Obituary : 2007 Vauxhall Astra Life
Discussion
On 22 July, my 2007 Vauxhall Astra Life 1.6, passed away prematurely at the age of 13...
I bought this car back in 2014 as a replacement for a mk4 Fiesta that was just too small for life with a new baby. Astras were plentiful, despite our low budget at the time and I had my eye on the well specced SRI, Design or Elite models (with full leather). Despite my hopes of getting a sporty looking number, my search turned up a cheap and relatively low mileage example, found as a part-ex from a Toyota main dealer.
They were clearly keen to move it on and a deal was struck for just £3,100 - not bad for a 7 year old car with under 60k on the clock, full service history and a warranty.
The cheap price was clearly reflective of the basic "life" spec and the paintwork, described by the dealer as "metallic beige"... Vauxhall called it pannacotta but either way, it was clearly never built to set pulses raising.
Having said that, it was a comfortable drive and was a perfectly capable (if slightly dull) small family car.
Over the subsequent years we put almost 55k on the clock and never once did it let us down. Nonetheless, it remained the unloved mutt of our car family. Occasionally it would get a proper wash and a wax but in between washes the paintwork did a surprisingly decent job of hiding road grime. The styling continued to look reasonably contemporary to my eyes.
It was tough too, on one occasion I parked up in work only for the driver next to me to open their car door with full force into its side. They said they hadn't seen me pull up. Despite the hefty impact, the panel was undamaged.
On two subsequent occasions, the offside mirror casing was knocked off by passing cars. On each time, the casing was intact and simply clipped back in. The scuffed paintwork simply buffed back up to a shine.
One night a drunk walked past and smashed the wing mirror. £10 later, a new one was fitted. Pads, discs and tyres were next to nothing and the 115hp engine remained smooth and utterly dependable throughout.
I think a fair measure of how much love one has for a car can be summed up by how often it was photographed. In this case, I could count on one hand the number of times I had photographed it on its own but this image is my favourite.
On this occasion, only a year or so ago, I had taken a long drive deep into the forests around Aran Fawddwy near Bala. It was a cold November day with soupy mist and sheets of icy rain falling. As I returned to the car from a cold walk up a steep hill I finally felt a sense of connection with the car as it sat there, secure against the weather and I knew with 100% certainty that it wouldn't fail to take me back home.
From that point on, I looked at the car with new eyes, no more did I view it with disappointment as a bog standard family car. Instead, here was an honest and utterly reliable workhorse. I built a deck and stacked 3 metre joists, one end in the passenger footwell, the other peeping out of the boot. I laid a driveway and had 50lb bags of sand and cement piled up in the back. A quick hoover and it was back to being presentable for daily duties.
All being well, here was a car that would easily do another 50k.
On 22 July though, a 4x4 driven by an OAP plowed into my parked (and luckily unoccupied) car outside my house. The heavy collision sheered off the offside rear wheel and smashed the rear screen. The car was shunted forwards into another parked car and the front end and radiator was destroyed.
Write off was inevitable but as I picked through the interior and retrieved my belongings before it was towed away, I noted how the passenger zone had remained undamaged. There was no doubt in mind that had my kids been in the car, they would have been protected.
I know that Vauxhall bashing has been the done thing for years (justifiably in some cases) but I can't help but feel that this humble Astra deserves some measure of recognition. Here was a car that never once broke down or left us stranded at the side of the road. It never stung me with high repair bills. It was practical and shrugged off heavy wear. It safely transported my family around without incident for 6 years.
Finally, the write off value was agreed at £1,465. 6 years of motoring for depreciation of just £1,635. That takes some beating.
Ultimately, when one asks what makes a good car, surely a lot turns on the key fundamentals of getting safely and reliably from A to B without breaking the bank.
I have a lot of happy memories of this car, even if was not the car that I initially wanted and notwithstanding my general indifference towards it most of its life. It will be missed.
I bought this car back in 2014 as a replacement for a mk4 Fiesta that was just too small for life with a new baby. Astras were plentiful, despite our low budget at the time and I had my eye on the well specced SRI, Design or Elite models (with full leather). Despite my hopes of getting a sporty looking number, my search turned up a cheap and relatively low mileage example, found as a part-ex from a Toyota main dealer.
They were clearly keen to move it on and a deal was struck for just £3,100 - not bad for a 7 year old car with under 60k on the clock, full service history and a warranty.
