IwantAscoob

just had a go in me mates, and i thorght it went very well,

are these a no no or a bargain for a blast ?.

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

I owned a 16V 2.0 GTE way way way back (summin like 12 years ago) the 16V motor is a great lump that can be tuned to over 200BHP. Mind you the Chassis is another story, even with the standard 150BHP it used to struggle to cope!

sti555

I've 16V had one, was great in a straight line, but remember it's an old chasis now so dont expect it to handle too well.

Engine is great, so is the lcd dash, from memory I think you can get about 45mph in first, 70ish is 2nd and 90 odd in third...

Try and look out for the better earlier cars with the cosworth heads, slighty more power but more importantly they dont suffer the from porus heads like the vaux heads do

The back end was always abit tricky, bargin for the money/fun factor, can buy one, run it for a month flog then engine, scrap it= money back!.

Also had a 2l 16V nova, crazy car, scared the **** out of me!

sti555

Think their about group 17 for insurance though

Dream Weaver

They are just crap handling cars - the 205 is an old chassis but can still out handle most newer hot hatches.

SC008Y_MAD

iTrader: (5)

Total Vauxhall mag May 04 issueis ur answer obout the Mk2 Astra GTE 16V. There is a Astra Special giving details about the mk1 GTE, mk2 GTE, mk3 GSi, mk4 SRI and the new mk5. (pages from 88-95) also on pages from 108 there is a mk2 GTE 16V feature about the car like - about the mk2, history, body, interior, engine, gearbox, chassis and the brakes.

for more information MIG performance Vauxhall a vauxhall forum to ask anu questions u like.

btw, the XE engnine is the one to go for...comes standard in the mk2 GTE 16v. it a beast. dare i say no more

mozzaITA

HI all the astra GTE is a great car in both 2.0 8v and 16v and they can be bought for silly money I.e £200.

Ive got a gte 8v as a stop gap car as i got made redundent and after a year and a half its kept me on the road with only a backbox need replacing. dont be put off high milages as i bought one with 155 000 and it still runs very well.

Yeah its true they hadle very badly in standard form but if you pick one up with different suspension then it behaves more senisible. They have a great turn of pace and in 16v form (156 bhp) they can hit sixty in 7.5 sec and top speed of around 136 MPH. Even the 2.0 8v isnt that bad with 0-60 in 8 seconds and top end of 127 mph. Faster than those 205 gti's no question but dont handle nowhere as good though! but are more reliable IMO!

They are a top buy and keep on going for ages if they are looked after and lets face it can you get more performance for such little money?

Cheers

Moz

Writer/Researcher Rapid Cars Magazine

'Read 80's hot hatch review in the next edition of Rapid Cars Magazine out next week'

redevo

I had a GTE 16V a few years ago b4 the Impreza and to be honest in a straight line acceleration there wasn't much in it and it had billie's all round with spax springs. It shock your filling out but it handle spot on and I've owned a few cars and I still think it handled great if you have up rated suspension and don't mind loosing out on the comfort. Miss it spot on cars absolute bargains! Tony

Big Col

a GTE 16V is ballistic in a straight line. Only in the last few years with the likes of the CTR and the 172 have there been hot hatches able to eclipse it's performance. My mate had one years ago. Fantastic fun. OK it didn't handle the best compared to a 205 or a MK2 Golf but it would show a clean boot lid to either in a straight line.

Loads available for under a grand but loads of dogs about : it is a 14-18 year old Vauxhall after all.........

skoobidude

I had a GTE 16v 10 years ago. Kept it for over 3 years. Loved it. But still had zero no-claims bonus when I sold it - Went into the back of a another car (crap brakes - and no ABS), reversed into a neighbour - my fault, still pissed from nite before , locked up at 120mph as lorry decided to pull out to overtake another lorry (both travelling at about 50mph) - crashed into side of me, bending the passenger door. All my fault I know! But if it handled/stopped better I'd have got full NCB sooner than at 30!
Oh well, I was a more of a **** then than I am now (I hope).


Nick

Mike123

Just for info - late Mk2 Astra GTE16v had ABS system.

And the brakes, if working properly, should not be crap. I had a non-ABS 16v Astra GTE and brakes were better than my 309Gti's. They might be over-servoed perhaps but they stop the car very well. Vented discs front and solid discs rear

Autocar tested the GTE 16v against the 309Gti and Golf Gti 16v and said the Astra's brakes were the best.
Performance Car in their test, although they didn't rate the handling too well, said "the braking performance is exemplary for a non-ABS system"

Sounds like your brakes needed a good overhaul.......

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Oh and watch out for Fuel pump relays going, i used to carry a spare round in the glove box after being left stranded in the middle of nowhere. Remember this was in the days before mobile phones! LOL

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

16V GTE for me too. Had it for 18 months and was won over by the staggering performance (compared with anything available in the hot hatch market at the time), the flexibility of the engine, economy and practicality. Handling was interesting, especially in the wet but still good enough for some fun.

F

CrisPDuk

Please don't tell me that the current obsession with all things '80s is bringing these things back into fashion. I had hoped that they were all dead and buried by now

I used to cream one of these almost every day on my route to work (Macclesfield - Whaley Bridge, one of the greatest roads in the country) in the early 90's and I had a 1.6 Golf GTi at the time. Admittedly once he got onto a straight bit he rapidly vanished into the distance, but once you got back into the good stuff you could soon back up

As Big Col says they have one of the best 4 cylinder engines ever produced (head by cosworth & a good strong bottom end), but you should scrap the car & stick the lump where it was born to live - IN A CATERHAM

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

The 16v engine is the best part of the car without doubt.

