1988 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8i from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Quite fast

Faults:

Rear shock absorbers where weak when I first bought the car.

Arches, especially the rear are rusty.

The rear door was damaged, from where the thief broke into the car.

Seats a little tatty.

Exhaust pipe started to rattle, just a broken bungee.

General Comments:

I never did like the Astra, and I don't think I would have bought one, but since I had this car given to me I think it is fantastic. The performance almost matches my previous car (Toyota Celica gt-four) which had a 2000cc turbo engine.

It has aggressive response, although it is very hard to pull of in 1st gear without spinning up.

The handling is pretty good.

Radio cassette player doesn't work, although radio does.

An enjoyable car to drive.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th August, 2002

1988 Vauxhall Astra Merit 1.3 from UK and Ireland

Summary:

The best second hand car for under 300ukp

Faults:

Faulty ides speed, when stopping at traffic lights etc. the car simply cuts out if it is raining! In the dry it goes fine.

Exhaust rubber needed replaced, only a few pounds.

General Comments:

Brilliant car to drive, great fun and fast for 1.3 petrol. Holds the road rather well.

Comfortable roomy car, big boot.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th December, 2001

16th Jul 2003, 06:11

155/70 13's were not designed to hold the road. I thought my 1300 handled well - until I fitted 195/65 14's on GTE alloys.

1988 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 injection from UK and Ireland

Summary:

A very good buy

Faults:

Drivers seat collapsed and was very difficult to replace, you don't see many in the scrap yards. I had to mix and match with a later model. If you do find a similar car at a breakers yard, it's a good idea to liberate the engine management unit as a backup because, to buy from a dealers would cost you around £450 to replace it.

Starting to rust around the inner sunroof, front wings, rear boot lid and above the rear arches.

Front tyres wear out very quickly.

General Comments:

What a car for the money for under £1000 pounds, you've got the performance and reliability. There's not many cars that match up to it.

This car is very fast, bordering on aggressive, which can be very costly on tyres, fuel, brakes etc.

Its handling is superb, just point and the car follows at virtually any speed, due to the firm bucket seats and hard suspension + 185/R14 tyres. You feel safe and in full control at all times, which is ideal on a race track, but after an hours normal driving it becomes very uncomfortable and irritating, no good as a family car.

Boot space is fairly good, but don't fill to the brim with anything heavy, or the front will become very light and the wheels spin out, especially in the wet, no good for pulling out in a hurry.

The seating position in relation to the clutch pedal is very poor, but acceptable.

The car tends to have the occasional flat spot, but if you take it to the red line through the box, it's hardly noticeable and it still returns you 30 mpg.

I advise you phone your insurance company before you buy, some won't insure drivers under 30 years old.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 28th October, 2001

14th Aug 2007, 15:40

I ran a well cared - for SRI for 7 years and sold it at 11 years. My mate saw it in a scrapyard 6 months later. At the time it was a big step up for me. 1.8 injection motor, metallic blue with recaro seats and red trimmings - nice. It was a 5 - door as well which meant that I could keep it as a family car. Looking back, it was a lot of fun, but a lot of small things were constantly going wrong, especially the fuel pipes which were way too thin for the injection system. Nothing like as reliable as my next car, an original 1996P Mondeo or my current 2000X Nissan Primera. It was stolen once, interfered with several times and eventually rusted from the inside out, though it was mechanically sound at 100K miles.

6th Nov 2007, 06:23

I have owned my 88 Astra SRi since 89; it's been a cracking car, and even today it's pleasingly fast with a lot of low down grunt.

I had the misfortune of a minor accident this May; the nearside front wing was damaged, but the insurance company decided to write it off. I kept the salvage and decided to spend the money I received and restore the car. One thing lead to another, and I ended up having a new nearside rear wheelarch and complete respray. The car was very sound; it has truly been wonderful car with no mechanical problems at all, just the usual running costs such as tyres exhaust etc.