Vauxhall Zafira (05 on) - Review

Review by David Ross on
Last Updated: 23 September 2009
The original Zafira revolutionised the people carrier market with it's clever seating, spacious interior and plenty of family-friendly features. Vauxhall has carried these strengths on to this model but added sharper styling, improved build quality and refinement too. There are plenty of neat features such as storage boxes in the roof, keyless entry and an optional panoramic glass roof but compared to newer people carrier the Zafira is limited in its flexibility and the once class-leading Flex7 now seems clumsy and awkward. It's also not great to drive, however it is spacious and there's a huge range of engines and trims on offer. In early 2008 it was tweaked slightly with some styling changes and improved levels of standard equipment.
3.5 out of 5

Other Vauxhall reviews

4 out of 5

Running costs

The Zafira is pretty good value - although you should aim for a discount if buying new. Running costs are low, especially if you go for the diesel engine while servicing intervals are quite long - a full service is needed only once every two years or 40,000 miles. The model has also been designed to keep the cost of crash repairs down and as a result insurance groups start are low

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£1,461 - £2,116 *

Diesel

£1,165 - £1,644 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

Minor every one year/20,000 miles, major every two years/40,000 miles.

Warranty

Three years/60,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£120.00 - £460.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

3.5 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
    134
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
    228
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The Zafira performs adequately on the eco front and with an average of 162g/km CO2 across the line-up, its emissions are about average compared to the competition. The greenest model to go for is the 1.7 CDTi ecoFLEX - it emits 139g/km of CO2 and can return 53mpg.

Find the exact engine and CO2