Opel Astra J sedan - Quick Look

After three months of ownership with very little driving due to "the situation" I take a quick look at my 2015 Astra J 1.6 Turbo (top spec Cosmo trim - lekker!) and some of it's traits and functions (you thought I'd say quirks and features?). This video was inspired by VWestlife who did a 3 year video on his Jetta - the direct competitor of this car.

[@Szarko32c]

I have an Executive (same as Cosmo) sedan with manual parking break and it got 3 cup holders in the front. The variants with electronic break have one cup and a tray instead. Also in my Astra door handles have chrome cover, which is rare, but I don't have oprionals fenders that look really cool.Astra had really long list of options, yet it could also be very cheap. They price range could rise around 130% from basic to high end.

[@wynandscheepers4254]

Great car even better narration!

[@keithnewton8981]

Your car has the same two cup holder just they are covered same armrest issue in buick.

[@remofebruary6152]

Hi Paul, Do you still own your Astra?

[@Rouxenator]

Sure do, about to roll over to 60,000km on the odo. Did a recent 400km road trip and got a fuel average of 7.4l/100km. Did a timing belt service this year as well since the car is now 7 years old.

[@phumlanishongwe1489]

Hi, I have the exact same car. Where can I get mud flaps from?

[@Rouxenator]

I have stock GM ones fitted. So maybe check with your local dealer? Or check eBay since there are a couple of Vauxhall sellers on their and the parts fit Opel.

[@phumlanishongwe1489]

Thanks.

[@Player_-lu5kh]

What you can sell about the acceleration and flexibility ? And noise at around 140km/h or 87mph

[@Rouxenator]

Check out my acceleration video on this car, the noise at 140km/h is acceptable even with side winds.

[@Player_-lu5kh]

@@Rouxenator Thx, looks enoguht for normal drive. I can't find any special information about rpm at some speeds. Can you tell me something? Is it m32?

[@Rouxenator]

@@Player_-lu5kh yes from what I could find out it is the M32 gearbox.

[@Player_-lu5kh]

@@Rouxenator Ok so what you can tell about the rpms for example at 90/100 120 140 and maybe 160?

[@Rouxenator]

@@Player_-lu5kh in 6th gear, 3000rpm at 130km/h and 4500rpm at 190km/h.

[@mihaiandrei244]

Hi, the wheels are 5x105? Thank you

[@Rouxenator]

5x115

[@miacullum5235]

In love

[@stefansubotic1173]

Does it have Bluetooth?

[@Rouxenator]

Yes, very good Bluetooth.

[@Negotiator_ZA]

Hi. So tell me, its a year and a few months later. Do you still own it and has your opinion change about the Opel?

[@Rouxenator]

Glad you asked. The car is now almost at 50,000km and I thoroughly enjoy each day. I recently upgraded the stock plastic 5.25" GM speakers to Kicker 6.5" units and the audio is much improved. The performance is still good, I love to floor it at each chance I get. Shifting through the gears is a pleasure. Still highly recommended and a rather unique car on SA roads.

[@aashutoshbhagat2677]

Does it have cruise control and reverse parking camera?

[@Rouxenator]

Cruise control, yes. Reverse camera, no, but it does have park distance control.

[@aashutoshbhagat2677]

@@Rouxenator ok how does Park distance control work? And BTW which country and city are you from ?

[@Rouxenator]

@@aashutoshbhagat2677 the PDC works OK, not as nice as what I had in my Peugeot, but sufficient. This is a South African spec car from Cape Town.

[@aashutoshbhagat2677]

@@Rouxenator I have always heard that people love Opel Brand in South Africa the most . They are one of the most leading automobile manufacturers in SA .is it true? Because we had Opel Astra F sedan in India from 1996 to 2003 , one of my favourite cars from my childhood❤😍 along with mitsubishi Lancer . We could have gotten a used Astra in 2008/09 but my father rejected it as it had poor fuel economy and opel was long gone from our country in 2006 thanks to GM and their pathetic after sales service which caused them to exit India in 2017 altogether. So I never got to drive the Astra but I am really happy to see it in its current form, it looks beautiful and that C-pillar somehow reminds me of the old Astra F sedan. It just looks premium than it is . How is the build quality and How is the handling characteristics of the car in city and Highways or twisties for instance? And yes most importantly is the mileage good or is it still it's achillees heel?

[@Rouxenator]

@@aashutoshbhagat2677 here in South Africa we had some insane locally built Opels, check out the Cars.co.za youtube channel for that. Both Astra E and F we had mad local versions. The ones I have are more in line with international spec. Lately they have been imported by Isuzu and in future be Peugeot. Sadly GMSA closed down many years ago.

[@spartanlion2819]

Did your M32 gearbox cause you any trouble yet?

[@Rouxenator]

Nope, still going strong, and I drive it hard.

[@spartanlion2819]

@@RouxenatorGood to hear. Bought last year exactly the same one and found out afterwards that the gearbox on those is sometimes problematic. Nice video, greetings from Greece.

[@remofebruary6152]

Just a quick question, does your management light comes on just before service due?

[@Rouxenator]

Nope, if you go into the "fuel life" menu it will show you the % of how far you are to your next service. If any alert shows before you hit 3% you have a problem. If you feel a miss fire / loss of power it could be a coil pack. I had to replace the coil pack on this car (and my 2010 Corsa D before it). Common problem with Delphi coil packs.

[@remofebruary6152]

Understood yes, I just received my car back from service on 105k. However the light came on again. Not sure what the problem could be. They cleared all error codes

[@remofebruary6152]

My apologies for disturbing you

[@Rouxenator]

@@remofebruary6152 maybe do a scan for error codes and see what comes up. I recall many years ago with an Astra G it showed a check engine light right after a major service. Then the next day it was gone. I called the service center about it and they confirmed the engine bay was steam cleaned. I guess it was due to vapor in a sensor that dried out. But still, with a decent scan app check the codes and based on that you can decide how to proceed.

[@Rouxenator]

@@remofebruary6152 no problem at all. I like to help where I can.

[@invadersurreal]

Guess your kid is going to have to quit smoking

[@MyerShift7]

Can't believe the ugly face GM gave this in the United States for Buick (Verano), yet they left the Insignia (Regal) virtually untouched. So many reasons to dislike GM.

[@Rouxenator]

They should have left the styling as is, like they did with the predecessor the Saturn Astra.