Another car to the fleet.

[AndyR]

Well I've done it now.

My Astra  G mk4, was starting to sound quite rattly, and although with advice from this forum, it seemed to be getting worse. My main concern was what would happen if the wife was out driving and it died completely? 

So I heard that a nurse at our local doctors surgery was wanting to sell her husbands car due to his deteriorating health. 

The wife and i went and had a look, and after a test drive money was exchanged, and we came away with another Astra G mk4. 

It's 6 months older than our original car, has 204,000 miles on the clock, and full service history from new. It also turned out to be the same colour, silver. The only differences between the two cars are that the new one is a 1.6 16v auto ecotech, and the old car was a 1.6 8v manual. 

We were a bit dubious about being auto, but it is a great car to drive. I have run some injection cleaner through her as she'd been stood for about a month and seemed a bit spluttery on low speeds (30-40 mph). But she's had a good run up to Norwich and back yesterday and today, and seems a lot better.

You are all probably wondering on how much this wonderful beast cost me..............

Well the princely sum of....................£250.00, with 6 months mot too. 

Bargain or what.  Seemed rude not to.  Now every body is happy.

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Absolute bargain Andy!

I always believe that there cannot be too much wrong with a vehicle if it achieved a huge mileage count, it would only have got there if it was reliable and maintained correctly over its life.

For that money I would just keep driving it until it expires but keeping on top of all maintenance to ensure it carries on for many years.

Post up some pics of the two if you want, it would be interesting to see the comparison of the two cars

[AndyR]

I will get some pics of the pair, but other than one having had its wheels painted black, I can't see any differences. They both could do with a good wash, as living in the countryside means lots of farm vehicles leaving loads of mud on the road. 

I have found a slightly annoying problem that I need advice on how to fix.

The bulb behind the temp gauge isn't working, and the blower for the heater only works when turned to 4. 1 through to 3 does not start the blower, but 4 is full bore and blows your hat off. Heater works well with giving out heat, but it would be nice to have a steady blow rather than a full on gale force. I was wondering if this could be a fuse. 

Wife thought the car had a serious problem the other night, hadn't put it into park after turning engine off, and couldn't get key out of ignition. Then realized what she'd done, dropped into park, and out came the key. 

It is a great car to drive, and have done about 300 miles in just over a week, college trips, hospital trips, and xmas shopping trips.