AH SRI-T....Will I be happy with one?

[deviant]

Hey guys,

At the moment I drive a 03 TS 2.2 SRI.

Its just gone through its 90,000km service and I want to upgrade in to the hot hatch sector. I will be selling the car shortly.

So when my car was in for its service I took an AH SRI-T out for an hour.....but I fear I am being a bit harsh in my judgement of the car because after I took the car back I promptly went to the Ford place next door and took an XR5 out for an hour....

A few questions and observations on the Astra..

Interior fit / finish seems to be massively improved...what will it be like in 50,000KM though?

Is the central screen, control centre easy to get used to?

The engine felt very sluggish and unwilling to rev so it barely felt any quicker than my 2.2....however the car has less than 100KM on it and the salesman filled the tank with 91? It also sounded very thrashy?

The gear shift quality is vastly improved...until I went for 5th and it kept baulking. I guess it could be me not being used to the new shift pattern or it could be normal?

Tyre noise was horrendous...not sure on the tyres fitted but I assume they were the OE, anybody else suffer with the noise?

I'm not sure about the front seats...they felt very hard and not very generous in their support. They also felt like the lumbar support was pushing in my back even though it was wound right out. I didnt discover the seat tilt handle until I returned the car though.

The salesman said they can get a brand new car in my chosen spec in 3-4 weeks or they can get an ex-demo from anywhere in the country in 1-2weeks.....is this true?

Other than that I did like the car....its refinement and build quality seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of the TS and believe it or not it is slightly better equipped than the Focus (leather, climate control, cruise control) and has a favourable price tag....but then the Focus....My god its a stunning car!!!
It felt like an $80K Audi inside and the engine, transmission and brakes are stunning....but I still wonder if I am being to harsh on the Astra

Oh another question...anybody ever take their Astra out on track? I would be aiming to do maybe half a dozen trackdays a year. I used to have an MR2 for that but just purchased a house so can only afford one car now!

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[EL BURITO]

So when my car was in for its service I took an AH SRI-T out for an hour.....but I fear I am being a bit harsh in my judgement of the car because after I took the car back I promptly went to the Ford place next door and took an XR5 out for an hour....

Probably on of the best things you could have done

salesman filled the tank with 91?

so it would not have been adjusting to the tune right, what a great way to sell a car

Remember too with the XR5 is is due for replacement at the end of the year so you would be killing your resale even more. If you can hold off if you want the ford I personally would as with the SRIT if might be worth looking at a 2nd hand one cos the re-sale on these have gone to shit

[Ishley]

I dont really think that the SriT and XR5 are in the same class. I would put the XR5 against the VXR. As the SRiT has considerably less power for a cheaper price too. But you do get climate control, and full leather in the SRiT like you said. I dont really have a preference to the looks of either, I think they both look really good.

My AH SRiT has just clicked over 50,000k's and my interior is fine, no abnormal rattles, or complaints about the car in general. She runs like a dream.

As for the seats, I too find that they are kinda laid back and I feel as though you sit lower in the car. Like the window feels like it is almost at shoulder level.

[GreyRex]

Hey guys,

At the moment I drive a 03 TS 2.2 SRI.

Its just gone through its 90,000km service and I want to upgrade in to the hot hatch sector. I will be selling the car shortly.

So when my car was in for its service I took an AH SRI-T out for an hour.....but I fear I am being a bit harsh in my judgement of the car because after I took the car back I promptly went to the Ford place next door and took an XR5 out for an hour....

A few questions and observations on the Astra..

Interior fit / finish seems to be massively improved...what will it be like in 50,000KM though?

Is the central screen, control centre easy to get used to?

The engine felt very sluggish and unwilling to rev so it barely felt any quicker than my 2.2....however the car has less than 100KM on it and the salesman filled the tank with 91? It also sounded very thrashy?

The gear shift quality is vastly improved...until I went for 5th and it kept baulking. I guess it could be me not being used to the new shift pattern or it could be normal?

Tyre noise was horrendous...not sure on the tyres fitted but I assume they were the OE, anybody else suffer with the noise?

I'm not sure about the front seats...they felt very hard and not very generous in their support. They also felt like the lumbar support was pushing in my back even though it was wound right out. I didnt discover the seat tilt handle until I returned the car though.

The salesman said they can get a brand new car in my chosen spec in 3-4 weeks or they can get an ex-demo from anywhere in the country in 1-2weeks.....is this true?

Other than that I did like the car....its refinement and build quality seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of the TS and believe it or not it is slightly better equipped than the Focus (leather, climate control, cruise control) and has a favourable price tag....but then the Focus....My god its a stunning car!!!
It felt like an $80K Audi inside and the engine, transmission and brakes are stunning....but I still wonder if I am being to harsh on the Astra

Oh another question...anybody ever take their Astra out on track? I would be aiming to do maybe half a dozen trackdays a year. I used to have an MR2 for that but just purchased a house so can only afford one car now!

It's a good point you bring up comparing the two, as I was in the exact same position one year ago.

I ended up going for an AH Astra SRi Turbo in black. I didn't want to pay retail for the Astra, so I ended up finding a Dec 06 build one, but i purchased it 'brand new' with only 60kms on the clock in June 07 for 32K driveaway. The 3 year warranty started from date of registration in June (which I also had them write on the contract), so I was pretty happy. Obviously when it comes to selling, it will be sold as an '06' car... but i've only done 13,000kms in one year, so i'm not too fussed.

