Holden Vectra 1999 Problems

TO get ABS, a driver's airbag and remote central locking on the 1999/2001 Camry four, you will need to move up the model range and look at a CS-X. You'll pay $15,000-$20,000 and for that you'll get a safe, reliable and well-built car. The JS and JSII Vectras were similarly equipped with driver's airbag, ABS and central locking, and will be slightly less expensive at $16,000 to $18,000. The Vectra is basically sound and has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with 104kW. The Camry is a similarly sized four with 94kW -- power and price advantage to the Holden.

Go for the Hyundai i30. It will serve you well, it's cheaper than a Japanese car but just as good as anything short of the Mazda3, and you should be able to get one with some of the five-year factory warranty still to run. It gets The Tick from me.

It is possible that it could be in limp-home mode, but if it is you should have warning lights showing on the dash indicating a problem. If there are lights on you could try turning the ignition off and on again, which might reboot the computer it it's a glitch in the system. If it won't reboot and there are warning lights on take it to a mechanic to have the problem diagnosed. If there are no lights showing it could be a blocked exhaust. Again you need to have a mechanic check the exhaust, particularly the catalytic converter to see of the ceramic structure has collapsed.