Shed Of The Week: Vauxhall Astra Coupe

A 888 Turbo could now set you back more than £10K, but this Irmschered 2.2 is just £800...

Irmscher is a German tuning outfit best known for its work with Vauxhall and Opel. Among other activities, they've been running Opel's factory rally and touring car teams. They even dabbled with Saab for a bit.

Check behind that bodykit for rust if you can!

Latterly they've been collaborating with Kia, a firm not known for its sporting intent up to now, but that's all changing it seems with the arrival of the rather hornalicious 360hp Stinger.

Anyway, what we're saying here is that Irmscher - celebrating its 50th anniversary next year - is a highly credible company. Looking at the fit of the bodykit on this Irmscher Astra Coupe, a full 15 years after it was first screwed on, it appears that they know their stuff in terms of both quality and styling. The Irmscher 'look' is sensibly non-value-damaging.

Which brings us to values. As mentioned on this very website recently, even tatty Astra Coupe 888s are attracting big price tags these days. Against that background, a clean looking, low mileage Irmscher Coupe with the attractive Bertone styled body and a 145hp 2.2 lump looks like pretty decent value at £800. The vendor isn't making anything out of the Irmscher connection, so let's keep that quiet.

Fairly sensible car, fairly sensible mileage

The 2.2 is not the ultimate choice for Coupe performance - that would be the 2.0 Turbo - but it is a tractable, reliable and highly tuneable unit with chain-driven cams. Its other advantage of course being that you won't be needing to replace any turbos, which is a distinct possibility with the 2.0 Turbo, what with it having a turbo and everything. Plus the Turbos did suffer from lag and a fairly nasty gearbox, and the chassis was pushed hard by the power. And they are dearer to insure.

Having said that, there is some history of chain tensioner oil feed problems on pre-2002 2.2s, so some sort of service history indicating regular oil changes or even better that the oil jet modification had been carried out would be a reassuring thing to find in the glovebox.

The ESP system is known for being a bit horrific in winter. You can retro-fit a new control switch that improves things no end.

The Alcantara-ish interior lasts well, as you can see from the pics. The shade of blue is perhaps a bit urgent but cheap sunglasses are available on most garage forecourts. As with any bodykitted car you should try and peer behind the plastics for any signs of rust. According to the MoT report, corrosion has started to take hold on the brake pipes, and it looks like new tyres will be needed also.

The last MoT report mentioned a constantly running fan. This is not unknown among Astras and could be a faulty temperature sensor. Trouble is there are more than one of them on an Astra and you might have to pay someone to find out which one it is. The Shed solution of course is to wear cheap garage headphones in the car, or better yet rent Mrs Shed as your passenger. Her constant rattle will drown out most noises, up to and including a Vulcan fly-past, and Shed's rental rates are incredibly reasonable. In fact, he'll pay you.

Here's the ad.

17-inch Alloy Wheels,Adjustable Steering Column/Wheel - Rake/Reach,Air Bag Driver,Air Bag Passenger,Air-Conditioning,Anti-Lock Brakes,Armrest - Rear,Body Colour Rear Wing Spoiler,Central Door Locking - Remote,Deadlocks,Electric Windows - Front,Front Fog Lights,Head Restraints - Front/Rear,Immobiliser,In Car Entertainment - Radio/CD,Mirrors External - Electric/Heated,Mirrors Internal - Automatic Dipping Rear View,Pearlescent Paint,Power-Assisted Steering,Seat Height Adjustment - Driver/Passenger,Seating Capacity - Four Seats,Side Protection Mouldings,Spare Wheel - Steel,Speakers - Six,Steering Wheel Mounted Controls - Audio,Traction Control System,Upholstery Cloth. September MOT. Sports Exhaust. HPi Clear. Drives well. Clean and tidy Astra Coupe. TRADE - WILL NOT BE CHECKED / PREPARED TO RETAIL MOTOR VEHICLE STANDARDS. IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE MOTOR TRADE PLEASE HAVE THIS CAR CHECKED BY A COMPETENT PERSON BEFORE PURCHASE TO ENSURE ITS SUITABILITY. Finance and nationwide delivery are not available on trade vehicles.