Mk4 Astra SXi info please!

[TW]Fox said:
Given your rather unusual circumstances Chris I'm going to do something very rare and change my opinion - if it's not costing you personally £4300, then I guess it's as good as you'll get given the somewhat bizarre constaints put upon your car purchase by your Mum :(

But make sure you do the mods I listed :)

I'd have it over a Zetec-S, by the way. Well a Fiesta Zetec-S ;)
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2k of the money's mine.
 
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2000 X Reg FORD MONDEO 2.0 Zetec S 5dr
5 Doors, Manual, Hatchback, Petrol, 60,000 miles, Metallic Blue. ABS, Adjustable seats, Adjustable steering column/wheel, Air conditioning, Alloy wheels, Driver airbag, Electric mirrors, Electric windows, Foglights, Electrically adjustable seats, Lumbar support, Immobiliser, Power assisted steering, Remote locking, Radio/CD, Traction control

£2995

I win!
 
[TW]Fox said:
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2000 X Reg FORD MONDEO 2.0 Zetec S 5dr
5 Doors, Manual, Hatchback, Petrol, 60,000 miles, Metallic Blue. ABS, Adjustable seats, Adjustable steering column/wheel, Air conditioning, Alloy wheels, Driver airbag, Electric mirrors, Electric windows, Foglights, Electrically adjustable seats, Lumbar support, Immobiliser, Power assisted steering, Remote locking, Radio/CD, Traction control

£2995

I win!
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Zetec-S ftl.

I need a good condition 99-01 ghia x, with black leather and RSAP.

Just give me yours i reckon.
 
Chris1712 said:
Zetec-S ftl.
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It's equal in specification to that Astra :p

I need a good condition 99-01 ghia x, with black leather and RSAP.
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They are so very rare though - there are 4 on Autotrader at the moment, a T reg 2.5 V6 Automatic for £1200, an R reg Automatic for £2495 (low mileage price premiums suck), a suprisingly not ridiculously expensive low mileage W reg Ghia X RSAP at a Ford main dealer for £3495 - but it's a V6 auto again, and a staggeringly overpriced 2001 Y reg for... £4995.
 
[TW]Fox said:
It's equal in specification to that Astra :p



They are so very rare though - there are 4 on Autotrader at the moment, a T reg 2.5 V6 Automatic for £1200, an R reg Automatic for £2495 (low mileage price premiums suck), a suprisingly not ridiculously expensive low mileage W reg Ghia X RSAP at a Ford main dealer for £3495 - but it's a V6 auto again, and a staggeringly overpriced 2001 Y reg for... £4995.
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Id take the zete-s over the astra anyday. Unfortunately, my mum won't even consider it. I am very much in the same belief that value for money is where its at, and mondeo's probably rule that roost at the moment.

But, ultimately, with this astra. Its ok spec, its not quite dog slow, but still no improvement over my dturbo (9.98 seconds!! :p ). The interiors not falling apart, but more than anything, it should be reliable for a couple of years yet. My mums had a vectra for 4 years, and its been trouble free. Sure enough you have no definites buying 2nd hand, but at least i have a 12month warranty from the dealer aswell.

Agh, its such an annoying predicament, but my mum can't seem to see past "dealer>*"
 
Chris1712 said:
Any links for the irmscher bits?

See how much it might set me back...
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Depends how many arms and legs you have to trade, really :p

They're not cheap at all - although the prices I remember seeing were from a main stealer.
 
Minxy is the girl to speak to - she has turned her Astra from... an Astra into something that really does look pretty damn cool :cool:
 
so £2k of the money is yours?... just buy a £2k car and tell ya mum to sod off ;) its what id be doing.. id hate having to buy something i really dont want cause someone who has no idea about it all says so..

ya could pick up a mondeo for £2k yeah? :D
 
for astra info, pop over to www.astrasport.co.uk

It would be far more cost effective to buy one with the bodykit already on.. LMF vauxhall are a good cheap online source for genuine parts, www.lmfvauxhall.co.uk

I know what you mean about the focus interior.. love the car apart from that, luckily the new focus has the interior to match now..
 
There are pros and cons to each method - private buying, or from a dealer.

When buying privately, it's sold as seen, so if anything major goes wrong there's no comeback. Major things don't really "just go wrong" on cars though, so you'd have to miss all the warning signs when looking over the car to put yourself in this boat. That's just about the only problem with buying privately, other than making sure the car is actually the sellers to sell, but HPI should see you over that hurdle. With a private seller, you get to see the car's owner, you can see how mechanically competent they are, how they drive it if they drive it for you, you can ask why they're selling it, speak directly to them about the service history etc...

