vauxhall astra 1.7 diesel review

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Average Ratings
Performance	6.1/10
Practicality	7.5/10
Reliability	9.1/10
Value for Money	7.9/10
Reviewer Rating	7.3/10
Overall Rating	6.5/10

82% Recommended9 out of 11 Reviews

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- bilal bhatti's review
- 10 Comments
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Review of Vauxhall Astra 1.7 Diesel

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Review 11 of 11

By bilal bhatti on 11th Jun 2004

bilal bhatti's Ratings
Year Manufactured	2004
Length of ownership	1 week
Performance	4/10
Practicality	1/10
Reliability	10/10
Value for money	1/10
Overall value	1/10
bilal bhatti's recommendation

Good Points

Good brakes, fairly smooth acceleration at 60 mph plus.

Good silver colour

Bad Points

vauxhall Astra 1.7 Diesel:
Latch underneath steering wheel kept unlocking itself causing steering wheel to move up and down while driving.

No radio cassette player. I had a 8 hour journey without anything to listen to apart from radio. There is a CD player but that's only useful if you have CDs

Poor handling around medium turn bends

Extremly uncomfortable seats

Confusion on steering wheel-- lots of buttons that didn't actually do anything.

No electric wing mirror adjustment

Gear difficult to engage in 2nd.

Blander interior than a bog standard subaru.

General Comments

The vauxhall Astra 1.7 Diesel was an overall nightmare experience due to the very poor seats.

I have had to score this as very low due to the seat problem (yes I did adjust the seats and they were still rubbish)

Performance has scored a 4 due to the smooth acceleration at the higher end only.

Reliability is a 10 as it did not break down despite doing over 1000 miles in a week.

Respect given for bilal bhatti's review.
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Total Respect: -4

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10 Comments on Review by bilal bhatti for Vauxhall Astra 1.7 Diesel

easysteve on 8th Jul 2004

I do no agree with Bhatti's review, below I will explain why point by point.

Latch underneath steering wheel kept unlocking itself causing steering wheel to move up and down while driving.

This is a two-minute simple adjustment, you should have asked your garage to fix it. (Or see point below)

No radio cassette player. I had an 8 hour journey without anything to listen to apart from radio. There is a CD player but that's only useful if you have CDs

Doh!!! You can buy a car for thousands of £’s but can’t afford £10.99 @ Amazon.co.uk!!!

Poor handling around medium turn bends.

Probably helps if you turn the steering wheel!

Extremely uncomfortable seats

This leads me to think that he did not find the lumbar support

Confusion on steering wheel-- lots of buttons that didn't actually do anything.

Clearly one of two things has happened here. 1) That the stereo has been changed and not wired back correctly. or 2) He bought his car from dodgeyblokesRuz.com and someone has had his steering rack apart!!!

No electric wing mirror adjustment

This is obviously a base model that you have bought as the others do have it. Even for a base model it still boasts more standard kit than other cars in the same sector

Gear difficult to engage in 2nd.

You really haven’t bought this car from new have you.

Blander interior than a bog standard Subaru.

May be so, but compare it to other cars in its class not one costing twice the price.

General Comments:

Having driven several Astras in various guises and covering over 500,000 mile without as much as a hiccup I would definitely say that this is the most reliable car that I have driven, and the seats have been perfectly fine, but then maybe I’ve got a small butt.
bilal bhatti on 9th Jul 2004

Unfortunately I do not agree with Steve, I never bought the car. It was a hire car.

Furthermore the latch issue did happen, as despite locking it in place, it kept coming undone. The gears were poor.
bilal bhatti on 9th Jul 2004

i don't agree with easy steve as i never bought the car so his comments are incorrect.
Fine Ted on 13th Nov 2004

Eight years using an Astra Diesel 1.7. Not for Jeremy Clarkson, but a wow for reliability, just amazing economy and solidity. If you need to knock up the miles on the motorway, this is a great choice. It has also survived fields, lanes and other inhospitable spots that boaters get to.
So why not repeat - we need more load carrying.
jaseyb on 29th Dec 2004

I thought that I would buy an Astra but tried 3 today & found the seats very uncomfy - I tried adjusting, but no joy :-(

I'm re-thinking what car to try next?
jaseyb on 6th Jan 2005

Ref the seats, I totally agree with Bilal - the seats are very uncomfy.

easysteve mentioned adjusting the lumbar support, but this wouldn't help at all as it is the middle to top of the seat back that digs in & leans back at a strange incline.

My reasons for not buying an Astra were:

1) Uncomfy seats

2) ABS not fitted as standard on any pre 2004 model - Vauxhall are seriously behind on safety here in my opinion.

Think I'll just stick with my Peugeot 306 turbo diesel, which although getting on a bit has ABS & very comfy seats.
nicotine on 19th Jan 2005

Looking at the Vauxhall website, all new shape Astras have ABS as standard, and different types of front seat are fitted on different variants, as far as I understand.
ARRY ARRY LAD on 7th Apr 2005

Having owned 2 ASTRA DIESELS and having fuel pump problems on both cars costing £730 a time.
I will not be buying another.
Also the seats suck.
djk on 17th Jun 2005

I have only just taken delivery of my Astra estate diesel. What a noisy vehicle after my previous estate diesel, that was so quiet; is it just my vehicle or is it common?

Del.
chrisray on 26th Jun 2006

"I have had to score this as very low due to the seat problem (yes I did adjust the seats and they were still rubbish)"

I'd agree, which is why I'm looking out to buying some Recaro's this month for their replacement.

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