Save my in laws from the tedium that is an ex mobility Astra

[dave_s13]

They have expressed an interest in buying my wife's grans mobility car. It's a small grey turd of a thing and I'd rather get the bus but they don't give a st about cars and just want something cheap and cheerful with enough room to fit our 2 kids in.

Car is as follows:-

Astra Club
1.6 Petrol
11000miles
2009 (09)

Mobility co have quoted a price to buy of £6100.

I can think of 6100 reasons not to buy this horrible thing but can anyone just give me a quick glasses valuation (if you have access to it). A quick mooch on AT shows similar cars for anything between 5.8-6.5k so I think it's no great deal really.

For that money I would suggest burning the Vauxhall and playing it safe with a Focus.

What you lot reckon?

[Geekman]

Seems quite expensive for what it is, I have a 1.4 astra club and although infinitely better than the bus, it's dull and underpowered - I can't imagine that extra .2 of a litre making that much of a difference. Almost certainly better off with a focus I'd say

[joewilliams]

Why get involved? If you persuade them to get something else, any little niggle will be your fault. Let them buy what they want.

[dave_s13]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yup, it's probably done half those miles driven on the clutch, her gran is one of those folks that redlines the engine to creep round the corner to church on a sunday.

I've told them not to buy it but they're keen, apparently knowing where a car's been since new is more important that it being a) st and b) no real bargain....I can't understand it.

When you can get this for a few hundred quid more, you need your head testing
http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...


I have an irrational hatred for vauxhalls btw (apart from the VX's obv).

[dave_s13]

joewilliams said:

Why get involved? If you persuade them to get something else, any little niggle will be your fault. Let them buy what they want.

This is probably the correct answer.

[HeatonNorris]

You've obviously not driven a 1.6 petrol Focus, then.

They're at least as hateful as the Astra.

[Butter Face]

joewilliams said:

Why get involved? If you persuade them to get something else, any little niggle will be your fault. Let them buy what they want.

This. I sell cars for a living and try and avoid sorting cars for my own family for this very reason.

[dave_s13]

HeatonNorris said:

You've obviously not driven a 1.6 petrol Focus, then.

They're at least as hateful as the Astra.

Really??

I actually own a very well worn X reg Focus 2.0 Zetec and although it's not quick or anything it certainly drives very well. I'll admit to not having driven this model Astra, I had a spell in the older shaped ones though and hated the damn things.

[Astra Dan]

Brilliant. So you're trying to force your irrational hatred on other people. I like it.
I think staying well out of it might be the wise move here.

[ajb85]

Motability ALWAYS want top brass for their trade disposals after 3 years. If they're not snapped up they all go to motability auctions at BCA around the country where main dealers buy the low mileage ones, such as this. It would probably do circa £4.800-£5,000 I would imagine.

I know what you mean about the old Astra though, the 'Life' model especially - dull as dish water. I think it's something to do with those wheel trims.

[steveo3002]

worked at 2 dealers that did mobility cars, id say a great deal are treated very poorly , badly driven and kept like a pig sty inside ,at the time i worked there i think they had a low fixed price excess to cover dents and crashes so they often smashed them up without a care

id not want one unless i knew the old owner

[tim0409]

steveo3002 said:

worked at 2 dealers that did mobility cars, id say a great deal are treated very poorly , badly driven and kept like a pig sty inside ,at the time i worked there i think they had a low fixed price excess to cover dents and crashes so they often smashed them up without a care

id not want one unless i knew the old owner

Like this lovely example of an automatic Micra - http://www.sma-group.co.uk/stock-lists/Stock-Detai...

As previously discussed on here, Motability tend to sell the best cars direct to traders now and send the dross to auction (at least they do here at Edinburgh SMAG).

[HeatonNorris]

dave_s13 said:

HeatonNorris said:

You've obviously not driven a 1.6 petrol Focus, then.

They're at least as hateful as the Astra.

Really??

