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So...what's happening with the car shopping then?

He's put a deposit on a vauxhall

I think we need to call in the men in white coats

(Mk3 1,600cc Astra, I'll leave the rest of the explaining to him )

GroovyCarrot wrote:He's put a deposit on a vauxhall

I think we need to call in the men in white coats

(Mk3 1,600cc Astra, I'll leave the rest of the explaining to him )

Nothing wrong with a Vauxhall - till you get a Nova, Corsa, Tigra, Astra, Kadet, Cavy, Vectra, Calibra, Sintra, Mervia, Zafira, Signum

The other models they make are fine I think I own most of them

Omega, Senator, Carlton and (although they don't make them) Monaro and Agila?

belmont, viva?
-Ben-

Sh*t forgot about the belmont and agila (Ar5e)

Yeah Carltons, Senators Monza's (I've got a few of all of em) Monaro I'll wait a couple of years then I'll get one and the jewel in the crown is my piece of s**t lotus carlton

yeah i do like that vauxhall monaro. 1500rpm at 60mph in top sounds interesting...

Gareth_GT_Hatch wrote:yeah i do like that vauxhall monaro. 1500rpm at 60mph in top sounds interesting...

Same gearbox as the Lotus C - managed 32mpg on a run to Italy and back - the driving round umbria however wasn't so good!!!!

Well if someone can make me a nice list of the major fault catalogue i'm likely to encounter with a 1998, 29k mile Astra in the next year or so, discounting anything silly like half the stuff ive happily ignored on the mk3 for ages, i'll be happy to consider it, and if it proves to be a severe liability i'll withdraw and forfeit the deposit.

In the meantime,
The defence!

------

Cheers, i was going to keep that one off the board til i sorted out actually getting hold of the thing and seeing if i could stand living with it more than a week, especially as i'm not going to f*** the polo off straight away without a second thought. Still going for induction goodness ... i think my chequebook's actually in the dub... hmm. Do you take cash, metz? All used fivers, non consecutive serials. Or direct debit transfer, from my online bank...

I must say - Beware of phone calls from family friends at 10am when you've been working all god damn night. Can't help feeling i've been railroaded (i did intend to spend a good few weeks longer over this) by one man's insane love of haggling over used cars, but shouldn't let it cloud my opinion of the new one unneccessarily. It is, after all, about as mint as it is possible for a 1998 Astra to get - at least by looking at / test driving it so far. He knows his onions in the car trade. If only it was a little less freakishly focussed kind of knowledge

Now. Astras. I know the VW hardcore will lynch me for it, but (to this moment, at least) I've always seen them as a worthy adversary to the polo / golf, seem to have decent performance despite their modest official power/weight figures, solid, comfy, safe, and have known several people that have driven them with no complaints ever heard. On the list of "cars worth considering" it was always there.

Have to admit, it is a bit (or a lot?) f***ing soul-less though...!

(damn - what if it had been the escort, or megane, that i also looked at, which had turned up flawless? i'd have had to leave the country i imagine hehehe)

There were other polos (overpriced, dodgy looking, or too far away), skodas (supposedly "too old to be the decent ones") and a couple rare SEATs (couple ibizas, one cordoba - underpowered, GTi, and abused TD respectively) and even Golfs (again either GTis, or treated with total contempt by previous owner) that i looked at and ummed/ahhed over, but this turned up at just the right time and place (6 miles...) for the right price and spec. Very, very hard to complain

Would have enjoyed the opportunity to search more in that field, because i know something good would have turned up (the kidderminster GL, fantastic car im very sure, but "BuyMyPolo!" its a clash of opinion - you wont go under 2995, i wont go up to it, and you're about 40 miles away ) more precisely attuned to my liking. Today was planned as a short trip out to look at a couple of propectives, followed by trawling autotrader's website for juicy leads... that all went to hell... and im very knackered now having not had enough sleep... b@stard. Someone get that man a damn playstation already. He was only supposed to be my advisor when actually looking at cars - not off hunting valuations on What Car whilst i slept.

If it's crap (or i come to hate Silver as a colour - its not exactly distinctive is it!), can always flog it off again with ease, possibly for a hundred quid extra. Aside from the non-VAGness, its a pretty desirable bit of metal.

And like I said .... an attempt will be made to "projectise" the mk3, if only for a little while. I'm not letting it go without tidying and fixing it up, unless someone with a mind towards dropping in a better engine, respraying and beestinging it gives me a spontaneous offer. I'd like at least to get to the stage of having the induction on, with the chip, and having it RRd... wanna see how my guestimations of torque falloff (at both ends) matches up to reality With a dude at a garage telling me he'd part-ex it for £150, it may be worth it just for sh*ts and giggles - folk spend more than that on drinks in some nightclubs just through a friday evening.

