my daughter wants your help,

Is that the European model? 2lt? Not sure if its the same as the one my old man had but he had a gearbox and an engine go before 75k. Luckily under warranty. If not ignore the reply lol.

just get 3 quotes to fit a timing belt, even try a holden dealer , you will have your answer. regards alan

My wife has an Astra and it has been very reliable. It has 130k on it and we have no plans to replace it at this stage. It does not get regularly serviced but still goes and goes.

I *think* $11k is a bit pricey, however. We were only offered $7k as a trade in a while back when we were looking at some alternatives.

Jack

Peter D,

I don't have any experience with Astras but use the link below to check out the price at least

Used car prices

Make sure it isnt the 1.6 , if it is stay away from it . Are getting it private sale dealer ? T let you know what it's worth , yo uneed to give us more details about the vehicle

Same thread, different subject:
What do members think is a good second hand car for young girls.
I bought my daughter an '86 Corolla a few years back, and low and behold the thing is still going, after the treatment she gives it I would give them a thumbs up to anyone.

There are good astra's and bad ones, but all of them can be expensive to fix.

If it was my daughter I would steer her towards a Toyota, not the most exciting car but if looked after will go and go.

Parts are fairly cheap, with plenty of alternate supply sources other than Toyota.

$11,000 also sounds too expensive for a six year old car.

Hope it works out fine for her.

Regards

Col Tigwell

My son got a second hand manual Corolla about 4 years ago. It had 130K on the clock when he got it. It was an ex courier vehicle. Now has about 250K. He drives it pretty hard and rarely services it. Still going strong. Amazing!

Dont know much abotu the Astras but there seem to be a lot of small cars advertised with 5 year warranties brand new for around the $13,000 or so mark.

Before forking out $11k for a 6 year old car with no warranty and not certain of history have a very close look at ehat is available brand new and compare the features etc and the peace of mind the 5 year or 3 year warranty should bring.

It doesnt take much to be wrng with it for the repair bill to be huge, espically if parts are hard to come by now.

ww.Carsales.com.au is a good place to ahve a look if you havent already done so.

If all of above already repeats your own logic then sorry otherwise good luck.

My kids 1st car has been a 200 series volvo (two so far, one each), built like a brick outhouse, absorbed a horrendous hammering from the young bloke, just kept going, his mates gave him a hard time at first but when they started going out as a group or away up the coast for the weekend they always took the volvo as it was safe and bige enough to cart four with the camping gear.
They are cheap too and parts are freely available.

The wife bought an 82 Astra in 88 , sold to parents in 89 , is still on the road with 496,000 klm , has travelled from Brisbane to every state and the N.T. , just keeps on going ..

to all, thank you all for your input, am sorry i never answered last night but got called away, i have passed on all comments and she has got some herself and it looks like she is going to look towards a new car with a warranty for a a little bit more and piece of mind, good idea i thought. thanks again everyone.
peter d

I would be looking at the new vehicle market or even better, the auctions with 40000km old corollas, less than 18 months old....
Andrew

peter d
I would be interested to hear what you end up getting, I prefer to hear from other peoples experiences, rather than the bs they put in the motoring sections of newspapers about used cars.
Thanxs

I've been in the same situation. We have been very happy with the N15 Nissan Pulsars (1996-2000). They usually sell for $7-12k. We have three in the family - 2 daughters and my wife.

We like them because they are dirt cheap on fuel; have a perky 86Kw motor; are dead reliable; very cheap to service; no timing belt to stuff up; and all three of our vehicles have drivers airbags. They are also all 4 doors, and you can get them in a nice hatch or a boring looking sedan.

Cheers
Phil