written by spliff1star on 17/12/2004
Good Points
Looks, girls luv it. Corsa interia, no rust.
Bad Points
Ecotec engine, performance, heavy car, not as strong as some older cheaper cars. Space in back, set to high up. Can be very expensive in repairs, handling.
General Comments
I had a R-reg 1.6 16v tigra and it had to be the worst car I ever owned. The only good thing was the fact girls loved it and seemed to think I was rich because I owned one. After steping from a 1.1 punto 55 the performance was very good 132mph easy but the needle is in the red. But compared to other 1.6 16v cars it ain't really that quick, its top end speed may hold a few off but 0-60 it's slow 9.5 secs this is due to the cars wieght which if you didn't know is heavyer than a MK3 Golf vr6. Yes it is true, I found this out in one of Vauxhall's own styling books. The car is also underpowered aswell due to all the weight. It uses the same 1.6 ecotec found in the Corsa GSI only 104bhp. This is not enough for the GSI so it should of been tuned up a bit more for the Tigra. I fitted a k&n to mine and that made a extra 3 bhp also a sportex 3inch backbox which gained a very good 2bhp you notice the difference. I did race and leave a few cars in it Golf mk3 1.8 100bhp
Nova gte
Tigra 1.4 130bhp
Escort xr3 8v mk2
Fiesta xr2 8v mk2
Astra 1.8 16v mk4
Corsa 1.6 16v sport
After a month or so things started to go wrong, the engine management light would switch on the car would lose power. The dealers found pieces of metal flying around inside the engine so the engine was striped and repaired under waranty. A week later it happened again so was repaired once again. I took the filter of and put the original air intake back on but the problem kept coming up. The cat then went and had to be replaced under waranty. The car would run all the way to 100mph in 2nd gear if you wanted to. I got annoyed and one day gave it a hard long rev and the exhaust made a big bang and the car was running fine and the engine management light never came on again. If I had bought this car private I would of had to fork out almost 2grand in repairing the engine each time it had to be rebuilt and I only owned the car for 6months. Ecotec 1.4 1.6 are not very good engines and not easy to work on and sufer valve problems as well as the problems I had. I am glad I have got rid of it now. If you want a Tigra with performance get a crx 1.6 vti 160bhp and it's more reliable.