Upgrading first car Vauxhall Astra
Discussion
Just a short car history.
My first car, VW Polo 1.2. I bought from a friend just before I passed my driving test last summer.
I bought it couple months before MOT was due and had to spend £350 to get it through, now I see why my friend sold it for so cheap, but overall still didn't own me too much and was good to go for a whole year.
However, after 4 months the exhaust started blowing and I had to get it fixed. It was an advisory on the last MOT so I had to look at it at some point anyway. I decided to get the rusty parts of exhaust replaced instead of patching up the old one. Kwikfit did it for £200 all in.
Apart from that I serviced it oil and filters and had to buy a new tyre due to a puncture. It has flew through MOT this year for a total cost of £5 to replace some bolt. There are some advisories but nothing too worrying/expensive.
It's pretty good on fuel, 46mpg average, but it's too slow for anything other than town driving and it's pretty noisy at speed (when it eventually gets there) so I have decided to upgrade after 1 year and here is "my" new car.
Vauxhall Astra Elite Nav 1.4 Turbo (150)
Lease special, when I saw this deal I had to "pull the trigger" and go for it. For the price of must supermini deals I got a higher segment car with high level of equipment.
I haven't got much to write about it for now and you would already know most of it from the countless reviews.
The colour is granite grey but under sun it has a gold ish tone to it. It's hugely different from my Polo and I am already looking forward to getting an older hot hatch in the future for that raw fun but it will be a nice place to sit on my 40 mile round commute to work.
The Polo has gone to my mother who has upgraded from a 1997 vintage Polo. Next year MOT it had problems with emissions so had to get a new catalytic converter (this was a reason why there was an intermittent EML light on).
She is still using it and it just passed MOT first time with 1 minor and advisory for a tyre, currently on 110k miles.
As for me, while I had the Astra for 2 years, it had problems with the engine and had to go in for a lengthy repair at the local dealer. Otherwise it has been very comfortable and boring. Upon the return I got stung for £470 (after some back and forth) for damage. To summarise, it had a scratch on mirror casing, scratches on rear bumper, dent in passenger rear door, 2 curbed wheels and a tiniest chip on the windscreen. Scratches and the dent was also done by other people while my car was left on the street or car parks so I couldn't really avoid it. This has put me off financing a new car again as it's too stressful worrying whether someone will damage it.
June2018
I decided to go back to cheap, used cars (and hopefully reliable) without having to worry whether someone scratches it. I set my search radius to 10 miles so I didn't feel inclined to buy the car. I found a decent looking, Honda Civic on gumtree for £650, called the guy and went to see it half an hour later and bought it for £600. As I bought it very quickly I didn't do any research into this specific car but I thought you can't go wrong with an old, simple, petrol Jap car. After I bought it and went through the service history and invoices there was no evidence of cambelt ever being done, if I knew this before I bought it I would have got him down to £500. I spent £180 sorting that along with water pump but actually both old cambelt and water pump looked in pretty good shape so they were probably done at some point just without any record.
I changed the pollen filter, oil and filter and had to change couple bulbs, that's it so far.
My first car, VW Polo 1.2. I bought from a friend just before I passed my driving test last summer.
I bought it couple months before MOT was due and had to spend £350 to get it through, now I see why my friend sold it for so cheap, but overall still didn't own me too much and was good to go for a whole year.
However, after 4 months the exhaust started blowing and I had to get it fixed. It was an advisory on the last MOT so I had to look at it at some point anyway. I decided to get the rusty parts of exhaust replaced instead of patching up the old one. Kwikfit did it for £200 all in.
Apart from that I serviced it oil and filters and had to buy a new tyre due to a puncture. It has flew through MOT this year for a total cost of £5 to replace some bolt. There are some advisories but nothing too worrying/expensive.
It's pretty good on fuel, 46mpg average, but it's too slow for anything other than town driving and it's pretty noisy at speed (when it eventually gets there) so I have decided to upgrade after 1 year and here is "my" new car.
Vauxhall Astra Elite Nav 1.4 Turbo (150)
Lease special, when I saw this deal I had to "pull the trigger" and go for it. For the price of must supermini deals I got a higher segment car with high level of equipment.
I haven't got much to write about it for now and you would already know most of it from the countless reviews.
The colour is granite grey but under sun it has a gold ish tone to it. It's hugely different from my Polo and I am already looking forward to getting an older hot hatch in the future for that raw fun but it will be a nice place to sit on my 40 mile round commute to work.
The Polo has gone to my mother who has upgraded from a 1997 vintage Polo. Next year MOT it had problems with emissions so had to get a new catalytic converter (this was a reason why there was an intermittent EML light on).
She is still using it and it just passed MOT first time with 1 minor and advisory for a tyre, currently on 110k miles.
As for me, while I had the Astra for 2 years, it had problems with the engine and had to go in for a lengthy repair at the local dealer. Otherwise it has been very comfortable and boring. Upon the return I got stung for £470 (after some back and forth) for damage. To summarise, it had a scratch on mirror casing, scratches on rear bumper, dent in passenger rear door, 2 curbed wheels and a tiniest chip on the windscreen. Scratches and the dent was also done by other people while my car was left on the street or car parks so I couldn't really avoid it. This has put me off financing a new car again as it's too stressful worrying whether someone will damage it.
June2018
I decided to go back to cheap, used cars (and hopefully reliable) without having to worry whether someone scratches it. I set my search radius to 10 miles so I didn't feel inclined to buy the car. I found a decent looking, Honda Civic on gumtree for £650, called the guy and went to see it half an hour later and bought it for £600. As I bought it very quickly I didn't do any research into this specific car but I thought you can't go wrong with an old, simple, petrol Jap car. After I bought it and went through the service history and invoices there was no evidence of cambelt ever being done, if I knew this before I bought it I would have got him down to £500. I spent £180 sorting that along with water pump but actually both old cambelt and water pump looked in pretty good shape so they were probably done at some point just without any record.
