Zafiras ? Tell me about them...

[Twiggy]

I`ve been without a car for 6 months now - had two operations which meant that I wasn`t allowed to drive for 3 of those 6 months. The Synergie was about to run out of MOT and tax, and it would have been at least a grand to keep it on the road, so I reluctantly decided to let it go.

Consequently I`m looking for another car, and the Zafira looks an interesting proposition. Mrs. Twiggy has a W Corsa that she`s had for 11 years, and I must confess that for a 3 cylinder it`s really impressive and pleasant to drive - I just want something with a far higher driving position, and obviously a bit bigger.

So, I`m looking at a 1.6 petrol... have around £1500 to spend. But what about the 1.8 and the 2.2 ? I`m put off the diesels ( my last two motors of 20 years have both been diesels) by reports of the diesel pumps failing on a disgustingly regular basis - and they are expensive to replace....... is that correct ?

Your knowledge and opinions would be very much appreciated gentlemen.......... and I look forward to your replies.......

 

[red5]

Quite like the 'Mk1' version - drives like a car. Which it is - an Astra estate in funny clothes. The usual caveats apply (all VX r shit and all that crap) .6 can burn oil. Usual egr/sensor glitches. Fairly tough old bus overall. Imho - no doubt I'm wrong.

[320touring]

The 1.6 is the worst engine-had a mate with a low mileage mk 1- needed all  sorts of work,

 

for the same money an alhambra or galaxy nay be a better bet?

[inconsistant]

Nothing says you've given up trying like a Zafira.

[Cavcraft]

The 1.6 16V (X16 XEL, I think) is the best of the bunch imho. The 1.8s are ok but seem to be shorter lived, the 2.2 had an oilway issue and weren't as reliable. The other option is the 2.0DTi which aren't bad motors at all, though some suffered fuel pump failures which were (at the time) costly to sort.

 

£1500 should buy you a really good one, to be honest I'd go for condition/mileage/history than age as there's so many out there and some wil be a million times better than others.

The real problem with people carriers is that the older/cheaper they get, the less well cared for they become and by the time 5 owners (all with four or five kids each) have had them, that's 20-25 kids scribbling, dribbling and nibbling in the back. Plus, of course, there's the usual Tosspot FM sticker in the back window, various sticky sweets, dog hair, sick, 2p pieces and old Mcdonald's chips on the floor.

 

Anyhow go and test drive a few, they're not as bad as the haters will have you believe.

[Station]

I've driven one and thought they were OK!

If you've either had leprosy or had someone spray 'TWIGGY IS AN GRASS' on a wall near your house, then you will be prepared for the ORL VOXORLS R SIHT badge thing.

[Timewaster]

Not bad old things. I have a mate who has got a 51 plate 1.8 that gets serviced when it stops and apart from vauxhall sensoritis it keeps on going.

Only does about 20 mpg but that might be the total lack of maintenance.

[twosmoke300]

I have 3 petrol zafs that I look after . All 3 drink oil and smoke like chimneys. All before I worked on them I add. Vauxhall petrol enginesof that era will not take any skipped maintainance . Breathers and oil pick ups block up and it's game over . Changed a few x16 s in astras for that reason

[320touring]

For similar money a w124 estate with the boot seats or a cx familie would do the same job.

[pshome]

Mrs.pshome drives a 2001 2.0 DTI Zafira that never ever failed and it gets absolutely no care or love. Only part ever replaced apart from the usual wear and tear bits was a broken front spring. Just passed TÃœV with no remarks.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

My knowledge is limited,but luckily my opinions aren't .

I don't like Zafiras,don't know why, it's a completely irrational thing .

My brother had a 1.8 pez company car years ago and it used literally twice as much fuel as my Hdi Ullysee on a trip to Spain in 2002. Was more car like to drive though,although it struggled to keep up when both were fully laden.

Are those mental Turbo Gsi,VXR,Sri things in budget? They make no sense but that makes them more appealing.

