Vauxhall Tigra 1.6i

I have owned my little Vauxhall Tigra Sports Car for a month and to be perfectly honest it is a fantastic little car. If I had the money then I would go right out and buy another new Tigra as I can't rate them highly enough. Sure I am 5'10" and yes the Tigras are low to get into but this is a minor thing. The Tigras are just as economical as any other car of their size and engine providing you don't put your foot down too heavy then it won't run away with you on the old juice! In the first month it has to be said that I also had to have a new water pump fitted as I was sold the car through a Vauxhall Dealer needing one and Vauxhall as usual repaired the car but sold it to me faulty!!!

This is an updated review of my 1999 1600i Tigra.

I Hillclimb her. Spax Suspension, Janspeed exhaust system, Superchipped, 57i induction kit enhanced with a 12 volt powerfan, fuel boost valve, ecotec valve, chipped air intake sensor and Vented bonnet. I am still amazed by this engine at the last Loton Park meeting she was revving way above the 7500 rpm on the clock.

I am now buying a larger rev counter to find out how high she is revving. See tuning guide on ebay under Vauxhall Tigra.

Buy one - terrific little car - reasonably priced - zippy - very pretty - low on fuel consumption - good on corners. I would buy another one.

I am from Brazil and here we have only 98/99 1.6 Tigras, mine is a 99 red magma perfect it has only problems with fuel pressure valve.

We have a club www.tigratuning.com.br

See you there :)

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I have owned my Tigra 1600i from new a 1999 model.

I have travelled dare I say it 42000 miles without problems.

I have recently taken up hillclimb events in it, Loton Park to be precise.

I have lowered and hardened the suspension .

Put a competition exhaust on it.

Replaced the air filter with a sports type.

Fitted forced air induction with a resister chip on the sensor feed. My next mod is a fuel boost valve.

It just keeps going faster and faster.

What a great car.

I own my second vauxhall Tigra now and still very happy with it. No technical problems during my 5 years of experience except a broken distributor belt (which was overdue for replacement). Handling of the car is super as long as the car is fitted with good tires; replacing the tires that came from the factory with good Michelins (or any top brand) makes a very big difference!

I also can tell you that the airbag system works very well (I tried it with my first Tigra ;-)

While the standard 1.6 motor is not too bad I would recomend to fit a german made powerbox, this 150 pound device realy unleashes the tiger within.

I had been saving up for a Vauxhall Tigra for a while, and I hadn't bothered to test drive one until I got near my savings budget. Once I got behind the wheel and drove the thing I could not believe what a disappointment it was! I was so surprised that I drove three examples to make sure the first was representative.

I (like many others) had fallen for the showroom appeal of these cars. They are unbelievably pretty, have lots of gadgets (especially the 1.6 litre cars) and look as if they would be really fun to drive.

In reality, although it is more fun to drive than the old style Corsas-that isn't saying a lot. I suspect a lot of Corsa owners "traded up" and so they did not realise how far off the pace the Tigra is.

So what's wrong with the way it drives? Almost everything - The way it handles, the soggy brakes, the steering that has no feel. The engines will rev and give good motorway cruising speeds, but everything the Tigra gives to the driver it gives grudgingly. It's not just that the Ford Puma and other coupes are better to drive. Most modern non-sporting Fiestas, Kas, Peugeots are far better.

I did a fair bit of research into the reliability of Tigra so I would know what to look for. The news is not good, engines had to be redesigned in 98 to resolve a problem with the sticky EGR Valve. What this meant to the driver was mis-firing and very poor performance on affected models.

Build quality seems to be a bigger issue with the Tigra than with the Corsa. The problem seems to vary - some owners never had a problem and others had problems you wouldn't believe. I would recommend only buying one of these from a Vauxhall main dealer and covered by a Network Q warranty.

The Tigra was a car for the nineties - all spin, no substance.