I changed the pollen filter, oil and filter and had to change couple bulbs, that's it so far.
Edited by ANJ91 on Sunday 26th August 21:41
I looked at the title of the thread and thought " www.barryboys.co.uk but I have come away impressed. Nice choice of car, the new Astra is supposed to be really good.
Key specs
Price: £20,315 (Elite Nav trim)
Engine: 1.4-litre 4cyl turbo petrol
Power/torque: 148bhp/235Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
0-62mph/top speed: 7.8 secs/134mph
Economy/C02: 51.4mpg/128g/km
Quite an upgrade from a 1.2 Polo I'd say.
It wasn't that long ago that those would be considered hot hatch stats.
Just don't park it in a tree
Price: £20,315 (Elite Nav trim)
Engine: 1.4-litre 4cyl turbo petrol
Power/torque: 148bhp/235Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
0-62mph/top speed: 7.8 secs/134mph
Economy/C02: 51.4mpg/128g/km
Quite an upgrade from a 1.2 Polo I'd say.
It wasn't that long ago that those would be considered hot hatch stats.
Just don't park it in a tree
Thanks guys. I know there is not much excitement over the Astra and I have never been a Vauxhall fan but it's pretty nice.
Yes those stats are one of the reasons it caught my attention as well as the equipment levels.
Even though it's pretty fast you can't really feel the speed, it's very insulated, so it doesn't encourage fast driving.
I have just noticed that my tyres were pumped up to 45 psi! no wonder it felt a bit off. Recommended pressure for economy is 39 and comfort is 32, I will stick on 35 tomorrow morning and see how that goes.
One let down I have found already is that the bonnet doesn't have gas struts which feels a bit cheap on a 20k car which is supposed to be going after premium market. - it's ok though, weight reduction bro.
Yes those stats are one of the reasons it caught my attention as well as the equipment levels.
Even though it's pretty fast you can't really feel the speed, it's very insulated, so it doesn't encourage fast driving.
I have just noticed that my tyres were pumped up to 45 psi! no wonder it felt a bit off. Recommended pressure for economy is 39 and comfort is 32, I will stick on 35 tomorrow morning and see how that goes.
One let down I have found already is that the bonnet doesn't have gas struts which feels a bit cheap on a 20k car which is supposed to be going after premium market. - it's ok though, weight reduction bro.
talksthetorque said:
davepoth said:
45psi hot is likely 39psi cold, so bear that in mind.
For the economy. I wonder if they have to be supplied on the car with the pressure they did the Euro mpg figures tests?
I have read something about the tyres being pumped up before transport, apparently it helps not sure how.
talksthetorque said:
davepoth said:
45psi hot is likely 39psi cold, so bear that in mind.
For the economy. I wonder if they have to be supplied on the car with the pressure they did the Euro mpg figures tests?
ANJ91 said:
I have read something about the tyres being pumped up before transport, apparently it helps not sure how.
Higher pressure means less deformation under the car's load, which means standing still for a long period is less likely to put a permanent flat spot in its (brand new, in this case!) tyres.Surprisingly, I kind of like this. Looks very modern and the performance stats are quite good for a midrange hatch. More photos?
Sorry for the lack of content, I have been busy/slacking.
The car is on 1224 miles now and is averaging 44mpg according to the trip computer however it is over reading as I worked it out manually and it's actually 38mpg average. I should be able to hit 40mpg once it loosens up more.
The tyre pressure I have set at 35 all round.
Interior, pretty simple and easy to use.
Another one from delivery day.
Day time running lights, well integrated into the headlights instead of being an after thought like on some cars (i.e.led strip in a random place).
Rear lights, one for the bad parking thread.
Cleaning wheels today with wonder wheels product. Even though the product worked fairly well they definitely needed a good scrub instead of just a rinse. They are absolute b
h to clean.
After wash
Extremely amateur job with a £5 Simoniz Quick Shine Spray.
The car is on 1224 miles now and is averaging 44mpg according to the trip computer however it is over reading as I worked it out manually and it's actually 38mpg average. I should be able to hit 40mpg once it loosens up more.
The tyre pressure I have set at 35 all round.
Interior, pretty simple and easy to use.
Another one from delivery day.
Day time running lights, well integrated into the headlights instead of being an after thought like on some cars (i.e.led strip in a random place).
Rear lights, one for the bad parking thread.
Cleaning wheels today with wonder wheels product. Even though the product worked fairly well they definitely needed a good scrub instead of just a rinse. They are absolute b
h to clean.After wash
Extremely amateur job with a £5 Simoniz Quick Shine Spray.
Jimmy Recard said:
Nice! I tried a diesel one of these and really liked it, I should try a petrol. I fancy the 200 horsepower 1.6 turbo in estate form.
I also found the satnav/radio screen a little confusing, but that's probably my fault rather than the car.
Most new astras I see are diesel, 200 horses sound nice indeed.I also found the satnav/radio screen a little confusing, but that's probably my fault rather than the car.
The radio is fine and it's good that apart from the touchscreen it has physical buttons which makes it easier to use on the move. To be perfectly honest I don't like the vauxhall sat nav and rather use google maps through android auto or apple carplay. I wish I saved few £ and just went with the non Nav elite.
Also first time having heated seats and steering wheel. I am not really impressed, for my future purchases I will not actively be looking for those features.
Only thing I wish it had is parking sensors, they are available as an option.
Defcon5 said:
GreatGranny said:
Just wait until you commute on a freezing winters morning before you discount the heated seats and steering wheel.
Agreed, they are lovely things when it's sub zero outsideNice car OP
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