2nd Mar 2005, 09:07

Car has now reached the 68,000 mark and still hasn't gone wrong. The tailgate squeaks a lot when the rear shelf is out to transport the dog, but other than that it has been very reliable and I am impressed.

The dealers, on the other hand, still leave a lot to be desired. Good job it only goes in every 20K miles.

25th Nov 2005, 04:20

The Astra is still soldiering on, now with 97,000 miles on the clock (bearing in mind it's 2.5 yrs old...).

So, what has gone wrong? Not much. Apart from the rear brake calipers being replaced, nothing - and I mean nothing -has failed on the car. Well, apart from going through a phase of blowing headlight bulbs, but the other 2 Astrsa I have had did that too before, like this one, rectifying itself.

The engine is not as smooth as it first was, in fact it is sounding distinctly 'tappy' but it has done nearly 100K of hard driving and the service interval of 20K is, I think, too long, though it does mean I am not at the dealer's every five minutes.

I think I will be keeping this for another 6 months at least, and have every confidence it will still be running well by that time.

Highly recommended.

25th Nov 2005, 04:23

Oh, I almost forgot... the front tyres on the car have consistently lasted 30K miles and the rears lasted 60K. For a front wheel drive car that gets cornered hard around country lanes as I go about my daily work, I am amazed they have lasted so long.

16th Dec 2005, 08:25

So far, 3 things have gone wrong:

1) CD player stopped working - replaced under warranty

2) Rear calipers replaced (warranty, design fault)

3) Exhaust manifold gasket blown - replaced by dealer, now cured.

In just under 100,000 miles of HARD driving that is ALL that has gone wrong.

I initially said that it doesn't excel in particular area. I was wrong. The reliability has been fantastic.

5th Feb 2006, 11:12

I for one, would like to thank you for your comments over the last two/three years!

Thanks for keeping us updated :)

Are you keeping your car any longer? It seems like it may last longer still if it keeps going as it has been!

28th Aug 2010, 11:11

Yes, I totally agree. What brilliant information. I think I'm going to do the same. I've just bought a 2003 1.6 SXi with 42000 miles on it. Just took it for a test drive and am thrilled with it. I'm even more delighted with it now after reading your comments.

Cheers pal.

Reviews to follow over the coming years...

5th Sep 2010, 00:08

Sound like fantastic cars. I just bought my 2003 Astra 1.6 yesterday, and I'm extremely thrilled with the appearance, yet the engine has yet to impress, but reading your comments, I am sure to be extremely impressed. Thanks a lot.

P.s I have heard they have a lot of problems with their cambelts. Do you know of anybody who has had this problem?