The cheap price was clearly reflective of the basic "life" spec and the paintwork, described by the dealer as "metallic beige"... Vauxhall called it pannacotta but either way, it was clearly never built to set pulses raising.
Having said that, it was a comfortable drive and was a perfectly capable (if slightly dull) small family car.
Over the subsequent years we put almost 55k on the clock and never once did it let us down. Nonetheless, it remained the unloved mutt of our car family. Occasionally it would get a proper wash and a wax but in between washes the paintwork did a surprisingly decent job of hiding road grime. The styling continued to look reasonably contemporary to my eyes.
It was tough too, on one occasion I parked up in work only for the driver next to me to open their car door with full force into its side. They said they hadn't seen me pull up. Despite the hefty impact, the panel was undamaged.
On two subsequent occasions, the offside mirror casing was knocked off by passing cars. On each time, the casing was intact and simply clipped back in. The scuffed paintwork simply buffed back up to a shine.
One night a drunk walked past and smashed the wing mirror. £10 later, a new one was fitted. Pads, discs and tyres were next to nothing and the 115hp engine remained smooth and utterly dependable throughout.
I think a fair measure of how much love one has for a car can be summed up by how often it was photographed. In this case, I could count on one hand the number of times I had photographed it on its own but this image is my favourite.
On this occasion, only a year or so ago, I had taken a long drive deep into the forests around Aran Fawddwy near Bala. It was a cold November day with soupy mist and sheets of icy rain falling. As I returned to the car from a cold walk up a steep hill I finally felt a sense of connection with the car as it sat there, secure against the weather and I knew with 100% certainty that it wouldn't fail to take me back home.
From that point on, I looked at the car with new eyes, no more did I view it with disappointment as a bog standard family car. Instead, here was an honest and utterly reliable workhorse. I built a deck and stacked 3 metre joists, one end in the passenger footwell, the other peeping out of the boot. I laid a driveway and had 50lb bags of sand and cement piled up in the back. A quick hoover and it was back to being presentable for daily duties.
All being well, here was a car that would easily do another 50k.
On 22 July though, a 4x4 driven by an OAP plowed into my parked (and luckily unoccupied) car outside my house. The heavy collision sheered off the offside rear wheel and smashed the rear screen. The car was shunted forwards into another parked car and the front end and radiator was destroyed.
Write off was inevitable but as I picked through the interior and retrieved my belongings before it was towed away, I noted how the passenger zone had remained undamaged. There was no doubt in mind that had my kids been in the car, they would have been protected.
I know that Vauxhall bashing has been the done thing for years (justifiably in some cases) but I can't help but feel that this humble Astra deserves some measure of recognition. Here was a car that never once broke down or left us stranded at the side of the road. It never stung me with high repair bills. It was practical and shrugged off heavy wear. It safely transported my family around without incident for 6 years.
Finally, the write off value was agreed at £1,465. 6 years of motoring for depreciation of just £1,635. That takes some beating.
Ultimately, when one asks what makes a good car, surely a lot turns on the key fundamentals of getting safely and reliably from A to B without breaking the bank.
I have a lot of happy memories of this car, even if was not the car that I initially wanted and notwithstanding my general indifference towards it most of its life. It will be missed.
Edited by plums on Tuesday 18th August 14:02
These arent especially desirable but they do seem fairly robust, my son had one and the electrics went but the rest of it was like new, looked at supposedly more hard wearing Honda Civics but they seemed to suffer more age related deterioration, but the engine loom didnt decompose and render it useless I suppose.
Well written and I agree with pretty much all of it.
I was a Vauxhall man for many years, mostly 90's stuff but bought my wife a 2010 Astra SRi 1.8 with the XP kit when our first baby arrived. I know, she's a lucky lady. However, it was very cheap, pretty well spec'd and did everything asked of it for a year or so and with the 18's, decent tyres and Eibach springs and Bilstein shocks, it was actually pretty nice to drive and given it's relatively low power, it was back to the good old days of carrying speed and such like rather than point and squirt. I'd also concur, they do seem remarkably well made and have a solid feel to them. Like you, nothing went wrong with hers but ultimately a growing child and ever increasingly huge buggies meant it was changed for a Volvo estate. But, I'd have another... and a nice, non molested VXR would be a rather cool thing these days.
Well played.