When buying from a dealer you get the peace of mind from a warranty - but peace of mind is all it is. If the engine seizes down the end of the road for example you have some comeback, but for just about anything else (head gasket failure, a new clutch, braking system - all big £200-500+ jobs) you'll find that they're not covered by a warranty, so they're often not worth the paper they're written on. Car dealers are by and large, dodgy - they have to be, as not many cars are perfect, and they have to sell the ones that aren't. They have to make profits, and if they can possibly wangle out of paying for a warranty repair, they will. You can't meet the previous owner, will have no idea how they drove it, the dealer will often just have to say "I don't know, sorry" if you ask questions about the car's history. You're buying blind essentially.

Dealers are always more expensive, often a grand or so more (speaking £4k cars) than an equivalent car from a private seller. Given all the bonuses of buying from a private seller against all the downsides of a dealer purchase (given that warranty bonus is effectively null and void in 90% of cases), it does seem silly to buy a car this cheap from a private seller.

Only if I was spending £10k+ on a car would I choose to buy from a dealer - given that you have the added security of dealing with a registered business with a premesis when it comes to handling large sums of money, whereas a private seller could disappear off the face of the earth. For a £4k car though (which would be £3k in a private sale) it doesn't seem worth going to a dealer really.
 
Demon said:
for astra info, pop over to www.astrasport.co.uk

It would be far more cost effective to buy one with the bodykit already on.. LMF vauxhall are a good cheap online source for genuine parts, www.lmfvauxhall.co.uk

I know what you mean about the focus interior.. love the car apart from that, luckily the new focus has the interior to match now..
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Insurance on an SRi would be a bit to steep for me, 18 0ncb!

Not seen an sxi with irmscher bits already on yet.

Just seen this on autotrader. Might try and find it tomorrow. Obviously the saving on the car will pay for insurance.

Still poses the problem of getting rid of a rickety dturbo though,
 
I used to have a MK4 SRi kitted up with the Irmscher bits and pieces. Looked pretty good in my opinion, paint was really soft and the front ended up getting really chipped.

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I would certainly go for the SRi over the SXi. If I remember rightly, you get a rear spoiler, ABS, rear disc brakes etc.

Nice car just got a bit bored with it by the end. Interior was pretty dull and it was horrendous on petrol. A mate of mine has recently tried to get me to swap my megane for his Astra Coupe Bertoni and I must admit I was tempted except the mileage was very high.
 
Just got back from the dealership. Really can't decide. I understand that its a mint condition example, and the 12 month warranty is great. But, its just so boring. It would take me quite a while to get it where i like it, irmscher bits and whatnot. But also, its a brilliant base to start getting bits on it, i know the history of it, i know its only had 1 previous owner and its in great nick, drove like new.

Pros:
It works
Petrol quietness
Better than a crummy focus.
12month warranty.

Cons:
Not as nice outside as my 306
not as nice inside as my 306
lower mpg than my 306
Its not an SRi

306 needs replacing, its about to fall apart. Its a 1996 N with 141k on it, he offered my 600 p/x which was actually pretty reasonable. But he wouldn't budge on 6 months tax and the overall price. Bit of a bummer.

I need to find something about it to make me excited and to want to drive back down there and clinch the deal.

agh
 
It's not 'better than a crummy Focus' - it is a poorer car than a Focus in every respect bar asthetics. The only thing it does better than the Focus is, in your opinion, look better. It's not as reliable, it doesnt handle as well, it isn't as well built, it just plain is not as good as the Focus.

If you hate the way the Focus looks then fine - I also dont like the Focus interior (but lets face it the Astra isnt much better inside is it? At least the Focus just looks odd rather than feels cheap) but it doesnt make the Focus crummy, looks aside its far and away a better car.
 
Chris1712 said:
Better than a crummy focus.
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It isn't better than a focus though, in any way.

Chris1712 said:
not as nice inside as my 306
lower mpg than my 306
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Not as nice interior as a 306, your having a laugh arent you, the phase1 306 really did suck hard interior wise, it was boxy, built of cruddy hard plastics, rattles whenever possible, and looked vile :confused:

Your 306 is a noisy diesel, its going to be more economical, but definately not by much.
 
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