Turbo Dave

i'm looking for a car to use to get to work in thats a bit of fun.

iv'e always liked GTE's as i had one years ago (now 36) and have been offered one again.

what does everyone think of these cars?? is it still considered a young boyracer car or has it now passed that stage.

Cheers
Dave

mozzaITA

Hey get one again you wont regret it, 4 years ago i bought one as a stop gap car it was the 8v with 150 000 miles but it was faultless for 2 years of abuse and started first time. Such nice cars which are reliable and fun, yes the handling isnt spectacualar either are the 80's looks but they are so praticle.

The 16v is the one to go for with that excellent engine but they are becoming less and less common around where i live, u might be able to get a cheap astra gsi 16v nowadays!

I would have one every day of the week, go for it!!

Moley

iTrader: (9)

I was thinking exactly the same at the weekend.

I used to have a 8v GTE then a 16v GSI. TBH if you are using it as a runaround car i'd go for the 8v, doesn't have as much bhp, but has lots of torque. Also the 16v had the problem with the pourous heads on some models.

Were a few cheap GTE's on ebay the other day

Spankathon

The 16V GTE is still a quick car.....

gingerboy

Used to own a mint GTE 16v with full recaro leather interior , when I say mint I meen mint, like a complete idiot sold it and bought a V6 vectra SRI .

Looking back it makes no sense what so ever. The astra was a great car, very quick from standstill and great in-gear acceleration, on the twisties you would have to be pushing it really hard to experience the "terrible" handling so often mentioned in the usual motoring magazines.

But as a general run about / fun car I would highly recommend them, try and get a 16v if you can but as already mentioned they are becoming very rare. I am toying with the idea of getting one myself just as a toy but will have to await the wifes outlook on the proposition.

The redtop SFI 16v engine was a great engine which as standard produced circa 160 bhp, later models had cats ( H and J plates) cat can easily be removed allowing the engine to breath more freely. Mine was pushing 185 bhp when RR'd and that was with nothing other than a de-cat and performance filter .

Pic's below

Regards

Paul

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Pick of the bunch is the Champion 250

Turbo Dave

Thats exactly what i needed a positive response

Will get it and tell the missus after as shes is going to have the hump

Whats the situation with having a cat on an H reg does it still need to go back on mot time??

Am going to keep it looking standard but maybe just a little tuning.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

No need for a cat on a 90/91 car

Moley

iTrader: (9)

I see from your profile you are in Haywards Heath...... have a look at www.v-tuning.com (they are in Crawley)

I believe the do a chip and change an inlet pipe to get close to 170bhp+ from the 16v lump

Turbo Dave

Nice one just 5 mins from me
Makes a change i normaly have to travel miles for that sort of thing.

I think its the digital dash thats swinging it my way

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

I used to have the same car with the full leather Recaro's but mine was a limited edition in Bordoux (S!hite spellin) Red, only 250 of them made on a H plate.
Great car although the chassis was a bit wayward and used to torque steer a fair bit, i used to carry a fuel pump relay in the glove box as well as i had 4 of them go in 2 years, you'd be happily driving along and then NOTHING!! Bit of a pain back in the day when there was no Mobile phones and manys a time i had to pull over and either knock on someones door and ask to use the phone so i could get towed back. Still a great car and from what i remember it did 0-100 MPH in 19.5 seconds

Robert Rosario

I had two, one white 8V on a C plate, and another 8V on a E plate.

I just loved the digital dash at the time (thought I was Michael Knight), and the interior, as my E plate seats were superbly comfortable back then. Sold my E plate to get a 205 GTI in Miami Blue (another one I wish I had kept!).

Always wanted a 16V in black, but rare as hens teeth even then, and now I assume that it would be worse. GSI 16V's in red are nice though. I do remember the bordeaux red ones, think they had BBS wheels too, and the seats had some yellow trim on them if I remember.

Get one, and put some pictures up so we can re-live the "good old days".

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Yep BBS Multispoke alloys, mine had plain black leather Recaro's with 2 lumber supports and a bit that u could pull out if u had long legs it even had a little bagde on the back of a leather symbol next to the GTE badge just incase u forgot u had leather!!

gingerboy

Remember the Fuel pump relays acting up very well, wasn't just the astras but also cav's. The relays used to overheat and trip out which was a right pain as BODSKI points out, I believe that the later relays still available from VX and other outlets were modified and fixed the issue.

This thread has got me seriously wanting another one now - but the trouble is would i spend a fortune restoring whatever I bought to A1 condition.

Paul

Moley

iTrader: (9)

http://www.v-tuning.com/Astra.htm

The white GSI is my old one, and the white GTE is my friends 330bhp monster!!!

Mike123

I had a 16v too too for about 3 years - best hot hatch I had. Know what you mean gingerboy about the magazines initial reviews - people forget about the revisons that were made after a year or so. Mine was a G-reg. Only problem I thought they had was being under-tyred so i put 195 F1s on mine on 15" ( like the German spec Opels had ) and it was superb. Mostly people who have never driven one hard talking drivel on the handling front.

If you can find a nice 16v one get it but I reckon you'll have a tough search.

Brendan Hughes

Where's astraboy?

marklemac

ah, the good 'ol GTE.

I had a Burgundy 8v and loved it to bits. Only wanted it for the dash I had it superchipped, exhaust, FSE valve and air filter. Loved it.... and it was a company car. Then my boss got a 16v in Red. I was gutted....

But he didn't like it much, so he passed it down to me. what a different car. so much more refined and more power.... so I chipped that too, and did the exhaust etc.....

mmmm, this thread makes me want to go out and buy another !

But yes, do watch out for the pourous heads, we had another 2 GTE's in the fleet, and both of them went... and it was expensive to fix back then. Ive no idea how much it would cost now to sort....

gingerboy

Before his time Brendan, plus no mention of VXR and Astra in the same sentence .

Now I've blown it, just mentioned them both in the same sentence .

Paul

Brendan Hughes

Are we thinking of the same person? He originally had one of these with NOS, hence the moniker, but sold it a year or two ago IIRC.

gingerboy

If thats the case I am in the wrong, I may be confusing him with somebody else.

GTE + NOS sounds very scary indeed!!

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Had a mkII but alway's had a soft spot for the mkI's. A mate had a black one when I was running about in a 1.3 escort. Not that I was jealous.

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

My second ever car was a Red Mk1 GTE, the only car i've ever crashed (actually went head on with a VW polo that pulled out of a farm yard then flew across the road and took a telegraph pole out) i'd only had it 2 weeks but from what i remember they were fun filled

wormeo

i had mk1 gte as first car loved it ... then mk2 8v , then gsi 16v and a few 16v gtes for the engines for my gsi ...... i liked the gsi the best i dont think they look thier age either they are a reasonably cheap price now if you look in the right places .... of course all the astra come with rusty back arches standard ...