Vauhall Signum?

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 12/04/2022 at 15:59, Dobloseven said:

I must have failed at Life, cos it's an Elegance!

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Posh, innit.

[leafsprung]

Ah, the Lidl's Maybach. Mother-not-really-in-law had a nearly new dizzle back in the mid-2000's and as others have mentioned it was a steaming heap of crap. Limp home mode was almost permanently engaged and despite multiple trips to the dealers it never got resolved. It eventually got WBAC-ed at a very surprising price considering the games that company were playing in their early days. It was also 50 shades of grey, and not in a good way.

It was a strange concept which should have worked for more rear seat comfort for grown ups but in reality just reduced practicality, unless you were a couple needing to drive another couple around in weird poverty-luxury.

Therefore it's clearly a perfect study for these pages. Well done.

[SmokinWaffle]

For £200, even if it's totally ruined you're quids in already. If it starts and has 4 wheels, on which it progresses down the road on, jobs a good'un. 

[Dobloseven]

I reckon it's a Saab that got into bad company! I've got my eye on an 08 reg 9-3 auto estate over the road, but thinlk there's going to be a£1k difference between my valuation and the owners, so this will have to satisfy my lust for crap cars for now. 

[Madman Of The People]

Across the pond, we had our own version of the Vauxhall Signum.

The sixth generation Chevrolet Malibu shared It's Epsilon platform with the Vectra C, which spawned the Signum.  This gave rise to the 2004-07 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx.  The Maxx was an odd, stretched wheelbase Malibu with a hatch in much the same way the Signum was an odd, stretched wheelbase Vectra.

Although there were no interchangeable body panels, there are some vague styling similarities between the Signum and the Malibu Maxx.  Maybe this is one for the "Cars you didn't know existed" thread?

 

[motorpunk]

Ugly, cheap, boring, unreliable and unloved. 

[insert Mother-in-law joke here]

Solid Autoshite. I'll have a random when the time inevitably comes. 

[Dobloseven]

Well the temporary insurance started at 5.30 so went down at5. 31 and picked it up. Really quite pleased with it. Drives nicely, radio works,no warning lights, 1/4 tank of fuel, aircon works and doesn't need a regas M9, boot doesn't open, cracked mirror cover, drivers seat somewhat tatty, along with gearshift gaiter. Needs new rear wiper. Should clean up well, no laquer peel, odd scuff,alloys pretty good. 

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 12/04/2022 at 17:42, Dobloseven said:

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What's the DVD? 

[Agila]

  On 12/04/2022 at 16:35, Madman Of The People said:

didn't know existed

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Ffs. I was quite happy living in ignorance.😁

[Agila]

Well bought. Obvious bargain.

Includes very dubious stain.

[Dobloseven]

  On 12/04/2022 at 17:43, AnnoyingPentium said:

What's the DVD? 

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It's for the primitive navigation system. 

[Bren]

An ex work colleague has the 2.2. I helped him do the timing chain. When we stripped it down the balancer chain had jumped a couple of teeth - all replaced with upgraded items ( which were not cheap ).

Car ran better but a bit later so many idiot lights came on that my mate punted it on.

I was so impressed I bought a vectra.

[Dobloseven]

  On 12/04/2022 at 17:55, Agila said:

Well bought. Obvious bargain.

Includes very dubious stain.

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Wondered about that! He's got a dog, might be a connection. 

[Dobloseven]

  On 12/04/2022 at 18:00, Bren said:

An ex work colleague has the 2.2. I helped him do the timing chain. When we stripped it down the balancer chain had jumped a couple of teeth - all replaced with upgraded items ( which were not cheap ).

Car ran better but a bit later so many idiot lights came on that my mate punted it on.

I was so impressed I bought a vectra.

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Now he reckoned he's had the timing belt changed. Did someone pull his leg! 

[Dobloseven]

  On 12/04/2022 at 18:04, Dobloseven said:

Now he reckoned he's had the timing belt changed. Did someone pull his leg! 

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No, you're right. In 2015 the timing chain failed at 108k miles(now on 139k),resulting in a bill for £884.He had the job done at a timing belt specialist, hence the confusion. 

[N Dentressangle]

For £200 that's an utter bargain, and a decent enough old bus, snobbery aside.

Well played.

[Dobloseven]

  On 12/04/2022 at 16:36, motorpunk said:

Ugly, cheap, boring, unreliable and unloved. 

[insert Mother-in-law joke here]

Solid Autoshite. I'll have a random when the time inevitably comes. 

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A Vauxhall Signum is very much like making love to a beautiful woman. Make sure she's well lubricated before you start, don't worry if she drips a little. Settle yourself down for a comfortable ride at a nice steady pace. Oh, and don't attempt to use her rear entrance!

[Agila]

This might facilitate rear entrance pleasure in future.

 

https://www.vectra-c.com/forum/showthread.php?24978-Help-with-a-Signum-that-boot-wont-open

[Dobloseven]

  On 12/04/2022 at 20:25, Agila said:

This might facilitate rear entrance pleasure in future.

 

https://www.vectra-c.com/forum/showthread.php?24978-Help-with-a-Signum-that-boot-wont-open

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Thanks for that, the PO was telling me today something like that, but I dont think he's all that adept or agile enough to get into the boot. Would certainly like to get the boot to open. It'd be a very useful car then, with a perfectly flat load space over 6ft long. That centre seat though.... What were they thinking? 

[dave j]

That's a lot of car for £200! Well bought

[Dan29]

  On 12/04/2022 at 21:09, Dobloseven said:

Thanks for that, the PO was telling me today something like that, but I dont think he's all that adept or agile enough to get into the boot. Would certainly like to get the boot to open. It'd be a very useful car then, with a perfectly flat load space over 6ft long. That centre seat though.... What were they thinking? 

