Love Vauxhalls, so when my 1972 Victor FE had problems I needed a Vauxhall daily driver while it was off the road. As luck would have it advertised locally was a 2003 Vectra GSI, priced at £800 ono, I contacted the seller, told £700 cash would seal the deal, so after 2 bus journeys and a ferry trip along with a visit to the bank to get the cash, I was finally in front of a lovely looking GSI. I spoke to the lovely lady owner and I had a good look over the car, lifted the bonnet, engine was warm ( yikes ) was told battery had been flat as it had been sat since October, ok I can accept that, then I opened the oil filler cap 😱 there was about an inch of horrible Mayo hanging off of the cap, to say that my heart sank was an understatement. Now I've always been told that Mayo is a bad sign, I really didn't want to be getting into engine problems, especially on a car that I didn't know and that I was about to spend £700 on !
I thought that if it lasted long enough while I got my Victor sorted ( dead starter motor and a split in the join of the petrol tank ! ) then I could just sell it on again, it has mot until end September 2018 but I needed a better deal just in case it went pop on the way home !
So there I was still umming and arhing when the seller said that as I obviously liked Vauxhalls ( I was wearing a Vauxhall coat ) and we had spoken about my other Vauxhalls and I was not likely to wrap it around a lamp post ( not a lot of hedges or trees up here !) that she would accept £100 for it !!!!!
Would you believe I still had to consider the fact that the Mayo was a problem but eventually paid the money.
All this was happening between 11:30 and 12:30, I had to make my mind up before my insurance was due to start at 12:30.
So I slowly drive the GSI away, I was told to watch the brakes as it had been sat for so long, I was expecting some resistance so I gently applied the brake while driving to clear the surface rust and they worked fine.
After doing some shopping and driving home I checked out this forum, first search Mayo........not a problem as long as there is no oil in the water.........yippee.
So now I am the proud owner of a 2003 Vectra GSI 3.2 V6, thankfully the money that I saved will go to getting a full service and belt change, last record of it being done is 2008 at 79k.