Opel Signum 3.0 V6 CDTI for 5 days

[TT]

So, do you remember dani's topic about Opel's Milion mile free testdrive? I asked for a Signum and a Signum I got.. but a bloody diesel!! Argh! A friend of mine got a Vectra GTS (3.2 V6), and I get the 3.0 V6 CDTI! :bah: At least it is the most powerfull diesel option

And I got it for way more than 3 days:



Sadly for various reasons, I'm gonna take it back already tomorrow (anyway I used already all the 1000 km included in the package )...

The pics:



Impressions:

Do you remember Jeremy's review? Well he was kind! The car is worst than you could expect!! Build quality.. terrible. Worst than a Vectra! My 10 years old BM is still better IMO! Ergonomically it isn't good, the seats aren't supportive and on long travel, not comfy at all.. I guess even worst for ppl taller or bigger than me! the gear stick has is heavy, in a bad way and no precise, the steering is too assisted and vague, the clutch difficult to judge and easy to stall despite the bazillion Nm of couple the damn engine got!
the travel assistang between the rear seats?!?!? A fucking JOKE! badly built, dodgy, nothing seems to work proprely! There was no cable to connect the little fridge, I wonder why they gave the car with this thing inside it! The litte tables that come out of it are then impossible to be put back in if not in 15 minutes.. the assistant wasn't even fixed into the seat, I had to drive 400 km to go to my parents with the thing moving around.. I finally found an Opel dealership there and two guys, a mechanic and a salesman needed 10 minutes to deal with it :roll:

Now, the engine. Like most of us, I asbolutely hate diesels! I am lucky to live in a country where they are kinda rare, but their quota is rasing :bah:
Anyway, diesel engine, even 2005 ones, are utter CRAP! People buy them because they want to save money on fuel, PERIOD! if somebody tries to tell you a diesel engine isn't so bad, he is lying! NOBODY can like a diesel engine! I don't want to sound dumb or naif, but definitely, the only positive feature a diesel engine has is the fact even a big 3 liters one can average 7 liters / 100 even if driven like you drive a rental car for 1000 km. Nothing else. It is still noisy (I know BMW and Merc ones are better, but still crap), it smells like shit, it vibrates, its powerband is still short.
The bottom line, as somebody else said on another forum is that the diesel engine is a very simple and old concept.. ppl always attack american V8 saying they are simple engines and not modern at all.. well, the diesel engine is worst.. the fact is that the car industry, to make all the ppl wanting to save on fuel happy, invested billions to develop it and try to hide all it's downsides, trying to make it seem like a petrol unit. Wasted money and time! If the same amount of money would have been invested in petrol engines, by now your regular hot hatch would easily cruise at 350 km/h, using of course 1 liter every 100 km!

no shit, the diesel engine is the worst thing happened in the car industry history! Don't be fooled, NEVER buy one!

As for the Signum, the V6 CDTI goes for around 50'000 CHF or 40'000 USD (you can do the maths on www.xe.com for your currency).. and noway it is worth that money!!

Anyway it was a fun testdrive, around 1000 km my car could avoid and despite all the downsides, on the highway it is an acceptable car and it can managed overtaking pretty well...

I am so happy to be back at the wheel of my 320i from tomorrow on!!

[ARMAN]

Hehe not a very positive review LOL Havent thought that its SO bad 8)

[mv]

If the other participants have the same impression, this event won't help Opel's sales much, will it ?

Here in Czech rep. it starts on 1st April and there will be 100 cars available in total. Sadly no Signums or even Vectras. The list includes Corsa 1.2 Enjoy, Astra 1.6 Elegance, Meriva 1.6 Enjoy and ComboTour 1.3 CDTI.

Gonna apply in May, after my graduation exam.

[Blip]

I must say i am suprised :shock: .

Since OPEL stopped producing the Omega, i expected the Signum to be a good car. Opel really need to work harder if they are going to compete with their fellow Germans...

Is it really THAT bad, the steering feedback on the Omega was pretty good.

[TT]

The interior materials in the Vectra are sensibly better IMO.. for the console, levers and so on.. they are different as far as I can see.

Hard plastic everywhere.. so simple yet not "pure".

And anyway sadly also the Vectra isn't really good in my opinion.

