RE: Shed of the Week | Vauxhall Astra Turbo cabrio

[Steamer]

CS Garth said:

Majestic. Regal. Imperious!

Roof down, a bit of PM Dawn Set Adrift on the Stereo - I can hear the knicker elastic snapping already.

By coincidence there is a a rather large heffer I've seen driving the wheels off one of these near me...

...I'm assuming her knicker elastic must be at upper-yield point.

[alorotom]

irocfan said:

alorotom said:

VX wanted £13k for a new crated engine supply and fit.

say how much????? That's taking the fking piss!

It really was! They stipulated that they get to keep the old engine too for the price!

I might still have the quote in a file as I still have the book pack etc ... Lol

[CDP]

Steamer said:

Mr-B said:

That interior, from the drivers point of view it's not mid noughties it's mid 80's!

Yer but in the (late) 80's the GTE convertible was in the space age!! (another horrible car in convertible form.. although it looked half decent for the era)

My brother had a 1.6 Astra convertible of that shape (92) and it was quite a pleasant little car. I can’t help thinking that with more power and stiff springs the chassis would be total overwhelmed but the lower performance model was OK for what it was. Excellent seats, horrible dash.

[FlukePlay]

I have no interest in this shed and I'm only looking forward to tomorrow's Brave Pill..

[Xcore]

4 seater hatchback derived convertibles are proper nonce chariots

[A1VDY]

g3org3y said:

Council as fk? Check.

Ha ha, and most likely from someone living in a council house..

[Chestrockwell]

FlukePlay said:

I have no interest in this shed and I'm only looking forward to tomorrow's Brave Pill..

Same!

[s m]

Drive Blind said:

iirc the Astra G - which lurks underneath this shed - got favourable reviews.

I doubt they were ever real 150mph cars. Autocar, i think tested the SRi hatch with the 2l turbo and could only manage mid 130's. Had a test with an escort cosworth which also struggled above 130.

That was the 189bhp Sri Turbo tested at Bruntingthorpe. Both cars topped out at 137mph

The coupe variant of the SOTW convertible got tested at 144 flat out on the Millbrook bowl, usually that’s reckoned to equate to about 146/147 on a very long straight.
A convertible might be a few mph down on that with more drag and heavier. Probably about GT86 performance if it was healthy

[anonymous-user]

s m said:

Drive Blind said:

iirc the Astra G - which lurks underneath this shed - got favourable reviews.

I doubt they were ever real 150mph cars. Autocar, i think tested the SRi hatch with the 2l turbo and could only manage mid 130's. Had a test with an escort cosworth which also struggled above 130.

That was the 189bhp Sri Turbo tested at Bruntingthorpe. Both cars topped out at 137mph

The coupe variant of the SOTW convertible got tested at 144 flat out on the Millbrook bowl, usually that’s reckoned to equate to about 146/147 on a very long straight.
A convertible might be a few mph down on that with more drag and heavier. Probably about GT86 performance if it was healthy

GM Europe speedos have, in my experience, often been hopelessly optimistic. My mates 1992 1.4 8V Astra saw 135MPH on the clock regularly, which I suspect was 110MPH at best. Might explain the 150mph myth.

[s m]

stickleback123 said:

s m said:

Drive Blind said:

iirc the Astra G - which lurks underneath this shed - got favourable reviews.

I doubt they were ever real 150mph cars. Autocar, i think tested the SRi hatch with the 2l turbo and could only manage mid 130's. Had a test with an escort cosworth which also struggled above 130.

That was the 189bhp Sri Turbo tested at Bruntingthorpe. Both cars topped out at 137mph

The coupe variant of the SOTW convertible got tested at 144 flat out on the Millbrook bowl, usually that’s reckoned to equate to about 146/147 on a very long straight.
A convertible might be a few mph down on that with more drag and heavier. Probably about GT86 performance if it was healthy

GM Europe speedos have, in my experience, often been hopelessly optimistic. My mates 1992 1.4 8V Astra saw 135MPH on the clock regularly, which I suspect was 110MPH at best. Might explain the 150mph myth.

That 144 would have been real mph - no doubt the speedo would have been showing around 150 or more - but then most cars would

The 1.4 Astra of this gen was showing speedo 102 at a genuine 100






I think the worst I ever had for speedo inaccuracy was my Primera GT - according to phone GPS at least

Edited by s m on Saturday 19th October 00:03

[heisthegaffer]

kuiper said:

Oh dear.

These were pretty terrible when new, especially when compared with pretty much all of the conteporaries - time has not helped that fact.

What were it's contemporaries and why were they so much better?

