Opel 54° V6 (C25XE / L81)

Opel's 54° V6 — the 2.5 C25XE and 3.0 L81 — in the Vectra, Omega and Calibra, in the Holden Commodore for export, and in the Saturn L-series and Vue.

A 54° V-angle is unusual and it is a packaging decision, taken so the engine would fit transversely where a 60° V6 would not. The consequence is that everything is tight, and the rear bank is against the bulkhead.

⚑ It is a belt-driven interference design with the belt at the BACK of the engine on the transverse cars, which turns a routine service item into a major job and is the reason so many of these were scrapped with the belt overdue. Ask about the belt before anything else.

Its recurring complaints are ignition and breathing: coil packs, a carboned throttle body, and inlet gaskets that harden and leak unmetered air, giving a lean idle that reads as a fuelling fault.

The Saturn cars wear it as the L81 and were sold as American vehicles, so a Saturn owner searching their own badge finds nothing — the Opel material is what applies.