Astra CDTi - Owners view

[mintaka]

G'day Everyone,

Just wanted to start a thread for the owners of the CDTi. I've just received mine yesterday and took it for a run.

It's black and looks great with its alloys. It's certainly more striking than my old 307.

Performance is just incredible. Feels like a 6cyl. It can tickle along in 6th gear pulling 1500 RPM at 80 kph, but put it into 5th and it will run over any hill like it's not there (I live in a hilly part of Aus, so that’s a huge bonus). My old 307 was the 66 kw HDi, so I'm a little frightened of the Astra (but in a good way!). And it handles well, very sure footed and very controlled.

Interior is OK but nothing special, wife thinks seats are hard and I agree. Will see how they feel on a long trip. But almost no bins, and cup holders - Ha! Stereo and speakers are great, and the MP3 player is logical and easy to use once you RTFM.

Only one complaint and it is the only one, the ride. Oh, my god, it's hard. You feel every bump, every bloody one. I'm sure the demo car I drove was not anywhere near this hard. (The 307 had a very nice ride).

Well, that's my not quite first 24 hours of ownership. Hope to here from others in the forum, especially other CDTi owners. Let's tell everybody what diesel power is really about!

Mintaka

Astra CDTi
Manual
Black

[Red AH SRI T]

glad to hear that u are loving the CDTi, it really is a great car, especially in Manual.

The seats are a bit firm at first, but over long distances they are fantastic!!!!

[mintaka]

That's good news with the seats Black AH CDX. I did 60,000 km in 2 years with the 307 and the Astra will do something similar. Lot of time in the seat.

[entice]

I'd start experimenting with tyre pressures...

the 18's on my wagon are nowhere near harsh.. I think the ride is far too soft and discommunicative. I am even contemplating some eibach's or H&R's, or even a decent set of bilsteins...

I guess that it's all relative to what you're use to (last car was a 50mm lowered STI - near no suspension travel), and i also imagine that the CDTi is slightly lower slung, and hence a tad firmer than all others (in manuals?)

[Red AH SRI T]

yes, the manual diesels ride on the "Sports Chassis"

they get lower ride hight and stiffer suspension than the other Astra Hatches, all coupes also sit on this chassis

[NUTTTR]

I test drove one and the biggest complaint i had was that the seats are bad, very. I have a bad back, and it was noticably sore after a few hours. However, the car flies, and drives lovely, which is making me think of changing!

[mintaka]

Thanks for the replies.

You were spot on entice, tire pressures. They were almost 80% above the recommended amounts:eek:! No wonder the thing rode like a skateboard! Have just taken it for a run, and it's much, much better. Still firm (never going to match the 307 in that area) but now I can live with it. Still handles superbly though.

You reckon your 18"s are uncomunitive?!?! My 16"'s are fine to me! The roads around my place are just too bad to have 18" and a real tight suspension. Like you though, it's what your use to. Thanks again for the tip!

[beep beep sri]

could it be that the car is new and it needs to settle in? my sri was harsh at first but after a couple of weeks it was fine. just something to think about

[entice]

glad to help.

In my experience, most dealers stuff up tyre pressures, and stuff up alignment at pre delivery.

My next port of call after run in would be to a decent alignment place...not pedders/beaurepairs or the like, but a decent alignment place.

If you are in Melbourne, I can thoroughly recommend Ralf at TruTrack North Melbourne (Leveson St). My wagon (yes, WAGON) and teh wife's convertible handle so much sharper, and heaps sturdier/less choppy around corners (..feels far more comitted) since they were re-aligned. The final alignment figures are so far off spec it isnt funny.. the amount that toe changes in our cars when the driver is in Vs out is amazing (ie, crappy shocks)

[rjastra]

Only one complaint and it is the only one, the ride. Oh, my god, it's hard. You feel every bump, every bloody one.

Have you go the car in "sport" mode? This supposedly firms up the dampers.

[mintaka]

G'day All,

Just thought I would give you all an update.

I've now had it a full 3 days and it's now got 800 km on it. And it will get a wash tomorrow, price you pay for black paint :(!

Once I adjusted the tire pressures (thanks again entice) it has been riding fine. Still quite stiff, but much more acceptable. I've not noticed any difference with the ride by turning the Sport button on or off. But I have noticed quite a difference in how the car drives with the Sport button on. Throttle response is much sharper, fun up twisty mountain passes, not so much fun in the urban crawl.

But weather you have the Sport button on or off, performance is excellent. I've driven a lot of diesel cars in the UK and this is the most interesting engine I've come across. I can only compare it to the BMW 320d I had for a weekend. Smooth, with a lovely growl from 1800 rpm and useable to the 5000 rpm redline. It really is the best of both worlds. Most diesels will give there all between 1800 to 3500 rpm and after that there is no point. But this thing is as good in that rev range of anything I've driven and, like the BMW you can use other 1500 rpm to the red line. In that, is soo like a 3 to 3.5 litre 6 cyl. When I hammered up a mountain pass this morning I was so impressed, I overtook a huge line of cars and it was easy as. And as for cornering, I'm happy to say that its levels of grip exceed my skill/bravery threshold. I did a few bends at speeds I thought it would wriggle on, but nothing, just went around. I'm not going to push it any faster through those corners, but in the hands of a skilled driver, I'll bet it could do another 10 - 20 kph faster than I did. Even over took a bike!

