I picked this little car up a couple of months ago from a guy at work. Had been in the family since '03, firstly owned by his father, then latterly taken on by his sister. The sister moved down to London and consequently the Astra was just sitting on Mike's drive and not really doing much.
Come MoT time it failed on a few things and the garage wanted £400 to get it back on the road, admittedly most of the cost being for labour. Rather than scrapping the car it was offered to me cheap in order for it to live on.
The work required was a pair of rear springs, set of rear brake shoes and a spot of welding to the rear of the offside sill. I did all of this and the car went through the MoT without issues. I changed the oil and filter and pushed it into service.
I've been using it since then and have racked up 1000 miles in that time. It's relatively nippy, although admittedly not exactly rapid off the line, but will cruise at 70mph+ on the motorway happily. It's reasonable on fuel and I've averaged high thirties MPG. It's OK to drive and compared to my Triumph 2000 and VW Beetle, very modern! First car with power steering that I've ever owned, while features such as intermittent wipers and a bell to tell you that you've left your lights on when you get out are novelties for me!
These old Vauxhalls have a known issue with the plastic link bar between the gear selector arm from the gearbox and the gear lever arm. I've replaced this while I've owned the car.
Being 20 years old it's obviously not perfect body-wise. There is some rust on the bottom of both rear arches behind the rear doors, with the odd scrape here and there overall. The paint is quite flat, but would come up quite nicely. I just haven't felt the need to polish it yet…
Interior is standard mid-Nineties Vauxhall and takes me back to my childhood when a MkIII Cav seemed to be the car of choice for most of my mates mums and dads. Lots of plastic… I hoovered it out and spruced up the dash with some interior cleaner and it's not a bad place to be really. CD player fitted.
I took the car on as I needed a car at the time, but I've now been offered something more to my taste, so the Astra is available. I'm pleased it has been given another lease of life rather than going for scrap, so it would be nice for it to go to somebody who'll continue to get some use out of it. Mileage is currently 116,500, but will go up. As a 1.4 it is cheap to tax, which is a bonus.
I've got a pair of replacement rear brake flexis as they were and advisory at the MoT, but not fitted them yet, so they will go with the car. I also got hold of a Haynes manual for it.
All in all it would make a cheap runabout for winter. MoT runs until September 2016. If you need this in your life then PM me on here or email mg261285AThotmail.com. Happy to pass on my number if you want to get in touch for more details. Car is in Peterborough.
Cheers,
Matt
Pictures below:
Come MoT time it failed on a few things and the garage wanted £400 to get it back on the road, admittedly most of the cost being for labour. Rather than scrapping the car it was offered to me cheap in order for it to live on.
The work required was a pair of rear springs, set of rear brake shoes and a spot of welding to the rear of the offside sill. I did all of this and the car went through the MoT without issues. I changed the oil and filter and pushed it into service.
I've been using it since then and have racked up 1000 miles in that time. It's relatively nippy, although admittedly not exactly rapid off the line, but will cruise at 70mph+ on the motorway happily. It's reasonable on fuel and I've averaged high thirties MPG. It's OK to drive and compared to my Triumph 2000 and VW Beetle, very modern! First car with power steering that I've ever owned, while features such as intermittent wipers and a bell to tell you that you've left your lights on when you get out are novelties for me!
These old Vauxhalls have a known issue with the plastic link bar between the gear selector arm from the gearbox and the gear lever arm. I've replaced this while I've owned the car.
Being 20 years old it's obviously not perfect body-wise. There is some rust on the bottom of both rear arches behind the rear doors, with the odd scrape here and there overall. The paint is quite flat, but would come up quite nicely. I just haven't felt the need to polish it yet…
Interior is standard mid-Nineties Vauxhall and takes me back to my childhood when a MkIII Cav seemed to be the car of choice for most of my mates mums and dads. Lots of plastic… I hoovered it out and spruced up the dash with some interior cleaner and it's not a bad place to be really. CD player fitted.
I took the car on as I needed a car at the time, but I've now been offered something more to my taste, so the Astra is available. I'm pleased it has been given another lease of life rather than going for scrap, so it would be nice for it to go to somebody who'll continue to get some use out of it. Mileage is currently 116,500, but will go up. As a 1.4 it is cheap to tax, which is a bonus.
I've got a pair of replacement rear brake flexis as they were and advisory at the MoT, but not fitted them yet, so they will go with the car. I also got hold of a Haynes manual for it.
All in all it would make a cheap runabout for winter. MoT runs until September 2016. If you need this in your life then PM me on here or email mg261285AThotmail.com. Happy to pass on my number if you want to get in touch for more details. Car is in Peterborough.
Cheers,
Matt
Pictures below:
