Top Gear Feb 98 Geneva Motor Show Vauxhall Astra

Top Gear Feb 98 Geneva Motor Show Vauxhall Astra

[@awooly77]

24 years later, still loads on the road!! Clearly the best Astra ever made and the 8v engines bullet proof. 👍🏻🙂

[@canon160]

I have the 1998 Astra g 1.6 liter, owned it for 9 years. Bought it when I was 21 years old for 1200€. It is my first car. For a 24 year old car, it is still going strong. Where I live they salt the roads in winter, and the salt has done some damage . But it refuses to give in xD Its engine fails because the owners don't change the oil when it's needed. The car engine lasts perfectly well when maintained. My mother recently bought a used 2003 model (700€). Runs like new. You can't go wrong buying a 2000-2005 Astra. The cost of the parts for fixing the car is so low, that it is worth it. Even the most expensive repairs are under 500€. For me it is worth more than a fancy this year's flagship model, that's electric everything starts to malfunction in 1~2 years and costs more than my car to fix. When buying one. If the engine makes a clicking sound (that's from the neglected oil change), find a new one. It works, it may work for a really long time too, but to stay safe find one that is silent. For me, it's funny to see this video's so-called Opel/Vauxhall competition is no longer on the road xD. At least I haven't seen them for 5 or so years now.

[@ST0219.]

I have one too… 1998 astra 1.6. Strong car

[@frisco-2.0]

Still today the Most beautiful mid-class car besides the Opel Kadett E/ Vauxhall Astra MK2!

[@chrishart8548]

Wood interior trim and wheel trims that can't be right !

[@Luton-Mick]

I had a 2.0 dti and could hold it's own with a useful turn of speed and 60+mpg on the run but alas my ear drums could take no more and sold it.

[@filipechm]

GM still selling a face lifted version of Astra in Brazil, great car !

[@garywinterbottom6073]

Had the astra sports 1.7cdti it was 12 years old when I bought it but pulled well and very good on diesel body solid but had electrical gremlins so got shut after a year.

[@jameswallace7091]

Great little cars

[@sorihhh]

i have an astra

[@CheapBastard1988]

Actually seems like a fair review to me.

[@DrClaw77]

@runforit420 I thought that the 4-door Cobalt looked a little too much like this Astra. I think the USA clung too tightly to the old platforms (and cost-cutting, rubbish interior material and suspensions) not just at GM, but Ford (see how long that C170 Focus has stuck around). You're right though. Engines alone put the Cobalt well above the J-Car Cavalier/Sunfire.

[@shadowblade9385]

You're right on this. If you caught an Opel Astra parked next to a Cobalt like I saw on an American military base in Germany. Their bodies are practically the same. You could swap the doors, and the body/fender lines all match! I even bought an Astra over there.

[@easydrive3662]

Mk1 focus was always the better car in every way

[@roberttucker805]

Ugliest Ford since the ka. The dash was a mess.

[@mattyg267]

Funny thing was, it actually wasn't... it may of looked better in 1998 but the astra was always the better built and more solid car, and arguably, has aged better than the focus.

[@osamaFXX]

@jjintheuk Now in 2012... they are !

[@MAJSU2008]

BOSKA !!!

[@terrificspokesman7416]

The Focus rusts alot more than the Astra

[@chrishart8548]

I kept my focus clean and it never got any rust. I did see some with rust though. The golf probably rusts just as bad as the focus. Seen some golf's where the whole front wing is gone and the sills

[@terrificspokesman7416]

@@chrishart8548 golf's also rust. I was just saying that the rust protection on the Astra is better. Though the petrol engines in the Focus are better than the petrols in the Astra. I don't really know about the diesels.

[@chrishart8548]

@@terrificspokesman7416 with most vauxhalls it was the engine that gave up. Rust wasn't a problem on the mk3 astra either.

[@roberttucker805]

@@chrishart8548 rubbish. The 1.4 1.6 8 valve goes on forever. I have a 1.4 with 177k on the clock and years ago a guy at work notched up 243k in a mk3.

[@matthewking5612]

It's a better car than the Golf or Bravo.

[@miraclmaker]

The golf is a far superior car. How often do you see these Astras. Meanwhile the golf mk4 is still everywhere

[@matthewking5612]

@@miraclmaker The Golf has more of a following, but is more prone to rust.

[@miraclmaker]

@@matthewking5612 I had a mk4 bora, true it was susceptible to rust. But very reliable for a German car

[@orhun20]

hahaha GM is busted :D

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

Did Vauxhall lose their shit over this review as well? :)