Astra SRi XP 1.9CDTi 16v (150PS).

Surprisingly looks tempting on the Vauxhall website, save for the price (~19.9k).

Anyone any comments on Astras & diesels?

If anyone's interested now decided against the Honda Civic, I think it would annoy me, which is a shame. Volvo S40 still a possibility but didn't totally persuade me on the test drive, fine car that it is.

Fabia vRS with leather. Hmm...

I have the 1.7 cdti in my corsa, just as good as the PD100 but a lot quieter.

Do a search on autotrader, brings up a few by me for around

We had three Astravan 1.7 DTis at work, all three broke down with something expensive wrong between 55000 and 70000 miles. It's a pity we had so much trouble as the Vauxhall diesels are really quite good to drive.

I had one of these for 48hrs a couple of months ago....looks are an aquired taste IMO..the 1.9 is shared with Alfa..doesnt give you the burst of torque like a VAG 1.9PD diesel and it suffers from turbo lag. Interior feels well screwed together but the layout of the dash is appalling!...and i didnt find the seats very comfortable either!...make sure you have a drive for more than the normal 20mins as you may not notice things like the above..especially the heater controls:mad: !

After handing the keys to the delivery chap i was glad to see it disappear down the road!...crossed straight off my list!:thumbdwn: ...heyho thats what test driving cars is all about!

Vauxhalls are better than in the past, but there's still something 'not quite right' about them in my opinion.

for 19.9k you arent getting much of a car to be honest. I bulked at 16k for an astra.

VXR for less

Well I got 20 minutes in a 1.7 Sri (0% finance at the moment) today. Actually I quite liked the cabin and controls, IMHO better than the New Civic, and build seemed as good as the Volvo S40, folding key (yeah!) but not so sure on the seats.

Drive was OK, quiet but 'sluggish' so methinks the 1.9 engine would be the one. I've been in an Alfa 147 JTD this week as a passenger, not bad save for the ergonomic flaws and rust!

Astra pricing is something else, the dealer has a year old 1.9 150hp 'Design' trim spec car coming this week, price is 12.5k. Er, how much depriciation is that from new?!? :eek:

So it would be second hand for the Astra then. Advantage of two differently owned dealers near me so can play them off against each other should I go down that route.

Seat Leon and Renault Megane next...

That's the problem, depreciation on a Vauxhall is a killer which is why I wouldn't buy another (I like getting new/nearly new cars and keeping them for years). I've had 2 petrol Astra's, kept one for five years, the other for 3 months until 'Network F*&K You' took the lemon back.

The one I kept was mechanically excellent over the 110,000 miles I did in it, but electrically a bit poor in terms of engine management, i.e. numerous oxygen, camshaft/crankshaft sensors failing, and it never did idle properly. I would hope the diesels are better, though the various and random hassles a friend has had with a nearly new Vectra SRi diesel has made me doubt it.

The good thing with a Vauxhall is that they're usually very good for long distances though.