Jeremy Clarkson Forum

[mazcat]

Hi there. Please help my Tigra exclusive is 15 months old I have had it from new - always had problem with hand brake not holding . contacted vauxhall garage within a week and was told to pull the brake on harder !
The other day I was stuck in a dangereous position when I parked at the bottom of a very steep hill, hand brake would not hold, I was rolling back into a main road every time I took my foot of the brake to accelerate to get up hill, and when did get going the car then just lost all power and died in first gear.
Took it into vauxhall garage for investigation - they told me nothing wrong with it and that their cars also dont hold on hills etc.. said I needed an 1800 engine to go up hills - ! ! and that I need to do racing car starts ! ! ! after the guy from vauxhall tried my car himself he admitted that it was not ideal said its a problem in the design, he said where the hand brake lays its difficult if not impossible for me to pull it on all the way, BUT thats all there is to it and nothing more he can do.
I am not happy with this answer - I love the tigra - and promised myself another after this one But now not so sure . surely if its a problem in design the manufacture is responisble for this problem - so who should I contact Vauxhall or trading standards, any suggestions ? . Thanks .

[Scouse]

To be honest mate stop being such as girl an slap your dealer! They will try anything to get out of doing any work! Check your warranty, write to Vauxhall UK and if nothing comes of that then go to trading standards. I think the handbrake could be one of the things checked on an MOT, go and get the braking force of the handbrake checked and obviously if it is way down then theres another 'string to your bow' kinda thing init. Maybe go to a different dealer an see what they say without telling them you've already been to your own dealer. As for the power are your services up to date? Are your air filter, Exhaust, spark plugs, ht leads, distributor, injectors, ECU and numerous other parts all functioning?

Scouse.

[mazcat]

Thanks for your reply - Cant help being such a girl cause thats what I am - so now you can say oh just another woman driver, the hand brake does pass the MOT requirements according to the dealer but yes I am ofcourse going to take it else where to check it out but thanks anyway - A. girl .

[Scouse]

alright alright calm down calm down! Another idea, if you or a friend knows an independant mechanic, one of these small garages, off street kinda thing, see if you can get them to have a look over the car cos if they can figure out what the problem is it might give you more ammo to go back at dealer with. If your dealer starts spurtin technical stuff ask them what they're talking about, don't be afraid to question them, even if you don't quite understand if you can go somewhere else and tell them what your dealer has said they will probably be able to tell you if your dealer is just chattin bubbles or not.

Oh and by the way it wasn't a sexist remark I say 'don't be such a girl' to my missus.

Scouse.

[mazcat]

Thank you sorry I sounded off .. I will take your advice - tried driving off with the hand brake on tonight and the car actually drove - so some thing aint right and I will make sure vauxhall hear about it thanks will let you know how I get on.