Vauxhall Zafira Tourer (2012 – 2018) Review

The 2010 Vauxhall Zafira Tourer isn’t the most practical, the most versatile or the best-to-drive car of its type. It’s not the highest in quality or the most generously equipped, either. However, it’s still a good all-rounder that does a very solid job in all these areas, and it’s more stylish than your average seven-seat MPV, too, (if a bit less stylish than an SUV). It’s also really good value for money thanks to affordable prices, and if you choose the right engine, it should be affordable to run, too.

Funny how tastes change, isn’t it? Once upon a time, in the heyday of the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer, big seven-seat MPVs like these were loved by families for whom a regular saloon or estate was just not practical enough, and sales figures reflected that.

Then all of a sudden, somebody decides that SUVs (previously seen as evil gas-guzzlers, you’ll remember) are more stylish, and as they become the thing to have, the humble MPV more or less disappears.

However, despite the incessant rise of the SUV, there’s still plenty of merit in a good old MPV. For starters, the boxier shape means they’re often a big roomier than an SUV, and with a seven seater, surely that’s important, right?

And in the Zafira Tourer, Vauxhall offered one of the more compelling choices in the SUV market. It’s curvier styling made it look swishier and swoopier than most of its boxy rivals, and with competitive prices and low running costs, it was good value (even better for used car buyers, obviously).

Granted it wasn’t the roomiest car of its type, but it was competitive on that score and its seating system was as clever and as versatile and anything else in the class.

Sure, the car had some idiosyncrasies. Early cars had a bafflingly confusing dashboard design (sorted out on later examples by a new touchscreen system), interior quality was a bit hit-and-miss, while a complicated and inconsistent trim structure made it rather difficult to choose the version that was right for you.

However, it was one of the better cars of its type to drive. The ride was forgiving enough to keep the family comfortable, while the handling was sharp enough to let the driver have some fun once the kids had been safely delivered to school.

Looking for a second opinon? Why not read heycar's Vauxhall Zafira review.  

Yes, the suspension is a wee bit firmer than in some rivals, so you do feel more of a scruffy road surface, but things are absorbent enough that the bumps rarely trouble you.

You’ll never feel jittered or jolted more than is reasonable, and that’s the case whether you’re plodding through town or blasting up a motorway. It’s worth noting, though, that the ride is comfier on cars with smaller 17-inch wheels than it is on the 18-inchers that come as standard on SRi and Elite models.

That firmness also means vertical body movements are well controlled on undulating roads, it also comes in handy when you get to a set of bends. Body roll is well contained, while there’s also plenty of grip and steering that’s responsive and quick. It stays utterly secure and predictable at all times, and although it’s not quite as enjoyable as a Ford S-Max in the bends, there’s still fun to be had.

Various different engines came and went over the Zafira’s lifetime, so we’ll begin with one that stayed around for the duration. This was a 1.4-litre turbo petrol with 140PS, and despite its small capacity, it does a thoroughly decent job of hauling the Zafira around. Its low-down perkiness makes it easy to drive in urban traffic, and even with a fully-loaded car it doesn’t struggle too much on the motorway. 

As good as the 1.4 is, though, those who regularly have their car packed with people and possessions might well prefer the extra punch of a diesel engine.

The best of them is the 134PS 1.6, which has appreciably more grunt than the petrol, so your progress is actually easier and more relaxed. The car was also offered with a wide range of 2.0-litre diesels, with several different power outputs ranging between 110PS and 195PS, but the one that’s most prevalent is the 170PS version.

It provides quite a bit more pace, so it’s worth having if performance is particularly important to you. However, it’s an expensive upgrade and we reckon most people will be fine with the smaller diesel.

This is perhaps an area in which the Zafira is a little disappointing by modern standards. All versions came with a range of standard safety measures aimed at reducing your chances of having an accident, including electronic traction and stability functions, tyre pressure monitoring and bright LED daytime running lights.

Each also came with stuff to help keep occupants from harm if an accident became unavoidable, such as six airbags and Isofix child seat mounting points, although it’s surprising there's only two of those in a car with so many seats.

The disappointing bit concerns various driver assistance systems, things like automatic emergency braking and blind spot monitoring.

These systems were offered, but only in an optional pack - that also contained adaptive cruise control - that cost buyers a lot extra. Having said that, though, the Zafira Tourer did achieve the full five stars when it was tested way back in 2011, so safety was evidently fine by the standards of the day.

The Zafira Tourer isn’t the roomiest seven-seater MPV, but it doesn’t do badly on that score, either.  The front seats have plenty of headroom and legroom, as do those in the middle, so tall adults will be able to get comfortable easily.

The wide cabin means three adults will fit across the middle row, and although the middle seat is narrower than those either side, comfort is improved by a low, flat floor tunnel that’s comfortable to perch your feet on. What’s more, the middle seats can be slid back and forth independently of each other. 

