RE: Shed Of The Week: Vauxhall Astra Coupe

[s m]

Adz The Rat said:

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.


Sounds legit, so in other words when the gearbox falls out 2 days later they will wash their hands of you.

Barge pole springs to mind.

You just have to approach it like a private sale in other words

[Jimmy Recard]

Q Car said:

I had a VX220 with this engine in it. Unless you were willing to pour thousands into ITB's then the tuning potential was very limited, which contradicts what it says in the article...

If you can find one, GM did supply a supercharger kit (this engine was supercharged in the Chevrolet Cobalt SS I think)

Cheaper and easier just to get the Z20LET (2.0 turbo) version in the first place. That's an easy, tough engine to tune.



First thing to do is decat

[JuniorD]

Jimmy Recard said:

Q Car said:

I had a VX220 with this engine in it. Unless you were willing to pour thousands into ITB's then the tuning potential was very limited, which contradicts what it says in the article...

If you can find one, GM did supply a supercharger kit (this engine was supercharged in the Chevrolet Cobalt SS I think)

Cheaper and easier just to get the Z20LET (2.0 turbo) version in the first place. That's an easy, tough engine to tune.



First thing to do is decat

Must be a chore with it being such a pussy magnet

[MorganP104]

JuniorD said:

Jimmy Recard said:

Q Car said:

I had a VX220 with this engine in it. Unless you were willing to pour thousands into ITB's then the tuning potential was very limited, which contradicts what it says in the article...

If you can find one, GM did supply a supercharger kit (this engine was supercharged in the Chevrolet Cobalt SS I think)

Cheaper and easier just to get the Z20LET (2.0 turbo) version in the first place. That's an easy, tough engine to tune.



First thing to do is decat

Must be a chore with it being such a pussy magnet

It is for this very reason the Turbo model came with a dealer-fitted stty stick in the boot.

[s m]

Jimmy Recard said:

Q Car said:

I had a VX220 with this engine in it. Unless you were willing to pour thousands into ITB's then the tuning potential was very limited, which contradicts what it says in the article...

If you can find one, GM did supply a supercharger kit (this engine was supercharged in the Chevrolet Cobalt SS I think)

Cheaper and easier just to get the Z20LET (2.0 turbo) version in the first place. That's an easy, tough engine to tune.



First thing to do is decat

Seems the steering and seats were the worst they could say about it.
Only a smidge heavier than a GT86 surprisingly but Euro NCAP 5, will seat 4 comfortably, average 37mpg and as fast to a 100
As a 106 GTi

4 out of 5 stars

[olliete]

Coming soon to a McDonald's car park near you

[Jimmy Recard]

s m said:

Seems the steering and seats were the worst they could say about it.
Only a smidge heavier than a GT86 surprisingly but Euro NCAP 5, will seat 4 comfortably, average 37mpg and as fast to a 100
As a 106 GTi

4 out of 5 stars

Interesting what they say about the styling compared to the Puma and Celica - at the time I think I would have agreed as those two looked more modern, but I think the Astra Coupe has aged better than either.

I can't get too excited about this one, but a decent looking coupe with a good turn of speed (the turbo), which seats four easily and is cheap to run? I can't see that as a bad car at all

[andymc]

Adz The Rat said:

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.


Sounds legit, so in other words when the gearbox falls out 2 days later they will wash their hands of you.

Barge pole springs to mind.

so looks like we took it in part ex and allowed £300, we now want to make some money on it but give the sale of goods act a swerve,
ps and im a motor trader

[Drive Blind]

Shed said said:

Plus the Turbos did suffer from lag and a fairly nasty gearbox

The 2.2's and the Turbo's had the same F23 gearbox

[s m]

Jimmy Recard said:

Interesting what they say about the styling compared to the Puma and Celica - at the time I think I would have agreed as those two looked more modern, but I think the Astra Coupe has aged better than either.

