

Replaced these, and the engine is quiet again and drives nice again too.

May be worth getting this checked out for people with similar problems? Unfortunately, its not necessarily a cheap fix from a garage!!

I have a Zafira 2001... never had any problems until a couple of weeks ago; crappy starting every day and spitting a load of black stuff out; took it to garage who changed the heater plugs and changed the cold starter, but it still didn't work. Eventually I got onto Vauxhall who told us it's a common fault and the fuel injector seals are blocked!!!

A week later with no car and it's only just being fixed (fingers crossed). No idea of the price yet!!