1993 Opel Frontera Sport from UK and Ireland - Comments

At 55,000 miles the head gasket blew.

At 62,000 miles the camshaft needed replacing along with all the lifters and valves (€1500)

Heater controls broke, but easy fix myself.

Fuel line into the tank perished, easy fix myself.

Driver's passenger window electrics fail intermittently.

Suspension needs replacing (Shocks and Bushes) but can live with it for a while as it makes little impact on day to day use.

Performance is terrible, the car is flat out at 80mph and it's always a close race between myself and buses as the lights change green.

I get a decent car allowance with my work and eyebrows are always raised as I pull into the company car park in it.

Sounds like you got the Australian-made 4-cylinder petrol motor, which was OK in a sedan, but seriously underpowered in the Frontera (which is a surprising heavy beast for its size). If you want to retain the sexy Frontera look, but want some decent power, look around for an Isuzu MU (Mysterious Utility) which would be a "grey import". The earlier ones were fitted with a 2.8 turbodiesel, from '93 a terrific 3.1 t/d powered them along nicely.

Aside from the exaggerated spares problems with "imports", the only other issue I've found is the lack of colours, the Japanese having conservative (and rather boring) tastes in colours. Thankfully the MU comes in some comparatively funky colours, as well as the usual drab white, black and gunmetal grey.

Japanese?

As an update, I sold the Frontera about a year after I got it for the same money too. It was underpowered and I think it had a 2 ltr fuel injected motor although due to the major work it had (the headgasket and the crank) its possible it lost a lot of horsepower e.g. there may have been some sustained damage. It was so long ago now and I've just brought a Disco 3 (2005 - read my review) which is like comparing a McDonalds Meal to a Gordon Ramsey Special.

Anyone know of after-market suspension for the 2l Sport? I find it very hard and uncomfortable, and as we live in Spain with a lot of very poor roads, would welcome any comments.

Has anyone any experience of Frontera 2.2 diesel (1998) producing a lot of blue smoke at 2000 rpm only. Seems fine above and below. also engine sounds rough at that RPM.