We need a car to replace our faithful 2000 Ford Focus.

Budget is £5,000-£6,000 ish, ideally 2011-2014 ish. My knowledge of cars is pretty poor. I like blue ones. No hold on, is it red ones i like?

At that mark, many many Astras can be had with 50,000 ish miles. Tempted by another Focus but priced closer to £1,000 more.

Are Vauxhall an OK car mechanically? For some reason i’ve a voice in the back of my head telling me never to buy Vauxhalls.

The interiors in my opinion of the vauxhall look horrible. I prefer the Focus and my one gave me 60,000 trouble free miles when I had it. Sure many people will have had similar with Astras. If it was me I would go Focus as I prefer them. No real help from me!

Are Vauxhall an OK car mechanically?

Pretty much any car from a major manufacturer made in the last ten years will be OK mechanically, especially at 50k miles and probably up to about 100k.

Well I had 4 astras back to back over 15 years and maybe 400k, One water pump and one alternator failure in that time on separate vehicles. Never had a roadside breakdown though. It’s anecdotal of course but they’ve done me alright.

I hate cars really, main criteria is roof rails and an estate. I’d have another vauxhall though. Maybe with a personalised plate. I particularly like the fact that vauxhalls are unpopular – it just makes them cheaper imo

have a look on Honest John where there some long term reviews. I’ve got a Vauxhall Insignia, no problems but had 40k when bought and I’ve only had it a couple of months.

I have a 2014 zafira swapped from a 2009 focus

focus had a few better features (miss my heated windscreen) focusobviously nicer to drive as its less of a barge

but the zafiras been fine for the last 3 years

Id prefer a ford but quite frankly better things to spend a grand on!

There are several bearing issues on Vauxhals that use the 6 speed gearbox (according to the interwebs), I recently had a £2000 gearbox replacement (and clutch while it was open) on a 50k miles Zafera 1.7 TDi.

I had a new Insignia (I think) as a hire care in Stockholm late last year and it was ok. The seats were uncomfortable, but it seemed reasonably quick, had toys, had space, cruised well enough. Not sure on the smaller cars.

I wouldn’t have thought there would be much in it reliability wise between Vauxhall and Ford.

The Fords arguably drive a bit better (although I think the Focus around those years wasn’t as highly rated as those before or after), but you aren’t that bothered by this so why pay £1k more?

The thing that bothers me about a lot of the Vauxhalls is that they’re styled with ever tinier rear windscreens, the 3 door Astra is a particular offender. If this doesn’t bother you, or you’re getting a 5 door, then go for it.

Oh I just remembered we had a 1.3 turbo diesel astra as a works car. It was dreadful, always in the garage with turbo or gearbox woes. Small engine+too powerful+regularly thrashed = $$$

I’ve had two insignias both from new. They were ok, both were reliable, a bit dull to drive but comfortable. Both developed cabin rattle after about 55-60k miles though which was a bit annoying. Had an astra before them, done 100k miles from new, never had a single problem. Compared to the golf I had before the astra which seemed to be in and out of the garage every few months.

I’ve had Insignias for work – not long term, for stints over a few days to a week or so – and the one thing that sprung to mind with all of them was how uncomfortable the seats were. The petrol engined ones were also very underpowered – struggled to get up to speed on a sliproad, that sort of thing. The 2.2 diesel was okay though.

Pretty much any car from a major manufacturer made in the last ten years will be OK mechanically, especially at 50k miles and probably up to about 100k.

True dat!

Had an 11 plate Astra estate until 2016. In 50k nothing went wrong. At all. Also had comfy seats and nice dash.

one thing that sprung to mind with all of them was how uncomfortable the seats were

I heard this often with others in work who had the same car. I honestly thought they were comfortable enough even on long trips, but I do have a fat arse.

So you’re telling me to ignore the voices in my head, seems reasonable.

Mrs_d had a mkIV Astra on a 97 R plate. It was ok until the ECU went loco. Can’t remember how many miles it had on it at the time but wasn’t an unreasonable number

Symptoms included randomly overheating after as little as five minutes. Turn off, back on, it would then be fine. Until it decided to do it again. No predictability about it. Half engine rebuild didn’t fix it

Check Honest John and Which?, as said above. Vauxhall get a bad rap as they’re classic company cars, but as also said, new cars tend to be pretty good.