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I think it's just a cup holder if you flip it over - not supposed to be a seat at all? Not sure what they were thinking though 😆

[vaughant]

Vaux of this era get slated but they're not all that bad. 

I had a zafira A of the same vintage and with the 2.2 I bought at auction for £300.

It drove ok until the piston crown blew on the M4 at 90 but in its defence it still made it to work ok 120 miles away with a miss fire that wasn't that bad. 

Resulted in an engine swap that I gave £120 for the full donor car and that was really about that for problems, anything wise was just standard servicing items.

It drove nicely and in typical vaux fashion gave great mpg, managed 125 mph on a private test track quite easily 😉😉😉. 

Mine was the non direct injection version and doing my initial research (5 mins on Google as the car entered the ring) revealed the high pressure fuel pump on the model you have was a bit of a bugbear, no doubt its been replaced by now? It stopped me buying the completely mint vectra c estate auto that went just before my zafira for £400 back in 2016.

I actually ended up scrapping it last year for more than I originally paid for it 🤣🤣🤣. 

Plus it provided me with a place to stay for 4 years while I was contracting. 

The heater on these is amazing and warms up in about 1 minute as well. 

They're nothing exciting but they are quite reliable and functional. 

[Bren]

  On 12/04/2022 at 20:07, Dobloseven said:

A Vauxhall Signum is very much like making love to a beautiful woman. Make sure she's well lubricated before you start, don't worry if she drips a little. Settle yourself down for a comfortable ride at a nice steady pace. Oh, and don't attempt to use her rear entrance!

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I have said previously - owing ANY vauxhall of this period is the automotive equivalent of necrophilia.

[Stanky]

This is a genuine question - why would a buyer have chosen a Signum over a Vectra estate in 2004? Were they cheaper or something? It seems to me like this is less practical (being a 4-seater) and less capacious (due to being shorter) than a Vectra estate would be, so why would you buy one? 

For £200, 17 years later its a no brainer, but I'm intrigued by why you'd have bought one new

[sierraman]

You do wonder what went through their minds at a time when the shift for executive cars was towards BMW, Mercedes, Audi, that type of thing. Renault couldn’t give a big hatch away with the Safrane, Ford tried and failed with the Scorpio. So they decided to take a car the nobody chose but were given as a company car into the executive market, then for reasons never made quite clear built it as a four seater. It’s fabulously shit but that’s why it’s great to see one that’s still going. 

[Dobloseven]

  On 13/04/2022 at 10:44, Stanky said:

This is a genuine question - why would a buyer have chosen a Signum over a Vectra estate in 2004? Were they cheaper or something? It seems to me like this is less practical (being a 4-seater) and less capacious (due to being shorter) than a Vectra estate would be, so why would you buy one? 

For £200, 17 years later its a no brainer, but I'm intrigued by why you'd have bought one new

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I wonder if they sold better in other markets than the UK. Thinking about the 4 seaterness of it, realistically, sitting 3 abreast in any modern hatch, saloon or estate is a pretty grim affair for the poor sap on the centre seat anyway, so why not make a comfy four seater, like Rover did with the original P6 2000.Obviously the public disagreed, but if car makers didn't try something different occasionally, we wouldn't have had the Range Rover, the Espace, the Scenic, the RAV4etc. Or the 1007,the Avantine, the Meriva B..... 

 

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[omegod]

If you fall in love you with it Vaux offered a fridge unit that slots into the useless bit between the rear seats 

 

[horriblemercedes]

I think it was simply cheaper to offer a Vectra and a derivative thereof than to produce a dedicated replacement for the Omega as well

[Floatylight]

  On 13/04/2022 at 11:02, Dobloseven said:

I wonder if they sold better in other markets than the UK. Thinking about the 4 seaterness of it, realistically, sitting 3 abreast in any modern hatch, saloon or estate is a pretty grim affair for the poor sap on the centre seat anyway, so why not make a comfy four seater, like Rover did with the original P6 2000.Obviously the public disagreed, but if car makers didn't try something different occasionally, we wouldn't have had the Range Rover, the Espace, the Scenic, the RAV4etc. Or the 1007,the Avantine, the Meriva B..... 

 

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Citroen had a go with the C4 Lounge, does look comfy in the back, just missed the executive Market tho..

[Stanky]

  On 13/04/2022 at 11:02, Dobloseven said:

I wonder if they sold better in other markets than the UK. Thinking about the 4 seaterness of it, realistically, sitting 3 abreast in any modern hatch, saloon or estate is a pretty grim affair for the poor sap on the centre seat anyway, so why not make a comfy four seater, like Rover did with the original P6 2000.Obviously the public disagreed, but if car makers didn't try something different occasionally, we wouldn't have had the Range Rover, the Espace, the Scenic, the RAV4etc. Or the 1007,the Avantine, the Meriva B..... 

 

. 

 

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Oh I totally agree re the middle seat in the back of a modern hatch, saloon or estate being grim, but I'd rather have one than not, even if its just for emergencies than wilfully omit it for no real benefit? I agree that trying new things can lead to some genuinely good outcomes, and some that are utterly bizarre dead ends too, but I suppose what I'm asking is what the list price was for an 'executive' model of the Signum in 2004 and how that compared to an equivalent 'executive' model of the Vectra estate. If the Signum was £5k cheaper then I'd sort of understand, but if they were either priced the same, or the Signum was more expensive then I R COnFuZd. 

Its built on the same platform as the Vectra, but was it physically bigger? I thought it was basically a bobtail vectra estate, but maybe I'm wrong and its actually intended to be the next size up and a replacement for the Omega as @horriblemercedes said, in which case I'm not comparing apples with apples.