Anyone like Mk2 Astras?

Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:34 pm

Nah, series 1 is more special, more valuable and more fun!

Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:20 pm

Alex wrote:Wasnt the mk2 astra the most stolen car in the 90's ?

yes due to the stupid ignition design by Vauxhall these things could easily be "black boxed"

I used to look after a fleet of 16, 90/91 Astras for a local textile company they spent far more on recovery and new lock sets/glass than servicing !!

it was almost every week that I had collect one from the police impound

Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:35 am

I would have preferred an RS1600i

Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:22 am

e30kev wrote:I would have preferred an RS1600i

Now we're talking! I love them! Awesome homologation special just like the series 1. Rhd versions brakes were a bit dodgy though due to some over complicated brake linkage specific to that model and different to all other rhd escorts.

Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:36 pm

Sorry - CVH versus Red Top...........there's only one winner. It's ironic that the 16v Astra head was a Cosworth design.

I had a black RS1600i back in 1989. The brakes were diabolical but better after fitting the Ford reinforcing bulkhead plate. It looked heroic and had great wheels/seats/steering wheel but the XR3i was a batter all rounder really. The 16i had a close ratio box but a stupidly tall final drive and it was a bit twitchy. The Mark 1 Astra GTE was a better car that either but somehow a bit hard to love.

Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:39 pm

Andyboy wrote:Sorry - CVH versus Red Top...........there's only one winner. It's ironic that the 16v Astra head was a Cosworth design.

Not all of them were, the red tops with cosworth heads were very rare, although everyone with a redtop used to claim theres was a cosworth jobby.

If it was a costworh head it had a stamp on it that said "COSCAST"

Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:40 pm

It was a Cosworth design. Cosworth only cast the early ones before GM took it over.

Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:46 pm

Andyboy wrote:It was a Cosworth design. Cosworth only cast the early ones before GM took it over.

It may have been based on a Cosworth design but the non coscast heads were a world apart from the Cosworth ones.

GM wrecked all of Cosworths design by putting there own little tweaks in place and IIRC the non coscast heads were porous and also much more prone to cracking

Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:03 pm

The GM heads replaced the Coscast ones in 1992 after the Astra Mark 11 GTE (the car under discussion here) ceased production.

Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:26 pm

Andyboy wrote:The GM heads replaced the Coscast ones in 1992 after the Astra Mark 11 GTE (the car under discussion here) ceased production.

Taking about the mk2 ceasing production, the mk3 ash tray GSi was incredibly quick too but never seemed to attract the same cult status as the mk2, both handled equally as bad

Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:00 pm

My old GSi..

Can't find any pics of my Valver..

Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:04 pm

Jhonno wrote:My old GSi..

Can't find any pics of my Valver..

I do quite like the look of the mk3 GSi for some reason, you dont see many around these days, cant remember the last time i saw a GSI, must have all been wrapped around a lamp post or tree lol

Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:05 pm

The handling was a bit floppy but nothing a decent set of shocks couldn't fix. The GM ones were absolute rubbish.

Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:08 pm

I was running Koni's all round on mine, and it handled pretty well tbh..

Sun Dec 11, 2011 3:32 pm

£150 per ton, but even the Chinese are not too keen !

Sun Dec 11, 2011 5:32 pm

e30kev wrote:I would have preferred an RS1600i

I ran the GTE and a RS1600I at the same time.The RS was the car that got driven the most despite the GTE being only 2-3 years old!

Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:07 pm

A mate ran an RS1600i back in the day, it ran better once he binned the twin coils ignition system for the XR3i set up..... A move thats probably frowned upon nowadays...

Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:38 pm

Low_E30 wrote:A mate ran an RS1600i back in the day, it ran better once he binned the twin coils ignition system for the XR3i set up..... A move thats probably frowned upon nowadays...

TBH,i frowned upon it back then! Had to be OEM for me! Never had any trouble with the twin coils at all and it got used in all weathers day and night. Every other car i saw already had been converted though and the owners said the same as you...it ran better.

Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:25 pm

The 16v gte was one of those cars to have back in the late 80's.

It had the rs turbo beat with its sub 8 second 0-60 time, so was comparable in performance to the more expensive 325i. Back then you could get away with selling a car with a poor chassis, as marketing was all about the straight line speed.

Anyone remember the magazine adds for the maestro turbo?

Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:47 pm

Maestro turbo!

The Astra may have been a touch quicker with is 150bhp? against the RST's 132bhp but a chip and a -31 actuator would and did sort that.

Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:01 pm

156bhp..

Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:00 pm

bss325i wrote:Maestro turbo!

Yep.

Horrible looking things with that tickford bodykit, but the marketing for that car was purely based on the 6.9 second 0-60 time. "faster than a ferrari, faster than a porsche" they said lol.

People used to aspire the whole gti thing in the early 80's, but later on in that decade it was all about the 'turbo' or the '16v'.

Ive never owned a gte but remember staying at a b+b up near york back in 1991 with my parents. The owner of the place had a new 16v and described it as an animal.

Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:12 pm

Fiat used that sort of advertising for the Uno Turbo IIRC.

They were horrid pieces of scrap as well

Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:33 pm

My old man bought a brand new F plate 8v when I was 3, one of my earliest memories is seeing 137 on the digi clocks. Nowadays you would be shot for doin 137 with a 3 year old on board! I used to help him wash it every weekend without fail. It got stolen twice, once from aldermastern, found in Southampton, 2nd time stolen from Scarborough, found in Liverpool. He got it back both times but sold it as he said it just felt horrible now.

