USED Vauxhall Tigra Coupé Cabriolet (04 - 09)

My car

LOVELY CAR TO DRIVE, BIT LIGHT ON THE STEERING, NO PLACE TO REST RIGHT ELBOW WHEN POSING WITH THE ROOF DOWN

HANDLES WELL ROUND CORNERS AND IS NIPPY ENOUGH FOR TOWN DRIVING HAS GOOD GROUND CLEARANCE FOR ALL THE TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURES THAT ARE OBLIGATORY IN ALL TOWNS THESE DAYS

OVERALL A NICE LITTLE COUPE

My car

I took delivery of a 1.8 Tigra Sports last weekend and am happy with it, although I can see my fuel bills going up this year! I bought it straight out of the showroom with heated leather seats and air-con finished in metallic star silver. I recommend the 17" alloys though from the factory.

The roof rattles a great deal going over poor surfaces, which surprised and rather disappointed me too. It's lovely however to drive with the roof down and I'm already looking forward to the summer. The suspension is a little hard.

The inside has benefitted from the leather seats, otherwise it could have looked a little tacky. Overall a lovely little cabriolet that is quite a head-turner. Good value.

My car

I first read about this super little car in your September edition. Having a slow commute to work in a Mazda MX-5, I was getting backache and 27mpg was depressing.

The Mazda was coming up for yet another expensive service, so I test drove a Tigra 1.4. Super gearbox, fine handling and ride, 42mpg (vast improvement, and the engine is freeing up nicely. Handles very well, roof mechanism impressive (hardly stopped raining since I had it, but several open-top trips in evening have proved comfortable.

Great heater, powerful aircon, very quiet engine, goes well above 4000 revs now, and a VAST improvement day-to-day on MX5's rawness, with the maintained bonus of open top motoring.

Never had a Vauxhall, but first 500 miles have been a comfortable, fun, joy. Never been so stared at - seemingly v few about yet. In fact I have yet to see one.

When are you testing it properly against the mediocre Peugeot and impractical expensive and lumpy Mini - drove one and was not terribly impressed, plus parking a soft top under a tree is a problem for me, whereas the steel roof is perfect. Well done Vauxhall.

The dashboard is not the most exciting, but it's fine, and the stereo is convenient to use and sounds excellent. Good front lights too - much better than a Puma's and they look good too. 1.8 seemed no faster as your magazine article said. I opted for the non-silver roof, and delivery was 1 week.

Perfect for town, good on a motorway

My car

My wife and I bought our Tigra at the end of December 2004 through our local Vauxhall dealer.

Delivery time was about 2 months but it was well worth the wait.

Before making our final decision, we test drove both the 1.4 Sport and the 1.8 Sport. Despite what the industry reviewers have said about the lack of go from the 1.8, there is marked difference and it's well worth the extra money.

We added air-con but decided against the leather option. Given that we are still in mid-winter, driving with the roof down is good fun and very comfortable. The heating system fills the cabin really well and with little or no wind noise, conversation and radio/music play is unaffected.

Whatever the colour (we chose metallic black/matt silver) the car is very eye-catching and drives well.

Biggest surprise to date is how few other new Tigras are on the road, but that is certain to change very soon.