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Author Topic: What car should I buy?  (Read 26123 times)

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terry paget

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #60 on: 21 October 2018, 21:36:43 »

Thank you.
Mrs Builder had an Hyundai Elantra when I met her, parts where expensive .everything rusted between fettling intervals .
It was made clear that she would need to swap brand to vauxhall before I alowed her to marry me  :y
the in-laws still have a santa fe , because they drag a tin shed around the country quite often ,they have it repaired elsewhere at great expense as it does not meet the requirements of my Vauxhall family care service/repair criteria  ;D

petrol astra H are a good choice agreed , if it must be petrol , the astra H design 1.7 cdti tractor juice edition estate my brother is running is saving him quite a chunk of cash on fuel .
also, in true "bangernomics" style, you should not rule out the older astra G platform IF purchased cheapy with long MOT,no major issues .
a sub £500 car with 12 months mot is £10 a week and you'll still claw back scrap value £100+ IF the next MOT is untenable .
also if vauxhall 5 stud 5x110 you could save wheels/tyres off the doomed omega ,depending on what vaux you go for

or get that clutch swapped  ;D
Are you saying my Omega wheels will fit the Astra G?
NO.

True, they might bolt on, but the offsets are VERY different. The only VX cars that the Omega wheels fit are Omegas and Carltons, so either keep them as spares for the other Omegas or pop them on ebay/here... :y
Thank you.
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Doctor Gollum

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #61 on: 21 October 2018, 21:38:43 »

Also applies to Astra H ;)
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dave the builder

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #62 on: 22 October 2018, 11:40:19 »

Omega et34 on 7j 225/55/16 5 stud astra et 35 to 37 on 7j 195/65/15

so et wise 3mm poke -3 inset (like having a 1 to 3mm wheel spacer) speedo error less than -3%

many astras are 5x110 upto 2009

the spare in the astra 1.7 cdti is 195/65/15 as is my omega steely

https://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=195&aspect=65&diameter=15&wheelwidth=7&offset=37&width2=225&aspect2=55&wheel_size=16&wheel_width=7&offset2=34

seem to remember Terry says he has steel wheels rather than alloys ?

but yes, selling a set of alloys if you scrap a car ,even omega 16", will add to the budget of the replacement ,or put them to one side for another omega

got the new clutch fitted yet Terry  :D ;D
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Doctor Gollum

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #63 on: 22 October 2018, 11:54:30 »

The temptation would be to use as is straight off the Omega... The difference in tyre width/aspect ratio would be enough to foul the strut.  ;)
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Nick W

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #64 on: 22 October 2018, 17:21:47 »

The temptation would be to use as is straight off the Omega... The difference in tyre width/aspect ratio would be enough to foul the strut.  ;)


17" Omega wheels bolt onto an Astra G, but aren't usable.  BTDT
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terry paget

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #65 on: 23 October 2018, 14:05:38 »

Omega et34 on 7j 225/55/16 5 stud astra et 35 to 37 on 7j 195/65/15

so et wise 3mm poke -3 inset (like having a 1 to 3mm wheel spacer) speedo error less than -3%

many astras are 5x110 upto 2009

the spare in the astra 1.7 cdti is 195/65/15 as is my omega steely

https://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=195&aspect=65&diameter=15&wheelwidth=7&offset=37&width2=225&aspect2=55&wheel_size=16&wheel_width=7&offset2=34

seem to remember Terry says he has steel wheels rather than alloys ?

but yes, selling a set of alloys if you scrap a car ,even omega 16", will add to the budget of the replacement ,or put them to one side for another omega

got the new clutch fitted yet Terry :D ;D
No, can't be bothered on a 4 cylinder Omega with rust. Am now stripping for spares before scrapping.
Had a drive in a mate's Astra today, seemed OK. It was an 02 car, with no obvious rust. 8 miles away there's an Astra on e-bay, MOT failure, rear discs, failed horn and engine light on, current bid £180. Would need trailering away, boring.
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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #66 on: 23 October 2018, 14:10:28 »

You could always let them source their own cars :y
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dave the builder

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #67 on: 23 October 2018, 16:39:01 »

No, can't be bothered on a 4 cylinder Omega with rust. Am now stripping for spares before scrapping.
Had a drive in a mate's Astra today, seemed OK. It was an 02 car, with no obvious rust. 8 miles away there's an Astra on e-bay, MOT failure, rear discs, failed horn and engine light on, current bid £180. Would need trailering away, boring.
depends on what the car is(spec,miles age and condition)
Rear discs and pads are cheap enough £50 easy job ,horn could be easy,fuse ,lose wire,steering horn button,
 engine management light is another story, it could be a simple sensor OR dropped valve,bummed cat anything , but you can read the codes with the pedal test on most astras (not the early x16szr 1.6 )  :y
is it not worth spending say £500- 600 on something with long mot to save you the mediate hassle, get them mobile again  :-\
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terry paget

