Vauxhall Astra TwinTop 1.9 CDTi 16v

Before I got my Mazda6 I had the pleasure of driving a 1.8 Astra Twintop. I have to say the loveliest thing about this car is those summer afternoons when you drop the roof and relish the sun.

The interior was basic, but it had a lot of features as standard, such as heated seats and full aircon, electric seat adjustment and best of all it had space at the back to fit another human being. The boot was great aswell. There was literally enough space to lay down, but other than that it would quite happily take a full bed and matress from Ikea. I liked the fact that you felt safe when drining it, and it was narrow enough to make parking at Tesco a breeze.

Unfortunately, however great as this car was, it had alot of design faults. Firstly the twin-top took up to 30 secs to fold up and down, which by todays standards is an age. Secondly, although it was a diesel, the fuel economy was outrageous. I think throughout my ownership of this vehicle I must have only hit 35mpg about twice, as the average was usually between 24-29mpg. The worst thing about this car though, was nothing to do with the car. I had broken down one night after work, had my car towed to a vauxhall garage to find that the alternator had broken. Long story short I ended up paying over £400 for costs and labour. I was mortified, but it had to be done.

I've got to say that this car was a typical vauxhall. It was very nice to drive and comfortable to sit in. It looked amazing and did long distances like a dream, however the running costs were a little to high for my budget.