USED Vauxhall Astra Coupe (98 - 12)

My car

I've owned my 2.2i coupe for 5 months and she still makes me smile... I love over taking someone on a dual carriage way (for example an audi tt) wait for them to come along side your car, glance over, they see a young lady, wink and then floor it.

yes it is a vauxhall but it's mighty fine..!

ps. one bad point, the standard clutch isn't as smooth as it could've been, opt for a sport clutch, it prefers swift gear changes.

My car

I have owned this car for three years, completed 31,000 miles to date and it has been wholly reliable.

It has proved to be excellent for my purposes but I would not buy another.

On the plus side it is comfortable with good seat and steering wheel adjustment. It has excellent brakes and roadholding even if the ride is a little harsh on second class roads. With 38mpg and tyres (Michelin Pilot) with extraordinary good wear characteristics you are bound to be pretty happy. Even the cost of spare parts are reasonable.

But it has shortcomings. In no particular order: An engine management control system which does not wholly represent your throttle pedal position, no side air bags, lack of rear screen wash, no retaining rings in the boot, a poorly positioned horn, awkward to use steering wheel radio switches (give me the Peugeot stick) and no heated windscreen. For a DIY serving person there are more!

I have also had a warranty dispute which has left me less than happy.

Next time it will be a sports hatchback but I will need some convincing to remain with Vauxhall.

My car

Cool Car.

My car

Firstly, it's obviously got a bit of an image problem, being a Vauxhall. Even if the car was the best built, best handling, best driving car in the entire universe, you'd still get, and I quote, 'It's nice, but it's still a Vauxhall.'

There's one easy way to change someone's mind, take them out for a spin. Don't let the 189bhp fool you into thinking it's just a fast car... it's rapid.

One of the few bad things I noticed after purchasing the car, is the squeaky seats. It may just be on the models with leather, but it started irritating me pretty much straight away.

You'll also notice the road noise at higher speeds, probably due to the 215/40/17 tyres. The cabin feels generally well built, solid, spacious and pretty comfortable and practical too.

Anyway, once you get behind the wheel and your right foot goes down, a large smile will appear on your face, or maybe even a laugh as you see other so-called sports cars disappear in the rear view mirror.

As my car is chipped, acceleration times have been reduced to 6sec from 0-60mph and 5.5sec from 30-0mph, which is really quite impressive from a 2.0-litre Turbo.

You'll find that you can't keep your foot down for more than a few seconds without breaking the speed limit. The car will supposedly go to 152mph but, to be honest, anything above 140 just gets scary!