Astra la vista, baby - except for the paint job!

[Bekki]

I picked up my new Astra yesterday. On the first glance, it looked fine. After having a proper look around, we realised that there was a big smudge looking mark on the driver door! check it out here (http://stan.cc.swin.edu.au/~jeff/bek/Car/bad_paint.jpg) - We showed the salesman, and he tried to clean it up, but worked out it was under the clear coat, so he went in to tell the service guy that we'd need it fixed up.

While he was inside, we checked it out a bit more thoroughly - the entire drivers door looked patchy!! Even the salesman said "it kinda looks like they were running out of paint"!

Kinda put a dampener on getting my first new car, but they've said they'll fix it as soon as I can give them the car for a couple days so they can get the door re-sprayed - the salesman said he'd prefer to get it done before the 3000km service, just so that I can have it all sorted, but I'll have to see if I wanna give up the car yet :p

Jeff added it to his website here (http://members.optushome.com.au/jeffneil69/welcome.html) - along with the details of his last two LS1's, and the VT S before them... and the PULSAR!

Other than the paint, I absolutely love the car! Jeff's disappointed that it's not a manual, and that the stereo is tons better than the one in his SS, but I'm really happy with it :D

Bek

[team illucid]

that's a shame ... good to see that they will fix it pretty soon though this sort of thing shouldnt really be happening these days ...

[vzsv6]

It's always a shame when things like that sour your purchase but it's good to hear the dealer is eager to fix it for you.

I've had a look at the pics on your website.... Very nice car indeed. One thing that caught my attention in the photo of the dash is that there is a fuel gauge but no temperature gauge. Where is the temp gauge!?!?!?! I find this very strange.

[SV8VY]

Glad to see the dealer is able to help.
I was toying with the idea of buying a turbo Astra when the come out late this year (I think)
I might ring up and find out insurance costs for he older turbos first and see what they say.
Nifty little car to drive around town...congrats on your purchase.

[Haroc]

Id give it back to them and make them give you a car off there lot(demo) while it gets fixed... Its something they should have picked up in there pre delivery checks. Pretty poor form.

Also, i see you have a thing for silver cars... :)

[Marco]

From memory, there's no temp gauge, just a light that comes on when it's too hot.

Funny thing was I'd driven three new Astras before I even realised it didn't have one. Shows how often I look at it...

[jneil]

Id give it back to them and make them give you a car off there lot(demo) while it gets fixed... Its something they should have picked up in there pre delivery checks. Pretty poor form.

Also, i see you have a thing for silver cars... :)

Yes, Silver is not a bad colour cleaning and looks wise we think.

I am fairly sure they'll give her the same model car (or better!) for the two days and not some crusty POS that some dealers offer, they know they stuffed up, so they are prepared to go the little step further to get it back right.

Agreed though, it "should" have been picked up and fixed before we had even seen/heard about it.

VZSV6: There is NO temp guage, just a light. Temp guages are not really needed these days, if the car is maintained properly. It's good to have some sort of indicator to see if the engine is up to temp though. I'd like to see it like the BMW's that have the moving redline, it gradually moves from 4000rpm up to 8000rpm (or there abouts) as the engine temp builds up.

Jeff.

[Bekki]

Haroc - really didn't feel like driving home from the dealer in anything other than my new car :p They're gonna give me a car to use when they repair it, though.

I'll have to check in the manual about the temp gauge, that's odd - even if there is a light if there's trouble.

Bek

[Marco]

Personally, I reckon cost cutting like taking the temp gauge out would turn me off buying a car in the first place.

[phillipg]

Nice Car, congrats, shame about the door, not to put a dampner on it but I would be checking the paint work when they finally fix it as I know paint has come along way over the years but silver, if they repaint just the door it may look different in certain lights. Good luck anyway

[vzsv6]

The lack of a temp gauge is a definite turnoff for me. I would like to have an idea of where engine temp is before it gets to the critical stage. Hell, your engine could be cooked by the time the light comes on. And if the globe in the warning light happens to be blown then you're well and truly stuffed.
Bad move Holden, or should I say Opel...

