Reliablity at a reasonable cost
Nothing.
This is the 4th Astra we have owned and I feel the 16v is the best yet.
We require a car without any large repair bills and with reliability
We travel to southern France 3 or 4 times a year, and the car performs very well on the auto-routes.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 6th November, 2003
Does it's job well
Only had car for 5 months & 9k miles and only problem was faulty oil pressure sensor when I bought it - easy fix if Ian Glass Vauxhall in Haddington had a clue what they were doing. Had about 4-5 visits to the garage and they kept coming up with excuses about why they couldn't sort it out. Having a relative who is a senior tech at a large South London Vauxhall dealership, I had access to good advice, so knew from what he told me, that Ian Glass Vauxhall were basically dicking me about.
Dealer I bought this car from very poor. My previous car was a Fiat Punto which I sold after 15 months due to poor build quality & incompetent dealers. Having owned an Astra prior to the Punto, it was a great car and the dealers were very good. Shame that the dealer I bought this car from is poor. I will stick to garages that I know and trust from now on!
The car runs like a clock - not particularly exciting, but I bought it as a workhorse to stick 36k miles pa on it, so a reliable car that gets 60mpg does me fine. Performance not wonderful, but for a 1.7 diesel it goes fine. Engine not very refined, but it is as old Izuzu design so expected that. I really like this car, but the one big thing that puts me off it is that I find the seats very uncomfortable over long distances - complete contrast to my old Astra. Other than that, I intend to keep it another few years until it hits 150k miles then get rid of it.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 27th October, 2003
Original reviewer here: Now had the car for 3 years & 2 months. Only expenses in that time have been routine servicing, tyres, an exhaust rear-box (£77 fitted) at 77k miles, and a coil spring (£80 fitted) last month at 99k miles (thanks to appalling state of local roads).
Now sitting on 100,114 miles and just had its 100k service today at a cost of £694.19 at my local (non-franchised) garage. In addition to the usual routine stuff, it needed a couple of tyres, pads and discs, timing belt and auxilliary belt.
I am impressed by the reliability and lack of general wear & tear on this car. Prior to its 100k service today, it was still wearing the original discs and only its second set of pads. Even today at the service, I was told that the pads still had a few thousand left on them, and the discs, although quite worn, would do another 20k yet if I wanted to be a skinflint. Decided to change them anyway as I do a reasonably high mileage, so like everything in good order.
The timing belt cost a bit more than I thought, as there was an updated bracket that Vauxhall had brought out (other owners must have had problems). The garage had checked with the Vauxhall dealership whether this was required prior to the service (engine & chassis numbers etc given so should get proper answer), and were told that my car had already had the modified bracket when built, but this turned out not to be the case, so it had to be fitted and cost about £69 extra + fitting. Nice to see that the Vauxhall main-dealers are still the fountain of knowledge about their own cars... NOT!
Still happy with the car. My back now seems to have adapted to the seats and they are more comfortable (took ages though). It still looks in nearly new condition, shiny with no scratches or dents, runs like a clock, and now that the garage owner has told me that everything on the car is done and it wants for nothing, I look forward to getting at least another 2-3 trouble free years motoring out of it.
Was thinking about part-ex'ing it prior to the service, but although the service wasn't cheap, I've got my trouble free car that's all set to go. A new car might wear a newer plate, but it's just starting the depreciation cycle all over again. Would rather put my hard-earned into a nice motorcycle these days.
Original reviewer again... Just part-ex'd my beloved Astra today for a Skoda Fabia VRS. It went with 121k miles on the clock and still running like new. Don't know why I decided on a change, as the Astra has been the best car I've ever owned, but having just sold my motorcycle due to the number of blind car drivers on the roads, I fancied a newer car that was a bit quicker and more fun to drive. The Astra needed 2 new front tyres, and a pair of rear shocks as one was leaking, but with the money from the sale of the bike, I decided to trade up instead of spending the £200 on tyres & shocks. Got £2,000 for it on the trade-in - book value, but still totally scratch and dent free. Even the salesman commented that it was cleaner than every 6 month old vehicle they had on their forecourt, but that's the way it goes. Some buyer out there will get a great car, it's been the best, cheapest to run motor I've ever owned, and I'd highly recommend the Astra 1.7DTi to anyone... if looked after, they will last forever!
22nd Jul 2010, 18:24
Have owned my 1.6L 16V Club from new since March 2003, and agree with all the comments above. Have owned five Vauxhall Astras from new since the mid-80s, and between them only ever had one breakdown on the road.
Serviced the current one annually on the dot at the local Vauxhall franchise, and never had any worries until last year (2009) when I had a problem with the air con. I took it to a specialist garage for repair, and they commented on the poor standard of servicing it had received, so I now go to a small local garage recommended by a friend.