Faults:

Nothing - realy!

General Comments:

Only a Toyota fan would understand how difficult it was to buy an Opel, but I am most impressed.

The deciding factor in buying the car was its excellent safety rating and comprehensive maintenance plan (even the wipers and brakes are covered). Looks can be deceiving, you may not believe that this hatch actually weighs 1.3tons! This only adds to safety.

My Astra is spacious, comfortable, reliable and very economical.

The boot is surprisingly big (for a hatch) and this with a full-size spare!

Fuel consumption has been 7.9l/100km average over the last 12000km. However, I've seen 6.5l/100km when driving a steady 120kph with a family of 4 and the boot packed for a week's vacation.

I didn't pay much attention to it when buying, but that MP3 player which came standard is really nice. Would appreciate some cup-holders though. I also regret not taking the cruise control option - I found myself doing over 150 a number of times.

I certainly don't encourage reckless driving, but it does handle corners well and it comes with brakes that will stop a train.

The car is an excellent all-rounder and will serve a wide audience. Mine, a family car and a worthy replacement for my good and faithful Camry.

Faults:

Replaced brake disks (rotors) at 60000km.

Cleaned throttle body at 70000km, but it WILL get oiled-up again, because the the crankshaft ventilation is connected to it without an oil-blocker.

General Comments:

This is a nice performance car with exceptional handling. The CSE model is sportier than most, but has a rather spartan interior. There aren't even electric windows.

The X18XE1 engine has a known problem with throttle body fouling. This results in idle undershoot and sometimes engine cutting when coasting to a stop. If it were Germany, Opel would have redrilled the connection to the crankshaft ventilation from 1mm to 2mm and replaced the software of the ECU, according to their "TIC Notiz" to that effect. This is something like a minor recall notice. However GM South Africa refuses to acknowledge the problem and avoids calls the best they can. Pity though. That is a good enough reason for me not to buy from them again, although I have nothing against Opel in general, and will buy one any time in another country.

Faults:

No problems at all. This was my 3rd Astra F series. Just bought the new Astra 1.6 Ecotec 16 valve CDE.

General Comments:

Excellent cars. The new Astra (G) series is a poor mans Mercedes. Opel are the best. I have had others makes as well, but will stay with Opel in future.