New wheels. Shit or shite?

[Timewaster]

I've bought another cheap car, having broken my own £100 max rule.Question is, shit or shite?SHIT:Its a DISastra Estate MK3Its a petrolSHITE:176000 milesFront seats are differrent colours1 wheel arch was fillered by Ray Charles£250 with 5 months tax & test. I couldn't turn it down.Got some work to do on the house and garden come the spring and it will save me hiring a skip! Pictures to follow when I a) Take some. Work out how to post them!

[mk2_craig]

I hope you'll forgive me for being less than amazed about what a bargain that is, but I reckon that's overpriced by at least £200.

[marinast]

What engine size is your Ashtray?If it's a 1.4 then that milage is good going. The ones to go for are the diesel versions which I believe use Izuzu units and last forever. Fairly nippy as well....

[Timewaster]

I hope you'll forgive me for being less than amazed about what a bargain that is, but I reckon that's overpriced by at least £200.

I quite agree, but have you tried to buy a cheap car lately?Everything seems to end up on ebay for £500I'm quietly confident I'll get my money back when I've finished abusing it.

[mk2_craig]

Good for you! What year is it?

[pogweasel]

If it's a 1.4 then that milage is good going.

O RLY?My 1.4 had done over 170k when I sold it, still drove like new.

[Timewaster]

This one is an N plate 1600 8v. I was offered an L reg Isuzu diesel one but it had holy sills and I couldn't be arsed with the work.That had done 240k!

[Torsten2001]

If it's a 1.4 then that milage is good going.

O RLY?My 1.4 had done over 170k when I sold it, still drove like new.

It was probably a shite drive from new! I missed this by £2http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... AA:GB:1123

[pogweasel]

If it's a 1.4 then that milage is good going.

O RLY?My 1.4 had done over 170k when I sold it, still drove like new.

It was probably a shite drive from new!

Quite nice actually. Dog slow, but quiet, comfortable and very robust. We had a 1.6 8v as well for 'Er Indoors, and while that had more bells and whistles on it was no-where near as good as the boggo one.

[outlaw118]

Mines an 1800 16V, with 145k on it, N plate will easily out-pull my old mans 2.0 Fockus on a 53 plate.I love it!!

[Mike D]

Mines an 1800 16V, with 145k on it, N plate will easily out-pull my old mans 2.0 Fockus on a 53 plate.

I love it!!

I had an 1800 16v sport a few years back. It was an awesome thing, could be filled with tat and went like the absolute clappers.

The gearbox failed at 58K though, and it used to burn oil like it was going out of fashion. I px'ed it after 5 months... I'd have another in a shot mind. I miss that car lots!

 

I now have a 1.7 isuzu td, and it is quality.

[pogweasel]

Mk3 > pwns > mk4I am developing a serious hatred of my Mk4 van. The steering is totally over-assisted and has absolutely no "feel" to it whatsoever. Verges on being dangerous IMO. The Mk3's I've experienced were all nicely responsive, and had far more grip than the later ones. I'm getting a new van in spring, so I don;t have to endure it that long.... but the astra is the only car-derived van you can buy now that is long but not tall. Don't want a berlingo/connect/kangoo as it's wasted space, don't want a fiesta/206/whatever as they are too short. What I really want is a new land rover, but the running costs are savage, so that ain't gonna happen.

[pandamonium]

I had a MK4 as a company car, was for ever in and out the garage, especially when I missed 4th on a downchange and hit 2nd at 60mph. Hole in bottom of engine as crankshaft exited. Drove a mk3 once though(2.0 GSI) and found it felt a lot more screwed together.

[Milford Cubicle]

Appallingly shit. I had a '92 Astra 1.7td for a couple of days and it was miserable to drive and to be in.

[wuvvum]

I've only ever owned one Mk3 Astra - £80-worth of 1.4 LS estate. It wasn't that bad of an old thing - the steering was disastrously heavy and it wasn't the last word in handling prowess, but it was well built and a lot better to drive than a Mk5 Escort.

