Astra questions

[snappy]

A friend of mine wants to buy a Astra for around 10k .
I would just like to pick your brains on them mainly because i know little to nothing about them .
Any models that have any certain problems to look for .
How is the model range described as in which model is the commodore and which is the calais .
Thanks in advance guys

[Wonky]

Best bet by far is join http://opelaus.com/ forum. For levels see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Astra#Specification_levels_5

[Slam3d]

I worked at Holden for seven years. They are electrical nightmares. Blowing 1000 dollar ecu's more than once. Chewing through brakes. Needing throttle bodies and coil packs. No one makes aftermarket parts. Ya have to pay close to 1000 bucks for the belt and tensioners to be changed. I'd rather a n14 or n15 pulsar. The pulsars are chain driven valvetrain. Little to nothing goes wrong with them. Very basic electronically and mechanically.

Well my 2 cents any ways!

[Wonky]

I worked at Holden for seven years. They are electrical nightmares. Blowing 1000 dollar ecu's more than once. Chewing through brakes. Needing throttle bodies and coil packs. No one makes aftermarket parts. Ya have to pay close to 1000 bucks for the belt and tensioners to be changed. I'd rather a n14 or n15 pulsar. The pulsars are chain driven valvetrain. Little to nothing goes wrong with them. Very basic electronically and mechanically.

Well my 2 cents any ways!

Two months ago after 4 trouble free years and about 70,000km with my wife’s 06 built Astra I would have disagreed but since then we’ve had two (as it turns out possibly related) problems which had we used a Holden dealer to analyse and rectify with new parts would have cost around the $2,500 mark! :shock: See http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=147112 and http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=144792.

However, I hate spending that kind of money so the throttle body we got second hand for a wrecker with 6 month warranty for $250 (list price close to $1,000!) and hopefully our ECU can be repaired by Swingtan instead of costing us list price approx $1200 for the ECU plus whatever Holden want to reprogram it!

In the meantime I’ve learned some very handy, money saving tips. As mentioned in the ECU thread there is a place not far from Melbourne called Injectronics who can remanufacture ECUs, throttle bodies etc far more cheaply than purchasing new. :goodjob: That’s all the rage in the UK where these cars are very common.

See also http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=147134

[VYBerlinaV8]

Ours was good for 6 years, but towards the end needed a new electric window motor assembly - because the cable end broke. It was 420 bucks from Holden. Also, we did the timing belt and brakes about a year ago at our local mechanic and spent about a thousand bucks.

My gut feel was that it was about to have a few other things go wrong, so I traded it on a new WRX.

As a second hand car, I'd avoid it.

[awesome _vzss]

my misses brother had one and it was a night mare of car had 70,000km's on when he bought
and had nothing but problems.He sold it by the time it hit 85,000 km's
i have driven it a fair bit a just didn't think it wasn't crash hot.I beleive their is other cars out their better for that price range

[redvxr8clubby]

I was half thinking about an Astra as a commuter, you can get fairly low km ones around $10,000 to $11,000. One local is asking $11,000 - for a bit over 60,000Km but an '04 (AH). Kind of sounds OK, but then an '04 with 60Km would be needing timing belt, then as said here nothing is cheap on them when other stuff starts to go wrong, and while the Kms are good it is 7 old now. I then think that if you spend another $10K you can get a base Mazda 3 brand new drive away with your stamp duty etc all in the price. A far better longer term proposition. Also seen a Ford dealer in Sydney advertising a ZC Vectra 2.2 less than 40,000 Km 2005 for under $13k, it sounds OK too, a bit more roomy than an Astra. Looked at one the last weekend at another dealer, sitting behind the wheel the dash looks ancient. I guess all of comments on the Astra in this thread all apply to the Vectra also. While they might have been good new cars for many, as a 6 or 7 year old used car they are probably questionable. At the of the day you only get what you pay for, just a question of spending limits. If your looking to spend about $10K, a Pulsar is probably a pretty good bet for reliability, no timing belt is a plus.

[Holden Nut]

My mum had a TS CD which was a nice car, only problem it ever had was it needed a new crank angle sensor at some point.

My gf has a TS SRi which has the 2.2L motor. Had a problem with the rear lights not working once but that was fixed for cheap. After driving both I recommend you try and find an SRi, the 2.2L is a bit quicker and the car feels sportier to drive whilst still being comfortable. It is also uses a timing chain instead of a belt so you wont have to worry about those 60,000km changes like the belt driven 1.8L.