[SCiFiRE]

I had the same problem in 04 when i bought my Silver Astra turbo. The front bumper has patchy areas of paint, you can only really notice on the right angle and light, but its annoying.

Atleast you got it fixed. i got a million speels, guys told me they couldnt see it, guys said that its just the silver colour that looks like that, guys said that if i repainted the bumper it wouldnt match the rest of the car..all sorts of shit. Argued all i could but didnt get anything out of them

[jneil]

One of the managers was called by the salesman as a witness and it was noted on the 3000km inspection to respray the door before we drove off, but after we paid!

Would have been nice to get the new Turbo (or possible HSV turbo - unconfirmed) model in manual format, but it is fantastic for 95% city driving.

My VXIISS in Silver also had a patchy boot lid, but as it was a company lease I didn't really kick up too much of a stink...and it got written off anyway so it wouldn't have made a difference in the long run anyway.

[Ghia351]

I'd ask for a refund/reduction of the dealer delivery fee as pulling plastic off the seats and removing any transport wax BUT not spotting a paint blemish easily seen is not good enough in the QC department.

[ShanghaiVZ]

Better stereo than the SS?? :eek: Jeff, your going to have to fix that! pronto! :D. I remember you were waiting on it, when me and my ex met you and Bekki at an LS1 dinner back in March last year, we sat across from you. We had a good chat I think. :lol: . Congrats on your new ride Bekki, for a girl's car its perfect. :p . You both have new rides, should keep yas happy for awhile. :)

[Sidewindr]

Paint eh .. I just had 90% of the paint on my 2000 SS Commodore door mirrors just flake off ... not hapy jan... :mad:

[jneil]

Better stereo than the SS?? :eek: Jeff, your going to have to fix that! pronto! :D. I remember you were waiting on it, when me and my ex met you and Bekki at an LS1 dinner back in March last year, we sat across from you. We had a good chat I think. :lol: . Congrats on your new ride Bekki, for a girl's car its perfect. :p . You both have new rides, should keep yas happy for awhile. :)
Gees, good memory! I do remember you, down for a week's visit I think! I have a big list of "improvements" for the SS, but I am a tight @rse and don't wanna spend any money :lol: The stereo is going to stay, but an amp and 2 x 6x9's in the parcel shelf should improve the sound quality (the Astra has full 8 band equalizer, 7 speakers (inc. one in the centre of the dash!) and CD-Text). The first thing will most likely be at the 30k service, which i'll do at F1, i'll get Steve to chuck in some Kings Ultra Lows. Slowly it'll get there!


Paint eh .. I just had 90% of the paint on my 2000 SS Commodore door mirrors just flake off ... not hapy jan... :mad:

When did that $32mil (or what ever it was) paint plant come online, was this pre or post your car, I thougt it was for VT, so i'm guess post? I guess you can't claim any of it now either, did you go via insurance to get it fixed? That would make you :mad:

Who knows where the Astra was done, came in a big box via boat from somewhere.

[Sidewindr]

Have not bothered with fixing the mirrors yet .. The bonet and front bar are up for a respray soon so I will get the mirrors done at the same time..

[Marco]

Who knows where the Astra was done, came in a big box via boat from somewhere.

Antwerp, Belgium.

[jneil]

Antwerp, Belgium.

How do you know? Do you know my VIN number???

[Danv8]

How do you know? Do you know my VIN number???


Marco owns an Astra CD.

If thats any help. :)

[Marco]

Because all of the TS and AH Astras sold here were built there, unless you have an Astra Classic in which case it was built in Poland.

[jneil]

Because all of the TS and AH Astras sold here were built there, unless you have an Astra Classic in which case it was built in Poland.

I see, thanks!

The VIN has a 3 digit (i think) production location code, so I am guessing they would all be the same.

[Marco]

I think it's only a one digit production location code.

I have a site in my bookmarks at home where you can put in your VIN and it tells you what sort of car it is and where it was built - only works for Euro cars, but I'll post it later on.