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #68 on: 23 October 2018, 19:17:22 »

No, can't be bothered on a 4 cylinder Omega with rust. Am now stripping for spares before scrapping.
Had a drive in a mate's Astra today, seemed OK. It was an 02 car, with no obvious rust. 8 miles away there's an Astra on e-bay, MOT failure, rear discs, failed horn and engine light on, current bid £180. Would need trailering away, boring.
depends on what the car is(spec,miles age and condition)
Rear discs and pads are cheap enough £50 easy job ,horn could be easy,fuse ,lose wire,steering horn button,
 engine management light is another story, it could be a simple sensor OR dropped valve,bummed cat anything , but you can read the codes with the pedal test on most astras (not the early x16szr 1.6 )  :y
is it not worth spending say £500- 600 on something with long mot to save you the mediate hassle, get them mobile again /highlight] :-\
I think so. There was a 2005 car for sale in Chippenham for £595 on Sunday, new MOT, but I delayed bidding until I had sat in one. It sold Monday morning.
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terry paget

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #69 on: 25 October 2018, 08:37:05 »

I am looking at Astras, and to date restricting my search to petrol and manual gearbox cars.

Are Astra automatics reliable? I imagine they are torque converter type automatics, not strange semi manual boxes.

Have diesel Astras any drawbacks? I understand they are not suitable for someone doing only short journeys, but my son Jonny does lots of long runs

There is an Astra on e-bay with 180,000 miles on it. Should I avoid it, or go for a cheap 9 year old car?
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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #70 on: 25 October 2018, 11:05:25 »

1.8 Vectra C all day long ;)
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dave the builder

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #71 on: 25 October 2018, 11:45:58 »

I am looking at Astras, and to date restricting my search to petrol and manual gearbox cars.

Are Astra automatics reliable? I imagine they are torque converter type automatics, not strange semi manual boxes.

Have diesel Astras any drawbacks? I understand they are not suitable for someone doing only short journeys, but my son Jonny does lots of long runs

There is an Astra on e-bay with 180,000 miles on it. Should I avoid it, or go for a cheap 9 year old car?
There are loads of manual astras about if that is what you want
seem to remember people having transmission cooler fails that saw coolant into the auto boxes on some astras even under warranty or just out ,but i can't remember what model, there are some semi auto boxes about too IIRC. :-\

The 1.7cdti design (tractor juice edition) astra h estate that my brother is driving cost £875, had 75k on it and 12 months mot . (ebay private sale buy it now) so far i have binned the space saver and given it a proper spare (which i had anyway), and it had a small coolant hose leak after about 6 weeks, he's saving on fuel bills will pay for the car in less than a year (compared to the petrol astra he had)

I'd avoid cars with 180k on myself  ;)
ebay,auto trader etc you can narrow your search down to lower ,say less than 100k
don't rule out dealer part ex , some bargains to be had  :y

the zafira 2.0 DTi elegance was a main dealer part ex, 9 months mot ,105k £500 , I replaced front and rear brake pads and discs for £70 (my choice, they where pitted), one brake line, serviced it . that has done 2000k since, i do need to repair the o/s/r door not locking (probably a broken wire in the door shut)

1.8 Vectra C all day long ;)
Is a bigger car than astra (i think Terry said he'd be ok with smaller)
plenty of vec c about  :)
there is that clutch / dmf flywheel fail issue with lots of vec c though  :-\
did you come across it Doc ? in our ownership

£1000 should see a tidy astra or vec c brought without major rust to deal with any time soon if you choose wisely Terry

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tunnie

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #72 on: 25 October 2018, 12:08:48 »

Astra and Vectra FWD though and boring.
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dave the builder

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #73 on: 25 October 2018, 12:29:37 »

Astra and Vectra FWD though and boring.
I think Terry is looking for cheap,reliable transport for his kids,
That is not rotten,needs welding for the next MOT trackday race car  ;D
he's good with the spanners, allergic to welding bills  :y
so, I don't think he will find much cheap  RWD fun to be had that won't require being shot with the welding gun  :y
your avatar depicts a FWD car  ???   ;D
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aaronjb

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Re: What car should I buy?
« Reply #74 on: 25 October 2018, 13:00:15 »

I think Terry is looking for cheap,reliable transport for his kids,
...
your avatar depicts a FWD car  ???   ;D

Which, ironically, Tunnie uses for ... transporting his kids ;D

[edit] Although I think the difference is that Terry's are nearly as old as Tunnie is, let alone Tunnie's kids!

Speaking of - I went looking for Astra H's on eBay and 'trader.. it looks like more like £2k for a 1.7 diesel, manual, estate with less than 100k on it. Shame or I could have been tempted for the return to bangernomics (that said, I would prefer RWD, too).
« Last Edit: 25 October 2018, 13:01:55 by aaronjb »
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