[LS2_307]

Have had a SRI 2.2 07 since new and although it hasnt had any major issues I wouldnt buy one again. High parts and service costs.

Has had a miss since new and get the usual Holden responce of "nothing found" :flipoff:

Should think of selling soon as we have done 100ks now.
Pobably not a bad run really :confused:

[Pickles]

We bought a TS Astra Classic Equipe Hatch new in 2005, & had NO problems with it, except a leaking water pump which was replaced under warranty.
OK, we looked after it, & it was always serviced by the same dealer...it had 93Ks on the clock when we traded it.
I'd recoomend the model we had..you get, ABS,Cruise,T/C,A/C,Elec.windows,15" mags etc.
Look for a good car with a full service history, preferably a one "mature" owner, & you won't go wrong...$10K will get you a ripper.
Cheers, Pickles.

[rankys_ss]

My missus has got a 2002 astra, had it for about 4 years and its got 160,000 on the clock. Haven't really had anything go wrong with it, the alternator shit itself, have replaced front rotors. And I'm not real sure what everyone is saying about the timing belt, my local mechanic changed it and gave the car a full service for $400.

It has been a pretty resonable car, but hopefully its going to make way for a r32 vw polo soon. Finally the missus has some taste in cars :D

[Wonky]

.........I'm not real sure what everyone is saying about the timing belt, my local mechanic changed it and gave the car a full service for $400.

If the belt they use is the same as on my missus' 2006 1.8 petrol Astra I'm amazed that he could do it for that!! :eek: I bought the belt new at very good price as an ex Holden employee and I'm sure even then the belt and associated pulleys which should be changed at the same time cost me around $400 for parts alone!! Will see if I can find receipt or appropriate Mastercard statement.

[TMM]

Avoid. Get a Honda Civic instead.

My mum's 2001 Astra, owned since new is on it's 3rd Aircon compressor, each time costing $800+ to replace. Also eats through brakes like no tomorrow and the thermo fan has been on the fritz multiple times (staying on when you turn off the car). It's only done 110,000km never driven hard and always garaged. Clutch also sounds like a toolset in a washing machine on spin cycle when partially engaged.

My sister's 2000 Astra (110,000km~ also) blew an Aircon clutch ($400), ECU ($1000), battery ($alot - more then a Commodore and it's just a tiny little shit one), dashboard backlighting comes and goes at will and has had problems with the headlight wiring in the 4 years she owned it. I think the coilpacks were on their last legs too but she got rid of the car before anything else went wrong heh... Was terrible to drive, throttle response and clutch were completely brutal, was difficult to drive it smoothly at all. 2000 model has a cable clutch, 2001+ have drive by wire which is slightly more sedate to drive.
The throttles are a stupid design whereby instead of having a separate idle control valve they just open the main butterfly a little. This sucks because once you get some carbon build up it starts choking and stalling at idle.


If the belt they use is the same as on my missus' 2006 1.8 petrol Astra I'm amazed that he could do it for that!! :eek: I bought the belt new at very good price as an ex Holden employee and I'm sure even then the belt and associated pulleys which should be changed at the same time cost me around $400 for parts alone!! Will see if I can find receipt or appropriate Mastercard statement.
I'll bet his mechanic only changed the belt and retained the pulleys. Which is a big no no on Opel cars because you end up like my mates Vectra - pulleys fall off and the engine lunches itself.

[Wonky]

I'll bet his mechanic only changed the belt and retained the pulleys. Which is a big no no on Opel cars because you end up like my mates Vectra - pulleys fall off and the engine lunches itself.

I wondered the same thing - from memory my price on just the belt was about $200.

[rankys_ss]

Hrmm I think I need to suss this out with him, can't recall any talk of pulleys being changed. Cheers for the info guys.

[G4RS_GM]

Ok, its not an ASTRA, but its the same engine. We have owned a 01 barina sri for 10yrs, and its been a fantastic little car. Ok, we have replaced the ecu, got that brand new from the UK for $700, they sell for double that here..and a new battery. Now in ten years, thats all the that has gone wrong, i think thats not bad at all.
Now that we needed another 4dr car, we just bought an 01 astra 5dr hatch with SRi bodykit and wheels, 1 owner, full service history with a genuine 85k for $7500...its immaculate this thing.
There's lemons in ALL makes....you only have to read the " what problems with your HSV have you had" other HSV owners like me have suffered none and couldn't be happier.

