Vauxhall Frontera LTD 2.2DTi

My 2004 Frontera is the best car that I have ever owned, could not fault it. Always reliable no matter the weather. Easy and cheap runner brilliant for all occasions. Highly recommended 4x4 for all that want a classic or daily drive.

Read the reviews on this 4x4 and thought it would be a good purchase. How wrong could i be. I can honestly say in fifteen years of driving this is the worst car i have ever owned. I've owned 4x4's before and i know they're not built for speed but this was dangerously slow, at the first sign of any incline this beast used to give up, 15-20 miles an hour on a small incline, and that's if you were lucky, pathetic. Engine management light kept coming on if you got any where near 3000rpm and would then go into safe mode until you turned the engine off, so this caused even slower driving. Had two garages look at it and neither could find the problem. Petrol tank imploded so it read 1/4 full when it was actually empty. Had the electric window's fixed because they didn't work and within a couple of days they were dodgy again.

I could write an essay on the problems with this car and how bad a drive it was but i'll just say to anybody reading this ' Stay Clear Of Frontera's'. Absolute rubbish.

had my Vauxhall Frontera LTD 2.2DTi (T reg ) for 2 years now, great runner and sturdy, good on the motorway and urban.

Since purchasing my Vauxhall Frontera 2000 model I can honestly say that I can find very little to say bad about it. Fuel economy is excellent motorway approx 41 mpg general urban approx 30mpg.

Ride in the Vauxhall Frontera is a bit ponderous and sterring wobley other than that the space inside, fuel ecomoney from the diesel engine & tow capasity is very good. Would a buy another no there a bit out dated technical now.

Currently on about 36k miles. Lovely to drive and looks great on the road. It also very good off road due to a Hi Lo transfer case. MPG is pretty good, 32-34 with stop start, 38-40 on the motorway. Relatively easy to maintain. My preference is the B model which was produced from 1998 on. We love ours (Long Wheel Base - LWB) and are looking for a Short Wheel Base (SWB).

Overall a lovely car to drive.

The Vauxhall Frontera LTD 2.2DTi is a very good sturdy vehicle that you can feel safe in.

My father has the same Vauxhall Frontera LTD 2.2DTi 4x4 as me, which is a T reg Ltd 1998 like mine but his is manual without air con and has a radio and cassette player instead of CD. He's owned his from new for 8 years now and had it regularly maintained and serviced by a Vauxhall in Wales and now an Opel dealer in France throughout. I have had mine for 3 months. Both "Fronts" have done 100K each. My father having used his off road as a now retired farmer. The things he's had problems with was corroding ABS wiring, especially around the fuel tank area which was fixed under warranty, air flow meter failure for the turbo (£165), electric diesel pump failure circa £500 and that was before 80K. The other problems we have both had, together with each car, was complete instrument dial failure (would work only with lights on), which cost £365 total by Vauxhall to repair including part, air bag light coming on due to loose electrical connection to gas bottle seat belt retensioner. And computer problems (my dad's only).

We have found Goodrich A/T to be a good all season tyre with this car and delivers average mpg. My absolute personal view is that I wouldn't recommend buying one second hand from a dealer because they are usually mechanically sound buys which the warranty would cover but electrically they are a mine field waiting to blow a hole in your bank account with their niggly problems. I brought mine privately second hand for £3000 and spent £500 on it so far! The transmissions on them are hard wearing and can take some abuse without failing like some of the Jap rivals of its time.

So finally, if you're financially short of a few pennies for buying a new 4x4 with a family and don't know much about mechanics like me, buy one, they are great! If you're good at automotive electrician buy 2 Frontys, and finally if you're a good mechanic buy a Landrover cause parts are abundant everywhere and cheaper.

Thanks for reading this and letting me share a purely personal view and experience.

I looked around a lot of 4x4's before purchasing the Vauxhall Frontera. Having 3 German Shephards, boot space was a big issue and the Frontera came out on top. The practicality of the car is brilliant and I take mine off road a lot. Some of the places it has got to have amazed me, it didn't even break a sweat. Compared with a Mark 1 Frontera that I had previously, I would say this is a completely different car. The steering wasn't floaty anymore and the seats were more comfortable and it has a softer, bubblier shape, which keeps it looking modern.