Look at modern car bhp/lbft figures for 2.0 litre engines (without vvt, Vtec etc) and then look at the standard bhp/lbft for the 16v astra. Average modern 2.0litre is 130bhp, thanks to emission regs, mapping for economy, the Astra was 150bhp.

Couple that with the heavy chassis that cars have these days and you have very boring barges. In terms of acelaration, nippyness (is there such word) 0-60's etc the 80's ruled

jasey

"nippyness" If there is such a word you're probabbly not allowed to use it on here .


Well I had a 2.0 Astra GTE when I was about 24 which would make it approx 15 years ago . Great car - and If I saw one that was running for £200 I'd buy it and throw it away when it broke

MooseRacer

YEP.

Dracoro

My westie has a recon '92 2.016v vauxhall injun. 190bhp on twin weber 45's. No-way near as good as the 2.0 vtec I had in the s2000 but one of the better non-vtec type injuns. I'd love the westie with the s2000 injun but bank manager thinks otherwise

In a caterfield, the vauxhall injun apparently great tuning potential. throttle bodies will push it up to 208bhp. That's good going for a 2.0 injun. many are running 240/260+ bhp but with internal work of course. AND it handles great

sbd motorsports tune these things well by all accounts.

mozzaITA

They weigh around 930kg too..... but they were the most stolen car when they first came out taking over from the 3 door cossie if memory serves me correctly (a friend had his nicked 3 times at the time).

astraboy

I've still got my MkII.
Just finished a full rebuild as well.
Now it has new paint (Old paint was sun faded)
new wings and sills (well, it WAS a vauxhall )
New engine ( 2 years of nitrous oxide injection on a 12 year old engine etc )
Add to that all the mods that I had done to her over the years
Spax suspension, EBC brakes, Connolly leather, Nitrous Oxide, Compomotive wheels, Yoko tyres, Infinity ICE, meant that finally she is finished
Last time I tested her she did 0-60 in 7.1 secs, standing 1/4 in 15.6 and topped out at 137 indicated and 130 genuine. Not bad for a 2L8V vauxhall with 118k on the clock.
Now she is perfect and I have kept her in the garage for the last 9 months as I want to keep her that way before I sell her.
Which will be as soon as I get the ad in Autotrader.
I will be sorry to see her go, but it will be good to see her go while she is all finished and shiny.
astraboy.

what would scooby do

as on most Vauxhalls of that age - check for perished fuel pipes as mine had way-back-when.. luckily mine didn't catch fire..

Mike123

Maybe he wasn't as confident or committed a driver as you? Both Autocar and Car mag tested the GTE 16V back to back on normal roads with the Mk2 Gti 16v and in neither case did it get "creamed".

Conversely, the Astra was able to hold it's own in terms of A-> B times with the Golf - read Autocar, Car or What Car tests of the time.

It could be that your Mk1 1600 Gti was a real corking example of course....

I seem to recall a Cavalier on here that could match a Scooby turbo ....

jasey

Astraboy - As it sounds such a good example I'll maybe stretch to £250 .


The paint on the bonnet of mine was faded (car was only about four/five years old at the time )- never knew at the time if it was the Sun or the heat from the engine .

If you want to re-create the burble of a scoob take your GTE down to quickfit and get them to replace the whole exhaust system only to find (once they had scrapped the old one) that they didn't have a new one - had to run the beast over a weekend without any exhaust system at all - What a noise - you could hear me coming from about three miles away and the performance increase was fairly noticeable .

astraboy

LOL 250
Maybe 1250, but only if I take the nitrous out
I had the pleasure of running the GTE from the Manifold (and nothing else) once, but only after my mate had hit the rev limiter in first with the nitrous running and severed the exhaust clean in two .
Still, the blue flame as big as the car which came out the back was pretty to look at
astraboy.

jasey

Top Tip Astraboy - Get this thread deleted before you try to sell it on here


£275 (final offer )

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

I still remember when Vauxhall brought them out, they said 0-60mph was 6.8 secs! Nothin really came close in them days. I was well pissed off i got one of the Limited edition ones wiv Bourdoux (spell check?) red paint work and black leather Recaros, i thought i was the nads till some other bloke in Colchester got one exactly the same! GIT! Ahhhhhhh the memorys of youth :-)

Big Col

A 'Champion' was it not? Released to celebrate winning the BTCC that year.

mozzaITA

buit 250/500 of them i cant remember the real figure.

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Yeah i think so Col it had the World champ colours down the side of the car and a Courtney badge on the back

NewAgeWRX

LOL brings back some fond memories............

Had a 89 F GTE16V when I was 18 - insurance was £1279 TPFT !!!

Had more fun in that car than any other I have ever owned. At that age in a car like that, I would race any other car on the road - infact I used to go out at night "hunting" hehehe. Of course, now Im an old and grumpy MY02 WRX owner I would never do such silly things, but at the time I just loved that motor. Still have a piccy of mine (lol at my haircut though) next to my mate with his XR3i (which my azzy used to eat alive). Also have a quater mile slip from a RWYB day I went too. Never done one before or since so I dont know what the times are like (15.001 sec @ 94.4).

Check them out