[Devil CV8]

My daughter had a TS CDX Aastra and the only problem she had was the electric power steering would randomly stop working. After a few near misses and the dealer unable to fix she got out of it. Avoid......


Just grabbed a $300 1990 Apollo/camry as a second car to do the Goulburn Canberra commute. Can't afford to run 2 V8s on the commute and our work hours will be too different to use the one car.

[snappy]

Thanks Guys/girls for all the info

Overall doesn't sound to great . When i got to her and tell from what of been told there not the most reliable car out there and are expensive to fix .

Ill have a good chat to her to see if she is open to other cars .Ive got a feeling the most important thing for her is cosmetic appearance but if so all this info will help me find her a car that may look after her and if it doesn't I'll have the told you so comment to fall back on :) .

again thanks heaps guys info/help like this is very much appreciated

[Marco]

The Astra's a bit of a dilemma. I had one new, put 164k on it in five and a half years and very little went wrong with it. My in-laws have had one since it was about six months old, done about 160-170k in it now I think and again, not much has gone wrong (just a coil pack). On the other hand, I keep reading other peoples' horror stories about them.

So here's the dilemma. For $10k it is a nice car to drive and has about as good a safety rating as you're going to get for that money. Have a look at how well a Japanese small car of the same era does in NCAP testing - the answer is not well (I was thinking about an N16 Pulsar at the time I bought my Astra but rejected it for that reason). But you're taking your chances on getting a good one.

Someone else in this thread suggested a ZC Vectra and that might be a good idea. I now have one of those which my parents bought new in 2003 and again, bugger all has gone wrong with it in that time. They're so unpopular that they're cheap now for what you get and are a nice thing to drive as long as you don't want to drive hard.

[LS1-5.7]

See here also

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=147221

[CV8Monaro]

Bought my wife a TS City 2 door hatch brand new in 2002 - only done 70,000 k's now and in perfect condition BUT the computer is starting to play up and its in permanent limp home mode - paid the local mechanic $750 to find the problem but he couldn't fix it - error code P1895 keeps coming up but about 12 others as well....nothing wrong with it mechanically but the auto is stuck in 3rd and she has to drive it manually.....

any advice out there? Cheers

[aussiemuscle308]

my sister has one of the last astras only a couple years old. it seems to go very well, but when it breaks down it's always a major job to get it fixed. like even changing a headlight bulb is a #@$@^ of a job. anythiing to fix under the bonnet means dismantling the entire car to get to it.

[littlered]

Bought my wife a TS City 2 door hatch brand new in 2002 - only done 70,000 k's now and in perfect condition BUT the computer is starting to play up and its in permanent limp home mode - paid the local mechanic $750 to find the problem but he couldn't fix it - error code P1895 keeps coming up but about 12 others as well....nothing wrong with it mechanically but the auto is stuck in 3rd and she has to drive it manually.....

any advice out there? Cheers

Flame suit on!

As much as it pains me to say it... that is why you take your car to your dealer to get it fixed. They have the equipment to diagnose the problem and hopefully fix it. Local mechanics do not.

My wife had a 2004 CXD hatch that after three years of trouble free driving had an electrical gremlin which kept putting the car in limp mode. After resetting the ECU to diagnose the problem and three trips back later they eventually found the problem which was corroded wiring in the engine bay. I spoke with the mechanic at Holden who was working on it and he advised had a diagnosis proceedure to find it and checking the wiring was one of the last options and then finding where in the wiring was stuffed is finding a needle in a hay stack. Anyway problem fixed and we kept the car for another 2 years before trading it in on an Astra wagon.

Am i a sucker for punishment? probably, however we have had this car for nearly three years and besides the scheduled servicing not one problem. Besides nobody offered a four cylinder wagon (this was after Toyota and Mitsubishi stopped the Corolla and Lancer wagons and before Hyundai brought out the i30 wagon). Looked at a RAV4 and xtrail but she didn't want an SUV.

Before you write them off, check service history. If it has been looked after it should be okay. Spend some money on a holden dealer to do a check. ECU can have problems logged in it that do not show up via the warnings lights.

Also - if you need to do the brakes go for the after market rotors and pads. They last 100x longer that the genuine parts. Timing belt, well a lot of cars still use them so it is just something you need to factor in. Try to get one that has had it changed helps.

