Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Auto Review

Philz0r said:
yea i was just commenting on the interior,stearing, brakes and seats as mine is the manual turbo, the other things i cant comment on as ive never driven an auto version or the 1.6 n/a. i did drive the 1.4 n/a on a test and that was a really bad engine for that car.

to turn cruise control on press the button in on the wheel. then scroll the scroller thing up and down then it turns on.
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The switch gear is so bad I couldn't tell if the the wheel depressed in as well as up and down. But even pressing it in, did not seem to do anything.

Oh, and what's the wee button the the left that looks like a speedo with a cross is that a speed limiter?
 
Traction control is on left of wheel. Turn on first, then seems you wiggle the roller down then up and it comes on, took me a while to work it out. There is another button, still not worked out what that does yet, far from intuitive, say compared to my wife's Mazda or my RS4. This car does have auto wipers, lights and dual zone AC but it seems that my feet were getting warm when top half was cold so the 'auto' is not very good. I also saw about 33mpg which considering I was on 'speed camera central' was not that special. The MX-5 would show 37-38 in such conditions with a 2l though no auto box which will impact consumption.

I've had loads of Vauxhalls over the years, no axe to grind here chaps or bloke with posh cars slagging off the cheap car. It's a poor car compared to others in the same area of the marketplace, that's how I see it and call it. Go drive one, tell me I'm wrong or making it up, seems whitecrook found the same too....
 
The new Astra is an awful car in my opinion:

Looks horrid (subjective, granted)
Drives like a barge
Gutless (I've driven various new astra's now including the SXI)
Parts are silly money (£450 for a front bumper!)
Materials have cheapened since the previous 'shape'.
Far more fiddley to work on when compared to previous versions.

Just hate it. I'm a Ford man really but I really quite liked the Astra Mk4 + MK5 (I own a MK4 mile cruncher for work). It seems in tough times Vauxhall are making some poor decisions.

I'd have a Focus that smelt of farts and dogs over a new Astra.

(I dont like the new Astra :p)
 
I did a similar run, approx 1200 miles in my 320cdi and I got 34mpg sitting at high motorway speeds 2 weeks ago.

Not great, as I'm sure the deisel haters will be along to tell me, but compared to the astra, I know where I'd rather be
 
one thing i do hate about the turbo model, you hit the limiter far too quickly. the car feels like it has so much more to give then hits the rev limiter. so annoying!
 
115bhp perhaps explains the lack of get up and go. Also, I decided to use the box in manual mode and in 4th it runs right to red line and then, rather than changing up just sits there on the redline, very odd.
 
Is there a button on the gear stick? Might be something that stops it going into top gear.
 
I am at a loss as to how you select reverse instead of first in this car.

Also, it handles fine.

Funny how most of the motoring magazines and websites think it is quite a decent car as well.
 
atpbx said:
I am at a loss as to how you select reverse instead of first in this car.

Also, it handles fine.

Funny how most of the motoring magazines and websites think it is quite a decent car as well.
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Badly designed gearbox, large obtrusive 'lifter' button underneath the gearknob, exactly in the location where one naturally holds the knob, hence pushing into reverse whem only wanting first. Reverse is up to the left of first in the manual. Iys not as if vauxhall dont know how to do this right as my vectra does not sufft this problem, the lifter button is actually the collar of the knob and so is much harder to accidentaly depress
 
whitecrook said:
Badly designed gearbox, large obtrusive 'lifter' button underneath the gearknob, exactly in the location where one naturally holds the knob, hence pushing into reverse whem only wanting first. Reverse is up to the left of first in the manual. Iys not as if vauxhall dont know how to do this right as my vectra does not sufft this problem, the lifter button is actually the collar of the knob and so is much harder to accidentaly depress
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I have one of these as a company car, I also dont drive it exclusively, I also Drive Class 2 HGVs, 7.5 tonne lorries, the wifes Civic, and a sprinter every now and again so I do sometimes get the indicators instead of the wipers, or the washers instead of the Horn etc etc etc when I switch vehicles.

BUT, not once, even when I first got it, have I ever selected reverse instead of first, in fact, its virtually impossible to do this.

What does get on my nips a bit is the automatic handbrake on hills, but its not enough to get me raging.
 
i hated the auto handbrake at first, i really did but now im used to it, it doesnt bother me in the slightest.

its pretty handy too, if your on a hill and the nose is pointing down the hill, the car will roll forward if your in a forward gear if you let off the brake. if your in reverse the car wont roll atall.

same applies if your pointing up the hill, if ur in reverse it will roll back (just letting off the brake, not clutch) but hold if your in a forward gear.

(this is automatic without pressing the handbrake button)

*edit* ive never hit reverse insted of first before.
 
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