2002 Holden Astra CD from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Good quality and reliability. However two faults are worth noting - the first was a rattle in the driver's door which was fixed by the dealer no problem at the 1500km service. The second was the rear disk brakes that emitted a loud howl when initially applied when the car was in reverse. This was akin to an air-raid siren and people in the street would turn to see where the noise was coming from - most embarrassing. When I initially told the dealer they were reluctant to do anything (surprise surprise) and I initially thought I'd have to accept it as a quirk of the car. I happened to mention the problem again to a different technician at a subsequent service and was put on a waiting list to have what were called "brake dampers" fitted. To the dealer's credit they phoned me about 6 weeks later (no prompting required) and had then fitted for free under warranty and the problem has been fixed.

The car makes for great point to point driving and has a surprising amount of performance on the open road. The cars high kerb mass makes initial acceleration less than the others in the class though - solid construction comes at a price. The seats could be better as you feel like you're sitting on them rather than in them especially on a long trip. However, it has one of the best standard audio systems in a car of this price and the outside air temperature gauge is useful for when driving in winter.

I also have this loud groan coming from the rear or our '03 Barina. I have done a little research and there is very little difference between the Astra and Barina's braking system. Both have ventilated discs on the front and discs on the back. Have you or Holden solved this fault? Please help!

I had an interesting problem with the rear brakes on my '01 Astra. Ever since new the car has had this strange rattle when you drive over less than smooth roads, I have finally traced the problem too the rear pad carrier assembly. As the brakes have no dampers fitted from new, the pads, over a period of time, wear the carrier which allows the pads to slip up and down thus rattling. The fix, get the dampers fitted next service.