My experience is that – with the higher models – they’ve tried to compete with other company cars and added all sorts of unnecessary tat. The Insignia hatch from around 2010 had internal tail lights so they would be visible when the boot lid – with the main tail lights on – was raised. Not only is this extra weight and stuff to go wrong, but it also reduces valuable boot space. However it wasn’t a bad place to sit and they depreciate like a stone; great as a buyer, not so hot as a seller.

Drive a few, see what you think.

kormoran – Member

Well I had 4 astras back to back over 15 years

😐

I hate cars really

😆

JD Power UK: best manufacturers

The most recent JD Power UK Vehicle Dependability Survey was published in July last year. Skoda was named the most reliable manufacturer, with 66 problems reported per 100 vehicles in the survey, followed by Suzuki (79 problems) and Kia (80). Vauxhall was fourth with 90 problems. Peugeot and Volkswagen tied for fifth, with 92 problems per 100 vehicles.

The average car had 113 problems, which could range from a small squeak to a total engine failure. In last place was Land Rover with 197 problems per 100 cars.

The budget brand Dacia also had a poor showing, with 174 issues per 100 cars and the premium German manufacturers also scored poorly. Audi owners reported 170 problems, those with BMWs had 156 and Mercedes owners had 154 issues.

*skip to the end*

Get another Focus.

km79 – Member
one thing that sprung to mind with all of them was how uncomfortable the seats were
I heard this often with others in work who had the same car. I honestly thought they were comfortable enough even on long trips, but I do have a fat arse.

I too have a fat arse, and found them uncomfortable! 😉

My family have a thing about Vauxhalls, none of us have had a bad one! Every Ford bar one though has had issues. Sister currently has a 56 plate Zafira and a 64 plate Corsa, loves them both. Much prefer the styling of Vauxhalls to Fords, less in-your-face on the standard models. I would have bought a Corsa last time around if I hadn’t found a stupidly good deal on my Fabia at the time!

Would be wary of the next line of models though now PSV own them.

I’m on my 3rd Astra in around 20 years, current one is an estate and have run them to over 100K on the clock. Completely reliable and serviced regularly.

I’ve driven Corsa, Astra (several different models), Zafira, Meriva, and a couple of Insignias, but mostly Corsa and Zafira due to the Zafira being popular Motability cars, and a bodywork specialist in Cornwall using Corsas as loan cars; I drove six one year-old Corsas in one week, each one with around 6000 on the clock, and I drove each for at least two hundred miles.
The newer Zafiras are really pretty good cars, the Astra GTC’s are a really nice drive, and I can’t say I’ve found any of them to be uncomfortable after two or three hours driving.
The Corsas, mostly SRi’s, are really great little cars, they handle well, are well equipped – DAB radio and they come with a heated screen, the dash isn’t as cluttered with lots of little buttons like Fords tend to be, (my biggest issue with modern Fords), and I really like current Vauxhall styling as well.
Try driving a few different models, see how they feel and drive, ‘cos that’s the only way you will discover how you’ll get on with them.
I like them, I’d rather have a Vauxhall than a Kia, from personal driving experience, but that’s my experience.
I do like Fords, too, especially the Fiesta and B-Max, but I prefer the Vauxhall dash.

I used to work with vehicle manufacturers and franchise networks after sales. For anyone that did Vauxhall the saying was “you can’t really get poor cars anymore, but Vauxhall do try”. Grew up with them but would never buy one.

Had a couple of Astras as courtesy cars and always found the seats rubbish. Had a Vectra estate aka the pimp mobile for a good 3 years and 60 I with no issues other than a degree of boredom though.

Try the seats out I guess

Well, I would have considered a Vauxhall but seeing this advert has put me right off!! Pandering to the ‘yummy mummy’s’ in their fashion boxes while they terrorise the roads is a bit off.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDeZV5NiKnk[/video]

Same thing as the Tiguan ‘middle aged hipster does gangsa’ advert 👿

I get hire cars alot with work and I think on balance the Focus is still top of the pile in the hatchback market. Astra’s are fine, drives at least as well as the Focus, but I’m not keen on the interior and the ergonomics of them, but that’s down to personal preference.