[greenarrow]

s m said:

stickleback123 said:

s m said:

Drive Blind said:

iirc the Astra G - which lurks underneath this shed - got favourable reviews.

I doubt they were ever real 150mph cars. Autocar, i think tested the SRi hatch with the 2l turbo and could only manage mid 130's. Had a test with an escort cosworth which also struggled above 130.

That was the 189bhp Sri Turbo tested at Bruntingthorpe. Both cars topped out at 137mph

The coupe variant of the SOTW convertible got tested at 144 flat out on the Millbrook bowl, usually that’s reckoned to equate to about 146/147 on a very long straight.
A convertible might be a few mph down on that with more drag and heavier. Probably about GT86 performance if it was healthy

GM Europe speedos have, in my experience, often been hopelessly optimistic. My mates 1992 1.4 8V Astra saw 135MPH on the clock regularly, which I suspect was 110MPH at best. Might explain the 150mph myth.

That 144 would have been real mph - no doubt the speedo would have been showing around 150 or more - but then most cars would

The 1.4 Astra of this gen was showing speedo 102 at a genuine 100






I think the worst I ever had for speedo inaccuracy was my Primera GT - according to phone GPS at least

Edited by s m on Saturday 19th October 00:03

Slightly off topic, but I was always surprised at how nippy that little 1.4 was in the Autocar road test! 0-60 in 10.3 secs from just 88 BHP. In fact the 0-60 and 0-100 figures weren't far off those Autocar achieved in the Mk1 1.8 Focus a year later....!

144MPH was a darn good top speed for the Astra Turbo. Ahead of both the UK spec Impreza Turbo and DC2 Integra R. Vauxhall in fact usually punched above their weight in terms of straightline performance. I think youl could have a lot of fun in this SOTW; most people will assume its just a 1.6 or 1.8 n/a car.

[legless]

djbobbins said:

They were still built like Volvos and don't (unlike the later C70s) share the Mondeo Focus platform.

EFA

[Roboticarm]

fernando the frog said:

really? this is "disgusting"?



I think the Focus is one of the only decent looking convertible/hatch things

Always thought these look great with the roof down but truly awful with it up

[talksthetorque]

s m said:

I think the worst I ever had for speedo inaccuracy was my Primera GT - according to phone GPS at least

Edited by s m on Saturday 19th October 00:03

Ah, that explains my taxi ride home from Doncaster about 20 years ago and seeing 135 on the speedo.

[s m]

greenarrow said:

Slightly off topic, but I was always surprised at how nippy that little 1.4 was in the Autocar road test! 0-60 in 10.3 secs from just 88 BHP. In fact the 0-60 and 0-100 figures weren't far off those Autocar achieved in the Mk1 1.8 Focus a year later....!

144MPH was a darn good top speed for the Astra Turbo. Ahead of both the UK spec Impreza Turbo and DC2 Integra R. Vauxhall in fact usually punched above their weight in terms of straightline performance. I think youl could have a lot of fun in this SOTW; most people will assume its just a 1.6 or 1.8 n/a car.

Yes, a 4-seater opentop is always going to be more of a cruiser than a sporty coupe to my mind......but these could certainly more than keep up with the traffic

Even the all-conquering 320d would be trying hard to open a gap off the lights

[Jimmy Recard]

heisthegaffer said:

kuiper said:

Oh dear.

These were pretty terrible when new, especially when compared with pretty much all of the conteporaries - time has not helped that fact.

What were it's contemporaries and why were they so much better?

I wouldn’t worry; on this forum there is always someone who’s willing to make something up in the misguided belief that it sounds impressively knowledgeable

[g3org3y]

A1VDY said:

g3org3y said:

Council as fk? Check.

Ha ha, and most likely from someone living in a council house..

Unfortunately, the council haven't been forthcoming in providing me with any accommodation. Consequently my shed budget could only reach a meagre £900. Woe is me.

[Jimmy Recard]

g3org3y said:

Unfortunately, the council haven't been forthcoming in providing me with any accommodation. Consequently my shed budget could only reach a meagre £900. Woe is me.

I like Astra Gs but prefer E36s and E46s (I've even raced an E36 328i)

An Astra G is no more council than a 36 or 46 though. About the same level, I'd say

[Initforthemoney]

jase_llan said:

General consensus of these comments seem to back up how I was brought up to know these... Astra Gs were "ashtrays" and after a neighbour went through more water pumps than tanks of fuel the Astra Hs were christened "Disastras..."

I managed a Vauxhall parts department for around 8 years up until the mid-late nineties, and the biggest selling spare part was a fuel pump relay.