BTW - I do not work for Holden

Cheers

LR

[Pickles]

Just bought ourselves another one.....looked through heaps on CarSales before stumbling on this one...it's a 2007 AH SRI 5 Door Hatch, with the 2.2L engine (not many with the 2.2), heated leather seats, 17" wheels, subdued body kit, all factory, IMMACULATE (inside wheels as clean as the roof!), silver, one lady owner, books, 24000ks, cost over $33K new....bought it for $20K....been to Adelaide in it...an absolute ripper.
Cheers, Pickles.

[seldo]

I bought a new Astra for my Treasure in 07 and, touch wood, so far hasn't missed a beat. Nothing. :)

[CV8Monaro]

Thanks LR,

I'll take it to a Holden dealer, but I know it will be rip off city..... if we can fix the problem we'll sell, should get $10,000 for the low kms and otherwise perfect condition....might look at the new Cruze later this year for her when the new tricked up model comes out....

[planetdavo]

Thanks LR,

I'll take it to a Holden dealer, but I know it will be rip off city..... if we can fix the problem we'll sell, should get $10,000 for the low kms and otherwise perfect condition....

(Also puts flame suit on)
Some wont agree, but there are two thoughts to this thinking.
One is that they charge heaps more and have pimply apprentices working on it, so don't blow ya money take it to someone else maaaaate.
The other is that although it costs more per hour, they have all the proper GM diagnostic equipment and software available (part of the reason they are dearer), so if they spend half the time diagnosing it, rather than just throwing 20 different parts on the car like the cheaper per hour Joe's Garage would, well, who do you reckon would end up cheaper???

[littlered]

When I spoke to the tech who finally fixed my wife's car I had a good conversation about the process. One of the things he told me that apprentices don't touch these jobs and depending on experience only do scheuded services and accessory fits. Senior tech only do the complex work and diagnosis of out of the ordinary faults. They also don't replace parts for the sake of it either.... otherwise my bill would have been much higher. One of the things they did check was the ECU as they thought it had "dry joints" and sent it out to be checked. Came back squeekly clean so they moved on to the next option before they found the fault in the wiring

I know that modern cars are not perfect. Components can fail or wear out. Having complex multi valves engines that have heaps of wiring and sensors help then run cleaner and more efficient than the engines of old but the offset of this is there are many more things that can go wrong. How many times have I said that I wish I still had my old HQ that I could fix anything myself. Having said that it had nothing in it and got less than half the milage my wife's current car has as well as less power. I am happy with her car and am sure that as long as it is looked after, then it should be okay. Extended Holden factory warranty helps too which is an option worth investigating.

LR

[Ruger]

as for getting the belt done for $400 with a full service
a timing kit with a water pump, all the seals, bearings and belt will be $350 odd and the plugs $50
but if you want to do it on the cheap you can get just the belt for $50 odd. The belts not the expensive part.

Astras are hit and miss. Generally well built and a nice ride but as said they can be an electrical nightmare. Computers fitted and programmed in the aftermarket go for about $1500 and the wiring harness can degrade quickly. Throttle bodies, coil packs and cat converters ive seen fail also. Some can be fine for 5 years some will cost thousands to keep on the road.

Buy a mazda 3!!

[Martin_D]

Davos argument was excellent because the Holden dealers have the diag equipment...however any workshop can buy the GM/Opel/Vauxhall diag tools from China for these cars for less than $300 these days....they shouldnt be (and are not) that hard to fix. They are simple cars run and serviced by a Cartel that charges what they want.
Just another case of getting caned for buying local - beware when your Holwoo breaks :teach:

[xxDutchyxx]

Funny how the Astra's are all our wives cars. My wife loves her Astra, never had much trouble with it except a stuffed Alternator, which Holden wanted her to pay over a grand to supply anf fit.

She got one from the RACV roadside parts service, supplied and fitted for a couple of hundred dollars in about 45 minutes flat.

[XU1_VE6]

Some interesting stories. I bought an 04 TS CD 5spd Manual Sedan model with 10000km and 2 years old, had it up until 115,000km, drove it everyday with foot buried in the firewall and regularly hitting "65" cutout, and it was economical and reliable. Always 600km from a tank, never broke down, Had major services done by my local Gm dealer and appart from being harsh on brakes tyres (2 sets of front discs, 1 set front pads) although probably more attributed to my driving..... Great Car. As most have said the aircon compressor failure is a common fault, before i traded mine the bearings were noisy and on 30+ degree days it sounded supercharged :headbang: but... still worked. But like most cars that are imported, parts aren't cheap.