You can drive gently; leaving it in sixth above 80 kph andyou would never have to change down, for any hill. But stick in fifth, mmmmmm, nice. It's at max torque at 85 kph and can pull to about 200 kph (I calculated that, by the way, haven't done it for real) so it's a real usable 5th gear. And such a lovely gearshift. The 307's gearshift was such a dog, I hope you never have to find out. The Astra is precise, short and quick to use. The irony is that with such a flexible engine, you don't HAVE to shift that much, but it's so much fun to if you do!

Brakes are great (and yes, the ABS works).

I think the ESP is cutting in in first gear. First feels a little flat, but 2nd, 3rd and 4th really kicks you in the back. Not much of a problem really, you never need to use first after your moving off, 2nd will pull from as little as 20 kph.

So, I love this engine. All the feel of a 3 - 3.5 6 cyl, with the traditional diesel massive torque down low, without the limited rev range. And it sounds great, at least to me. Such a change from the 66 Kw 307. And all that for just under 6 l/100 km. This is still a tight engine, what is it going to be like in 10,000 km when it beds in?

Steering is great, and is weighted just a little heavy, just as a sporty car should be.

Black AH CDX was right. Hours in the saddle, and no sore bum, aching back etc. I miss the climate control of the 307. But the MP3 player makes up for that. The 307 was still a nicer place to sit, but there is nothing wrong with the Astra, apart from lack of bins/cup holders (I'm complaining about cup holders, :rolleyes:I'm becoming such as old man)

So, as 'The Prodigy' says, DIESEL POWER!!!

PS, thanks for all the replies.

[shoey85]

so do you still love it?? i have had mine for 6 weeks and its a mad lil car!

my m8 who bought my veccy c had probs keeping up with me round a (special private track) yeah right! with roundabouts and sweeping corners.

this car handles so much better than the veccy c with eyebachs and toyo t1r tyres! and the brakes are better in this cdti as the c had fade towards the end.:clap:

[digifish]

so do you still love it?? i have had mine for 6 weeks and its a mad lil car!

I've had mine for 8 months now and still look forward to driving it every day. I live in the Adelaide Hills so this probably has something to do with it...if I were driving on the flat in a 60 zone all the time I'd probably wonder what all the fuss was about.

The problem is that you can't stretch this cars legs and stay legal in any gear above 3...tonight, for example I let it wind out in 3-4th by the time I looked down, not many seconds, later (4-5?) I was doing 120 in an 80 zone :confused: ...fun while it lasted :D

Interesting how I love going up hills now too....never used to be the case.

digifish

[Mainframe_Module]

just a question to you dieselheads
because ive never driven a manual before

are they harder to stall because they have more power at lower revs?

[EL BURITO]

just a question to you dieselheads
because ive never driven a manual before

are they harder to stall because they have more power at lower revs?
it didnt feel like it wanted to stall and it was easy to find the bite. but i did have to behave when i was driving (wasnt mine)

[dieselhead]

don't think i understand the question... how do you stall it? :)
nah, it is really easy to drive. after you master the clutch, leaving in 2nd or even 3rd is easy as...
done almost 9,000km since mid January. fantastic car, the engine is mad but frugal-what a great combination when fuel price goes north like it does now!

[Mainframe_Module]

isnt diesel more expensive though?

spose you top up less though

meh
i wouldnt mind driving one just to see what its like though, as i said - ive never been near a diesel. though i find it amusing when im at lights and hear what sounds like a truck and look around to see a tiny polo or something rattling away :P

apparently theyve become alot quieter now though...hmm

[lampshade]

As it happens I was down Walkinshaw performance today to order something for the Vxr and had a chat about a customers CDTI which is having some mods, should be fun when it's finished:D .

Think they are starting to notice the AH a bit more

[dieselhead]

What mods, could you please tell? :)
I would change a just few things on mine: the sound system, cuz it simply sucks, the seats-would love some Recaros and would upgrade the brakes-some bad arse Brembos would do. Everything else is just great imho.

[lampshade]

Full Magnex exhaust looked really nice the replacement pre-cat and welds were a work of art and the ecu has been sent to the U.K to have EDS software put on it.

What I dont get is that the Astra is holdens 2nd best selling car after the commadore so why dont the tuners buy the equipment/software to tune them here rather than have all the stuff sent from europe:confused:

[dieselhead]

Tell me about Astra tuners in Oz... I was about to send my ECU to UK so the 888 boys would reflash it...

[lampshade]

Actually thinking about it I'm not sure if it will have EDS put on the ecu, guy told me the company it was sent to so I guessed the software they normally use but no so sure now.

I would say the diesel members cant go any better than the DTUK box, fantastic piece of kit:clap: I would deffo put a full exhaust on the car.

[digifish]

just a question to you dieselheads
because ive never driven a manual before

are they harder to stall because they have more power at lower revs?

It's the torque that makes them harder to stall. The CDTi manual would be a great learners car for that reason...you can drop the clutch on idle and the car just lurches off down the road :)

digifish