Test drive Opel Vectra sedan 2005 - 2008 sedan

$6000

Full -wheel drive is enough for a banal passenger car to look almost an athlete. An example of this is accepted by many buyers on Hurray Opel Vectra
the Opel Vectra car in 1988 did not cause a flurry of emotions in the Opel Vectra. The car is like a car. Standard notes in the press in the press, typical criticisms in appearance (there was nothing to criticize in operation), and okay. Advertising promotion. Good, but by no means exciting primary demand. Everything is as usual. Really this car was estimated only later, retroactively. Love matured gradually, in several stages. First, they focused on all-wheel drive if they reacted to the front-wheel drive version calmly, then the 4x4 version was taken with a bang. Interests flashed even brighter when in 1990, on the basis of Vectra, the Germans made a sports coupe Calibra (subsequently proven themselves very well), they will not do a bad car with a base model, and this was immediately understood. The Vectra of that generation was produced from September 1988 to September 1995, if something was wrong, she would not have kept it on the conveyor for so long (recall: its market sector is one of the most competitive-fiercely). And now she successfully runs along the roads and by what it is customary to mean by the word of the road, or is it not the best indicator of German technical welcome.
It is especially valuable in the possession of this machine that, unlike many brothers in the class, it suffers quite calmly by artisanal services, and our hand -to -hand arts has accumulated a considerable experience with it. Few people drive old cars to the service most of the owners prefer to repose with their masters. Prices on the principle of how to agree. There is no deficiency of spare parts in the retail network; Any in bulk, both Opelian and non -original. Of course, it is advisable to take relatives, it's a little expensive, but it is so calmer
Cricket in the motor ?? This is not scary. Like most German cars, Vectra has a very wide range of engines. The most advanced are 16-valve engines, but if you are primarily interested in maintainability (and what could be more important for the old engine?), Then we advise you to take a car with an 8-valve engine. The 2.0-liter gasoline with 8 valves is optimal: quite powerful (115 hp) and unpretentious. What is good, he forgives the breaks of the timing belt. They rolled out the planned replacement of the belt, cut it off for $ 30 new and forgot to the next cliff. But you will not forget the break of the belt on the 16-valve engine for a long time. In the best case, you will run into the replacement of bent valves ($ 2550), at the worst to replace the entire head of the block, and this can go off for $ 2000.
When inspecting the motor when buying a car, first unscrew the lid of the oil -liner neck. A fragment of the camshaft with one or two extreme fists will open to your look. They can be judged by the state of the entire camshaft: the wear of the cams is visible immediately. Hint the seller that the new camshaft costs at least $ 210
Get the engine and listen. Most likely you will hear a rather distinct chirping, as if a cricket started up in the engine: in well -worn nozzles of injection, needles put on the saddle after 100 thousand km of runway of chattering is almost inevitable. This is most clearly manifested on a cold engine; When the engine reaches the operating temperature, the cricket sometimes falls silent. The situation is not criminal. The nozzles are quite operational, and if you are not a fundamental enemy of insects, you can not get hung up on the cricket.
FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE. Vectra is especially good in all -wheel drive. In winter and in the off -season thaw, you will not get rid of the car. It crawls where it is sorry for the fidgets or her front -wheel drive brothers sit down or dead. And on a dry road will give a head start to many. With a sharp jerk from the place of the wheel, they do not skim (grind the rubber, as it is fashionable, you are unlikely to succeed), built into the handout of Wyskoft very competently redistributes the torque to the desired axis.
But remember that with all your advantages, all -wheel drive is very moody. For example, the machine does not tolerate the diagonal hanging of the wheels: the hanged wheels are in wasted air, and those that are linked to the ground are not pulled.
The weak point of the full -wheel drive of Wyescraft. A very sensitive thing. It is impossible to put on the front and rear axles a variety of size and drawing rubber, more than 2 mm of the difference in the wear of the tires on the axes of the Wytock is trying to align the angular speeds of the wheels with tension, the temperature sensor flies, due to too high pressure in the accumulator, the cuff of the visc It leaves the steering wheel amplifier to the handout (the steering wheel becomes heavy), the rear bridge turns off in general, it’s not enough pleasant. The new Viskoft costs $ 103, but keep in mind that in most stores and technical centers it only comes in assembling with a handout, and this is already $ 350390.
The most tenacious thing in the car is a gearbox (manual). This was convinced by the owner of the Vectra that you see in the photo. Driving a car from Germany to Russia, he late noticed that oil was whipping out of the box (some bolts were not twisted). And when he noticed, he did not stop for repair: he was afraid that they would undress on the road. I drove 3 thousand km. In Moscow, in the garage, 150 smelly-yellow slingshots merged from the box, which was once oil. Result? The needle bearing of the 5th gear melted, and the guides of the sliding coupling of the synchronizer were erased. And all! The bearing cost $ 20. Directors, machined from brass in the nearest metal, in 10 rubles. and 1/20 buckets of Smirnovka. The box still walks without problems, we specially checked it.
By the way, almost all Vektrovsk boxes after 100 thousand km of run are quite noisy. In principle, this is not scary. They serve, as a rule, longer than any other machine of the machine.
When buying a car, pay special attention to the body and suspension. In the back, the weakest places of the rear wheels arch and especially the edges of the arches, they are most susceptible to corrosion. If there are small chips of paint, then you can not worry: they are elementarily tinted. But if the bubbles are already bad: under them a perforated rust (through and through). Then the wing, as a rule, is replaced: the company costs $ 250270, about $ 150 non -original. However, you can, without changing the wing, cut out the rusty edge and weld a fresh sheet (a couple of bottles of vodka in a decent garage cooperative), but it will be difficult to maintain the presentation.
When inspecting the car from below on the lift, remember that the integrity of the rear vertical silent blocks by eye cannot be determined in the frame of the frame. Here you have to look on the ground: if the car is sitting low, it is likely that the silent blocks are torn from the bushings. They are inexpensive (the rear $ 32, the front $ 1724), but it is better if the seller laids this money, not you.
And further. Beware of poor gasoline if the machine has a catalytic neutralizer: its honeycombs are quickly clogged with combustion products. New to buy a new one. In Germany, 1380 DM, in Russia the same Tsifir, only in dollars. You can do without it, but then Co will jump up due to the engine’s work on the enriched mixture: after all, the computer will still think that there is a neutralizer.
 
Text Sergey Sorokin, photo Alexey Ilyin, drawing Vladimir Belov
 

Source: "Autopilot"