RE: PH Blog: Astra timeline
Discussion
I bought this ragtop GTE in around 2003.
I got it for £200 from a friend of a friend who had just won 50k on a lottery scratch card and understandably wanted to spend that cash on something a little better.
I only had it for around a year but its still one of the best cars I've owned and even though it was an 8v it had plenty of poke.
Always made me laugh with Vauxhall's and their cassette tape storage system in the lower dash!
I got it for £200 from a friend of a friend who had just won 50k on a lottery scratch card and understandably wanted to spend that cash on something a little better.
I only had it for around a year but its still one of the best cars I've owned and even though it was an 8v it had plenty of poke.
Always made me laugh with Vauxhall's and their cassette tape storage system in the lower dash!
thewheelman said:
MonkeyMatt said:
Bezza1969 said:
The Mk3 GSI is unfairly maligned. My mate had one and it was a very rapid car in a straightline...the problem was the traction control system. It was an early system and cut in way too early when you got on the power too soon. In terms of outright grip, the GSI was as grippy as anything from 1992, which lets face it must be the worst period in the history of the hot hatch.
I have fond memories of the Mk2. my cousin had an early one (1.8) and I remember in 1990 caning it down Keevil Airfield up to 112 MPH, 3 up. We were given really dirty looks by the local gliding fraternity!
New car looks nice!
My mk3 GSi was the worst car I have ever owned and Ive had a Metro!I have fond memories of the Mk2. my cousin had an early one (1.8) and I remember in 1990 caning it down Keevil Airfield up to 112 MPH, 3 up. We were given really dirty looks by the local gliding fraternity!
New car looks nice!
The mk2 GTE 16v will always be my favourite of the earlier cars. Arguably the best N/A four pot engine of its era, in a shell that weighed next to nothing. Little finesse or real ability beyond straight line performance, but proper, ear to ear grin inducing fun. Rampant wheelspin was just a flex of the foot away, and once it got traction, it would blow away pretty much anything else with a remotely comparable price tag in its day.
I remember it being plastered over the front of What Car magazine, with the headline "0-60 in 6.9 seconds". I've wanted one ever since. Unfortunately, at the time I could have justified one, I lived in areas where owning one would be impossible. Everyone I knew who had one had it nicked at least once. Now I can afford one, and live in an area where it would be relatively safe, I have absolutely no use for one, or the time to fettle it and enjoy it.
Such is life.
I remember it being plastered over the front of What Car magazine, with the headline "0-60 in 6.9 seconds". I've wanted one ever since. Unfortunately, at the time I could have justified one, I lived in areas where owning one would be impossible. Everyone I knew who had one had it nicked at least once. Now I can afford one, and live in an area where it would be relatively safe, I have absolutely no use for one, or the time to fettle it and enjoy it.
Such is life.
Limpet said:
s m said:
Here's my old one out for lunch in Wales
Best colour as well. Gorgeous car. Note the obligatory Disklok. 
I too always wanted one, just as a runabout, after seeing them new a decade previously.
It handled a lot better than I expected - owned it alongside a Saxo VTS and after a 309Gti - so I ended up keeping it for over 3 years. There's a few chassis changes on the 16v over the 8v so they do handle differently, more prone to lift off oversteer ( which was entertaining ). Fitted mine with 6x15 and 195 Goodyear F1 GSD3 ( same size wheel and tyre as Champion and optional GSi Kadett fitment ) as they are a bit undertyred IMO. Geometry setup is quite important so many variable press reports like the mk1 Focus RS.
Sold it as, although spacious in back and boot, it had no aircon and my son used to get very hot in a harness seat in the back in summer even with quarter lights and sunroof open. Replaced with a P11 GT Primera
Edited by s m on Wednesday 13th June 12:05
Astra Dan said:
Mk4 Coupé Turbos are the new Calibra Turbo. By that I mean people lap them up for the engines. Coupé Turbos, even clean, sub-90k mile ones go for less than £1500. They're 200BHP and can top 150MPH. The Z20LET is now the engine of choice for Corsa Cs and lesser Mk4 Astra hatches - just like the C20LET was for Mk2 Astras and Novas 10 years ago.
While sub-£1500 Turbos are out there, I'd expect to pay a bit more for a 'good' example that you'd actually want to own and use. Considering the spec I think they're quite a bargain.s m said:
Yep, have one of those on all my cars - never had any break-in attempts but they are easy to get into.
I remember watching one get nicked on CCTV on a Police Camera Action type programme. They got into in less than 5 seconds, and less than 20 seconds after that, the headlights came on and they drove it away.Edited by s m on Wednesday 13th June 12:05
Limpet said:
I remember watching one get nicked on CCTV on a Police Camera Action type programme. They got into in less than 5 seconds, and less than 20 seconds after that, the headlights came on and they drove it away.