[Hendry]

I've never owned a Zafira but I've owned a 1.6 (Z16XE) mk4 Astra which the original Zafira was based upon, only non wear and tear issues I had were an EGR valve, noisy "ticky" tappets and a thirst for oil (all 1.6 Vauxhalls do this) and a worn ignition barrel (apparently the rods inside get worn away with use and eventually the key wont turn and you need a new barrel) and actually I had a Zafira courtesy car which suffered the same thing, I'd imagine most will have that changed by now as both went when the cars were about 6 years old.

 

I then had a mk5 Astra 1.8 which the mk2 Zafira was based upon, no issues with the engine tbh, and lastly my dad ran a Vectra C 2.0 DTi for 7 years and 220K and didn't have any issues with the engine and certainly not the fuel pump like everyone mentions on them.

 

All in all I'd go for a late mk1 54/05/55 as they were a far nicer place to be than the early ones, most of which I've seen recently have utterly battered bodywork.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I have one. The 1.8 is just about acceptable so a 1.6 would be evil. Low geared so revvy at speed (4000 at 80), okayish on fuel. It's done almost 100'000 on fuck all maintenance and I've done its first cambelt. All the brakes were bolloxed but discs and pads are buttons. It uses a drop of oil, i.e 2 litres in almost 2000 miles. No rust anywhere. Generally speaking it's decently built and easy to work on - typical old school GM really. They take a horrific amount of abuse. I'd buy one for a bag and save 500 quid for a massive service, belt, wasserpumpe and brakes etc.

[Pillock]

I think the only reason I don't like them is the image - you see them outside the school every morning, on the zigzags, spilling out horrible little children whilst the fat greasy mum sits dangling a fag out the window.

 

I'm sure they're nice cars, because shock horror I actually like the Astra base car.

 

Look for one that hasn't been molested by the sticky fingers of children..... Some people do buy 7-seaters just for the space or driving position, we've got a touran for just four of us because it was nice and high, and plenty of room for camping/tip runs and the occasional giving lifts to friends. We know a couple with a Zafira who do the same, only got two kids. We looked at one touran that still had the crayon in the seat fabric at the dealers

[michael t]

My dad had a 2000 X-reg one in silver with the 1.6 Petrol lump in it, quality car with plenty of room and very comfortable to sit in especially on long journeys, we moved house in it (Liverpool to Ireland) and drove it from Liverpool to Silverstone and back and it didn't miss a beat, sadly he neglected to have the timing belt changed and it went so he part-exed it for an 04 plate Yaris, they guzzle oil but are reasonably fuel efficient

[cms206]

Driven a couple and I liked them; that said I'm firmly of the Cavorsacraft school of mind that ALVOXALSRNTSHT, so anything up to a Mk4 Astra but excluding a Vectra gets my vote.

[beko1987]

My stepdads had one as his company car since year dot. When mum met him he had a V reg one, then X, then 02, then 55, then 58 and now 11. His fleet policy has been changed though and he's having an octavia next month!

 

Nothing has ever gone wrong on them. He apparently drove too fast throug ha flood in the 58 plater which put the engine light on. He was worrying about it when my 206 got burnt out and took it with it, so no having to grovel to the fleet people about the engine light!

 

He drives about 800 a month so scrubs front tyres quickly, but nothing went wrong with any of them, and some hardly had their bonnets lifted and went back nudging 100k after 3-4 years. The current 11 plate one emptied its header tank once, I topped it up and we havent checked it since!

 

I was after an older one for the missus before we got the Meriva. Stepdad says its the only car to not fuck his siatica up, he has the seat bolt upright.

[Asimo]

Terrible ride. Miserable to sit in the back. Needs to be in a cheerful colour. Chrysler Voyagers are just as cheap.

 

Proper Autoshite.

 

Petrol auto with manual windows and vinyl seats for max points.

.

[Bren]

No better way to demonstrate to the world that you have served your biological purpose.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

My stepdads had one as his company car since year dot. When mum met him he had a V reg one, then X, then 02, then 55, then 58 and now 11. His fleet policy has been changed though and he's having an octavia next month!

