Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

M. · Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

It was not meant to be like this. I'd ordered an 'Astra or similar' and had quietly hoped I'd be able to sneak an upgrade to an Insignia but no, Enterprise had other ideas. "We've upgraded you" they said, "to a Zafira". They didn't have anything else, I asked. Twice.

So, my transport around Loch Lomand and surrounding areas for my few days away has been a Vauxhall Zafira 1.8 Design.

Let us start with looks. Well,it is a small seven seat car so it was never going to win a beauty contest but it doesn't even get close - the S-Max is about as good as it gets aesthetically in this sector. The front of the car has a pretty monstrous overhang which is easliy grounded on kerb stones when you're attempting a u-turn and not wanting to engage reverse (for reasons I'll come on to later). The turning circle itself is quite huge and hinders the maneuverability of the vehicle in town.

Moving inside the car things do not improve. The dashboard is a mess, simply. The different grades of plastic on the dashboard get into double figures and form resembles a very cheap stereo from the early nineties. Vauxhall have seen fit to take a number of conventions that have worked well for years and change them for the worse. The first you notice is the handbrake. This is now one of those handle type affairs you get on powerboats to control the throttle. It is not intuitive in so far as it is downright uncomfortable to use. Having an arm rest above the handbrake seems a stupid thing to do when it prevents full travel of the lever - a lack of joined up thinking there. The handbrake itself forms the front of a storage bin but that is best avoided as the contents will foul the operation of the lever as much as the arm rest does.

Another 'improvement' is the column stalks. Vauxhall have fitted the variety that don't have positions and instead rely on a number of taps to operate the indicators and wipers. The indicators I just about got used to but the wipers take much more time. It took me ages to get the rear wiper switched off and even now I'm not sure how I did it.

The Zafira does seem to lack oddment space up front and even the picnic trays in the back of seats that rivals like the Touran and Scenic both have. The glove box, which is quite large, appears to be heated or cooled depending on the cabin temperature. I wish I'd known this before I left my satnav in it during a two hour drive!

The driving experience is not likely to set an enthusiast's pulse-a-racing. The steering is light, being an electric helm, but very short on feedback. It's made quite a lot worse by an over-servoed centering action and an aggressive sense of weight transfer in the body control when you tackle a few bends in a row. That said, give the car some light bends and it handles them at speed.

Small capacity petrol engines aren't the natural choice for an MPV and the 1.8 application was dreadful. The engine is very uncouth over four thousand revs which is a shame as you need to take it there to extract any kind of performance.

The biggest problem with this car is the gearbox. The model I drove had a 5 speed manual and it was appalling. The analogy of stirring a stick in porridge is often used to describe a bad gearbox and I now appreciate the meaning. 2nd to 3rd was perhaps the worst movement as it was near impossible to find the 3rd gear. Engaging reverse was also difficult and required a lot of shuffling to locate the cog.

Of the competition I've only drive the Touran and Grand Scenic. The Touran feels light years ahead in terms of quality and the Scenic seems better thought out. Where the Zafira ought to score is when you get the seats folding. I didn't do any of that, but it would have to be very impressive indeed to overcome the black marks all over the rest of its score card.

I won't bore you with further pictures of the Zafira, it looks rubbish. Scotland, on the other hand, is quite beautiful:

PR · Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

M.

I have no idea what you mean.

DaveGibson · Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

PR

Interesting write-up anyway.

I see you didn't get one of the ones with the roof stowage compartment that makes it look like it's a private hire car with a 'taxi' sign on the roof.

Regarding your comments about the indicators, I can only assume that Vauxhall has done a really shit job with them because current BMW products have something similar but they work really well. Essentially the stalk always self-centres but otherwise works like any other.

Colin

I've not driven a current Zafira........ sounds like I've had a lucky escape.

Completely agree about the column stalk problem...... I did get used to the indicators in the Vectra and the Astra, but I too could not figure out how to turn off the rear wiper without an unscheduled rear screen wash or six in my efforts. Talk wasting money on fixing things that were never broken........

Dr. Hfuhruhurr

IIRC, hasn't the Insignia reverted to conventional stalks?

Frank Bullitt

I drove an original Zafira 1.8 'Life' (sic) to the lake district about 5 years ago; my impression of that car was impressive having seven seats in such a length of road but everything else was rubbish. Even the reasonably pokey engine (in anything else) struggled with the Zafira's mass and frontal area, maintaining 80mph was a real challenge but at least it was geared to do it (20mph/1000rpm in top - nice for cruising...). Crap interior, handled like a boat, uncomfortable to drive. The Astra 1.6 Estate I had in Germany was much, much quicker clearly aided by aerodynamics.

The Scenic I had in Tener-grief was about, uhhh, a million-gazillion times better.