As for the interior volumes, VERY good for sure, but if you want a good car to travel on the back seat, you definitely won't buy an Opel IMO.. so it's just pointless. The scene where Jeremy tried to drive from the back seat came to mind several times

Also interesting to see how here they only used the biggest engines to try and lure ppl into buying an Opel Vectra GTS, Signum 3.0 CDTI.. even the Meriva was presented in 1.7 diesel form!

[komotar]

Hahaha

I see you had a "good" time

A cool review. Defenetly different

I also dislike diesels very much, but not to the extent you do

I still want Opel as a company in general to make it again......they bossted their sales recently and their newest cars look quite ok actually.

It looks like they have alot of work to do still......

And that white colour doesn't fit the car at all.

Thx for the review...

[topgeartom]

Is it just me, or do you all get the impression that Tt isnt a great fan of diesels?

What has gone wrong with vauxhall/opel's attempts at big cars?

We still have a Vauxhall senator in the garage, which at its time was a great car, and in may ways still is. Despite now being over 15yrs old, it could still cut it in some areas with the modern cars today. 3.0 24v V6 good for 150mph. Electronically adjustable suspension, air con, electric windows all round, sunroof and mirrors, CD player etc etc.

That spec list wouldnt loook out of place on a £40/50k BM or Merc! But above all, the thing is built like a brick shit-house. Even after 15yrs everything is still solid and working on it! and its done well over 120,000 miles!

And now, vauxhall cant even make a mini-fridge work!

[TT]

LOL I think the fridge would work if only they would give you the cable to connect it too :roll:

[chest3r]

I'm gonna try to Test-Drive an Opel too. But it starts only in April 15 here.

I didn't knew we can only have the car for 1000km, but that's enough for me Too bad the car has a lot of stickers in it. Everybody's gonna know that the car isn't mine :roll:

Anyway, This Opel Signum is kinda rare here in Portugal. I like it, but it looks like a Vectra with a bigger boot :roll: And although I like Diesel engines ( maybe because they're common here ) this one should be more powerfull. They should put another turbo in it like the Vectra OPC with 212bhp in a 1.9L engine

[1zippo1]

Thx for the review TT, I'm suprise you really disliked it that much!

I can understand you didn't like the 3.0 engine. Me & my dad had a testdrive with a Saab 9-5 with the same engine, a couple of weeks back. And we weren't really impressed either. It has lots of torque but the response to the gas pedal is really really slow. I think you should testdrive the new 2.0TDi from VW, you should think differently about diesels after that!

Originally Posted by Blip I must say i am suprised :shock: . Since OPEL stopped producing the Omega, i expected the Signum to be a good car. Opel really need to work harder if they are going to compete with their fellow Germans... Is it really THAT bad, the steering feedback on the Omega was pretty good.

My dad has an Omega and although you can hardly compare it to an A6, it still is a nice car. For thar price you couldn't find such a big, comfortable car anywhere. My dad allready has had 2 omega's, with which he did over 160.000km without any rattles or annoying noises...

[dingo]

haha.....even if you dislike it, at least you get to test a different car for nothing - I would love to do that and spare my car for 1000km
As for diesels, I have not driven one yet so I can't judge - but going by your words I am lucky that I haven't

[komotar]

Originally Posted by dingo22 As for diesels, I have not driven one yet so I can't judge - but going by your words I am lucky that I haven't

Well, so far I liked 3 diesels.

The best one so far imo was the 3.0l 218 hp in the BMW 530d. The engine didn't feel "diesel'ish" at all..... even the sound was cool....

The second one I liked very much was the 4.0 in the A8. 275hp. I liked it because of it's raw power.....driving that car with that engine made you think you're the king of the world....al the torque you would want and you could still move a mountain with the rest....

And the third one, don't even know why exactly....... was the one in the Alfa GT. I think the excellent chassis made up for the not so exciting engine and at some points I totally forgot I was driving a diesel.....

[LotusGT1]

There's nothing wrong with diesels, the torque is great, they don't sound as bad as they used to, they DON'T vibrate, don't smell anymore and for commuting it's the perfect engine. Drive a BMW 330d and talk again. The PSA HDI, ditto. Diesel drivetrains are perfect for 95% of the people.

