Faults:

It's an Astra, nothing went wrong with it.

General Comments:

In many ways better than the later version; not as good looking and doesn't hold the road as well, but far more comfortable and practical.

This version of the Astra Convertible, looks at its best with the lid off and the windows down, cool!

The roof is automatic, but you have to manually button the roof cover to the body once the roof is collapsed; a bit of a pain.

When driving with the lid up, the rear window is glass, which makes for relatively 'good' visibility. Many convertibles have plastic rear screens, which are totally useless and go cloudy, making them bright patches rather than facilitating any ocular benefit.

The performance for an 1800 injection engine is not that inspiring, and the handling is a bit suspect.

The heaters are volcanic and so lid-less driving, even in cold weather, is do-able.

The boot capacity is very good, considering it's a soft top.

They hold their prices well and are as reliable as dawn.

Faults:

When purchasing the car the coolant temp sensor failed, but only cost £8 fitted. The only thing I hate about the car is the poor performance from the heaters. Apparently, Vauxhall's commonly get air locks in the cooling system and thus you didn't get heaters. Had the same problem in my previous 1.2i Nova which is not very nice on freezing cold mornings and nights. Demisters didn't work neither meaning you had to keep the windows open to stop steaming up (think of this in Cold and wet days!!!). Hated the general performance as well. Sluggish and very restrictive by exhaust system. Eco-crap!! Expensive to tune!

Faults:

The air-conditioning seems to have packed up. Warmish air comes out when it is switched on.

Temperature gauge often shows the car is overheating, especially in traffic.

Some of the switch lighting (around the ventilation area) has packed up.

Exhaust has blown. New one still noisy.

Mudflaps fallen off.

I wouldn't mind, but it has only done 34,000 miles.

General Comments:

The car is rather heavy to drive, the steering especially is very heavy (almost feels unassisted, but I know it has PAS). Gear change is cumbersome too.

No road noise at all, comfortable and quiet cabin.

Very poor build quality indeed, not a patch on a Mazda 323, say.

Dull black interior, dull styling outside too.

Decent vauxhall stereo.

Cheap to run, but it needs to be with the amount of problems one is likely to encounter.

Faults:

We power chipped the engine and found the extra power made the van wallow as the suspension is too under sprung.

Power steering whines obtrusively through the bulkhead.

General Comments:

The van is an excellent work horse and the power upgrade has made a dramatic improvement in drive-ability. the 2.0 litre 16 valve engine is phenomenal I would recommend an upgrade!!

Fuel economy is still excellent as the van will pull well from 40mph to 120mph in top gear!

I am now changing the wheels and tires for better grip to 16 inch 205/45/16 and will keep you posted.

Faults:

Air bag light stuck on when first bought the car however not had any further problems since this was reset at the garage.

General Comments:

With it having a moderately big engine at 1.8 and being a smallish car in size, it's acceleration speed is remarkable. Particularly useful when pulling away at junctions and on the motorways. The extra power is always there should you need it.

It's extremely fast and handles really well, especially around windy roads. The suspension is great and the wheels seem to hug the road. The power steering is particularly light too, making for an easy effortless drive. Excellent for long journeys.

Although extremely pleasing to the eye on the outside with it's spots, big bumpers and door sills, it was the interior that attracted me. With the sporty white dials, leather steering wheel with cd controls, the sporty seats... And not in a tacky colour either, which is where I feel some manufacturers faulter.

All round excellent car....