As the old Mondeo estate becomes very long in the tooth, I'm looking for a slightly smaller replacement in the next few months; I was thinking chiefly along the lines of a Focus or Octavia. I need it to tide me over for about the next 5 years until Mrs W and I are both fully retired and go to one car - at which point, we'll get something smart that'll see us out.
A friend is due to retire shortly and has been offered his company Astra Club estate with the 1.3 diesel engine. He won't be buying it as he has the use of his son's car - and ultimately, he will want something a bit more powerful. He reckons it's a bit slow to take off but, once it's bowling along, it's fine. It's a 56 reg and I think it's about £5.5k - which I think is about trade price. He has asked me if I'd be interested in buying it.
I just wonder if any of you chaps have had any experience of the 1.3 diesel Astra - has anyone experienced the self-destruct engine extravaganza as described on C by C breakdown? I should add that I am not the sort of chap who flies around like a loon and so I'm not looking for Ferrari performance - anyway, I don't think Ferrari do an estate.
Cheers Waino
Edited by Waino on 26/01/2010 at 22:54
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I had a 54 plate corsa c with that engine for just over 2 years, but incase it helps...
Slightly lighter body but i got 530 miles to a tank (which cost £28 to brim with diesel in January 2005!).
Engine was mostly fine. Turbo occasionally sounded like a hoover, would come and go, but this was before i was interested in fixing my cars...
I remember that the engine seemed to like cruising at 60mph best, quietest and best fuel economy seemed to be around that mark.
Steering rack was made of glass, couldn't handle potholes through the Sxi's slightly stiffer suspension -- so if its the same steering rack, i'd avoid as they're like £600-£1000 parts, although BOTH of mine were done under warranty.
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-- so if its the same steering rack i'd avoid.
It's not.
The Corsa-C has electrically assisted PAS on the steering column, whereas the Astra has the more traditional hydraulic PAS but the pump is electrically driven instead of via a belt from the crankshaft.
In other words, the Corsa-C hasn't got hydraulic PAS.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 27/01/2010 at 00:26
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Thanks for the comments. Any more will be gratefully received. I'll arrange to take a closer look at the car/test drive over the next few days.
I had more-or-less written off the idea of a second-hand diesel because of all the refuelling horror stories but, in the case of this car, I know the history - and the owner (a good friend) has no axe to grind.
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I asked for opinions on these last year when they were on our change shortlist that eventually ended up with a Citroen C3 HDi.
The "grumbles" about the Astra 1.3 CDTi seemed to be folks thought it a small engine for the car, turbo lag could be an issue... and the reliability issues in the car by car breakdown of course.
We kepth them on the shortlist right to the end though as SWMBO's very large employer have them as pool cars and she commented they did't feel slow and were fine to drive.... they were reliable too.
Had we not decided to drop a size class an estate one of these was the car we got very interested in. Seemed to be loads available just off fleet late last year.
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My partner has a 1.3 cdti life hatch as a co car. Comfy to drive but a strange sensation driving out of junctions. It's as if you have to rev it to wind the elastic band up before dropping the clutch and pulling out. Once you get going it's fine surprisingly has a 6 speed box. A pretty robust car and easy to drive. reasonably well equipped for a base spec.I had the misfortune of crashing into someone's P reg Civic head on on the recent icy roads. We were both going very slowly. Astra just had a cracked front bumper and grazed headlight (repair estimate a very reasonable £300) unfortunately the whole of the Civic's fron was stoved in and would be a good car written off due to the settlement value. I hope it's a knock for knock but I felt a bit sorry for the other guy as his civic was a good wee car and it will cost him far more to replace it.
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I went for a test run this morning in the aforementioned Astra estate and was very pleasantly surprised. I was particularly watching out for the 'lack of power when pulling out' and difficulties in dealing with the devious indicator stalk. Neither of these turned out to be an issue at all.
I was impressed and I'm pretty certain that I'll buy it. As previously stated, I was looking for a cheap-to-run, practical vehicle, not a guided missile!
I'm not sure if this car is fitted with a dpf, however, do any of you chaps know? It's an early 2007 model.
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I was given a Meriva 1.3CDTi courtesy car on Tuesday while my car went in to have some work done. Presumably it's the same engine? Initially I didn't realise that it was only a 1.3 diesel until I looked up the reg on DVLA's website (actually it said it was 1248cc). I was surprised at how much power it had. Also very little turbo lag and would quite happily pull away in 3rd or 4th from 1300 rpm.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 04/02/2010 at 12:58
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