Video:  Second gear acceleration - looking out

Video:  Second gear acceleration - dashboard

Before getting this Vectra, I had about a year of driving an Astra diesel, which - objectively - was a superb car, being both quick, comfortable and economical.  However, something was lacking from the Astra.  I can't quite put my finger on what that was, but maybe it was something to do with the fact that every other car on the road in the UK is an Astra, not to mention the fact that many are used simply as rental cars.  Now, the Vectra is not an unusual sight on our roads, but it is in this spec.  This is a manual transmission estate car with a 230 BHP (which is easily remapped to 275-285 BHP) engine and in police spec.  That means uprated suspension, electrics and brakes, among other things.

Perhaps the best feature of this car is the engine.  The turbocharger means that there is a lovely linear spread of torque over a wide range, and the engine sounds just fantastic at any revs.  It's also very quiet and refined, and you can barely hear the engine at tick-over.  This car has a six-speed manual transmission, which requires a little care to use, since the engine tends to hold its revs when you depress the clutch, thus making smooth gear changes difficult if you try to do it too quickly.

There is a downside to owning a police-spec car, and that is that the car doesn't have that many toys to play with.  It has a CD player and climate control, and that's about it.  That doesn't bother me too much, but it would have been nice to have cruise control.  On the other hand, this is possibly one of the most comfortable cars that I have owned.  The seats are soft (but not too soft), and the suspension seems to be set up for comfort.  I guess that's for the benefit of the police, who would have had to spend all day sitting in it and driving around.  The steering is light, though definitely not as precise or with as much feel as that in the Astra.

In the time that I've had it, the Vectra has just about managed to hit its Euro-average fuel consumption, which is around 27 MPG.  It should also be noted that the CO2 emission from this car (250 g/km) is enough to set environmentalists into an attack of the vapours, and as such the car is expensive to tax (currently £400, with more to come in the next few years).  Having said that, I do not regret buying this car.  It has a very distinctive specification, looks great (in my opinion) in white, and has a lovely engine.  I enjoyed the Astra diesel, but this car seems to suit me better.