Vauxhall VECTRA 1.8 DUALFUEL RANGE
Modern motoring holds great potential for causing huge disappointment. As a nine year old, my bedroom walls were covered with posters of the Lamborghini Countach. As a fledgling journalist, I got to drive one and emerged stunned at the fact that it was, in actual fact, an appallingly finished crock of the proverbial. Another heart sinker comes every time we get into our cars after having squeezed our plastic to straining point at the pumps, only to see the fuel gauge needle run out of steam just beyond advanced base camp.
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So what of the Dualfuel concept? Well, youll have probably noticed that many UK garages are now stocking the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) the Vectra uses to sidestep crippling fuel bills, making it a genuinely viable proposition. With two fuel tanks, one for normal unleaded petrol and another for LPG, you neednt worry about being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no LPG-equipped pumps for miles. You simply fill up with unleaded. Easy.
"The whole ethos of dual fuel cars is cost saving this one delivers"
The whole ethos of dual fuel cars is cost saving. To this end, here come the figures. Those not of a mathematical persuasion should skip this bit. The hit in Vectra Dualfuel ownership comes up front, with a £2,420 premium asked over a conventionally fuelled Vectra 1.
8. If we work on the basis that the car will cover 15,000 miles per year for the first three years of its life, then the figures produced are illuminating. If you ran your Vectra solely on petrol, youd face a fuel bill of around £1,666 per year, but if you ran solely on LPG youd be looking at £952. Bingo.
Youd have recouped a good proportion of your outlay in one year, and over three and a bit years youd be seeing a profit. Most people do run most of the time on LPG if they go this route but even if you didnt say running two-thirds of the time on unleaded and maybe the other third on LPG there are still decent savings. Whats an inescapable fact is that £10 of LPG in a Vectra will take you 167 miles, £10 of diesel goes 128 miles and £10 of unleaded 94 miles. That cuts to the chase.
In the case of the 1.8 litre Vectra, engineers have taken a comparatively clean petrol version (CO2 exhaust emissions of 184 g/km) and produced an LPG version that is even cleaner (156 g/km as opposed to 161g/km for the old-shape version), taking the car into a pleasently affordable bracket for company car drivers. This latest car is 3% more frugal too, returning 29mpg on the Combined cycle. One of the snagging points about LPG take up has long been the issue of safety.
Many drivers have felt less than secure driving about with a tank of highly combustible liquid gas in their car but modern crash testing regulations are draconian in the extreme with pressure, strength and impact testing all in compliance with EC regulations. A system of valves automatically isolates the gas tank in the event of an accident or the ignition being switched off. You do get two fuel filler nozzles but the possibility of filling the wrong tank with the wrong fuel is diminished erased by the fact that the nozzles are a different shape. Vectra Dualfuel customers choose between two bodystyles (saloon or hatch) and a huge range of trim variations.
If you really want value, the £18,305 1.8 Club makes sense and acts as an excellent basis for Dualfuel conversion. As well as the Club, the LPG conversion can be yours with the 1,8 16v versions of the Life, SRi and Design models all manual transmission, mind. Otherwise, the recipe is pure Vectra.
The styling of the car has been enhanced with the current Vectra models benefiting from a front end which will put many people in mind of the latest Astra. With Vauxhalls family hatchback having gained rave reviews for its sporty looks, the hope is that some of its dynamism will rub off on the Vectra. Its a fairly well-established fact that the Vectra can match any car in the medium range sector on grounds of refinement and comfort. The trick for engineers working on the current facelifted car was to retain those respected qualities while injecting more by way of driver involvement and improving the cars dynamic abilities.
It sounds a fine balancing act but they may have pulled it off. Theres more steering feel and better chassis control in todays Vectra but the crown jewels of that silky ride and the whisper-quiet cabin remain intact. In fact, Vauxhall claim that refinement is actually improved as well. Does life get any better? Well, if the Vectra only had doors which swung upwards and a mid-mounted V12, you could guarantee my name on the waiting list
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Vauxhall Vectra 1.8 Dualfuel range
PRICES: £18,305-£19,815 on the road
INSURANCE GROUPS: 7-8
CO2 EMISSIONS: [LPG] 156-160g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 126mph / 0-60mph 10.7s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [petrol] 29mpg (combined)
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags, ABS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: length/width/heightmm 4596/1798/1460mm [4dr]