 

Nothing has ever gone wrong on them. He apparently drove too fast throug ha flood in the 58 plater which put the engine light on. He was worrying about it when my 206 got burnt out and took it with it, so no having to grovel to the fleet people about the engine light!

 

He drives about 800 a month so scrubs front tyres quickly, but nothing went wrong with any of them, and some hardly had their bonnets lifted and went back nudging 100k after 3-4 years. The current 11 plate one emptied its header tank once, I topped it up and we havent checked it since!

 

.

Yeah but al voxalz r shit and if he had a Volks it would have been more better coz it sez so on fith gear and all the experts on pistonheds so so and all

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

No better way to demonstrate to the world that you have served your biological purpose.

Zafira sez I IS NOT A VERGIN

[cort16]

They are souless but effective human transportation devices.

When I look at them all I can see is this.

 

[Micrashed]

 

This car was 12 months old when bought and we owned it for just shy of 2 years all in.

 

1.9 CDTi

 

When it worked it was very good, car like to drive, easy to park, and very spritely when you prodded the loud pedal. It was also good on fuel, robust inside ( a must where lots of kids are involved) and looks pretty good too.

 

WHEN it worked.

 

During our ownership it had numerous EGR Valves ( 6 or 7 I think)

1 complete exhaust system including DPF

1 alternator

2 new ECU boxes for the antipollution gubbins and countless trips to the dealers to have the codes read, lamp reset and bloody thing taken out of limp home mode. In fact the photo you see above is of the last trip camping it took, on the way home from this trip in the middle lane of the M6 towing the van it went into Limp Home mode for no reason other than to be spiteful.

 

This had the same effect speed wise as tromping very hard on the brakes, which resulted in a brown trouser incident and the car behind me taking evasive action to avoid ramming me up the arse end.

 

The codes were read and cleared for the last time and off it went to be traded in.

 

And yet my father in law had the same donkey in his Vectra and did a pitifully small milage with no problems at all. Ever.

[bub2006]

The 1.6 engines are quiet high road tax price if i recall. The wife's sister has one which she has owned from new on a 52 plate and the wife used her dads 1.6 on motability when she took him anywhere. I haven't drove one so cant verifyyself but they say the 1.6 is atrocious on fuel and wouldn't pull you out of bed. Me and the wife was looking into one a while back. I would have preferred a 2.0 DTI but none in our price range at the time that was any good.

[beko1987]

The back jump seats are fucking agony for any longer than 10 minutes if you are 6ft2 as well...

[CortinaDave]

These sound like misery to me. Utter soullessness without the trade off of reliability or economy.

 

Plus the fact that trying to find one without a destroyed interior courtesy of someone else's little shits/big slabbering dogs would be a challenge in itself.

 

But - I'm not a people carrier kind of guy. My sister drives a scenic and loves it even though I am appalled by the thing - so it's each to their own

[beko1987]

When my stepdad got his most recent one it was 2 years in with an engineer. Engineer had limited mileage and had hit 98k, stepdad has management unlimited mileage and was only on 40k, so they swapped.

 

I pulled mcdonalds, tools, drawings, letters from school and work documents that stepdad took in with him and un-officially bollocked the previous chap about. They are a magnet for shit, but seem to attract a slightly better driver than a Meriva, which over a journey of 300 miles I had enough evidence that all meriva drivers r shit, including my missus!

[dugong]

Yeah but al voxalz r shit and if he had a Volks it would have been more better coz it sez so on fith gear and all the experts on pistonheds so so and all

MOST VAG ALSO SHIT. 

 

BY COMMER HORSE BOX WITH FRENCH DOORS

[cort16]

I preferred the old way when it was acceptable to cram 4 adults + 5 kids in a talbot horizon as long as the journey was just "going up the street" or "popping up down the road for ice cream".

Kids won't have the experience of being crammed 2 deep in a hatchback boot full of old toffo wrappers and AA road maps that came out before the M6 had been opened.

[gary_davidson]

these were on the short list to replace my wife's Astra (COZ AL VXHLS R SHIT, WHY NOT HAZ ANUFR), a Mazda 5 is the current no1 choice