?£11600. We were amazed at the oil consumption but it settled at around 1L per 1000 miles so I dont want to complain too much When I rang Vauxhall they said it was within an acceptable range ~ whatever that may be. Anyhow, its done 58,000 miles now and weve had no major problems but some seriously annoying gripes The first is those wipers ... I agree with the comments about the blind spot being dangerous. When we first had it, as it is technically an Opel, I thought the wipers were on the wrong way round! Apparently its the same for all Zafiras. This is a serious problem and without a doubt someone is going to come to grief because of it. Vauxhall need to do a recall and sort the problem out At our 3rd year service last week, our dealer replaced our front wiper blades. As soon as theyd done that the wipers tangled themselves up every time they were used. We took the car back three times before the dealer carried out a linkage modification ~ which although it worked, they want to charge us ?£260 for the privilege. They were going to fail its MoT on the original wipers but we could have replaced the rubbers for less than a fiver Another interesting little fault is the little computerised thingy (sorry, Im female so Im not supposed to understand, right?) which regulates the airflow into the engine. This little gizmo is about four inches long and fits into a hose under the bonnet on the drivers side Having charged us ?£50 to plug the car into the computer yet another dealer said it would be a further ?£200 to supply and fit the part. We managed to get hold of one for 50 quid and fitted it ourselves. These air-intake chips are notoriously unreliable. They fail when the engine is put under pressure which is not good news if youre in the outside lane of the motorway and happen to be going uphill ... the engine managements response is to drop the car into limp-home-mode (or slug mode) and suddenly youll be lucky if you could out accelerate a milk-float. Were expecting to have to replace this part roughly every 30,000 miles I have to have a moan about the dealers ~ we havent found a particularly helpful one yet but were still looking (any suggestions are appreciated). We always fall foul of the old chestnut well, of course, its an Opel and not a Vauxhall but we all know that its just sour grapes so I dont take much notice now All said then, weve had some minor gripes but on the whole its been a good car so far. It always starts first time, its towed trailer and caravan with ease, it literally will take the kitchen sink in the back along with the rest of the kitchen and with only me in it, its quite an exciting ride ... but it can get a little twitchy so is not a novice drive Find a quality independent garage or mobile mechanic. Ask everyone. Failing that go to a local garage that has been trading for donkeys years. Good luck in your quest for the Mechanical Grail, PoL |
