VAUXHALL is suffering from a shortage of widgets. In the last review of this car, I reported damaging the plastic casing of the rear seat back locking mechanism. A new part was placed on back order at the Sycamore’s Vauxhall dealership in Stamford in November and we waited until this week for it to arrive in stock.

The broken part has now been replaced. However, the lack of a ‘lug holder’ to secure the new part securely in place means the job has not been completed.

Sycamore’s says the part is on order from Germany and could have arrived within days of order. It has not. So for the lack of what seems to be a simple, low-tech part in the whole of Vauxhall’s UK network we are left waiting once more.

The car is built at GM’s Russelsheim plant in Germany, but are we to believe that Vauxhall’s entire dealer network relies on sourcing parts of this type from abroad? In today’s world, where communication is instant, it also should never take weeks for a part to turn up even if it is coming from across Europe, as anyone who has bought anything online will tell you.

It is a rather significant fly in the ointment to what was an impressive customer service experience with Sycamore’s. The physical handover of the Vectra to the dealership and collection of the courtesy car (a 54-plate 1.2 Corsa) was thoroughly and professionally executed, with full explanations of insurance cover on the car.

The repair, although incomplete, was done in just a few hours on the same day. The Vectra was not valeted, however.

Model: Vauxhall Vectra estate SRi 1.9 CDTi 150
Price (OTR): £20,965 (£24,415 as tested)
Mileage to date: 5,239
CO2 emissions (g/km): 165
Company car tax bill (2005/6) 40% tax-payer: £154 per month
Combined mpg: 46.3
Test mpg: 41.5
CAP Monitor residual value: £4,975/25%
HSBC contract hire rate: £434
Expenditure to date: Nil

Figures based on three years/60,000 miles