Hi from Adelaide!

[dieselhead]

just got registered, my first post here :) great to see Astra has many fans in Oz.
driving a wagon atm, just about to order a diesel hatch...

[mr_sikma]

hey mate welcome ;)

i am in adelaide too!

whats the reason for the diesel?

[dieselhead]

the reason for oil burner? torque, and lots of it! especially after the engine is remaped, to increase from 320Nm to 380-400Nm :)
i had a diesel to test drive a few weekends ago. i belted the poor car through the hills, Pt Wakefield Rd, city... incredible how that engine is pulling in any gear! and after 300km of fast and brutal driving, the economy was 6.4l/100km. in other words V6 like grunt for 1.3L 4 cylinder fuel usage, hehehe. gotta love that when driving over 30,000km/year, don't ya think?

[EL BURITO]

hey mate.
trading in the wagon or keeping both. hope u are getting the diesel in a manuel

[dieselhead]

i will get rid of the wagon. good car but such a slug... no, it wasn't my dreamcar, but there was no other wagon version in december 2005, or other engine options. it had to be auto to get the WAF right ;) but now i'm ready to give up boot space for extra grunt!
sure i'll get the manual diesel! i love changing through the gears, plus the engine is 16v vs 8v in the auto version, with 40Nm and 22kW less for the auto as well.

[PaulyJ]

Welcome to the site, and great to see you're getting the turbo diesel.
Good luck with everything, and post up pics when you get it.

[btm]

welcome mate!

[SRi_Jimbo]

Welcome abord mate!! congrats for when you pick up your new hatch!!

[mintaka]

G'day Mate.

I have owned the CDTi manual now for just over 2 months. In terms of performance you will not be dissapointed.

Overtaking is so bl**dy easy in this thing. You get to 150-160 kph before you know it. As for economy, when the engine frees up you will get more like 5 to 4.8 l/100km in the country. Don't ask me for city economy, I don't do city km's.

The ride is very firm (you will know it when driving on cr*p roads) but the handling is great.

Feels very solid, very well put together. (unlike my previous 307). The only glitches I've had was a false oil light coming on and the cruise control not working now and then. Both problems were fixed by turning the car off and restarting.

Will need another 8,000 km's to free the engine up fully, but I can feel it getting better with each 1000 km's

Keep us up to date with how it goes!

[dieselhead]

mintaka, thanks for confirming what i experienced during my test drive! is so good to see other people start loving diesels here. i moved to Oz from Europe 4 years ago so I know what a performant diesel can do. one of the best cars i have driven there, an Audi A6 TDI 3.0L, made me a diesel convert for life. and let me tell you, engine feeling wise, the astra is not far from that german beast, not far at all.
i will wait with the order placing a few months-trying to ambush a poor dealer and shave off a few $,$$$ hehehe :) not rushing anywhere, go an astra already. as you said, very solidly built, hq interior, rock solid so far at 20,000km since last december. the only thing it needs is the right ticker

[dieselhead]

finaly, I ordered my black Astra DTi today! the manual beast will sport the magnificent 18" 5 spoke alloys, as seen on the SRi Turbo. when i get to 15,000km it will suffer some cosmetic surgery (aka remap), for even more torque on tap :)

[mintaka]

Well done sir, I applaud your choice.

Let us know how the remap goes. And a piccy when you have the best home.

Cheers

[caspers turbo]

Welcome to da club, congrats on the new car, look forward to seeing u at a cruise, Nadge is trying to organise one, good to see another Adelaide OPEL

[missxc]

Caspers Turbo I havent seen you around. What do you drive? We were trying to organise a cruise a little while ago but there was only 4 of us.

[caspers turbo]

Caspers Turbo I havent seen you around. What do you drive? We were trying to organise a cruise a little while ago but there was only 4 of us.

Hi Missxc,
i drive a 2003 SRiT, star silver, custom plates, hopefully i will be able to attend the cruise that Nadge is organising

[dieselhead]

what a great day today! got my ultimate toy, a black Astra DTi with lovely 18" alloys. can't have enough of it, i drove 250km in a few hours-been to Virginia, Angle Vale and Hahndorf, plus some CBD and Metro, just for fun!
on the way to Hahndorf, freeway 120km/h in 6th, cruise control on, and the revs were constant at 2,000 rpm, regardless of going uphill or downhill. this engine is just amazing, has bucketloads of torque starting 1,800 rpm.
oh, and average consumption for all that spirited driving: 7.1L/100km.

i'm in heaven. a diesel heaven :D

[Insubordinate]

you shoulda popped in... i live in hahndorf... did you come up for the tour??? glad to hear you're happy with the new purchase... congrats.

[missxc]

And I'm at Angle Vale!

[dieselhead]

here is a bad picture of my drive :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/atomidude/DSCN0304.jpg


(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/atomidude/DSCN0303.jpg)

[Noir]

Welcome to opelaus :)

[btm]

welcome, congrats on the purchase!

[mintaka]

Well done mate. You got the colour right, that's for sure :-)

I can tell you that after it's first 15,000 km service, it's running fine. Selecting reverse is a bit painful, but otherwise great. And with the extra km's the engine is just getting better. Reckon it will be fully freed up in another 15,000 or so.

Cheers

Mintaka