Opinions wanted - 2004 Astra 1.6 - Potential purchase

johnson293

vikingaero wrote: »

At 40k the Astra will need a new cambelt kit and water pump.

Cheers - thats the kind of thing I was hoping to hear about - potential maintenance costs on the near horizon, too.

LandyAndy

johnson293 wrote: »

Cheers - just done a local search on the Autotrader for Mazda 3, and the results within my £4k budget are all High milers (90k+).

The Mazda 1.6 are tax band H too, which is £99/£180.

The Astra is band G (£86/£155) which is probably the max I'd want to pay for Road Tax.

The Mazdas won't break.;)

Lum

I've had a few of that generation of Astras as hire cars. I never got much above 30mpg even on a long distance 70mph motorway cruise. I also found the seats to be incredibly uncomfortable, exacerbating my existing back issues to the point of agony after a 4 hour drive.

Since you have such a short commute, a petrol is worth considering as diesels are generally better as long distance mile munchers, but I'd consider a Focus before an Astra.

mcjordi

id keep the scenic out of the two of them tbh.. i had the use of a astra 1.6 (new shape astra H?) and it used a !!!! load of petrol.. give me diesel any day.

johnson293

Cheers for the replies so far. :beer:

Going to have a run in the Astra shortly, which may make my mind up whether its worth considering - but I wont be making any decisions today anyway.

I hope to get it sorted soon (ish) but will look into Mazda 3 and Focus options out there too.

johnson293

mcjordi wrote: »

id keep the scenic out of the two of them tbh.. i had the use of a astra 1.6 (new shape astra H?) and it used a !!!! load of petrol.. give me diesel any day.

As I said, its the potential costs involved in sorting the Scenic's Engine out that is putting me off keeping it.

So whatever i end up going for, the Scenic has to go.

mcjordi

johnson293 wrote: »

As I said, its the potential costs involved in sorting the Scenic's Engine out that is putting me off keeping it.

So whatever i end up going for, the Scenic has to go.

ah right.. whats wrong with the engine?.. why not a diesel astra/focus?

johnson293

mcjordi wrote: »

ah right.. whats wrong with the engine?.. why not a diesel astra/focus?

Its burning oil - smoke out the back, heavy oil consumption, and has an intermittant injector fault.

The Turbo seals were leaking hence the replacement Turbo, but the smoke/oil issue still there - everything starting to point towards Piston Rings.

Just been up to test drive the car - its a lovely car and drives well, and spoke to the salesman about the potential deal, and told I'd sleep on it. So still looking around for now.

As for Diesel - it all comes down to budget - with £4000 tops to go with, most of them are just under/over 100k miles, which may not be much on a diesel, but was hoping to get somethign with lower miles, hence the Astra with 37k.

Vikingaero, can you confirm that mileage for the timing belt/water pump change? I asked the guy at the garage, and he said it was 60k - now that may be salesman talk, but I just want to be sure.

Cheers

mcjordi

always get the belts done before the mileage interval its all dependant on age/how the car is driven..

as for the scenic get shot if its burning oil..

vikingaero

johnson293 wrote: »

Vikingaero, can you confirm that mileage for the timing belt/water pump change? I asked the guy at the garage, and he said it was 60k - now that may be salesman talk, but I just want to be sure.

Cheers

Well there's a whole lot of confusion out there. It seems that at the turn of the naughties the cambelt intervals were around 80k for most Vauxhalls. Then it was reduced to 60k, and then 40k. The 60k figure is printed in most handbooks and this is what a lot of people use.

My figure of 4 years or 40k comes from my uber-trusted local garage and even my local Vauxhall garage who were pretty good for a stealership. The belt and braces for a new cambelt is a decent cambelt kit (belt, tensioners and pulley) and a new water pump at the same time.

http://www.mrclutch.com/cambelts/3/cambelt-replacement-intervals

Better still why not call your local Vauxhall service department... "Hi, I think I need a new cambelt, can you tell me when it needs to be changed?"