Holden JS Vectra CD sedan

Background
The Holden Vectra has a heritage that many at Holden would rather forget. In Australia the J-series cars began with the infamous Camira. And while it managed to win the Wheels magazine "Car of the Year" for it's performance and roadholding, its quality left a little to be desired. The bits that fell off regularly tended to detract from its willing engine and high speed handling. Holden persisted with the Camira for many years, and just when they seemed to get it all right with the JE, which sported a 2.0 litre MPFI 85kW motor, they axed it and instead started selling rebadged Camrys as the Holden Apollo and expecting the car-buying public not to notice. At least the Camry was reliable but that was about the nicest thing you could say about it. The price of the Yen at least meant that it made economic sense.

Then in 1996 rumours of a new mid-size Holden began to leak out. It was the latest J-body car from General Motors in Europe, and the changing world economy made Euro imports a proposition once more. For Holden to re-use the name Camira would most likely result in sales suicide, and for a while the revival of the Torana nameplate was speculated. However Holden chose to use the same name as the European model, and in 1997 the JR Vectra arrived in Australia.
Holden had grand plans for the Vectra, and in late 1998 began locally assembling the JS Vectra at the Elisabeth plant in South Australia, planning to supply Australia and Sout East Asian markets, however changing Asian economic fortunes and the need to manufacture the Monaro meant that after only a few years of local manufacture, the Vectra returned to being fully imported.

This was a shame because the local car had some subtle but welcome tweaks over the imported model, the most significant being a boost in capacity in the 2.0 litre 4cyl to 2.2 litres, and revised suspension and gearing. The 2.0 litre was already putting out a class leading 100kW while offering excellent economy, and the 2.2 litre variant offered a welcome dose of low down torque, and an extra 4kW up top, without sacrificing much in the way of economy.

When the ZC Vectra arrived it really moved up an entire market segment into the medium size luxury class, leaving the niche vacant for the new Daewoo arm of General Motors to fill.

Vectra CD iD
This review of the 1999 JS Vectra CD can be considered a long term test... very long time. I've owned the Vectra since purchasing it new in February 1999 for the last six and a half years. In that time it's travelled over 120,000km. This was one of the Australian assembled cars with the 2.2 litre 4cyl and 5 speed manual transmission. Being the CD model it came loaded with all the good bits, such as Traction Control, Anti-lock brakes, dual airbags, Cruise Control, Trip computer, CD player, foglights and alloy wheels. The letters "iD" indicate that it has been fiddled with by a branch of HSV that provided various option to individualise the car. In my case the Vectra was fitted with an iD front and rear spoiler and sideskirts and alloy wheels. It even had an individual build number plate in the engine bay to make you feel special.



The iD body kit was actually supplied by the well known modifier of General Motors cars in Europe, Irmscher, located in Stuttgart.

Curiously enough I ended up purchasing the Vectra without ever driving one. Strange I know, however all the research I did and reviews I read seemed to point to it being a "good thing". In comparison to the other 4cyl cars in its class (the Mazda 626, Toyota Camry and Ford Mondeo) the Vectra had more power, better economy, more features, and outhandled all bar the Mondeo. It also looked by far the best to my eye. Another point in its favour was that in Europe the Vectra and Mondeo were pitched against the Audi A4 and Mercedes C-class, which made the prices in Australia a relative bargain. To buy a similar spec Vectra in the UK would cost up to 30% more that the Australian sticker price.

How does it Drive?
Once I was behind the wheel, the Vectra certainly didn't disappoint. The 2.2 generates plenty of torque from as low as 1000rpm, and so is virtually stall-proof. The torque delivery also makes for very relaxed driving around town, and minimises the need to change gears. The gearing is perfectly suited to the engines character, with fairly tall ratios that mean a leisurely 2000rpm or so at highway speeds. 2nd gear will take you all the way to 100km/h if you can sneak close enough to the limiter, and get you there in close enough to 9 seconds flat. If you have to grab 3rd before the 100 mark the time blows out to almost 10 seconds, as often published by less commited motoring journalists.

