Faults:

Driver's seat wears out badly on the upper left part, where your body easily touches the seat while entering/exiting the vehicle.

Had to replace the electronic ignition module inside the distributor cap twice. The car just died suddenly without warning. The part is cheap, though (~15eur).

Head gasket job done once at about 200000 kilometers.

The body got a lots of rust in the unforgiving Scandinavian climate. The rust started to grow mostly inside the body cavities. Not from the top paint coating. Lots of welding done over the time. Rear shock absorber - and springs mountings seriously destroyed by rust. In the end, there was no point fixing the body any more.

General Comments:

The car's mechanical parts were extremely reliable during the 14 years and ~260000 kilometers which I drove with it. Very cheap parts and maintenance. Easy to fix for a DIY mechanic. You have nice room and fine access to everything under the hood. Being an ECM/ECU controlled fuel injected engine, C16NZ, it doesn't have dozens of electronic sensors, which could fail and lead to more costly repairs. It was a relatively simple system.

The car' performance with the 1.6 8-valve engine, which produces 75hp/125Nm, is not anything sporty. Neither is the handling. I wouldn't recommend this car for extended highway driving, and overtaking other vehicles is slow. But, as a city car it's very good! Overall fuel efficiency is pretty good for both highway (max. ~100km/h) and city driving.

Faults:

Roof lining. And that's all...

General Comments:

Very comfortable in the front and in the back, reliable and economical. Quite silent in the cabin.

Good choice for the first car!

Performance is good for 60 hp.

Nice interior. Mine is all blue!

Faults:

Rust on the rear panel... common on most Astras.

Problems with brakes, easy repair.

Many little sounds from the interior.

Middle exhaust rusts easy.

And that`s about it, no clutch problems, no gearbox problems.

General Comments:

No problems at high speeds, very very comfortable in the front and in the back.

A little sporty, it does not have all 75 hp, but it does not feel so tired and old.

No major problems, and the best advantage is that you can find the cheapest spare parts on the market very easy. And I mean very cheap.

Overall, very very satisfied.

Faults:

Few things have showed up since purchase:

Rust in metal above driver side rear wheel, other has been fixed not so long ago. Also front of the bonnet is showing few rust spots. Otherwise in good condition (also bottom).

Idle speed motor has failed causing idle speed of 2000 rpm.

Most of the bulbs in instruments were broken.

Back window wiper was stuck, opened and cleaned, motor replaced.

Little oil leak from gasket, new seal required.

Two of the braking hoses are showing too much wear and need to be replaced.

So a lot of little things are starting to need renewing, but it is not a surprise, it is after all over 10 years old and has endured this Finnish weather quite well I think.

General Comments:

This car is still quite new for me. It's my second car we bought for my wife. She wanted automatic transmission after driving some time with my omega. The feel is much more closer to omega than Corsa (my previous car before Omega).

Consumption is a bit high, 8.7 l/100 km.

Good thing is also look of the car. Most of the newest cars doesn't look good in my eyes, not before they make even worse looking cars.