Reliability isn’t a consideration all cars share the same parts/gearboxes/engines these days. Every manufacturer has their reliability wobbles from time to time. But a work colleague had a newish Astra a few years ago and it was in the garage regularly and he eventually got rid after costing him thousands of pounds, but this was because he bought a diesel and was doing alot of short journeys in it so a if you do alot offshore journeys in the car get a Petrol engine.

I preferred the Hyundai i30 (or Kia Ceed) to the Astra having driven the i30 and Astra. You might get some manufacturer’s warranty too (Hyundai 5 years, Kia 7 years)

Generally pretty decent cars, all depends on the spec/money and how much of a warranty is left on it.. As others have said Honest John is a good place for info. things like heaters catching fire in the Zaria’s isn’t a plus point for me personally.
Last Vauxhall we had was an Insignia which I can report do roll rather well especially down a country lane after a rear tyre went bang.. we were the last owners of that one.

I’d rather have a higher spec, higher mileage Honda Civic on that budget.

I had an Astra for a bit (4 years I think) in that time I think it lunched it’s water pump which was a pretty expensive fix, but apart from that it was fine. Just a car really

We bought this new Yonks ago, (Y reg) and it’s been in the family ever since. Had one radiator (hole from a large stone) the EGR valve was blanked off about 3 years ago by Vauxhall ex mechanic (who services it still, and he came from the original garage that sold the car to us) regularly serviced (well, every year) so just consumables. Done 76k now, paintwork is amazing, it’s the 1.4 petrol and its nippy as you like. Been through various family members using it and all have looked after it, we’re loath to sell it because a) not worth much these days and b) its just a great versatile car and c) you can park it anywhere and no one blinks an eye at it.

Pics not mine, but it does look like this.

I do like how they have stuck with the quaint effect down the centre of the car with what can be loosely described as “the crease in your school trousers”.
Fair play to GM.

Worst cars I’ve ever driven. Utter hateful pieces of sh*te. But annoyingly reliable and cheap, so if that’s your criteria potentially worth a look.

Interesting reading the experiences here – seems pretty mixed!

For what it’s worth, I had a 1.7TDI Astra Estate, ’05 plate. Bought 1 year old with about 10,000 miles on it, gave it away part exchanged 9 years later with 180,000 miles on it.

Aside from the usual service items (tyres/oil/filters/cambelt/discs/pads etc) in that time, all it needed was two new windscreens and two new rear coil springs.

Maybe I got lucky! That said, it was completely knackered at 180k miles but it owed me nothing 😀

I’ve driven modern Astras as hire cars and honestly, they’re fine – but so is any of the competition. Not particularity exciting, not exceptionally comfortable. All the comments in this post (mine included) just reinforce that it’s all anecdotal and subjective.

Go drive a couple and pick whichever one looks/drives nicest for you 🙂

i’ve a voice in the back of my head telling me never to buy Vauxhalls.

You should listen to the voices.

Any company that sells cars by positively promoting “Mamas in Pyjamas” deserves nobodies money.

My brother in law lent us his astra a few years ago (2011 or 2012 iirc) when I was having one of my subaru engines rebuilt 😥 .

We’d had it for about two weeks when my wife made a passing comment about he much she liked it, I don’t know what came over me but I just went into a full blown rant about all the things wrong with it. I can’t remember all of the rant but I do recall saying that the gearbox felt like trying to communicate with dead relatives via seance and the cabin ergonomics seemed to be optimised for orangutans as opposed to humans.

Of course my wife went a told my BIL about my incredibly ranty rant. Talk about making me look like a ****. He sold the car shortly afterwards though.

** skips to end **

Don’t buy a Vuaxhall ever. Horrible cars, most uncomfortable seats ever, even for an hour and a half journey. Dull, uninspiring, boring places to be.

(I drive a Berlingo 😆 )

I had an almost new one as a hire car in holiday in June. I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t know what spec it was, but it was a nicer place to sit than the golf my mates hired.