ASTRA VXR What's the best route..

gabyjane

I think iv'e asked a similar question before but now very confused so asking again!!
Really want an Astra sport vxr..Option 1 is:
to lease as we were first going to do is around the £250 a month mark BUT has breakdown, MOT and tax included..a big saving as such but never ours.

Option 2 is:
To buy an astra and do it up..i.e the alloys changed, black out the windows etc like i saw one done the other day.. looked really nice..cheaper im sure but will we ever get round to doing it!

Option 3:
Buy one of a garage off Ebay as they seem cheaper than the dealers but are still from various garages..BUT to take out a loan or do their finance..not sure which is cheaper tbh..

So what would you do and why..this would be a long term car..
Thanks

Conor_3

Firstly, I'd not have one in the first place TBH as the handling is really poor. Plenty of better specced cars for the same money.

Option 2 will always scream "I wanted a VXR but couldn't afford one".
Option 3 is fraught with danger unless you know what you're doing.

Option 1 is the sensible one if you plan on changing every few years.

banger9365

conor is right they have poor handling(a m8 just got rid of hisforthat)
if you want a astra vxr look at the astra 888 oil burner if you can find one (there like rocking horse)they handle a lot better than the vxr because thorney motor have taken the time to get it right unlike VX and it leave the vxr behind put you will be very lucky to find one never mind buy one(they only built 100 of them )or get a astra sri 150 and put a VXDiesel Enhancement System on it for £351 from Thurlby Motors or the full kit for £800/£900

gabyjane

Hmm ok, saw it on a couple of car shows and it got very very good reviews BUT i love it for what it looks like not how it hanldes as such as i realise it's a sports car not a normal astra. I currently have a Punto and it's lovely looking but again not the best to drive at times..again the astra goes £150 mph..well who wants to do that hey!!
Aaanyway..this is the sort of thing i am after..
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2007-57-Vauxhall-Astra-VXR-2-0-MANUAL-3-doors_W0QQitemZ270242981019QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270242981019&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

I would assume from a dealer like that it would be ok..i would never buy one private tbh.

banger9365

here you go cheaper than the one you look at http://www.thecarpeople.co.uk/kcom/ucl/response.asp?querytype=ucl&displayType=vehicDetails&dataptr=000352

and do not for get the road tax http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/road-tax/?deriv=31048
and how much fuel it uses and insurance

i would look at the astra sri sports hatch 1.9cdti(red TI) (150) ,cheaper on road tax(£145), insurance(may be) and put a tuning box on it ,like mine and it uses less fuel(40mpg plus round town on a bad day,no motorway driving)

sorry if a bit blunt put how old are you ?

gabyjane

Thanks banger! I have looked into the tax and it is more than we pay now so need to think about that as it obviously goes up quite a bit and either way we would have it for a long time..have looked into the insurance too and as my partner will do it in his name it is also cheaper than it would be for me. Again wondering wether the leasing is better r.e insurance as it includes it in the monthly fee.. it poss works out cheaper but haven't got that far yet as we are not getting one till prob xmas.

Hmm still undecided!! oh and btw i am 29! thanks for your reply.

Keith

Look into a Focus ST, the old shape is about to drop in price as the new RS has hit press. As nice as the VXR is it's still very plastic inside.

gabyjane

thanks keith, that was the other car we were looking at funnily enough..the insides of both cars i think are very plasticy for the money they cost!!

nickmack

I'm confused now, the OP said they like the VXR for the looks, but doesn't care how it drives. Now they're considering at an ST?

The problem with making a car look like a more powerful model is that you need to declare this to the insurer and the premium generally reflects that of the more powerful vehicle.

While on the subject of insurance, if this car is to belong and be driven primarily by the OP, their suggestion of getting it 'in the name' of their partner is likely to be fraudulent.

Anyway, if you were in the VXR/ST market for driving, you should get an R26...

AdrianHi

I've done the sums on various Astra's, Corsa's and Vectra's before and they are always cheaper as a lease and then try and buy it off the lease company if you really want to keep it. Don't buy brand new, even on 0% finance, it's expensive unless you can find one at about 25% discount. I seem to remember a broker offering a deal like this on some Vauxhalls, cannot remember who.
Leasing companies get to buy the cars in on big discounts and so can pass on the savings as a low lease fee.
Even better, buy one a year old, depreciation is actually quite slow once you knock off that first year / 40% of value.

The car's of this kind I'd actually go for are a Mazda 3, Golf or possibly a Focus following the above lease or buy strategy.
You need to watch out for CO2 emissions and future tax disk charges, people are not buying high emissions cars now unless your at the luxury end of the market which means you could end up with a car that's getting too expensive to run and is unsellable.

gabyjane

nickmack wrote: »

I'm confused now, the OP said they like the VXR for the looks, but doesn't care how it drives. Now they're considering at an ST?

The problem with making a car look like a more powerful model is that you need to declare this to the insurer and the premium generally reflects that of the more powerful vehicle.

While on the subject of insurance, if this car is to belong and be driven primarily by the OP, their suggestion of getting it 'in the name' of their partner is likely to be fraudulent.

Anyway, if you were in the VXR/ST market for driving, you should get an R26...

Thanks for the reply..im actually confused by your post..I said i liked the asrta vxr for the lokks and the Focus was a consideration too..i think they both look fab..this is like one we looked at:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2007-FORD-FOCUS-ST-3-3-Door_W0QQitemZ380028395881QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item380028395881&_trksid=p3913.c0.m22

Again not interested how they drive etc too much, as far as i'm aware they both have good reviews and the focus has been very popular that being the downside in that there are quite a few now driving around (although not in orange!)
Also trying to make a car look similar to another one i.e blackout windows etc wouldn't put the premiums up would it? only if i was to faff with the engine..again the Astra tends to be 2.0l anyway so can't really get much faster! again not really bothered about that either as i do not live on a race track! I'm not talking about some tacky job of making a standard astra look like one but some have been done very nice and don't cost as much so that was another option.
The car is equally shared by me as a named driver, i ahve it down for business use too so can't see id'e be done for anything

Thankyou Adrian i think leasing is the way to go really..no doubt i'll be bored of it after the 3 years and want something else anyway!! this way i can have the astra and the focus!!