Vauxhall Nova 1.6 GTE Review

Overall Rating

Very cheap good well looked after gsis around. Interior and dash upgraded in gsi. Handles like a go kart. Quite strong. Easily tuned. Plenty of kits available. Not too cramped for a car of this age. Gsis look good to this day. Gsi face lifted. Bodywork is simple and cheap to put right ie: panels and rust. Mint gtes/gsis stil around. Stil a fast car for its time and can keep up and see off a few modern cars. Gsi engine is smooth and a better drive. Gte engine is very strong. The 2.0 litre 16v 0r 2.0 turbo drops straight in. Will stil be a classic and the rarer they get the more you appreciate a good one when you see it.

Rust is a big problem especialy on gtes which are now very rare. Gtes have been thrashed more than gsis. Gtes dont look as good as gsis (face lift). A lot of sheds about. Buy a cheap one and your wasting your money. Just over 100bhp from the 1.6 engine which is not much. Its a nova and police tend to think every one is stolen or that you have no license or insurance.

Well my mate had a Vauxhall Nova 1.6 GTE before I evan had my first car. He bought the car 6 years ago when he was 18 for about £800 quid which was cheap at that time. The car had no rust and the engine was fine, it had been in a little knock at the front as the bonet was slightly out of alighnment. He keeped telling me how fast his nova gte was. I never had a car at the time. He took me for a drive in the gte and it was very quick, it was standerd but at that time I had never been in a small car that went so fast and handled so well. After insurance probs the nova gte stayed on his drive for 4 years rusting and rotting away. We than decided to try and bring it back to life. The engine took 1 week to eventualy start. We replaced the manifold, spark plugs, leads, head gasket, backbox, brake pads, bushes welded and replaced all the rotten arches and m.o.t d it. This took 1 year. After that the nova was back on the road. It never really fet the same as before as it still needed a service. My 1.6 16v tigra was a lot quicker than the nova at the time. I managed 114mph out of the gte and it wouldn't have anymore. My mate reckond he got 130mph when he first bought it. The nova was sold 1 year after with a set of new 15inch rims. I later bought a black gsi which was by far better than the older gte. The dash is better. So are the seats and the engine is better. Novas are still good cars and so people slag them off but most of the time the people who slag them off are the ones that get beat by them. I have seen 1.4 sris with 120bhp leave astra gsis mk3s all the way to 70mph. 154bhp gsis beat standard r5 turbos civic 1.6 vtis and so on. A standerd nova gsi is faster than a saxo vtr. The 2.0 option or turbod 2.0 option is the best choice if you want a nova for speed. A 180bhp nova will see of wrx's easy.