I was a Vauxhall man for many years, mostly 90's stuff but bought my wife a 2010 Astra SRi 1.8 with the XP kit when our first baby arrived. I know, she's a lucky lady. However, it was very cheap, pretty well spec'd and did everything asked of it for a year or so and with the 18's, decent tyres and Eibach springs and Bilstein shocks, it was actually pretty nice to drive and given it's relatively low power, it was back to the good old days of carrying speed and such like rather than point and squirt. I'd also concur, they do seem remarkably well made and have a solid feel to them. Like you, nothing went wrong with hers but ultimately a growing child and ever increasingly huge buggies meant it was changed for a Volvo estate. But, I'd have another... and a nice, non molested VXR would be a rather cool thing these days.
Well played.
I remember going in one of these when they first came out. A colleague who normally drove an XR3i had one as a hire car to go from Herts to Stratford upon Avon and it was only about a mile or two from pulling off the motorway that we realised she'd been in 4th gear the whole way such was the smoothness and quietness of it.
I like the interior too.
I hate the way everyone slags off Vauxhalls when I bet most haven't even been in a modern one.
I like the interior too.
I hate the way everyone slags off Vauxhalls when I bet most haven't even been in a modern one.
I had the estate version, whcih I think, actually looked pretty good.
The indicators really annoyed me, that soft touch thing never being quite what you wanted....
I had a few issues with, and in the end, the cheap as chips build quality and crap electrics made me sell it.
That was my last EVER Vauxhall....
I had a Vectra SRI that was bad, a Viva that would'nt run if rain was even mentioned in the weather forecast.
Vauxhalls are cheap for a reason.....
The indicators really annoyed me, that soft touch thing never being quite what you wanted....
I had a few issues with, and in the end, the cheap as chips build quality and crap electrics made me sell it.
That was my last EVER Vauxhall....
I had a Vectra SRI that was bad, a Viva that would'nt run if rain was even mentioned in the weather forecast.
Vauxhalls are cheap for a reason.....
I honestly hated my Astra which I had from nearly new back in 2005 it remains the most unreliable pos I have ever owned in over 30 years of driving got my money's worth out of my AA membership for the year I had it unbelievable its still going!
But that said even made me sad to read about the demise of your poor old workhorse what's next another Astra?
But that said even made me sad to read about the demise of your poor old workhorse what's next another Astra?
Lovely obituary, I’m sure after reading that the car will linger in your thoughts and memories with fondness for sometime to come.
I had a Mk3 Astra 1.4 LS back in 99 and I adored that car (I was 18 and it was all I could afford) it was written off in early 2000 by a maniac OAP in a Saxo. I was gutted
I had a Mk3 Astra 1.4 LS back in 99 and I adored that car (I was 18 and it was all I could afford) it was written off in early 2000 by a maniac OAP in a Saxo. I was gutted
The feeling of indifference towards a car is absolute bliss; you don't love it too much so that you spend inordinate amounts of money on it and nor do you think it's the greatest thing on four wheels.
I'm indifferent towards all of my cars and I'll be honest, it's a wonderful feeling.
I'm indifferent towards all of my cars and I'll be honest, it's a wonderful feeling.
p4cks said:
The feeling of indifference towards a car is absolute bliss; you don't love it too much so that you spend inordinate amounts of money on it and nor do you think it's the greatest thing on four wheels.
I'm indifferent towards all of my cars and I'll be honest, it's a wonderful feeling.
Having a car you can use without worrying about it is very freeing. But being indifferent to all of your cars just makes me feel sorry for you. Life's short. Have fun.I'm indifferent towards all of my cars and I'll be honest, it's a wonderful feeling.
Nice write up and such a shame it met an untimely demise. My dad had Vauxhalls for most of my childhood and I remember the brand with fondness. I used to drive them at work too and quite liked them. The ones we had were 1.4 Astras which put out about 88bhp from memory although it felt a lot less.
Nothing ever went wrong with them though.
A friend had the same model as you and it was utterly dependable.
Rest in peace old Astra.
Nothing ever went wrong with them though.
A friend had the same model as you and it was utterly dependable.
Rest in peace old Astra.
NDNDNDND said:
Having a car you can use without worrying about it is very freeing. But being indifferent to all of your cars just makes me feel sorry for you. Life's short. Have fun.
Trust me I have fun. The Evora is fantastic fun, the Golf isn't that much fun but it does its job and the Clio is incredibly fun if only to see the reactions of others when they see it. Having said that if any of them were stolen, set on fire or if like the OP some OAP crashed into them I wouldn't be that arsed.
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