I used to go to the factory in Atlanta - went 5 times for a good few weeks each time. although I was there for the V6 engine - as we used to build the heads and cams for the 2.2 - I ended up working on those aswell.
The sintra's handle great - On one visit i went on a 300 mile test run around Gorgia - We had five V6 sintra's to test - whilst driving you thought you were in a corsa - but here's the bad news.
The sintra in the states was marketed as what they call a minivan - this is a family car used to dropping the kids off at school - they fitted a mexican built 60 deg V6 to there model and it was also sold as a long wheel base as various Gm badges: Chevrolet, Pontiac Oldsmobile and Buick.
The build quality was crap - there was a 30% rejection rate when the cars entered Belgium and were inspected by Opel europe - this caused huge problems and then the yanks in return started picking faults on the Cadilac catera (us german built Omega)
Problems I found with the sintra:
They had a big promlem with the headliners: they used to fall down on peoples heads whilst driving.
Alarm issues - a good few.
Door fit - the yanks used to joke about this one - they said on a jap car if you left a pet in the car overnight and it was still alive in the morning - it was a problem car - on a US built car you would be lucky to find the pet still there and had not escaped through the gaps.
Paint - full of orange peel
Electrics/ wiring - in the states all cars use a standard wiring colour system. great idea but, its different than the Vauxhall /Opel - i.e black used on Vauxhall for ignition live was earth on the sintra and so on.
Battery uses an american type - its hard to get to set very low down in the inner wing.
Rear seats - they do not fold down like the Zafira - they are lightweight removable units - also they are too low for adults - your knees are up by your chin (like going your kids parents evening)
Rear sliding doors have a hinged window.
They also built a few DTI models.
All said and done - they were originally sold in Europe for around £22- £27K but only $18k in the states for the long wheel base with a V6 (pushrod engine) but now you can pick them up for next to nothing - the V6 is basically the same unit as used in the Omega only with a reversed inlet manifold as used on the Saab 9000 - the 2.2 as I remember used bosch engine management and also balance shafts driven off the crankshaft to make it smooth although very underpowered.
I was after a bit more space compared to my T reg 2.5 CD Omega Estate.
Been offered a really nice condition 2.2 P reg Sintra. 75K on the clock and only 2 owners for £1900.
When i did some research on these they seem to get a universal slating in almost every department.
Question. Consider buying it or walk away and keep walking? :-/
Thanks Darryl
Author
Topic: How bad are Sintra's (Read 4203 times)