Gurney

Not so much of an 'upgrade' as 'it's all we have chuffin left' by the sound of it. Sounds pretty dire, hope it didn't spoil Scotland too much Michael.

PR

At least with a C-Max or S-Max you get to enjoy driving the thing.

That said, I've been in a C-Max with the 1.8 petrol and that was pretty grim. It was typical of cars of that size with a feeble petrol engine in that it took an age to gather any speed, needed the nuts revving off it to do so, sounded rubbish and clung onto revs between gears.

Dr. Hfuhruhurr

I've never tried an S-Max, but having recently driven both Zafira and C4 Picasso, I'd have to say the Vauxhall handled a lot better, in that whereas the Citroen really required the sort of alteration of driving style you'd need in a full-size van, you could drive the Zafira like a normal car.

PR

M.

The car was well controlled if you didn't need to make and sudden movements. The ride wasn't too bad but the steering did let the side down. The 5 speed box was a liability and I'm not sure if it was a dud. I have driven a previous Zafira 2.0dti and I don't recall that gearbox being as bad.

PG

I had the somewhat dubious pleasure of driving a Zafira VXR at a test day at Millbrook a couple of years ago. It was only fair to enter into the spirit of the day and give it the full treatment on the handling track.

Which was a mistake as I felt decidedly sick afterwards.

PR

A car that can make its own driver feel sick is quite something!

I felt ill in a moving vehicle for the first time in a long time the other day - in a bus...

Humphrey The Pug

I've owed a previous generation Zafira and worked for Vauxhall for 4 months about 2.5 years ago and I quite like the Zafira.

It is a nice drive and our previous generation one wore really well considering the abuse that it got, much better than a Scenic and a Touran can cope with, I sold a 4 y.o Touran about six months ago and quality wise it was a massive dissapointment, I expected alot more from VW.

I couldn't get to grips with the indicator and wiper stalks on the current Zafira, IMO they are solving a proplem that doesn't exist, putting the car I also can't stand the button on the front of the gear lever to put the car in reverse and the odd handbrake just doesn't feel asif it's properly attached, it has an odd artificial feel to it.

My main gripe with the Zafira is it's flexibility, the motoring press, particularly Autocar love the car for it's flexibility but put it next to a Grand Scenic and a Touran it definately comes off third best.

The middle seats only move as a whole bench, the Grand Scenic and Touran seats all move, fold and come out completely independently of each other. To put up the rearmost boot seats of the Zafira the middle bench has to be slid forward, in the Grand Scenic and Touran you just pull a cord and they pop up no matter where the middles seats are located, the main disadvantage of having to slide the bench forward is if you unexpectedley had to put up the rear most seats and you have kids already in the car they have to be removed in order to get the seats in the boot up in place, particularly a pain if a child seat is in place. To me that is it's major failing when compared to rivals, even the horrid Corolla verso has a better seat configuration.

M.

Nelson · Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

Jasper

I never got the hang of the indicators on my Vecrta but actually liked the wiper set up. Humph is right, it's a cure to a problem that doesn't exist.

I think you've got a bit of Puma syndrome, Michael. You drive a great car most of the time, it's only natural that jumping from that to a poverty spec Vauxhall is always going to be rubbish.

Unfortunatly Vauxhall will take notice of mothers wanting a overhead storage system but ignore people like us that want better driving cars. We are in the minority, that's what makes us special.

SpecB

I have to say I have not had the pleasure (or misfortune) of a current Zafira.

I had a 2.2 diesel in Austria a few years back of the last generation and that was much better than the various Scenics I have had on hire in Mallorca and I really didn't mind it.

garry

We've got a zafira 1.9tdi and I quite like it. It's fit for purpose and very cheap to buy and run. Wouldn't want it to be my only car, but as the kids fun bus it works really well. We paid something like £8k for a year old one. It never gets washed, it gets left in dodgy car parks and it's full of the kids mess. As for the quality of the plastics etc, well you can almost hose it down inside!

Mark · Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

M.

What did you get?

Mark

A Vectra - they seem very low on stock in class F right now.

Roadsterstu

I thought the Zafira wasn't bad when I had one in Switzerland in August, though I can't imagine how slow the 1.8 must be (or the 1.6, God forbid), as the 2.2 was a bit slothful. As a diesel it would probably be OK. Yes, it was rather drab inside, but to me it all worked OK. The indicators and wipers just take some getting used to.

Gooner

I had a 1.9 CDTI auto a few months back and going on that generation of Vauxhalls gearboxes, it was a welcome relief. They really are shit, especially as I had a Honda at the time! I also agree with the poor cabin details and overall design. The mk1 Zafira was well designed and a good use of the Astra it was based on. The new one hasn't gone a long way from the Astra but not improved on it. I also recently had a Vectra with that engine too and it was horrid. No wonder you can buy new ones so cheap!

Mark

Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8

Re: Vauxhall Zafira 1.8