The standing 400m is despatched in around 17 seconds, which is a far cry for the sub 15 time of my WRX, however the Vectra makes up for standing starts with its in gear and rolling start performance. Plenty of torque mean in situations where the WRX is left waiting for revs and boost to build the Vectra leaps away with a chirp of the tyres. Traction control is very much appreciated in wet weather.

Handling wise the Vectra is quite neutral and surprisingly quick. Two track days at Winton Raceway mixing mostly with V8 Commodores revealed how well it carved up the corners, and caused a few to ask if it was stock. It was only left wanting in top end speed down the main straight. In comparison with the WRX the Vectra does not feel as fast due in part to it's less supportive seats and lower revving engine, however if you have time to look at the speedometer in tight corners, the Vectra carries the same corner speed as the Subaru. It loses out on corner exits however, as the front wheel scrabble for grip and understeer relentlessly towards the outside of the corner while the traction control madly tries to keep things in check. Lifting off however tucks the nose back in and can even step the tail out nicely. On B grade backroads where the surface is bumpy or broken, the Vectra's 15" wheels and 60 series tyres just soaks it up and it corners flat and confident where the WRX will feel nervous and a bit harsh.

What does it cost to run?
The Vectra is amazingly economical for a car of its size and performance. Partially this is due to the relaxed gearing, and partially I think is due to the overrun cutoff feature that is common in many modern cars, which shuts down the injectors completely when the car is coasting in gear and the engine is being driven through the gearbox by the road speed. You can see this occuring by watching the fuel consumption in the trip computer which drops to 0l/100km as you start to coast down a hill.

Cruising around town it is quite easy to obtain 8.5l/100km and travelling interstate a figure somewhere below 7l/100km is quite common. The best ever obtained was 6.1l/100km, which gives the Vectra a range of almost 1000km from it's 60 litre tank. That means it will be able to travel Melbourne to Sydney on a single tank. In fact a friend once travelled to Sydney in their Hyundai Excel and only managed 7l/100km while the Vectra did 6.5l/100km.

Does the family fit?
One thing the Vectra does very well is haul things around. The boot is bigger than a Commodore at 500 litres, and can swallow our Emmaljunga pram without any disassembly required. While 5 adults can be a bit squashy, there's tons of room for kids, and the interior is comfortable and well appointed. There are the regulation anchor points for carseat and child restraints, however you'll have to get your own hardware. The Subaru has clip on points built into the seat. The Subaru also gets locking seatbelts for securing baby seats, while the Vectra does not.

Buttons and bits
Where the Vectra wins points is for locating all the window controls on the centre console, allowing the front seat passenger to operate windows for back seat children, and having a cruise control that doesn't need to be turned ON and OFF. Why Subaru feel I should have to press two buttons to activate cruise, and make one of them hard to see beneath the steering wheel is beyond me. The Vectra also wins praise for having the foglights on a toggle switch that turns off with the ignition, thus avoiding the problem of leaving them on and suffering the wrath of the anti-fog-light evangelists. The central locking in the Vectra also locks and unlocks the fuel cap and boot, thus removing the need for an inconvenient remote release. You also have the option of deadlocking the doors, which means that cannot be opened even from the inside.

Any problems?
Since owning the Vectra there have been a few minor issues and one major one. When virtually new it exhibited a stalling problem which was known to Holden and resolved immediately with a new Idle Air Control valve. Then sometime within the first few years there was a problem with the wiring of the indicators which caused the flash rate to vary. Once again Holden resolved the problem immediately. Then about a month from the end of the warranty and ticking/tapping noise was noticed, and the car was taken to the dealer to investigate. They diagnosed the problem as a chipped crown wheel in the gearbox/diff assembly, and since they couldn't get a replacement part, they replaced the entire gearbox and diff under warranty. This took a week, so was a little inconvenient, but I was nevertheless happy to not be paying for a new gearbox.

How do you rate it?
I'll admit that I love driving the Vectra, and have been more than happy with it.
I can't see any other medium size sedan doing anything better for the money.
5/5 stars - * * * * *