The CDC2 does appear to be fairly robust in this regard - not too many people here have had issues. The CDC3 certainly appears to be more troublesome though, going by forum posts.
Back in the early days of In Car CD (and possibly domestic audio as well) there were two main players, Philips and Sony, and conflicting stories often appear if you try to research as to who was the biggest of the two in this field - I seem to think Philips (but only just).
What is interesting though, is that Laser failure with CDR/RW is indeed more prevelent with the CDC3, (Philips laser technology) as opposed to the generally more robust CDC2 (Sony Laser technology) and this observation is certainly not limited to Vauxhall units as other manufacturers who share common models in their range often have the "Philips" unit failing long before the "Sony" one does.
But here`s a thought then, and one for which I have no answer at present, as our service centre only uses genuine parts.
Older designed optical devices, as we all know, fail rapidly due to the amount of strain put on them, as they are operating outside of the parameters that they were designed to.
But how does a modern produced compatable replacement fair? Modern lasers are designed and built to much higher standards these days, and reading the data of a CDr should present no problems at all. The focus and tracking coils are all part of the optical block, replaced as a single unit, and the drive technology would remain unnaffected, save for the calibration required in fitting a new device. So if a modern equivalent laser could be found and fitted, would it mean that the unit could therefore become CDr/rw compatable ?
Food for thought?
:-/