I'm a ford guy, still own a saff, but I'd rather own one of these now than a series 2. They are shite.

Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:54 pm

My friend had a seriously cool Astra (mk3 I think) in the 90's. Courtnays did a turbo conversion before you could buy a LET and grafted on a Cavalier floor plan so it was 4wd. Was featured in Max Power back in the day when it was a respectable magazine and was even on their video with much mocking of our 40mph speed limits. Was around 300hp iirc.

He also had a Nova before that that was either the first, or one of the first Nova's to receive a red top. It's still floating around but minus all the epic bits it once had.

Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:28 pm

I drove a modded Astra VXR a while back with an engine conversion by a place called Regal or something. It had about 300 bhp and was absolutely stunning. So quick, just effortlessly fast and the chassis was bang on.
The more I think about it, the more I think Vauxhall stuff was/is better than Ford. The chassis issues were easily sorted and the engines were just stonking. The 2.0i 8v was a great engine in the Chavalier.

The RS1600i twin coils were crap. Ford did a conversion kit with a Bosch orange cap distributor and mine got that. Even in 1989 the exhaust was about £600 from Ford and because of the weird rear anti roll bar they had, a '3i system wouldn't fit.

Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:43 pm

Andyboy wrote:the engines were just stonking. The 2.0i 8v was a great engine in the Chavalier.

Bullet proof i think you mean andy
I had the cambelt go on my 8v at close on a ton
Recovered home
In under a hour , New cambelt
Puff of smoke and all was good
Stonking engines indeed

I had a maestro and a monty turbo then later a tomcat turbo (16v turbo) 200 bhp and 155mph standard in a rover

Mine had a bit of work as the previous mg`s by motobuild
Believe it was limited by the gearbox and topped out about 168mph .... Insane
This is what the maestro guys use nowadays
Nearly 170mph in a maestro , Balls the size of an elephant !

Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:09 pm

Jeepers. 165 in a sierra is bad enough! Funnily enough I regularly see a maestro diesel cruising around my area with an oap pilot. Strangly, it's a 51 plate?

Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:22 pm

bss325i wrote:Maestro turbo!

The Astra may have been a touch quicker with is 150bhp? against the RST's 132bhp but a chip and a -31 actuator would and did sort that.

A phase1 5 GTT would sort all of them out

Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:12 am

MattTheHat325 wrote:Jeepers. 165 in a sierra is bad enough! Funnily enough I regularly see a maestro diesel cruising around my area with an oap pilot. Strangly, it's a 51 plate?

That will be a 'Ledbury' ................

Google 'Ledbury maestro' if you dont believe me for the full sorry tale !

Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:19 am

pacerpete wrote:
MattTheHat325 wrote:Jeepers. 165 in a sierra is bad enough! Funnily enough I regularly see a maestro diesel cruising around my area with an oap pilot. Strangly, it's a 51 plate?

That will be a 'Ledbury' ................

Google 'Ledbury maestro' if you dont believe me for the full sorry tale !

There were some Chinese versions to according to wiki!

Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:09 am

E30BeemerLad wrote:
bss325i wrote:Maestro turbo!

The Astra may have been a touch quicker with is 150bhp? against the RST's 132bhp but a chip and a -31 actuator would and did sort that.
A phase1 5 GTT would sort all of them out

Wash your mouth out Lee

Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:29 am

Andyboy wrote:The more I think about it, the more I think Vauxhall stuff was/is better than Ford. The chassis issues were easily sorted and the engines were just stonking. The 2.0i 8v was a great engine in the Chavalier.

Have to agree with this - despite being a massive fan of certain blue oval wearing turds, I've owned a lot more Vauxhalls because when I looked at the Ford "mid market" equivalent it was usually cack !

I had a Mk2 Cavalier SRi because there wasnt really a Ford equivalent - the 2.0i Sierra didnt come with Recaro seats and the XR3i wasnt as pokey

The Astra SRi and 8v GTE were much better cars than the XR3i and I've still got a soft spot for the Mk3 Cavalier SRi - great seats, quick, good handling, sporty looking - the non RS Sierra was a dinosaur in comparison.

I do find myself now looking at the 150bhp Diesel Vectra SRi as a replacement for the Mondeo daily

- because Ford don't seem to have an equivalent model with all the Sports bits that can be bought for similar money - the Zetec S just doesnt have the appeal and the ST's are just too expensive.

Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:52 am

capri_rob wrote:
I do find myself now looking at the 150bhp Diesel Vectra SRi as a replacement for the Mondeo daily - because Ford don't seem to have an equivalent model with all the Sports bits that can be bought for similar money - the Zetec S just doesnt have the appeal and the ST's are just too expensive.

If you're on about the Vectra C (2002 on), they're a bit prone to electrical issues. Good cars though, and so cheap.

Tue Dec 13, 2011 10:32 am

Andyboy wrote:
capri_rob wrote:
I do find myself now looking at the 150bhp Diesel Vectra SRi as a replacement for the Mondeo daily - because Ford don't seem to have an equivalent model with all the Sports bits that can be bought for similar money - the Zetec S just doesnt have the appeal and the ST's are just too expensive.
If you're on about the Vectra C (2002 on), they're a bit prone to electrical issues. Good cars though, and so cheap.

Yep - I reckon £2 - £2.5k should be enough to buy a very good sub 100k on a 54 plate or newer with the 150bhp donk and 6 speed box - the SRI's seem to be very well specced as standard too. A lot of car for the money.

I'd like a 320d Touring really but for that sort of money the ones out there will be much older, have been to the moon and back and will have definately have issues.