2003 Astra 2.2 SRI

[Camaro91]

My pal is into his mk2 Golfs and has a suitably highly-modified example, but for his daily hack he bought an Astra SRI to get to and from work. Anyway he is now a father and so the Astra went on sale in favour of a 5-door.

I was quite impressed by it having driven it back from the original seller for him, so £1,500 traded hands and I became the new owner.



It came with around 61k on the clock, and is the 2.2 16v model (I think around 150bhp), it pulls quite well especially above the 3.5k rpm mark and the ride is firm enough to be fun in the corners but not back-jarringly solid. It has the usual goodies - air con., cruise control, CD player, power windows, traction control etc. The main thing for me is the cruise control as I have a motorway commute.

I know Astras get a lot of stick but it seems a solid car, definately worth the money I spent!

[spaceship]

Looks like a bargain. Nice one.

I've heard the 2.2 is a decent engine.

[Max M4X WW]

Nice, my dad had one a few years back. I loved the engine, do the 'Vectra C' intake mod for a bit more noise.

It has the Prodrive SRi-T kit on too

[Ordinary_Chap]

I had one of these when it first came out.

I liked the effortless drive of the car, the fact they are so quiet and deliver pretty good fuel economy but the top end I always found very lacking.

Good cars, last well and easy to repair/service!

Lee

[JayTee94]

I do have a soft spot for Vauxhalls. My mate had a 2.2 Bertone Coupe and it was a decent car. It was also very quick. He had it at 145mph at one point and it was just picking speed up effortlessly. Then once on the motorway commute he could achieve low/mid 40's MPG which aint bad for a 2.2 Coupe.

The prices seem very tempting. Enjoy!

[dragonheart]

JayTee94 said:

I do have a soft spot for Vauxhalls. My mate had a 2.2 Bertone Coupe and it was a decent car. It was also very quick. He had it at 145mph at one point and it was just picking speed up effortlessly. Then once on the motorway commute he could achieve low/mid 40's MPG which aint bad for a 2.2 Coupe.

The prices seem very tempting. Enjoy!

Bertone
Model 0-60 mph
2.2i 16v Bertone 2d
8.2 secs
135 mph
144 bhp

2.2i 16v Bertone 2d Auto
9.0 secs
132 mph
144 bhp

145 mph is rather optimistic for a car with only 144 bhp when new and even then was only rated by the manufacturer at 135mph.

Speedo must be way out.

[JayTee94]

It was a manual, and it was not a accurate GPS readout, but it was just stuck at 145mph on the speedo. Maybe it was a tad over reading but it must not be to much off that speed..

Still even 13mph is respectable IMO when you can pick them up for around a grand.

[Jw Vw]

Can't believe how cheap these are going for! Is the SRI the top of the range model?

[neiljohnson]

Wife had one a few years ago was an ok car & would pull 145mph on the clock (not realistic) was bad on fuel though & had an issue with the cam chain which to be fair vx sorted even though the car was 6 years old with non dealer history

[Ordinary_Chap]

In reference to the top speed, mine with some breathing mods managed a GPS verified 136 and yes the speedo's always read very high against true speed. I've known others who have been tracked reading very high speeds on the speedo vs GPS.

Still its a good warm hatch and pretty cheap. I always liked the lazy approach to the engine.

[BorkFactor]

That is incredible value, looks really good too. I had a 1.6 SXI as my first car, wanted a 2.2 SRI for a while but it is nigh on impossible to find a good one up my way.

Great seats in these, and mine drove pretty well when it worked

[Max M4X WW]

Jw Vw said:

Can't believe how cheap these are going for! Is the SRI the top of the range model?

No, They did an SRi-T with a 2.0T engine which was approaching 200bhp (I think this was to fill a gap while developing the later GSi with a shade over 200bhp)