ASTRA : Really expensive to run.....

goldspanners

a small engine doesnt always mean good fuel economy. it might in a small car where it has to do less work but in a bigger heavier car then it isnt economical as its working harder to pull a heavier load.

autos and larger engines go well.

why you bought an older auto looking to save money i don't know.

an older diesel astra would have been better suited in manual.

harveybobbles

A BMW 530i auto will do mid 30's dead easy as this thing sits under 2000rpm at [STRIKE]80[/STRIKE] ahem, 70mph, officer...

OLS

harveybobbles wrote: »

It's about right for the Astra auto to do low mpg. I ran a 1.6 auto a few years back and was getting mid to late 20's out of it. That was mixed driving. My mother in Law has just took delivery of her Motability car and she has an Astra 1.8 Design auto and that does 26.7 acording to the car's computer.

hmm sounds about right then, I did think the auto may have a play in it as I have no control to a degree over the rev's

Idiophreak wrote: »

I can get 42-43 mpg out of my 1.6 astra, but you've really gotta try hard - shortshifting, never going above 70, braking as little as possible. If I'm driving normally it's around 32-33...

Thanks for trying to help, as pointed out though its an Auto so no short shifting for me unfortunatley

amandada wrote: »

We have an older (1996) automatic astra and although I've never worked out the actual MPG I'd guess it's somewhere in the 20s.

I balance that out with the fact that we didn't have to actually buy the car, my father passed it on to us when he went onto a Motability lease

Ooo I wish I had mine free then I would feel OK with the situation

OLS

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

My old lanos which I believe had the same 1.6 engine as your astra was shocking on petrol - about £40 for 280miles, and that was a manual. Driving 'sensibly' seemed to add an extra 5 or 10 miles.

For tax / mpg this is something you would have researched before buying, right?

Tax yes I did check it (ive just actually checked properly and its £118 for 6 months my memory is clearly not what it used to be ha) and as it was similar to the HGT, that was OK as the MPG combined that the dealer showed me in the book was 36mpg I think so more than my HGT

Chippy_Minton wrote: »

So an auto with the smallest engine they put in a Astra. An engine more suited to a Corsa. Given the fact most autos give a little less mpg, are a little slower and yours is 8 years old with 95k on the clock you do surprise me.

Urm, ok helpfull, thanks for that, you possibly just waisted 30 seconds of your life with the sarcastic post but thanks anyway :cool:

OscarCharliEE wrote: »

The key to automatics is buy big engine which require little revs to maintain high speed - Motorway driving or a small engine for town driving....never buy a middle of the range medium size car.

Yeah Ive figured that out now lol, never getting a middle of the range engine size again! Thank for the info re the LPG figures

OLS

Premier wrote: »

No wonder!

It should probably be less than half that, whether based on engine size or co2 emissions (dependant on date first registered) :cool:

Sorry my mistake Ive just checked and its £118 for 6 months

vikingaero wrote: »

Our 1.4 Corsa Automatic pumps out around 190g/km of CO2. Road tax I think is £190 pa. Our larger Madza 5 2.0 diesel puts out 159g and the road tax is £150.

The problem is twofold, one the autobox is makes the car thirsty and two the 1.4 Vauxhall engine has never been the most efficient engine for its size.

If I were the OP I would:

(1) ensure the car is serviced and all filters changed.
(2) When at traffic lights or stationary for long periods push the gear lever from D to N.
(3) Check tyre pressures.

1) Check
2) will try this one out from now on thank you
3) check, I do it monthly.

Thank you for helping me

LandyAndy wrote: »

Road Tax and Insurance are things you look into before you buy so I don't see the need to complain about them later:rolleyes:.

no need for the arsey coment or rude rolly eyed smiley thank you very much, Insurance is not a problem, if you read my post I put "not bad, but same as the fast car did" i.e for a car half the speed and more of the theft value its same insurance which is weird for it to be in the same bracket, road tax is just annoying, im more bothered about the MPG

LandyAndy wrote: »

As for fuel consumption, if you are getting 230 miles from £50 of petrol then that is about 22-23 mpg. I used to get more than that from a 1990 Jaguar Sovereign:eek:. That sounds like there is some problem with the car.

If you read the rest of the replies it seams there is most likley NOT a problem with the car and thats its very comon to have sure low MPG in an Astra Auto 1.6
Thanks

OLS

goldspanners wrote: »

why you bought an older auto looking to save money i don't know.

either, maybe cause I don't know a great deal about cars, had a week to buy one and stupidly it seams took the advise of the garage, I did go to look at a GOLF Diesel but he said it would be pointless as mainly I do town driving

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply

flyingscotno1

OLS wrote: »

I did go to look at a GOLF Diesel but he said it would be pointless as mainly I do town driving

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply

If a modern diesel with DPF then yes constant town driving isn't good for new diesels and leads to problems with DPF getting blocked and needing forced regeneration. Old diesels however are quite sensible in town but the real advantage if there is a price premuim is long distances on motorways. An auto-box, underpowed engine with constant stop start driving could quite easily hit 25mpg mark. My diesel in a town journey can hit 35mpg depending on congestion.

anewman

As vikingaero says, servicing can make all the difference in MPG (assuming regular servicing has not already been done).

patman99

If you go for an Astra, buy a diesel. I have a 1997 model, and average 53 mpg without having to try to hard.

As for having an lpg conversion, pop across the water to Holland, you can get the job done for £500 or so. Something to do with all the garages over there having access to a set of master blueprints for carrying-out conversions on each make/model of car (unlike in the UK)

OLS

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

If a modern diesel with DPF then yes constant town driving isn't good for new diesels and leads to problems with DPF getting blocked and needing forced regeneration. Old diesels however are quite sensible in town but the real advantage if there is a price premuim is long distances on motorways. An auto-box, underpowed engine with constant stop start driving could quite easily hit 25mpg mark. My diesel in a town journey can hit 35mpg depending on congestion.

Thank you for the information, what do you class as Old to New, i.e the Golf was a 2001 iirc (may have been 2000) I would call that old, i'd probably call "new" 2007+