2003 1.4 Astra.

Ahleckz said:
Bad idea? Good idea? Help!

2003 VAUXHALL ASTRA 1.4i 16V LS 5dr Hatchback
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My mum has a 2007 (new shape) 1.4 Corsa.

This is the same 89hp unit that goes into an R Reg Astra.

It isn't particularly economical and it hasn't got any power.

I enjoy winding her up on a daily basis (especially the parts replaced under recall every time it goes for a service) and tell her she should have got the new Fiesta.
 
iaind said:
And that's just it. You've got a bunch of people who have given exact reasons for the focus being a better choice. But the only reasons the people defending the astra can muster are 'lol vauxhall haters' and 'so what if it's slow'.....Lets have some actual reasons for buying one over the other rather than petty name calling shal we?
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That's exactly it, no one has ever given a more compelling reason to own one than 'its not that bad' and 'not everyone wants a performance car'. For that reason, I'm out.
 
Given that the 'not that slow' remark is untrue - it's frustratingly, annoyingly slow - the only compelling defense for astra ownership in this thread thus far has been the fact that one owner is still alive. I want more from a car than it not murdering me.

I can't be described as an impartial vauxhall hater either. When I bought the mondeo I considered a vectra too. The car after, the Saab, is based on the vectra. And I even considered the astra and vectra when looking for me cheap hack. On no occasion has the vauxhall made a credible case for ownership over the competition
 
Cristian said:
The astra hate never stops amazing me on these forums.
I bought a 2003 1.8 sri 2 months ago, and I don't what you guys were driving but it must have been a completely different car.

The braking is progressive and decent, it does not throw you into the winshield like your average renault clio for example.
Steering gives a decent amount of feedback, it's not an M3 ofc but it's not awfuly light to make you think you're steering a game controller. By comparrison the 1.6 mk2 focus I drove for a couple of miles felt disturbingly light, but I could I have probably gotten used to that in time

Seated are quite comfy, although they are the Recaro ones, not the crappier ones that come in LS versions.
The interior is bland looking but the focus mk1 ain't gonna win any beauty contest either mind you. Build quality is ok, it does not rattle and there is plenty of storage space around. I'm 6ft 2 and sit very confortable in it, whereas I bang my head really badly on the ceiling on a corsa, for example.
They are reliable (as long as you're not an idiot and ignore the timing belt services), cheap to service, a lot nippier that the 1.8 focus and a bit more economical as well.

If I could have found a 2.0 Zetec focus for the same price and condition, I would have gotten that, but that would have meant me paying nearly twice as much lol.

As for the looks - please, it's very subjective and you make it sound like you're comparing a fiat multipla to a ferrari.

For what I paid, it's a great car.
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I've driven several Astras and I pretty much disagree with all of the praise you've given it.

Terrible brakes, far too over-assisted, steering is light and has zero feel, seats in which I found it impossible to get comfortable, I was half way to Southampton by the time I'd finally managed! The interior trim felt utterly flimsy, bits even quite literally fell off of a Zafira I had, and the ergonomics of the controls were far from brilliant. Visibility of the Sport (lol) Hatch was absolutely shocking, too.

And yes the 1.4 was slow but that's beside the point really. Any car like that with a 1.4 is going to be slow.

Focus is a much better car, whether we're talking mk1 Focus versus mk4 Astra or mk2 Focus versus mk5 Astra
 
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iaind said:
Given that the 'not that slow' remark is untrue - it's frustratingly, annoyingly slow - the only compelling defense for astra ownership in this thread thus far has been the fact that one owner is still alive. I want more from a car than it not murdering me.
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It's a bit pointless though really; everyone's already made their mind up and they're far more vocal about it than the people who might actually have some good things to say about the car.

I'm no expert myself anyway so I'm by no means the person to do it. The fact however that I can't really identify with many/any of the criticisms in here either means that I drive mine every day with the assistance of a paralysing agent, or I'm just lucky enough to have the only one that isn't a complete failure.
 
The people who have 'made their mind up' are people who have experienced both cars and are in a position to draw a comparison. If you had driven the focus, maybe you would be able to identify with the criticism.

So I think we've established the only thing the astra does better than the focus is be cheap. If anyone can argue otherwise without using the words 'haters' or 'fanboys' then please do so. Otherwise, it's safe to say that the OP can assume the answer to his original question is 'bad idea'.

A final thought - if everyone is just hating because they are anti vauxhall, why have so many of us test driven them in the past?
 
iaind said:
The people who have 'made their mind up' are people who have experienced both cars and are in a position to draw a comparison. If you had driven the focus, maybe you would be able to identify with the criticism.

So I think we've established the only thing the astra does better than the focus is be cheap.
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Well...no, given that I've disputed much of what's been criticised about the Astra already.
 
TheVoice said:
Well...no, given that I've disputed much of what's been criticised about the Astra already.
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How can you defend criticism when you don't know any different? Everything is relative, without a decent comparison anything will seem fine. The whole point of this thread was "is the astra better than the focus/accord/mondeo", not "is the astra acceptable?"
 
TheVoice said:
I'm no expert myself anyway so I'm by no means the person to do it. The fact however that I can't really identify with many/any of the criticisms in here either means that I drive mine every day with the assistance of a paralysing agent, or I'm just lucky enough to have the only one that isn't a complete failure.
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Or more likely that you simply don't know any better.

Remember how your rollerskates are the best form of transport ever when you are 4 years old?
 
In reality, there ain't much of a difference between the 1.4 Focus and 1.4 Astra.

But for the price difference, you may aswell get the Focus. Though if its your first car, you won't know the difference. I shall agree about the disconnected feeling, the steering is too soft.

I dislike light steering though, would much rather not have power steering. Or some sort of adaptive steering.
 
iaind said:
Point was, there isn't anyone defending it who was driven it subjectively. Yet, there are people who have driven the focus subjectively who will reccomend that
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Actually, there was one person. Me. I don't own one but I drove one regularly and liked it for the reasons given above. A few of the guys at work liked them, and considering how hard they were pushed they were plenty reliable. And to put someone elses money where my mouth is, one of the guys I work with (who had the same opinion of them from his experiences of them) has just bought one.

I've not driven the mk1 focus so I can't compare that but I would happily buy an astra as a cheap runabout. And I've got no reason to be anything other than honest as a user rather than owner.
 
[TW]Fox;17414042 said:
Or more likely that you simply don't know any better.
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Yep, as I've already said that'll be a large part of it. But I'm also not the sort of person who ever buys anything remotely significant without doing my research first and then umming and aaahing over it, so had the opinions of the Astra on here been universal, I'd never have bought one. As it stands, there are actually people with positive things to say about it.

My argument doesn't hold much water anyway because I didn't particularly want a Focus to begin with. Didn't like the styling and didn't like the spec of the Mk1 equivalents. If I was buying one now, I'd definitely consider the Mk2, but at the time there was no point.

I'm not saying the Focus isn't a better car, by the way; it's this attitude that the Astra is seemingly the worst car ever made that I'm disputing. It's a load of nonsense.
 
My GF has a 2005 Astra 1.4 twinport. Does the job well for her needs. Nippy round down and cruises at 80mph no probs. Great on fuel and v cheap insurance.
 
Jeez...

You lot must be bored tonight.

I said for her needs, its nippy round town. Its noticeably quicker than a 1.0 Corsa, but not as nippy as my 205 1.9gti. But for her needs, its "nippy"

Nippy like a semi fit bird with a nip on "nippy" but not as "nippy" as a proper fit bird.
 
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