Vauxhall VECTRA Owner's Manual

Also see for Vectra: Operation & maintenance instructions Quick reference guide Owner's manual

Contents

185Driving and o perationO verrunThe fuel supply is autom atically shut offduring overrun, e.g. when the vehicle isbeing driven down long gradients or whenbraking. To enable the overrun cut-off totake effect, do not acc elerate duringoverrun and, if in manual transm issionmode, do not depress clutch ped al. Toprevent damage to the catalytic converter,overrun cut-off is temporarily d eactiva tedwhen the catalytic conv erter temperatureis high.Vehicles with turbocharged engine 3Flow -g enerated noises may be aud ible ifthe a ccelerator is released quickly onaccount of airflow in the turbocharger.Eng ine sp eedDrive in a low engine speed range for eachgear as much as possible.Warmi ng upAllow the engine to warm up w hilst driv ing .Do not w arm it up by letting it run at idlingspeed. Do not app ly full throttle until theengine has reached operatingtem perature.After a cold sta rt, the automatictransm ission 3 or Easytronic 3 inAutom atic mode shifts into higher gears athigher rpm . This a llows the catalyticconverter to quickly reach the temperaturereq uired for optimum pollutant reduction.Correct g ear selectionTra nsmission in neutral and withoutrevving in the lower gears. S top-a nd -g otra ffic a nd driving at a speed too hig h forthe selected g ear or transmission ratioincreases wear and fuel consum ption.Change dow nWhen decreasing speed, shift down intothe next lowest gear. Do not slip the clutchwith a high-revving engine. This isespecially important when hill climb ing.Clutch op era tionAlw ays dep ress the clutch ped al hard tothe floor to prev ent shifting difficulties andtra nsmission dam age.When driving do not use the pedal as afootrest; this will cause substantial clutchwear.C ool ing fanThe cooling fan is controlled v ia atherm oswitch and therefore only runs ifnec essary .The cooling fan a utomatica lly switches onwhen the diesel particle filter 3 is beingcleaned depending on the eng ine.PedalsDo not place any ob jects in the footwellwhich could slip under the ped als andinhibit the pedal trav el.To ensure the pedal travel is uninhibited,there must be no mats in the area of thepedals.Bat tery ca reWhen driving slowly or when the v ehicle isstationary , e.g. in slow urban traffic, stop-and-go traffic or traffic jams, turn off allunnecessary electrical load s w herepossible (e. g. heated rear window, heatedseats 3 ).Depress clutch pedal when sta rting in orderto relieve the strain on the starter and thebattery.