[r.welfare]

Cheap stuff can still be found as Torsten proves, but it's difficult. Given the bone man gave me £60 for my (very) dead R800 with minimal haggling upwards by myself, most vaguely roadworthy stuff on eBay is going to do well unless listed by a cretin, with the cheapy-cheapy stuff just getting bought to weigh in. And there's nothing on Autotrader with MOT under £400 these days it seems. Perhaps good old-fashioned shop window ads are the way forward for tat bargains...So I would say seems like an OK deal to me - that's 5 days of Transit hire from Hertz or whoever as the alternative. Interestingly although I've never driven a Mk3 Astra I did drive a Mk4 (03 plate 1.6) last month as a courtesy car from the garage, and I concur with Pog's comments - nasty to drive. A Mk1 Focus owns a Mk4 Astra easily.

[wuvvum]

Well my silver R9 was £90 with five months' tax and a month's rent, so there are still cheapies out there if you look for 'em. Not nearly as many as there were this time last year though...

[r.welfare]

'Twas an eBay job I assume? If it was, and it was listed in Cars rather than Parts, or Brochures or Floormats, then give yourself an extra pat on the back - that's value motoring!I would counter that an R9, lovely though it is, is less likely to float the boat of the average-motorist-on-a-budget than a Mk3 Ashtray estate, which is why I still don't think tontops has done too badly

[Timewaster]

'Twas an eBay job I assume? If it was, and it was listed in Cars rather than Parts, or Brochures or Floormats, then give yourself an extra pat on the back - that's value motoring!I would counter that an R9, lovely though it is, is less likely to float the boat of the average-motorist-on-a-budget than a Mk3 Ashtray estate, which is why I still don't think tontops has done too badly

Why thank you! It does seem to be shit, but in the spirit of shite!I would much rather have had a Renner 12 estate or something, but it came along at the right time as I have lost my work van privilages.It came from a guy at work incidently. Im only the 4th owner. His mother in law was the second when it was 3 yrs old - so I presume it was fleet before that. (Avis probably!)

[r.welfare]

Well if it's been 'family owned' for so long, I would assume it's been well maintained. If so, then I reckon you've done even better!My L-reg 405 TD estate cost £250 with a year's MOT and 6 months' tax from another forum, about six weeks ago. I think I've done well overall, downsides are a complete lack of history (hence I'll need to spend the purchase price to get the cambelt, tensioner and waterpump changed for piece of mind), 248k miles, a dented offside front wing and the rear doors are a different colour. So out with the paint gun in the spring...Oddly enough despite the stratospheric mileage the gearchange is much tighter than that in my saloon. Go figure.

[Torsten2001]

I still get offered so much cheap shite but I do have space and financial constraints at the mo so I'm trying to move on a few bits before I go mad again!

[Torsten2001]

actually, saying that I was given a Nissan Primera and BMW 520 on Saturday, forgot!

[r.welfare]

Your reputation obviously preceedes you! Where do all these motors appear from?Tell me more about these new arrivals - is the 520 an old (pre-injection)job?

[Torsten2001]

The 520 is a 1992 I think, no docs, got the keys and it started first go, stuck in a lock up for ages, same with the Primera, in lock up since April 2006, started first go! Might use the 520, didn't even look under the bonnet but both sound good with no rust!

[Albert Ross]

I still drive daily the 50 quid shitter Disatra Inastate that I bought on Star Wars Day (May the 4th) in 2006....Isuzu Td (tweaked to about 30% more power, spins the fronts in 3rd on a damp road) It's had a replacement used (free) alternator as the original set on fire (oil from the vac pump bypassed the seal and hit the brushes) 2 rear shocks and 1 rear spring. (I carry weight) Oh, and a pair of track rod ends due to me being a little over enthusiastic with the gas axe whilst attempting to free it all up for tracking..............and it still returns approx 40 mpg if not pushed, but will reach 115 on a closed private road!!!!! (when empty though) 156000 miles, it's barely run in, and starts every morning first crack!Never had a 5 door hatch, but had the 1.4 saloon (bought for 30 quid, sold for 450 and exported to Poland!) a 3 door that got stolen!!!, and now waiting for a cheap ragtop to complete the set of shite!Enjoy it.........