Looking at Vauxhall Astra

Soubrette

It's a 1.9 CDTi design. It is a diesel automatic 2008. 17000 miles and 2 owners (apparently the second one didn't like the car and preferred to go back to a BMW)

It's on the market for £8000.

I'm going to see it tomorrow (just for a look) and was wondering if anyone has any tips for what I should be looking and what I should be asking about.

Also what are the pros and cons of an Astra?

Thanks

harveybobbles

Wont be very economical as an auto to be honest, but it will be a lovely box!

However, they are a hateful engine - but you have got about 12 months warranty left lol.

Soubrette

You've scared me now :eek:
We're stuck with the auto part as my OH is Canadian so he can only drive autos.

What happens to the engines!!!!

cyclonebri1

Change your OH or go for a better car. :D:o

As a lifelong VX man, or GM in your case, the new Astra seems mundane and characterless, look further afield

Michtaylor09

Soubrette wrote: »

You've scared me now :eek:
We're stuck with the auto part as my OH is Canadian so he can only drive autos.

What happens to the engines!!!!

Don't be worried. I love my Astra 1.6 auto. I've done over 50,000 miles in in over the last 2.5 years and never had a problem with it.

Modern automatics are much more fuel efficient than older autos. You will hardly notice a difference in running costs if you've been driving a manual up to now.

Why do people in this country have such a downer on automatics?
I've driven nothing but autos for 25 years and only had 2 crap ones.

cyclonebri1

Michtaylor09 wrote: »

Don't be worried. I love my Astra 1.6 auto. I've done over 50,000 miles in in over the last 2.5 years and never had a problem with it.

Modern automatics are much more fuel efficient than older autos. You will hardly notice a difference in running costs if you've been driving a manual up to now.

Why do people in this country have such a downer on automatics?
I've driven nothing but autos for 25 years and only had 2 crap ones.[/QUOTE]


Because 2 crap ones in 25 years is 2 to many. Never had a single gearbox issue with manuals in my life, and I'd guess most others haven't.
It's simply the fact if an auto box goes wrong it's likely to be very expensive to fix. Not too many people are prepared to take that risk unless they specifically need one

dannymccann

You are ruining that car by having an auto box. If you are willing to spend £8k, go for the 150bhp 1.9cdti, much fun to surprise people with As for your OH, why doesnt he learn to drive a manual if he lives in the UK? We dont really 'do' autos over here, as said they have a bad rep with going expensively wrong, and by sticking to automatic you are already outpricing yourself from many cars

Soubrette

Thanks all.

OH can, and has, driven a manual - their licences are just driving licences in Canada (although they're probably called licenses ) - they don't specify auto or manual. However, when you swap your licence here it has to be auto specific.

The big plan is for us to move to Canada in about 6 years time so he's not really worried about taking a few lessons and then the driving test so he can drive both.

One thing I was wondering though - we do approx 5000 a year, mostly less than 5 mile journeys, perhaps 2 15 mile journeys a week and a couple of times a year maybe a few 100 miles. This car is a diesel and one review I was reading says that city driving is not good for diesels. One one review though. Is this true (it said it gunges up the filter).

As to character, am I shameless if I said I didn't care Our current car is a Vauxhall Vectra, it is 10 years old and has a few dints and scratches in it. So long as it gets us from a to b, is reliable and hopefully more fuel efficient than the Vectra and we've hopefully not been ripped off with the purchase price....then I'm happy

I've also read that astras in general don't hold their value, again this doesn't bother me because that means it's already depreciated more than other cars this size and we hold onto our cars until they're worth practically nothing anyway.

Inactive

2 owners on a 2 year old car would cause alarm bells for me.;)

Hintza

You get to an age in life when all you want is an engine with a bit of grunt and refinement and an auto box. If you feel the need for a mid life moment then you either buy the Harley or the Lotus 7 for the weekend.......;)

Having said that the smaller the engine the more inclined I would be to have a manual box.

Soubrette

Inactive wrote: »

2 owners on a 2 year old car would cause alarm bells for me.;)

Yeah - I thought the same, the first owner was a leasing company and the second someone who usually has BMWs - he didn't like the car so handed it back and went back to the BMW.

Of course this is only according to the seller Edited to add - this is a trade seller so I assume I have way more rights than a private sell.

It's not that competitively priced - about the same as similar others and perhaps a little cheaper than the petrol version.