Even with the middle seats slid as far forward as they’ll go, the third row seats - which pop up out of the boot floor - are too tight on space for adults to travel comfortably, but they’re fine for children.

There’s a decent amount of boot space with all seven seats in place,- and in five-seat mode, there’s space for a lot more. All five of the rear chairs fold down to give you a massive - not to mention perfectly flat and level - extended loadbay.

There are plenty of soft-touch surfaces on display, which look good and are pleasingly tactile, and there are a few metallic trims and glossy panels thrown in to brighten things up further. However, much of the other plastic on display is harder and less appealing, so the quality isn’t all that consistent.

It still doesn’t feel like a low-rent environment, though, and everything appears to be very solidly put together, giving a built-to-last feel.

Entry-level versions miss out on a leather steering wheel, though, so they don’t feel as posh as the rest, while only the range-topping Elite trim gets leather upholstery, which hikes the feeling of class in the cabin considerably.

Early versions of the Zafira Tourer came with a CD player, DAB radio and an aux-in socket for MP3 players, but entry-level versions missed out on a USB socket and a Bluetooth phone connection.

Loftier versions checked these boxes, but only the Techline trim - which is by no means the highest - came with sat-nav as standard, so even those who bought the range-topper had to add this as an optional extra if they wanted it.

Whether your car had navigation or not, the system wasn’t very easy to use, due to long, complicated menus being displayed on a very small screen, and a bamboozling array of buttons on the dashboard.

On later cars, the infotainment system was upgraded to a 7.0-inch touchscreen and brought together DAB, Bluetooth and AppleCarplay/Android Auto, but again, navigation was only standard on Energy and Techline trims, and everyone else had to pay extra.

This system was much easier to use and really simplifies the dashboard layout, but it’s still not as intuitive to operate as the equivalent systems in some rivals.

As always, prices changed constantly over the course of the Zafira’s lifespan, but towards the end of its period of service, you were looking at a starting price of about £18,000 for a brand new model.

That rose to just shy of £30,000 for the Elite Nav with the most powerful diesel engine, while the cheapest diesel on offer, the 1.6 Design, checked in at around £21,500. Compared with rivals, those prices were reasonably competitive, but nothing special.

However, while the car’s woeful residual values were bad news for those who bought the car new, they’re great for those who buy used, because somebody else has already taken the financial hit of heavy depreciation.

These days, you’ll find quite a few examples at around the £6000, and absolutely loads if you stretch your budget closer to £7000. These include a wide range of different engines and trims, too, but do bear in mind that these examples will have comparatively serious mileages

The Zafira Tourer went off sale before the new WLTP testing regime - designed to better reflect real-world driving conditions - became compulsory, so the car was only ever tested under the even-more-optimistic NEDC standard.

According to these figures, the 1.6 diesel is the star of the show with an average return on almost 69mpg (believe that and you’ll believe anything), while any one of the 2.0-litre diesels will return upwards of 50mpg. Predictably, the petrols are considerably thirstier, with figures of 42mpg for the 1.4 turbo and 39mpg for the 1.8. Even then, though, you’ll do very well to match those figures in the real world.

Technically, insurance groups range from 11 to 22 on the Zafira Tourer, but in reality, the vast majority of versions sit at around the 15 or 16 mark.

Since insurance groupings range from group 1 at the cheapest end of the scale to group 50 at the most expensive, you can be confident that premiums should be reasonably affordable. If you really want to cut your costs, choose a version with as modest a power output as you can tolerate.

Vauxhall does a very reasonable job for reliability according to most of the various reliability studies doing the rounds. The Warranty Direct Reliability Index ranks the brand mid-table, while it sits in the top six in the 2019 JD Power Vehicle Dependability Survey.

The range was restructured a couple of times during the Zafira Tourer’s life, and not only were the names of the trims available changed, what came with each level changed, too.

Early cars came in ES, Exclusiv, Techline, SRi, SE and Elite trims, but here, we’ll concentrate on the later cars that came in Design, Energy, SRi, SE Techline and Elite forms. There are obvious similarities between the two ranges, but just bear in mind that older cars will have slight differences to what’s written here.

Design cars have most of what you need, with the standard roster including alloy wheels, manual air-con, cruise control, four powered windows, remote locking and front- and rear parking sensors, and that’s on top of the safety and infotainment kit we mentioned earlier.

Energy cars add front foglamps, privacy glass and a few extra bits of exterior chrome trim, along with sat-nav, while the SRi drops the navigation (unless you specify it as an option) and replaces it with bigger alloys, sports seats, sports pedals, and a leather steering wheel.

SE cars give you automatic lights and wipers, climate control, an electric parking brake and the Lounge Seating. On top of that, Techline trim reinstates the navigation. Bizarrely, top-tier Elite trim loses the nav once again (again, unless you specify it as an option), but comes with leather upholstery, a panoramic roof, a panoramic windscreen and heated front seats instead.