Time for a change.

[accentstencil]

Hi folks, I'm new to this part of the forum but a long time member.
I'ts time for a change and I will be saying good-bye to my LS1 WH Caprice. I still love the car but it is an endless money pit.

After having a good look around at different makes and models of SUVs I am about to purchase 2017 Captiva LTZ CG turbo diesel, at $23,990 it fits my budget.
I know Captivas have had a bad name with earlier models but is that still the case?
I need to get in quick at that price so any advice is appreciated.

 

[EYY]

No way I’d be buying one.. was at the shopping centre the other day and went to reverse out of a car park. A newish Captiva pulled up behind me and just stopped. I waited for a couple of minutes then eventually put my car back into park and got out to see what was happening.

The woman was very frustrated and told me that it wouldn’t move at all. I tried to put it into gear myself and it just idled and revved up as it it were in neutral. After turning it off and restarting it a couple of times it eventually selected reverse and it was driveable again.

Apparently that’s the first time it had happened to her, but she said she was disappointed with the car overall and already wanted to get rid of it after owning for not even 12 months from new.

Not sure whether they’re all that bad or whether she just had a bad one.

If you want something decent with good resale - look at a Toyota. Yes they cost more initially because they’re a higher quality product, but they’re cheaper to service and far more reliable. They also have better resale and offer a better driving experience imo. So you’re better off in the long run financially; and fewer potential headaches to deal with.

Make sure you do checks on things like price of dpf, injector replacement, fuel, air and oil filters between makes and models before deciding. You’ll probably be surprised at the cost of servicing the European Caprice. And keep in mind that injectors in direct injected diesels are a consumable. One bad tank of diesel can cost you upwards of $10,000 in damage - so be wary of any engine noises as a buyer and make sure service history is perfect.

 

[Calaber]

The later ones are improved substantially on early models. The first Captiva had diesels which suffered from rocker failure but Series 2 onwards had a different engine which fixed that problem.
Electrical problems were also common and AFAIK, the occasional glitch still occurs. If you look at the website Productreview, you will find reviews from many Captiva owners reporting dreadful reliability and serious failures, but they principally relate to 2006 to 2012 models. Check that site out though to find any reports on later models.
My car is a 2015 model but it's the smaller ex-Opel model which doesn't have the level of complexity found in an LTZ. We've had two minor issues since new.
To be honest, there are much better cars because the basic Captiva is so old but on value, they are hard to beat. The company was pushing the last Captiva on value and a 2017 LTZ will be pretty fully loaded and the price is right. You won't find the better cars at anywhere near that price. My advice is to consider all your options and check Productreview before finally deciding.

 

[Calaber]

No way I’d be buying one.. was at the shopping centre the other day and went to reverse out of a car park. A newish Captiva pulled up behind me and just stopped. I waited for a couple of minutes then eventually put my car back into park and got out to see what was happening.

The woman was very frustrated and told me that it wouldn’t move at all. I tried to put it into gear myself and it just idled and revved up as it it were in neutral. After turning it off and restarting it a couple of times it eventually selected reverse and it was driveable again.

Apparently that’s the first time it had happened to her, but she said she was disappointed with the car overall and already wanted to get rid of it after owning for not even 12 months from new.

Not sure whether they’re all that bad or whether she just had a bad one.

If you want something decent with good resale - look at a Toyota. Yes they cost more initially because they’re a higher quality product, but they’re cheaper to service and far more reliable. They also have better resale and offer a better driving experience imo. So you’re better off in the long run financially; and fewer potential headaches to deal with.

Make sure you do checks on things like price of dpf, injector replacement, fuel, air and oil filters between makes and models before deciding. You’ll probably be surprised at the cost of servicing the European Caprice. And keep in mind that injectors in direct injected diesels are a consumable. One bad tank of diesel can cost you upwards of $10,000 in damage - so be wary of any engine noises as a buyer and make sure service history is perfect.

For some reason, Captiva and some other SUV's have transmission lock emergency releases as standard. I've never seen them on non-SUV's. You unclip a small cover tab near the gear selector and insert the ignition key to unlock the selector. That might have been what was required in this case, but to include this emergency release as standard makes me wonder if the factory knew something but only adopted a cheap "fix" instead of sorting the problem out properly. It appeared on every automatic Captiva regardless of engine or model.

 

[accentstencil]

No way I’d be buying one.. was at the shopping centre the other day and went to reverse out of a car park. A newish Captiva pulled up behind me and just stopped. I waited for a couple of minutes then eventually put my car back into park and got out to see what was happening.