The fact that this Signum might be a bad example, doesn't mean every diesel engine sucks. The only application diesels are less suited for are the very sportive drivers, who misses the wider power band and the slightly worse throttle response. LOL, check the specs for the new E90 3-series:

BMW 320i (Petrol)

Engine size: 2-litre
Power: 110 kW at 6 200 r/min
Torque: 200 Nm at 3 600 r/min
0-100 km/h: 9.0 seconds
Top speed: 220 km/h
Fuel consumption (EU combined cycle): 7.4 litres/100km

BMW 320d (diesel)

Engine size: 2-litre
Power: 120 kW
Torque: 340 Nm at 2 000 r/min
0-100 km/h: 8.3 seconds
Top speed: 225 km/h
Fuel consumption (EU combined cycle): 5.7 litres/100km

Todays diesels can match their petrol counterparts.

With all due respect TT,

Now, the engine. Like most of us, I asbolutely hate diesels! I am lucky to live in a country where they are kinda rare, but their quota is rasing Anyway, diesel engine, even 2005 ones, are utter CRAP! People buy them because they want to save money on fuel, PERIOD! if somebody tries to tell you a diesel engine isn't so bad, he is lying! NOBODY can like a diesel engine! I don't want to sound dumb or naif, but definitely, the only positive feature a diesel engine has is the fact even a big 3 liters one can average 7 liters / 100 even if driven like you drive a rental car for 1000 km. Nothing else. It is still noisy (I know BMW and Merc ones are better, but still crap), it smells like shit, it vibrates, its powerband is still short. The bottom line, as somebody else said on another forum is that the diesel engine is a very simple and old concept.. ppl always attack american V8 saying they are simple engines and not modern at all.. well, the diesel engine is worst.. the fact is that the car industry, to make all the ppl wanting to save on fuel happy, invested billions to develop it and try to hide all it's downsides, trying to make it seem like a petrol unit. Wasted money and time! If the same amount of money would have been invested in petrol engines, by now your regular hot hatch would easily cruise at 350 km/h, using of course 1 liter every 100 km! no shit, the diesel engine is the worst thing happened in the car industry history! Don't be fooled, NEVER buy one!

This part sounds like it was written by a 6 year old being as uninformed as they come. Opinion is all fine, but most of what has been written here is BS. The last two paragraphs are downright hilarious. Petrol engines will never ever reach the same level of efficiency as diesel engines. Petrol engines have more than a 30 year lead in development time, you're simply not realistic.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specia...8/article.html

[RC45]

Originally Posted by LotusGT1 With all due respect TT, Now, the engine. Like most of us, I asbolutely hate diesels! I am lucky to live in a country where they are kinda rare, but their quota is rasing Anyway, diesel engine, even 2005 ones, are utter CRAP! People buy them because they want to save money on fuel, PERIOD! if somebody tries to tell you a diesel engine isn't so bad, he is lying! NOBODY can like a diesel engine! I don't want to sound dumb or naif, but definitely, the only positive feature a diesel engine has is the fact even a big 3 liters one can average 7 liters / 100 even if driven like you drive a rental car for 1000 km. Nothing else. It is still noisy (I know BMW and Merc ones are better, but still crap), it smells like shit, it vibrates, its powerband is still short. The bottom line, as somebody else said on another forum is that the diesel engine is a very simple and old concept.. ppl always attack american V8 saying they are simple engines and not modern at all.. well, the diesel engine is worst.. the fact is that the car industry, to make all the ppl wanting to save on fuel happy, invested billions to develop it and try to hide all it's downsides, trying to make it seem like a petrol unit. Wasted money and time! If the same amount of money would have been invested in petrol engines, by now your regular hot hatch would easily cruise at 350 km/h, using of course 1 liter every 100 km! no shit, the diesel engine is the worst thing happened in the car industry history! Don't be fooled, NEVER buy one! This part sounds like it was written by a 6 year old being as uninformed as they come. Opinion is all fine, but most of what has been written here is BS. The last two paragraphs are downright hilarious. Petrol engines will never ever reach the same level of efficiency as diesel engines. Petrol engines have more than a 30 year lead in development time, you're simply not realistic. http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specia...8/article.html

With all respect Lotus... pull your head out of your arse and enjoy what TT wrote for what it was a- a review.

His journalistic style was fun and refreshing - and probably spot on.

I just realised that the new Chevy Malibu Maxx is the US version of the car TT drove.... a larger, uglier version of the Cobalt.

[coombsie66]

Amusing review TT, but i just cant agree on the sweeping remark that all diesels are shite.
Beemer audi, VW and Merc diesels are some of the most impressive engines i think ive ever seen.
But enough said.