The Deal.

[Clivey]

Great stuff! I will say one thing about the astra. Its incredibly smooth. I think it's the 1.6 version that you can hardly hear the engine. Amazing. I was quite impressed when i was a passenger in one. But the seating and dashboard make you feel like a dwarf i found. But a brilliant deal you got yourself! well done =)

Thank-you. I noticed the lack of noise on the petrols too, sadly though because of the ancient diesel engine in this model, it sounds like an old Transit van. It does ride and handle extremely well though - I personally find it to have the best balance of any car in it's class (based on cars I've tried so far).

I'm 6'2" and have the seat set at it's lowest setting but TBH I can't really relate to the "dwarf" feeling you mention. How tall are you by the way?

One thing I have noticed about this car is that it's pretty much the same size as the original Vectra - and that would explain why the 1.7 diesel is so useless (performance wise) here - it always was!

I've been looking at upgrading to a 2006 SRi XP 1.9CDti (150ps), so that would sort all of the "problems" I've experienced with this car so far (the condition and the performance)...but I'll have to wait and see how things are going to unfold. A neighbour two doors down owns a black SRi XP with the 200BHP 2.0i16v Turbo - it sounds refined yet menacing from the outside and it looks excellent for a 5-door hatch. I want mine in silver.

[drakkie]

You should feel very lucky you can afford to run a car like that, while being a "poor" student. You should see my car, it is full of similar dents, none because of poor driving though. You really should not complain about them and enjoy the incredably lucky deal you got.

Hope you may enjoy many safe miles in it !

[Clivey]

You should feel very lucky you can afford to run a car like that, while being a "poor" student. You should see my car, it is full of similar dents, none because of poor driving though. You really should not complain about them and enjoy the incredably lucky deal you got.

Hope you may enjoy many safe miles in it !

Firstly, thank-you for the "well-wishes".

Secondly, I just want to clear up the fact that I'm not "complaning" that the car has these marks because I'm acting "spoilt" - rather that with a little common sense on my Grandad's part, all but the dent could have been avoided in the first place.

I realise how lucky I have become, as you are correct - not many college students could dream of owning a car like this after just turning 19. I can't thank my Grandad enough (I think that if I thank him any more, he'll get all embarassed ), he is the kind of person that would help anyone, so long as they deserved his help. He's a really genuine person - he doesn't cheat or lie and he has my full love and respect for that.

I'm just hoping that I can bring the paint back to somewhere near it's original condition, ready for me to trade the car in (the reasons that I want to trade the car in are complicated, I'll explain in due course - once I am more certain about what's going to happen regarding this car).

[Clivey]

Right. Good news: the side-stripes have gone. Car looks twice as good now - they really messed-up the design as they covered the cars' shoulder line.

Also, I spoke to a guy from the bodyshop at the local Vauxhall dealer - he advised that I could probably get rid of most of the "touch-up" paint that's been layered onto the car using product "a" - (can't actually remember what it's called! But I bought some from a local store), before using T-cut to polish the paint back-up to how it should look.

I'll take some more pictures when I get the chance to clean the car - I'm just currently enjoying a caramel chocolate at a coffee house in Derby - college is good sometimes!

[clutch-monkey]

congrats on the car clivey, sounds like a good windfall, and seems like an excellent choice given the UK's insurance/roadtax setup.

it returns 70mpg on the Motorway...

that's awesome

80ps / 74BHP version of the 1.7 diesel, an engine that dates back over 10 years.

that's not so good..

[Clivey]

that's awesome

...

that's not so good..

Tell me about it.

I'm hoping to trade it in for a 1.9CDTi model - which gets around 50mpg combined but still has 150BHP and pulls the Astra from 0-60 in 8.3 seconds. That's (very) quick for a family car here in the UK.

[Clivey]

Well, that didn't materialise - I decided to go for something different, a car that I've liked since it was first launched because of it's "funkiness" and innovation as well as one that suits my needs...The Citroen C4 Coupe! See avatar and profile.

[Ferrer]

Congratulations. We looked at it and it's a nice car indeed.

Nice shade of blue too.

[Bimmer540]

Congrats on your 'new' car. A little elbow grease and effort usually makes the difference. Most important is that YOU are excited about your 'new ride', others may scoff, but the pride is in ownership.