I can't get too excited about this one, but a decent looking coupe with a good turn of speed (the turbo), which seats four easily and is cheap to run? I can't see that as a bad car at all

I like the colour and it seems a roomy coupé for 4 people

Be OK for me for a long run down to the South of France. They commented on the very roomy boot. Much as a few down payments and you'd be away in a GT86, its not much cop if you can't fit your kids in comfortably. Probably push 40mpg pretty easily with that average on Autocar test of 37mpg.

For less than a grand ( even if you didn't buy this one there's others at the price ) it seems a good buy for a runaround once you e checked out the cam chain

[aka_kerrly]

s m said:

Adz The Rat said:

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.


Sounds legit, so in other words when the gearbox falls out 2 days later they will wash their hands of you.

Barge pole springs to mind.

You just have to approach it like a private sale in other words

I simply wouldn't approach at all.

Any dealer that tries to palm cars off as "trade sales" thinking that means that they can sell any piece of s**t that they know has faults that they aren't mentioning is a clown.

Plenty of cheap astras around without having to deal with a "dealer" like that.

[s m]

aka_kerrly said:

s m said:

Adz The Rat said:

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.


Sounds legit, so in other words when the gearbox falls out 2 days later they will wash their hands of you.

Barge pole springs to mind.

You just have to approach it like a private sale in other words

I simply wouldn't approach at all.

Any dealer that tries to palm cars off as "trade sales" thinking that means that they can sell any piece of s**t that they know has faults that they aren't mentioning is a clown.

Plenty of cheap astras around without having to deal with a "dealer" like that.

True - I'd be looking very carefully for the usual bodges to get a car through a sale ....plus checking carefully to see where the MOT was from.....but if I really liked the car it wouldn't put me off particularly as I know enough not to have to ask general stuff on car buying
Like you say, there's plenty around this price to make it a choice though

[T5SOR]

I remember when the Astra Coupe Turbo came out. It was a lovely looking car and pretty quick. My dad had a V6 Vectra at the time and he was considering getting one of these. I can't remember why he didn't, but the blue ACT still looks good today IMHO.

I also remember the 888 Turbo when it came out and it was another few £K for some half blue seats in the front and a big spoiler.

[anonymous-user]

Is there any car that says "rat faced chav" more than an Astra with that debadged grille with the little car decal??

Nice enough shed without the embarrassing modifications though.

[Jiebo]

Coming to a mcdonalds car park near you.

If cars classes - this would be council estate, working in a call centre/builder and has taken a massive loan class.

[s m]

Just looked at the EVO review of it

"Well sorted chassis" according to Dickie Meaden, bit of Lotus involvement in it apparently, they thought it looked a bit bland and could have done with closer gearing

[Jimmy Recard]

s m said:

Just looked at the EVO review of it

"Well sorted chassis" according to Dickie Meaden, bit of Lotus involvement in it apparently, they thought it looked a bit bland and could have done with closer gearing

It's interesting how these things are remembered - I recall Autocar being pretty positive about the drive, and I remember Jeremy Clarkson praising how the mk4 Astra drove. The Focus was a more entertaining car to steer, but the Astras had the better engines, in my opinion. And they simply were not a bad car to drive - maybe not the best, but not every car can be the very best.

[s m]

Jimmy Recard said:

It's interesting how these things are remembered - I recall Autocar being pretty positive about the drive, and I remember Jeremy Clarkson praising how the mk4 Astra drove. The Focus was a more entertaining car to steer, but the Astras had the better engines, in my opinion. And they simply were not a bad car to drive - maybe not the best, but not every car can be the very best.

The CAR review put it against the Celica - well-damped they reckoned with a French feel over rough surfaces. Not as sharp as the Celica ( but that was class leading ) to steer but roomier and quieter

[kmack]

Chavtastic!

[Jiebo]

Wouldn't it be comical to see the faces of all those filthy rat-faced chavs that own all these astras with the debadged grille.

There must be some of them around here. Uber money to the job centre for anyone that posts a mug shot.