After taking my 2 year old Zafira for its annual service I was notified that the spare wheel was missing, probably stolen

Apparently it is a common problem in my area (Herts). I have no idea where or when it was taken and I could have been driving my two small children around for up to a year without a spare wheel.

I didn't want to pay the £90 Vauxhall wanted for a security device so investigated the web and found these people who sell them at a fraction of the cost. (Osprey Products). I later found this site and decided Vauxhall had some answers to give so called their head office and spoke to the customer service department. I was fairly quickly offered a free locking device with free fitting as a gesture of good will!!! So it is well worth calling them.

The above company (with whom I had already placed an order) were happy to cancel my order and even seemed pleased that Vauxhall were compensating me. It doesn't pay for my new wheel but hopefully ensures I won't have to buy another one.

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The Zafira is a good all round family car

Based on the Vauxhall Astra chassis, there are quite a few similarities between the two cars, such as the general driving ride and the quality of the car as a whole.

There have been a few problems that general users have seen with the cars, such as:

• The engine cutting out when idle.
• The In car radio not functioning correctly.
• A squeaking noise from the brakes after only 10,000 miles or so use.
• Spare wheel thefts.
• A necessity to keep refilling the oil on diesel models (1 litre every thousand miles or so).
• Small storage space.
• Strange engine noises which can not be located or fixed.

Saying this, however. The car is very practical and does have some very good points. The innovative ?Flex 7? seating system makes it very easy to switch the car from 5 to 7 seats without too much hassle.

Other nice features include easy access to the car thanks to the wide opening doors, ideal for families with small children, and an anti-stall device. Designed to stop the car from stalling a low revs.

The car is generally very good and although a minority of owners have had some problems, it represents extremley good value for money and provides a great means of getting the whole family from one place to another.