The woman was very frustrated and told me that it wouldn’t move at all. I tried to put it into gear myself and it just idled and revved up as it it were in neutral. After turning it off and restarting it a couple of times it eventually selected reverse and it was driveable again.

Apparently that’s the first time it had happened to her, but she said she was disappointed with the car overall and already wanted to get rid of it after owning for not even 12 months from new.

Not sure whether they’re all that bad or whether she just had a bad one.

If you want something decent with good resale - look at a Toyota. Yes they cost more initially because they’re a higher quality product, but they’re cheaper to service and far more reliable. They also have better resale and offer a better driving experience imo. So you’re better off in the long run financially; and fewer potential headaches to deal with.

Make sure you do checks on things like price of dpf, injector replacement, fuel, air and oil filters between makes and models before deciding. You’ll probably be surprised at the cost of servicing the European Caprice. And keep in mind that injectors in direct injected diesels are a consumable. One bad tank of diesel can cost you upwards of $10,000 in damage - so be wary of any engine noises as a buyer and make sure service history is perfect.

Thank you for the advice EYY. There a quite a few other makes of SUVs I would rather own but with my budget of $25,000 I would need to settle on something much older than 2017. I had quite a long test drive yesterday and was quite surprised by how well it went, much more power than I expected from a diesel. I tow a trailer most days for work, that is why I decided to try a diesel, for the pulling power (and my ridiculously steep driveway). I didn't hear any abnornal noises from the engine. I will miss the massive power of my LS1 though.
After reading many reviews of owners of late model Captivas I found that the majority were quite happy, with a few gripes here and there.

 

[EYY]

For some reason, Captiva and some other SUV's have transmission lock emergency releases as standard. I've never seen them on non-SUV's. You unclip a small cover tab near the gear selector and insert the ignition key to unlock the selector. That might have been what was required in this case, but to include this emergency release as standard makes me wonder if the factory knew something but only adopted a cheap "fix" instead of sorting the problem out properly. It appeared on every automatic Captiva regardless of engine or model.

Yeah not entirely sure. The shifter wasn’t locked - you could physically move the lever but it wouldn’t select a gear - seemed like a computer issue. Reboot seemed to fix it. Well in the short term anyway

 

[accentstencil]

The later ones are improved substantially on early models. The first Captiva had diesels which suffered from rocker failure but Series 2 onwards had a different engine which fixed that problem.
Electrical problems were also common and AFAIK, the occasional glitch still occurs. If you look at the website Productreview, you will find reviews from many Captiva owners reporting dreadful reliability and serious failures, but they principally relate to 2006 to 2012 models. Check that site out though to find any reports on later models.
My car is a 2015 model but it's the smaller ex-Opel model which doesn't have the level of complexity found in an LTZ. We've had two minor issues since new.
To be honest, there are much better cars because the basic Captiva is so old but on value, they are hard to beat. The company was pushing the last Captiva on value and a 2017 LTZ will be pretty fully loaded and the price is right. You won't find the better cars at anywhere near that price. My advice is to consider all your options and check Productreview before finally deciding.

Thank you for the reply Caliber, I appreciate your input.
I also test drove a top of the range Equinox which really impressed me, unfortunately at $33,000 was well over my budget. It had a 2lt turbo which had some get up and go. The 1.5 lt not so good.
I will check out productreview now. I have to make a quick decision as the price was a weekend special but will still be available to me today.

I wasn't expecting any replies so soon as there doesn't seem to be much activity in this section, only one page since 2013.

 

[Calaber]

Probably because there aren't too many Captiva owners who call themselves car enthusiasts.

 

[accentstencil]

I just had a look on productreview, the majority of happy owner have a newer model, whereas the unhappy owners have old models.
It's a bit stressful as I need to make a decision soon.

 

[Calaber]

I just had a look on productreview, the majority of happy owner have a newer model, whereas the unhappy owners have old models.
It's a bit stressful as I need to make a decision soon.

I was pretty sure that was what you would find on that site. I actually had a 2006 Captiva 3.2 when I found that site and went through it pretty thoroughly when looking for a new affordable replacement. Later models seemed to be reasonably free of the early model foibles.
As I pointed out elsewhere on this forum recently, no manufacturer is going to build the same car for 11 years without fixing the bugs and you would expect a 2017 model to be a lot better than a 2006 model.