VX's of that era had terrible locks where after it had levered it out the door with a screwdriver, rotating the end of the barrel by hand would pop the door pin up!Worse still on Mk2 Nova's, with the old rotating the hazard light switch to turn on the ignition.
andymadmak said:
CampDavid said:
Probably not worth mentioning to them that the 0-60 of a customer car would be no where near the uprated boost monkey that was the press car.
Doubt you have ever driven one. God knows what your point is though
Clivey said:
I remember watching one get nicked on CCTV on a Police Camera Action type programme. They got into in less than 5 seconds, and less than 20 seconds after that, the headlights came on and they drove it away.
Yep, my first one got liberated by some scrotes whilst we were up in Scotland on holiday, got it back minus wheels & seats & the third one got the lock busted a couple of times & the radio pinched, keyed & the rear window smashed. Curiously, the second one, the silver with the uprated engine, suspension & brakes, didn't get touched...until some d!ck in a Lada ran in the back of it 
Hoygo said:
U really are massively missing the point,i hate the mk4 Golf with a passion,only got it because is better (as you said) than an average 1.2 corsa/clio and brings an ridiculous good MPG.
I wasn't suggesting that you liked it; just that seeing as you're a car enthusiast (otherwise why be here?) and have a Golf of that shape, you surely must know of the pathetic first attempt at a Mk4 "GTi" derivative. Don't take my comments personally - I'm not here to offend.Hoygo said:
you'd get a mk2 Astra over a 205 etc well that's your problem 
,or really you like them better than the majority,nothing wrong with that.
Thanks. ,or really you like them better than the majority,nothing wrong with that.
Not that I don't like the 205 et al; just that I find the GTE at least as good, it's rarer & a more individual choice, I was always around Vauxhalls growing-up and for me it just has a certain something that the other aforementioned cars don't.Hoygo said:
really no trolling here,my uncle owned one,the shock absorbers lasted 100 km,the whole bodywork rusted within 8 years,and was not the only one,other were about the same.
To be honest, there weren't many cars of the era that were immune to rust. I could show you plenty of examples of supposed "premium" cars that have rusted just as badly as cars that are notorious for it. I saw a sorry looking Mercedes C43 AMG today that I just wanted to take pity on and restore. 
Hoygo said:
I don't know much about the mk3 but it was introduced in 1991 were the 80's hatches were in their last breath,later comings like the Clio 16v/williams 106 Gti are used even today and give nowadays hatches a run for their money.
Blame TWOCers for the deterioration of the hot hatch market during the '90s. And yes; the 106 & Clio were good but in a different (size) class to the Astra. You should have said "306 GTi-6". 
Hoygo said:
If you compare the VXR with only the GTI and MPS you are missing the best,the VXR really was an old school feel hatch,but a new car with an old technology don't match,time to move on,thing that is shown in this latest Hot astra,which now is up with the best of its class,lesson learned.
Really, I can't see how the original VXR was any less competitive than the new one is. - It outpaced the Focus ST, Golf GTi, Civic Type-R etc. It felt a chunk more raw and I think that was deliberate to inject a bit of character in what could have been just another FWD turbo four eurobox. The shape was enough to make Clarkson eat his hair - surely it deserves credit for that alone! 
Hoygo said:
And for the last pictures as i said i was comparing it with the best not some chav s
te.
te.
...and I didn't even post the XR3 Convertible.
LuS1fer said:
Vauxhall also had issues with many 4x4 models and had to convert them to FWD, possibly temporarily, but I recall it was a farce at the time.
Vauxhall never converted any cars to FWD, owners may of done, but Vx never did it.The transmission was designed and made by getrag.
Basically the transfer box is pretty similar to the way an automatic gearbox works - hydraulic pressure is applied and a series of clutches (6 from memory) are engaged, taa daa, we have drive. It would disconnect when you touched the brake.
The system had two problems : it probably wasn't quite robust enough and user expectation/car needs weren't set.
Robustness - Like anything the t-box had a service life, this was greatly affected by maintenance. Run equal tread tyres and keep the fluid changes regular and it'd have a good life. Abuse it and the life could be shortened quite dramatically.
User expectation - The care and service life issues weren't communicated to users (or even in some cases dealers), lots of people were quite scared of the box.
Vx should have decreed more frequent fluid changes and provided more instruction on the use/care of the box.
When I sold my turbo it had over 100k on the t-box and it was in perfect working order, the P.O. had looked after it and so did I. Unfortunately many owners didn't know (or didn't care) how to look after the car, hence the tales of woe.
Haldex is a variation on the theme but is much more robust.
Loved my turbo, sold it 9 years ago, 10 years old, 180k on it and had been modified for over half its life.. Half of me still thinks I should of kept it. I guess its baked bean cans by now
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