Think that might require a headgasket or something though, I feel it's "sensed" whats going on and the idle, whilst remaining at a proper speed, has got lumpy, and starting a little coughy, just through today... brought on by a failing gasket?
(well.. i've got my mole grips.. all i need now is a torque wrench.. so i may well attempt that)

The next couple months will be a very strange time in my motoring life (as have the last 2 really) and im interested to see what happens. Getting shot of the First Car after all, was always going to be a wrench. Not entirely sure how i'll cope with PAS, such a light clutch, and aircon (bloody hell!!)... .... i'll keep hanging round here, with dubly troubles most likely, also to give any help (not like my memory will disappear) and just to natter as ever. I've come to enjoy the "company" after all (or the electronic equivalent of, sorry that the phsycial form has been a bit lacking)

BTW, one day..... i shall have what is currently the new Golf (...or Polo) GTi... they appear so awesome

If all else fails I can shack up with BC and we can have beautiful General Motors bum babies

Maybe then i can go out and look for THE car rather than A Good Enough Car without have to deal with the family stress that this hunt, and the cars ive liked the look at throughout it, have caused. So glad all that bull is over and i dont have to worry about random pointless arguments about nothing in particular but based in unrest and disagreements about the situation.

Right, i'm bloody knackerd and i have to be up for work at 7am - only been out this late because of a get-together which hit the fan a little bit. Nighty night.


PS the monaro gearing is crazy, yes, in order to break 200mph without cracking the engine - think turning 24/1000 in 5th will be nice enough for now though

http://www.parkers.co.uk/choosing/carre ... del_id=968

Just in case you havent checked it out tahrey.

by the way it isnt a 1.6 eco-tek is it?

Sorry Didn't realise you wanted to keep schtum about it - your MSN picture is a great big red griffin after all
Non VAG it may be, but they're solid enough cars and at least it sounds like you've got your hands on a decent example.. good luck with it. Just don't desert us here, I think we'd all miss your 5 page ramblings about nothing in particular

All the best with it Tahrey!

Will we spot you on www.migweb.co.uk typing long menacing messages, or will it be www.astra-sport.co.uk ?

Tahrey1043 wrote:Think that might require a headgasket or something though, I feel it's "sensed" whats going on and the idle, whilst remaining at a proper speed, has got lumpy, and starting a little coughy, just through today... brought on by a failing gasket?
(well.. i've got my mole grips.. all i need now is a torque wrench.. so i may well attempt that)

Tahrey1043 wrote:If all else fails I can shack up with BC and we can have beautiful General Motors bum babies

Oi - bit OTT

Tahrey1043 wrote:PS the monaro gearing is crazy, yes, in order to break 200mph without cracking the engine - think turning 24/1000 in 5th will be nice enough for now though

Doesn't pull top - max speed achieved in 5th - 6th is just a lope along gear - for better fuel economy

The LC won't pull it below 60mph and won't pull it past 180mph - but it does return 32mpg at 80mph

musta got the two confused there ... what was the one that did 200, or am i dreaming it? (might have been the original australian fire breathing version?)

hadnt thought of going looking for forums yet (and if so, it would have started with the Migs - whats that stand for anyway?) .... after all i still may hate it. insurers are giving me a couple weeks cross-over (though at cost, the sods!) and may run to a couple more before having to take out another proper year's policy... If any random, expensive probs do crop up with the vaux then i can go back to poloage...

thanks for the parkers reminder, i have looked at stuff on some other site but not there. happy to say that the model i've picked seems to dance conveniently around most of those problems. what would the "eco-tek" be... other than some kind of dodgy performance mod? i know it's a seemingly cack 75hp but picks up a whole lot better than either the mk3 or a 16v escort... should be good for chipping/etc adventures later if its a keeper.
the handling/etc probably can't avoid being 'uninspiring' and the interior 'boring' but lets be honest with ourselves here theres enough reviews say that about other cars we like!

and groovy dont worry was just playing with ya. plus my brain was pretty much on fire.

(chreezers - i seriously need to get busy with the compression tester, etc, when popey gets laid up... sounded proper rough leaving the station this evening ... still wanna find it a good home if it comes down to flogging, so needs to be saleable..)

I dont think eco-tec means it has ane eco-tek valve. Its probably the vauxhall equivalent of zetec or something. Looking on parkers the 1.6 can either have 70 73 98 or 100hp depending on model and year.