Morning all

Time has come to look at a new car - primary use will be comuting (500 miles a week) but I'd like something with at least a little bit of power.

Two contenders really in my eyes are the Audi A3 2.0TDi or Astra 1.9 SRi TDi 150 (would have to have the exterior pack )

Looking on the forums, the Audi turbo issues; sticking actuator, and the so called 'sticky vanes' seem to crop up all too often for me but then these engines also seem to have a reputation of going on for ever and ever.

I like the Astra - I've been out in a friends and it's a nice drive - quick too They just don't seem to have a reputation for being good or bad so I was wondering if anyone had any experience? 65mpg on the motorway sounds good to me though

I'm looking at spending no more than £6k - that means I'm looking at a 55ish Audi or a 57ish Astra.


Opinions welcome

 

Audi TDi = Fastest thing on the road to find the hard shoulder

 

Avoid the Astra. They have horrible issues with the gearboxes and flywheels on the 1.9 CDTi 150. Mine had covered only 32k from brand new and needed a new gearbox and flywheel, and it had been having issues from 18k till they actually found all the issues.

Vectra 1.9 CDTi have a better gearbox so you can get one of those boxes into the Astra I believe, but I just left the marque and got something else. Its just not worth the issues you get on those cars.

Oh, and mine was not the only one, there were three others queued up in the yard with the same issues. One about to get its third gearbox at 100k miles.

 

I had a 1.9CDTi 150 (estate) from new and it wasn't actually bad BUT the dealers were shockingly poor and it had swirl flap failure at 38k miles (under warranty). The dealer was so bad I actually considered doing something naughty but resisted.

But it handled okay, was pretty nippy, cheap to run and quicker than the Audi which seem to attract the worst drivers in the UK.

If it wasn't for the dealers, I'd say worth a look. As it is I will never buy Vx again.

 

Were the seats in the Astra comfortable? Every single Vauxhall I've sat in has had uncomfortable seats.

 

They were okay but I did tend to get aching backs of legs on long drives for some reason. Ours was a "Design" so had half leather seats but I think they were probably the same as the SRi ones? It wasn't a major issue though and it was comfy enough.

To summarise I'd say:

Good
1) Nippy for the running costs (low tax, insurance, etc); at the time they were the fastest 4 pot diesel available. And easily re-mappable to over 200bhp.
2) Estate has a MASSIVE boot for the external size of car (our BM Touring's is a lot smaller) - we slept in it a couple of times!
3) Chassis isn't bad; it can be chucked around with reasonable confidence
4) Good spec for the price; ours had a fair few nice bits
5) Easy to buy cheaply - we got almost £3k off ours and that was brand new and 40% deposit, the rest interest free over 3 years.
6) Not bad looking - I still think the estate and sports hatch look decent

Bad:

1) Tragically bad dashboard with a pointless middle screen - like a very poor mans i-drive but utterly pointless. Many of the dials had numerals hidden from the drivers line of sight
2) Swirl flap failure at 38k miles - if that wasn't under warranty, it would have been bad news. The dealer was so bad that is was still bad news.
3) Eats brake disks - 30k and the front were shot. Even our BM gets 60k from a set.
4) Big appetite for front tyres; and they were fairly expensive ones.
5) The dealers were a disaster. We broke down, "limped" to the dealer in safe mode, my wife was 8 months pregnant, they wouldn't give us a courtesy car or even a lift home (2 miles) so we had to hire one from someone else. They said they'd pay for it then didn't. They damaged to car and tried to get away with it (my eagle eyed missus spotted it just as we were about to drive away) and nearly did. When I complained by email I got a VERY stroppy one back from them. I considered drastic action but managed to resist.
6) They'll always have a poor image. Didn't matter to us but it does to many.
7) Torque steer - you get used to it but it's a bit scary at first. Get into a RWD car and you'll find yourself "correcting" when you don't need to!!

 

Out of the 2, I'd go for the Audi. Better interior, exterior, plus it's in a much nicer classier car.

What about a Golf? I had a Mk5 GT Sport 170TDI. Very good cars.

 

I wouldn't touch a VAG Tdi personally, my 07 plate 2litre TDI Leon needed a new turbo before 40'000 miles.
Would go for a Ford Diesel personally.

 

Vag 2.0 TDI's also suffer from injector, oil pump and DPF failures. I'd aviod.

 

Our California has a VAG TDI motor. Uh oh...

I think this one seems okay and is only used in the T5 van and Amarok pickup.

 

Well, I've owned 2 VAG TDI cars now, and neither have missed a beat.

 

Renaultsport Megane 175 dCI?

 

one that doesn't have a DPF or EGR and youll be fine.

 

330d?? Vauxhall, no thanks, but then audis are in the same boring to drive category, apart from the rs models of course

 

Thanks for the tips gents - still undecided, but I think I need to drive a few of each first and see what my gut feeling is.

Cheers,
Scott.