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Cars.
- Thread starter db
- Start date
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
Tinkerbell
Well-Known Forumite
Usually drive a Ford Mondeo - great car - BUT this is my main babe and only comes out to play when it is sunny
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
Vauxhall has used 'Fall in love with driving again' as a slogan for sometime now.
My focus is off the road being repaired at the moment, and I have a 59 plate astra 1.6 courtesy car. Far from making me fall in love with driving again it has made me want to cut my driving licence up and burn it. Now I'm not fan of vauxhalls anyway, but this car is the single worst car I have ever driven (and I owned a 1989 polo saloon at one point).
Does anyone else have a 1.6 astra of that era? I'm finding the one I have is drinking fuel astonishingly quickly - the on board computer is telling me at cruise I am averaging 36mpg (60mph 5th gear). This is in conjunction with the engine feeling like it's actually 1.2 or less (literally no power whatsoever). I drive a 1.6 petrol focus which should be a fair comparison - sadly not. I spoke to the car people who told me it's always like this and it's not broken. Considering the engine has 'eco' stamped on it, and I am paying for the fuel I'm not happy, although it's going back this evening.
Do you think I have a duff one or are all astra 1.6's slow, sluggish and as economical as an american V8?
Admin edit: Threads merged.
My focus is off the road being repaired at the moment, and I have a 59 plate astra 1.6 courtesy car. Far from making me fall in love with driving again it has made me want to cut my driving licence up and burn it. Now I'm not fan of vauxhalls anyway, but this car is the single worst car I have ever driven (and I owned a 1989 polo saloon at one point).
Does anyone else have a 1.6 astra of that era? I'm finding the one I have is drinking fuel astonishingly quickly - the on board computer is telling me at cruise I am averaging 36mpg (60mph 5th gear). This is in conjunction with the engine feeling like it's actually 1.2 or less (literally no power whatsoever). I drive a 1.6 petrol focus which should be a fair comparison - sadly not. I spoke to the car people who told me it's always like this and it's not broken. Considering the engine has 'eco' stamped on it, and I am paying for the fuel I'm not happy, although it's going back this evening.
Do you think I have a duff one or are all astra 1.6's slow, sluggish and as economical as an american V8?
Admin edit: Threads merged.
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
very poor, my focus 1.6 averages 41mpg and it's ten years older, goes faster, has longer gears and I treat it worse than this astra (only because the handling is so poor that I am afraid that if I turn into a bend at the normal road speed I won't make it out the other side).
Before the astra, i had a focus 2 litre turbo diesel which went like stink, and on the motorway at 70
mph cruise it was reading a steady 72-75 mpg. sadly the device which stops you from putting petrol in it was stopping everything from going in so i had to swap it and all they had was the astra (which the bloke said was only used when all the other cars in that class were out because people would never choose it when there were focusses/golfs etc. available). I can understand why.
Your punto mist have been dire slow, this astra scares me, I pulled out of the end of my street in the normal way I would with my focus (traffic coming but an appropriate gap in the traffic) and it was poor in 1st, so I floored it and was shocked at how fast a truck was approaching in my rear view mirror.
If/when you come to change you astra, take one of the new focusses out for a test drive, they're infinitely better (in my own opinion, of course).
EDIT: here's to hoping that I don't get given one as a company car next month, that would be ironic lol
Before the astra, i had a focus 2 litre turbo diesel which went like stink, and on the motorway at 70
mph cruise it was reading a steady 72-75 mpg. sadly the device which stops you from putting petrol in it was stopping everything from going in so i had to swap it and all they had was the astra (which the bloke said was only used when all the other cars in that class were out because people would never choose it when there were focusses/golfs etc. available). I can understand why.Your punto mist have been dire slow, this astra scares me, I pulled out of the end of my street in the normal way I would with my focus (traffic coming but an appropriate gap in the traffic) and it was poor in 1st, so I floored it and was shocked at how fast a truck was approaching in my rear view mirror.
If/when you come to change you astra, take one of the new focusses out for a test drive, they're infinitely better (in my own opinion, of course).
EDIT: here's to hoping that I don't get given one as a company car next month, that would be ironic lol
db
#chaplife
see, the problem is you are now spoilt for all other cars.. i had the 1.8 zetec version of what you have now, and loved it way more than than the 2008 version i subsequently got.. the brand new version is another step in the wrong direction, apparently..shoes said:
i'm so glad i decided at the last minute not to get one, and went with a fiesta.. because i was planning on getting a focus, it meant i could afford to get all the bells & whistles on the fiesta, and i couldn't be happier.. it's almost exactly the same size & shape as the focus you have, and because it is quite a bit lighter than my beast of a focus i can forgive the minor step-down from 1.8 to 1.6..
the only downside i've found so far is that they're so good, every motherhubbard seems to have one!
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
I had a 2 litre turbo diesel one of those on Wednesday and cannot rate it enough. Everything was perfect - power, ride, handling, comfort, equipment, economy, the stereo was incredible - I don't think it had a sub as part of the system but it sounded like it, sat nav, voice control, electric everything, climate control, gearbox, brakes, clutch, seat..... i could go on. Quite a looker too. I would happily part with my hard earned for one.
The model I had was the Zetec.
You're right about the MK1 focus though, it's a shame they don't still make them
The model I had was the Zetec.
You're right about the MK1 focus though, it's a shame they don't still make them
Markerat
I'm no gynaecologist...
My friend worked at Davies motors and had his dad's old 'eco' Sierra and that drank fuel like it was water.shoes said:
He took the engine apart being he was an engineer and inspected it for its eco credentials. The eco referred to obscuration plates fitted to restrict the flow rates and an undersize injectors. Consequently if you drive it like 'normal' cars it drinks fuel. Its designed to be driven like a tazered pensioner and never driven in a spirited fashion.
I appreciate that the idea of never going over 1400 rpm and no jack rabbit starts is abhorrent to you Shoes as it is to me buddy.
I hope your real car gets sorted out soon and you can get back to driving in a thoroughly unchristian fashion.