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[SMD]

Brother wants to buy one of these. Probably a 1.4 sxi. What goes wrong with them? Are they chain driven?

[mantahatch]

Personally I would avoid the 1.4, father in law says his is way underpowered.
We have 3 mk5's in our exrended family 2004 1.8 Design auto. 2009 1.8 Life auto. and 2009 1.4 club manual.

All have proven to be utterly reliable with no issues at all bar routine servicing. Some people report interior plastic can break easily although I have found it to be quite robust compared to facelift Omega interior.
That all said the highest mileage on our Astras is the 2004 one with 43k miles on it. There can be issuse with the autos. Standard auto have a weak radiator seal and can fill the autobox with water. The funny manual/auto box (cant think what its called at the moment) has plenty of issues.

1.8 heavy on fuel, i get around 29mpg around town 30 and 40 mph roads, better on a run.

Buy the best model you can afford, Design or Elite, only difference is Elite has leather seats which are not as comfortable as the Designs half leather seats.

If you can find one with CD70 factory sat nav is nice and not that easy to retrofit.

Base models like Life have no additional wiring looms for adding extras like heated door mirrors, this can also effect sport models like SRi, If looking at5 door models only the Design and Elite have rear electric windows.

The wifes Design model has loads of extras auto headlights auto wipers auto dimming mirror LEDs in the internal door handles headlights that stay on for a bit when you get home, nice touch that IMHO. rear reading lights andprobably others I cant think of at the moment.

My Life model on the other hand has none of that except the headlight stay on thing.

Some peoplelike XP bodykit it is the factory fit kit and is a personal thing wether you like it or not, to me it just more expensive bodywork repairs 

2004 1.8 (125bhp)auto is higher road tax band than 2009 (140bhp) auto

[Marks DTM Calib]

Not much trouble with them.

Seen a few top strutt bearings go on the sport chassis setup.

CD70 is an easy retrofit  (done two)

Make sure its had all the recalls.

1.6 16V is about the par on these, 1.8 is thirsty

The 1.7 cdti is a good compromise, 1.9 is fun but listen for gearbox noise (easy fix) and knocking DMF (regular sports launches do for these!).

Elite gives Leather interior (which I really like!), heated front seats, climate control, cruise (easy retrofit), GID display (need for climate control, makes CD70 upgrade easier although a CID is best option)

[05omegav6]

Experience limited to the Vectra C, but mechanically similar...

Have found the earlier 1.8s to be durable and trouble free, the only consistant thing (2 out of 2), needing a new radiator at 100k or so The later 1.8 has had a couple of other issues, but they could be driver related

Different models have different gear ratios, the Design and Elite being taller geared

[TheBoy]

We keep looking at Astra-H. I think I'd only consider the 1.9CDTi, preferable the powerful one .  I've been disappointed with all the petrol ones I've driven, although not tried TheDaddy's 2.2 yet

Lots of them seem to have interior build problems, trim falling off, broken clips etc, and lots seem to rattle (which bugs me). Possible they've had a hard life, as most of the 1.3CDTis I've driven are company cars wanted Cruise enabled .

I know next to sod all about the reliability of them, though, I'd listen to the Master on that - even if he is biased

[Del Boy]

I like the Astra H a lot, drive nicely, feel nice inside, and have a fair amount of kit if you get the right model. Engines personally I've had 5 Astra H's four vans and one car. The car was a 1.6 VVT (115) and I have to be honest I thought that was underpowered, regardless of what anyone says I don't think it went well at all, and needed working hard to get it going anywhere. I've then had a 1.3 CDTi which I though was an absolute cracking little engine really was, big thumbs up for that  . 1.7 CDTi (was remapped to 140 BHP) again a good engine. 1.9 CDTi (150) this was a cracker, pulls well in every gear, quick, relatively refined and nice to drive, although it did need a new gearbox at 55,000 miles. Then there was a 1.9 CDTi which had been remapped and decatted middle box removed blah blah which had 206 BHP, now that flew really did go like an absolute train, made some quick cars just look stupid, however the gearbox in that was being munched away (whining) at just 20,000 miles.

Never had any problems other than the gearboxes on them, a point to note, if you like your music then look for a model with a CDC40 stereo fitted as these had more power speakers, and the CDC40 is the only one that can cope with these speakers I believe? Nice cars though, and very cheap now. Personally I'd go diesel.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Nah, the CDC40 had 2 ohm speakers, these can also be used with the CD70 which has the same output stage.

[Andy B]

....
The funny manual/auto box (cant think what its called at the moment) has plenty of issues.

 ....

Easytronic   

[Del Boy]

Nah, the CDC40 had 2 ohm speakers, these can also be used with the CD70 which has the same output stage.

The CDC40 does have a better amp though, and a graphic equaliser which I think the CD70 lacks?

[mantahatch]

....
The funny manual/auto box (cant think what its called at the moment) has plenty of issues.

 ....

Easytronic   

Thank you, memory is not what it once was 

[mantahatch]

Not much trouble with them.

Seen a few top strutt bearings go on the sport chassis setup.

CD70 is an easy retrofit  (done two)

Make sure its had all the recalls.

1.6 16V is about the par on these, 1.8 is thirsty

The 1.7 cdti is a good compromise, 1.9 is fun but listen for gearbox noise (easy fix) and knocking DMF (regular sports launches do for these!).

Elite gives Leather interior (which I really like!), heated front seats, climate control, cruise (easy retrofit), GID display (need for climate control, makes CD70 upgrade easier although a CID is best option)

How did you get on with the aerial ? or did you go down the route of aftermarket. And what models and age of Astra did you retrofit them to ? as many seem to have missing wiring.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Nah, the CDC40 had 2 ohm speakers, these can also be used with the CD70 which has the same output stage.

The CDC40 does have a better amp though, and a graphic equaliser which I think the CD70 lacks?

Nope, exactly the same amp, we looked into it when we looked at retro fitting the 2 ohm speakers as we needed to ensure it was stable into a 2 ohm load. Graphic equlaiser is just a gimmic 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Not much trouble with them.

Seen a few top strutt bearings go on the sport chassis setup.

CD70 is an easy retrofit  (done two)

Make sure its had all the recalls.

1.6 16V is about the par on these, 1.8 is thirsty

The 1.7 cdti is a good compromise, 1.9 is fun but listen for gearbox noise (easy fix) and knocking DMF (regular sports launches do for these!).

Elite gives Leather interior (which I really like!), heated front seats, climate control, cruise (easy retrofit), GID display (need for climate control, makes CD70 upgrade easier although a CID is best option)

How did you get on with the aerial ? or did you go down the route of aftermarket. And what models and age of Astra did you retrofit them to ? as many seem to have missing wiring.

Done a 2008 Zafira and a 2006 Astra.

The only extra wiring needed is a GPS antenna and an aftermarket one works ok for that. If fitting a CID you need the RGB cable but that is all and very easy to fit.