Vauxhall Vectra 2004 1.9CDT SRI

The Vauxhall Vectra looks fantastic and is good to drive, except for the infuriatingly slow take off at roundabouts, where a quick getaway is not really possible because, presumably, first gear is not low enough. Once certain revs are reached the car takes off, but to begin with it is such a slouch, you could be in the line of traffic on a roundabout, in mortal danger till the magic moment of sufficient revs is reached.

Even the Ford Focus estate has a substantially wider rear hatch opening. Vectra estate is nice and deep [it is a long car] but I really think the opening could be much wider for a wider load capacity, and ditch those silly side compartments which could be part of the wider carrying space. Easy action to the folding down of the split back for the rear seats. The rear seats themselves remain fixed so this reduces the ability to give a decent rear load height.

There is plentiful space in the front and rear seating areas. A comfortable car. Only 2 rear head restraints. Good safety features.

Overall a fairly good car, but spoiled by Vauxhall's tardiness to fullfill warranty commitments. They had the cheek to say 'it lasted 10,000 miles so the loose cable which 'needed adjustment' couldn't be down to a design or manufacturing fault! Go figure! FYI my car was sat in a showroom for 4 months, with only 50 miles on the clock when I bought it nearly a year ago, with 3 years Network Q warantee. Didn't expect a bill from Vauxhall for 3 years other than standard servicing. I was wrong.Vauxhall will excuse themselves from fullfilling their warantee if they can. Network Q work for Vauxhall, and also excuse themselves if they can. You can get trapped in a 'departmental non responsible' merry go round where Vauxhall say they are not responsible and Network Q say the problem is a manufacturing issue. Vauxhall will say it isn't a manufacturing issue if they can get away with saying it just needed an adjustment because it became loose! Fact it was very noisy and inaccessible to the owner is beside the point. The customer can pay, even if the car is only just over a year old, despite the 3 year 'comprehensive' Network Q guarantee the customer paid extra for. They say on the phone brakes, clutch and battery, but in their book it says 'comprehensively covered for mechanical and electrical parts and labour'. I was billed half an hour £44 and expected to be grateful it wasn't an hour and a half which is what they say it took to locate the problem and make the 'adjustment'. I still don't know whether or not that cable was part of the safety devices. No official invoice or description of work carried out was given to me.