I actually own a very well worn X reg Focus 2.0 Zetec and although it's not quick or anything it certainly drives very well. I'll admit to not having driven this model Astra, I had a spell in the older shaped ones though and hated the damn things.

A MkII Focus weighs as much as a small house and the 1.6 is hopeless in them. Even worse when combined with an auto box.

I had one on hire from Dublin airport a few years ago - as it was all they had left.

[dave_s13]

Astra Dan said:

Brilliant. So you're trying to force your irrational hatred on other people. I like it.
I think staying well out of it might be the wise move here.

Oh dear Dan, looking at your garage I'm afraid you and I can't be friends. In the nicest possible way.

I'm leaving them to it, as per suggestions.

[FoundOnRoadside]

I had an ex-mobility Astra, it was metallic greeny-grey. It was the 75hp 1.6 8v. It was without doubt the most reliable car I've ever owned or driven. Nothing went wrong, ever. I still see it driving about 8 years after I traded it in, it's now 14 years old and looks as good today as it did when I got it 3 years old. It was dull, it was slow, but as an early Mk4 on the aluminium Lotus suspension and 14" steelies, it handled very well. In 2000 they went back to normal steel suspension parts and changed to 15" rims, and ruined the handling.

Mk5 Astra isn't a bad place to be, and an 09 will be the 115hp 1.6VVT which isn't a bad engine. Far better than the boat anchor Duratec in the Focus. If you drive the Astra like it's got VTEC, then they go well. Don't be afraid of revs, because they're still economical even when you're doing 6000rpm+

Edited by FoundOnRoadside on Friday 22 June 09:12

[LuS1fer]

Does seem pricey and at that milegae, the value will not so much fall as plummet. Surely better off buying something like a Honda Civic or even something smaller like a Suzuki SX4 (which my in-laws have, are on their second, and which just don't seem to go wrong at all).

[ajb85]

FoundOnRoadside said:

I had an ex-mobility Astra, it was metallic greeny-grey. It was the 75hp 1.6 8v. It was without doubt the most reliable car I've ever owned or driven. Nothing went wrong, ever. I still see it driving about 8 years after I traded it in, it's now 14 years old and looks as good today as it did when I got it 3 years old.

Mk5 Astra isn't a bad place to be, and an 09 will be the 115hp 1.6VVT which isn't a bad engine. Far better than the boat anchor Duratec in the Focus. If you drive the Astra like it's got VTEC, then they go well. Don't be afraid of revs, because they're still economical even when you're doing 6000rpm+

I'll second that, the 1.6s are very sprightly. and the older Twinport even more so, I'm always pleasantly surprised when I drive one of these. The Focus has a slicker gear change though, so it wins on that front.

Going back to the motabs thing... the running joke is that they all stink of p*ss. It gets far worse. I took in a 3 year old motability return in at Citroen, a rancid old poverty-spec C3. There was human excrement everywhere; the seats, the carpets, the door pockets, it was even smeared onto the roof lining. A nice day at the office to be had for the valeters that day.

[steveo3002]

^ 5H ITROEN LOL

[FoundOnRoadside]

Mine was OK to be fair. No piss smell. I suspect it was a case of someone got a car on Motability and the disabled person never went out in it. 12k in 3 years, passenger seat looked like it was never sat in, and the factory fit Michelins still had the mold nipples on them at the back. I think it did garage to shop once a week as long as it wasn't raining.

My Mondeo was actually worse, it smelt of dog once the smell of the valeting faded. That was a "family car", so had dog hair, child debris, sand in the carpets, ripped carpet, etc. Oh, and fked clutch and suspension.

[vit4]

HeatonNorris said:

A MkII Focus weighs as much as a small house and the 1.6 is hopeless in them. Even worse when combined with an auto box.

I had one on hire from Dublin airport a few years ago - as it was all they had left.

This - the 1.6 Focus really is pretty dire, much better with a bigger engine.