Vauxhall Astra 1.8i 16v

The Car

• Purchased 2nd Hand
• 2004 54 registration
• 1.8i Club Automatic
• 5 Door hatchback

My Situation

The car was purchased from BCA last October as an Ex-Motabilty car with only 4000 miles on the clock!
Cost to us was about £6500

Looks

I must admit, the semi-new shape (they've released newer now!) Astras are quite sexy looking. I have mine in midnight blue and I think this is a great colour for the car.
16" Alloys are standard and they look real good too.

Interior Build Quality

So far I cannot pick any faults with the actual build quality of the car. No rattling, all doors, glove box etc... hinges are smooth and don't feel like inferior quality.

Obviously as a Vauxhall, the interior will still feel a bit 'plasticy' but it doesn't look that bad and the 3 Spoke steering wheel looks very sporty.

Ride Comfort

==The Bad==

Here's the problem, it's not actually that comfortable to drive.
It's smooth-ish but the seats are uncomfortable and the llowest seat height is way to high for someone like me who is 6'3".

The drivers side A-Pillar cause a major MAJOR blind spot for me when I take right turns. For those who don't know, the A-Pillar is the vertical part of the main car frame where the windscreen fits. B and C pillars are the centre and rear parts of the frame.

The anti-glare switch on the mirror is stiff and you just end up moving the mirror sometimes.

The new style Indicator stalks are fiddly to use and don't use the traditional 'click' method. Sometimes I end up signalling left after I turn off the right side indicator and vice versa!!!

The Good

The car does heat up pretty quickly in cold weather and it's not noisy at all.

Not too many knobs and dials to fiddle with so it's pretty straightforward to use. I don't have Climate control but I don't think it's needed here.

Handling

==The Good==

At 125 BHP this car certainly does move fast even with the auto-box, acceleration feels good.
I am very surprised that there is very little roll when you take bends and corners.
(I don't recommend taking them fast though and I do not condone speeding and dangerous driving unless it's on a controlled track!!!)

Sports mode button I feel is pointless and just gives you harder revs which you get from kickdown anyway. Saying that though it does give you a nice little boost of acceleration when you use it but I hardly do.

The Bad

Sometimes the autobox is a bit unresponsive and I get a lag when I need instant acceleration but it is bearable.

The kick down feature on the accelerator pedal is overkill and drops the gears and revs far too high. This is not a sports car like the VXR so it shouldn't really be treated like one unless you are going to replace it in 3 months!

Fuel Economy and Costs

==The Good==

Only on insurance, 3 of us are insured on this car for about £400 so not bad. Should be a good car for young drivers who want a bit of oomph with their drive!

Falls under the cheaper tax bands as well

The Bad

Fuel Economy is terrible for this type of car. Bearing in mind it's a 1.8 automatic, the guage drops very quickly and I'd be surprised if I got 250 miles on a tank. To put this into perspective, I used to have a Seat Leon 1.8 turbo Cupra manual producing 180bhp and the fuel econmy was vastly better than the Astra!

Overall feelings

I'm not too happy with the car but I would still recommend it to people just not tall people.

Make sure you get a good deal for the car and check 2nd hand websites like Parkers to get price guidlines.