Vauxhall zafira

Zafiras are really, really horrible cars. I've had both old and new as hire and courtesy cars.

Can you get a Toyota Corolla Verso in that budget? - other alternatives are the Honda FRV and Fiat Multipla, which are both 6 seaters in a 2x3 formation.

Evenin' Steve

What makes you say that ?

I shall have a look on autotrader at those the Honda FRV is very nice.

Well, the older one is a tall MkIV Astra. Mostly found with an asthmatic

1.6 petrol engine. They are unrefined, badly built, have no grip or handling and don't function particularly well as a 6/7 seater, as the rear row of seats are in the boot.

FRV and Multipla are the clever solutions if you only need the 6 seats, rather than 7, as they're no longer than a normal hatchback, but maintain decent boot space even with all seats occupied.

Utter s**te, bloody horrible bags of s**te at that.

[...]

Yay! I knew the day would come when we agreed on something!

Son had a girlfriend with a Zafira; he described it as being in the top three worst cars he'd ever driven...

Good advice to look for something else...

Chris

He's probably driven one, even Kia make better handling cars, & they don't have the A post positioned so that you can't see approaching traffic at a roundabout.

Zafiras were the default option from Europcar when my employers had a contract with them.

Although, I did run a Toyota Corolla Verso for a while, too - it was a much better car than the Zafira. (I had the Verso that was badged just Verso, which I think made it a MkII)

I've had a Mk1 Zafira for 9 years now and have to disagree with most of the replies posted so far. Handling and roadholding are fine - IIRC even Jeremy Clarkson admitted that it was pretty good and compliments from him are few and far between. I have a 1.8 manual petrol and I wouldn't touch a 1.6 with a barge pole, or a diesel. It's reasonably quiet and comfortable. Body is galvanised so corrosion isn't much of a problem (the sub-frames abd various other bits are not galvanised). It's done

100,000 now and still running fine, uses virtually no oil between services.

Had a few problems over the years but can't really compare with other makes/models other than to say that it seems to be par for the course these days - too many electronics and clueless mechanics at the main dealers.

Tried a Toyota Verso a year or so back and the space in the 3rd row was a joke.

Good point about the 6-seat models though - if you only need 6 seats and you can get them in two rows without compromising on your luggage space that's a real bonus.

Biggles

I had that very problem on a new model Astra. Its not to best driving wise for visibility when looking right in that area because its so thick.

Right a bit of an update I spoke to a few local car dealers about people carriers, I was told to avoid the modus I think it was as its made of fibre glass ? The zafira has rear seat in the boot close to the tailgate so if it you rear ended the poor child gets it worse!. The recommended was the kia sedona, seat alambrah not sur eon spelling on that but basically a VW under neat with a seat badge. One of the dealers had one of those and it was a turbo dielsel with 94k he reckons its not even run in yet and could easily achieve 300k ? he said I could have it or £3,300. Looked nice, good condition and on a 52 plate.

Clearly the zafira is to avoid like the plague, they all said that bar one who tried to sell me one.

I think on the basis of safety on who sits in the rear its time to let to pot for the new vehicle get larger.

Seat Alhambra is the same car as the VW Sharan and Ford Galaxy MkI - all built by VW using VW diesel engines.

They even did a VR6 version... which was quite rapid, but incredibly thirsty.

Reputedly not VW's finest moment, in terms of quality and reliability, though.

Not sure the Sedona is the answer, either. They're big, but very old school.

As I said before... Honda FRV.

Alhambra, it's the Seat version of the VW Sharan. That's a low enough =

mileage that you'd almost be paranoid that some old dears worn the clutc= h =

out :-) & you'll find a choice of 2002s for 3K. Thereagain you'll get a = =

Sedona for just over 1/3 of that.

Alhambra.

No, it's actually a re-badged Ford Galaxy with a VAG engine.

Whilst carrying out your research, you can get a bit of an idea by looking at the reviews here:

(Some folk deride sites like this, but they are a useful resource as long as you take a balanced view.)

Step-daughter had an oldish Alhambra for three years without major grief. She did have the very common wiper fault, which could cost 500UKP at a dealer to fix, but parts from a breakers fixed it for a tenth of that.

The problem with the Alhambra of the age you are talking about is the engines. The petrols are juicy, the diesels feeble. (This applies to the VW Sharan, which is the same vehicle.)

You'll find the diesel Galaxy the best of them; sadly, it will be the most expensive.

Any of them will be better to drive than the Zafira however.

Chris.

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Ford used their own engines.

Yep.

Chris

Forgot to add one of the dealer chaps said the zafira has a habit of snapping cambelts at idle!!! which will be a costly repair or game over. yikes sounds like a worrying vehicle to buy. Not sure how it snaps at idle but he reckons it does. Aparantly reving at 3000rpm on the motorway is disaterous for them.

You'll find them pretty much all the same at that age!

The only difference being that Ford made some dashboard changes for the post 2000 cars, to make it more 'Ford' like.

Mechanically, there's no difference.

No they didn't.

The original Sharan / Alhambra / Galaxy used the VAG 1.9TDI in early cars, moving to the 1.9TDI-PD with the 2000 facelift.

I think you may be getting your petrols and diesels confused, though.

VAG used their own petrols and diesels.

Ford used VAG's diesels and VR6, but their own petrols in other sizes.

The Ford 2.0 and 2.3 petrols were better than the VAG N/A petrols, but the VAG 1.8T was probably the best of the lot as a balance between performance and economy - although you really want a TDI in a car like that.

I have had a Zafira 1.8 since 2002 so I think I had better stand up and be counted. ;-) I cannot complain about it other than the A pillar blind spot. I do not know what 'dealers' you are speaking to but if maintained, they do not break belts any more than many other belt driven car engines. The engine is common through the Vauxhall range so your report of belts breaking at idle would be a serious problem given the number of Vauxhall engines running about on our roads. Have you identified such a major problem when searching on the internet for faults and if you do, are they any worse than others? As for 3000 rpm, I think your Arthur Daily dealer should come down to earth a bit and stop spinning a yarn. We tow with ours too so any shortfalls in the engine would have materialised by now.

As for your advised Kia, have a look on the warrant direct web site, the reliability index is worse than the Vauxhall, as is the Seat. Look at the

99-05 Zafira and its unreliability is over half the other two models you have been advised to consider. Does that tell you something?

Speak to folk that have the car for some time and not those who perhaps have only read about it, test driven or perhaps hired for a day or two not through choice. People who have made the choice to buy the car have done so for a set of reasons, perhaps their reasons are not the same as your own but either way, whatever car you buy, do not get persuaded to buy something because a 'dealer' tells you A is better than B. (Do you not remember what the stereotypical 2nd hand car sales man does?....he would sell his mother or the shirt off his back to clinch a deal).

I wish you well in your search but get the facts 1st from reliable sources then make the choice.

Gio

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The reason VX have a reputation for cam belt failure is because 10 years ago Ford increased their change interval to 80,000 miles, and then

100,000 miles. Fleet owners liked that, so VX set their interval at 72,000 miles. It was unrealistic for the design, so belt failure was more likely.

Added to that, a batch of faulty water pumps got fitted to a lot of vehicles. Some of these failed when the vehicle was only six months old, and in some cases the replacement failed also!

Sadly, mud sticks!

However, with VX's from that era the belt should be changed at 36,000, together with the water pump, and that does add to the running costs of a vehicle if kept for some time.

Chris