At the same point last year (and basically the same now), an XR5 will cost you around 39K on the road (without leather). For me, the XR5 was the car I wanted, but i couldn't afford almost 40K at that time. The new LV XR5 arriving in about two months has optional leather with heated front seats for $2500 i think, optional metallic orange ($1800!!), optional sunroof ($2000), and optional stripes ($350)... and of course no cruise contol or climate control. To recommend one over the other is hard. It depends on how much you want to spend, and what features you deem as being important. You'll get a new Astra Turbo on the road for about 34 - 35K i'd say. Another thing to consider is that there's now plenty on the used car market... with quite a few with under 10,000kms on the clock. Considering the type of car both are, you should be lucky to find an owner who's an enthusiast who's taken care of it.

In the first couple of months of owning mine, I honestly started to regret my decision. I had a rattle in the electric mirror switch, a squeak from the rear seat, creaking rear suspension (which is quite common on the AH), and the engine (while fairly quick) just didn't sound right or have that proper feel. A year later... all I can say is, it is now near perfect. Mirror switch replaced, rear seat squeaking was because it wasn't pushed back properly and 'locked' in, rear suspension creak has been fixed as per Holden's service bulletin and has now completely gone... and the engine has now opened up. At around 10,000kms i started to realise it sounded a little better, made it's power better, and it now pops on the overrun!!(flooring it to about 2500rpm and then letting it slow down). I'd say a year on... this is how the car should have felt when I bought it. It's literally like the car's 'grown into itself'. Oh... and I also had the ECU flashed... which i'd say makes it basically VXR quick.

One thing i'm not too happy with is the handling. This is where the XR5 would have it. To tackle this, i've ordered the Eibach Pro-Kit springs and a Whiteline rear sway bar. Judging from the numerous comments overseas, these are the first two (and probably) the best two mods to make on the Astra. These get installed on the weekend. All things going well i'll let you know how I go.

Fit and finish is (as you say) very good. Everything shuts properly and solidly. Even the glovebox lid drops slowly to stop it from dropping on your knees!!

For me the whole info screen/lots of button stuff is pretty easy. I have worked it out that if you have CDs with text, you can first view the list of all CD names that you have inserted... choose your disc, then once the disc is playing, search by song name. This is all without even taking either hand off the steering wheel. It's pretty awesome.

Gear shift quality also improves. It's quite tight and notchy when new... but the shift quality improves (although it can feel a little rubbery between gears)

Tyre noise is pretty shocking as you say. I honestly can't comment on them because i'm not an expert. They're loud, and I don't feel they have the best grip. Guess you can make up your own mind there.

Seats are similar to the gear shift, in that they become a little softer. The seat warmers are absolutely fantastic, and I haven't had any complaints from anyone else about the seats being uncomfortable. Obviously they aren't the Recaro's of the XR5, but that's personal preference.

When it comes to track stuff... the Astra has a torsion beam, the XR5 fully independant suspension. If you're taking the Astra on the track, i'd suggest the suspension mods. If you don't want to mod... look at the XR5

Probably on of the best things you could have done


so it would not have been adjusting to the tune right, what a great way to sell a car

Remember too with the XR5 is is due for replacement at the end of the year so you would be killing your resale even more. If you can hold off if you want the ford I personally would as with the SRIT if might be worth looking at a 2nd hand one cos the re-sale on these have gone to shit

Spot on the with the replacement info. You can only order the new LV XR5 now. How important resale is to you will determine whether you look at the brand new one, or are happy with the LS/LT model. Mechanically, they're identical.

If you're looking to flash tune both, that can be done easily. Most common for the XR5 is Dreamscience (about $1000). I had my tune done for the Astra by Wayne (who used to be on this forum, but now runs a business tuning cars), for around $900. The Astra's tune is from an Italian company Piasini (who also do many others including the Mazda MPS range)

I hope all this helps...

Let me know if i've left anything out

[deviant]

Some brilliant replies there guys. Thanks a heap.

Yes it does feel a bit unfair compairing the 2 cars...I guess the Focus is more in the 'superhatch' class

There is no way I could afford a brand new Focus...so I was comparing a brand new Astra with a 3500KM Focus that had a driveaway prive of $35,000. Most dealer cars I have seen are normally around the $38,000 mark which is where the Astra wins. The Astra gets even further ahead on the used market.

Re-sale value is not really something of interest to me to be honest. We have just bought our own house so the car is definately going to be a long term thing and I am looking for at least 5 years and 150,000KM with it.

Mizled_SRi-T...what is it about the handling you dont like?
With such noisy tyres and going from the way the test car drove I suspect the tyres were over inflated, very low profile with stiff sidewalls and probably covered in 'tyre shine'.

Its so hard comparing cars....Especially when they are brand new because they are rattle free and still smell nice and its all to easy to get carried away with emotions and the "want" factor of having the fastest/biggest/shiniest car and ending up with something that doesnt really suit your needs.

In a way cars like the Golf GTI and the Focus XR5 have ruined hot hatches...read reviews of the TS SRI-T and the press were full of praise for a car with a turbocharged engine and 180BHP even though the interior was not THAT special.
Now if a car has less than 200BHP, no Recaro seats and a sprint to 100KMH above 7sec its classed as a failure and is not counted as anything more than a shopping car.
Hot hatches were always supposed to be a shopping car with a big donk and a few extra badges and a sensible price tag.

[USC]

Get a golf Gti or even a GT if you cant afford a Gti mate. You will never regret it.

Focus interior sucks bad..when I test drove one, the gear boot popped off. . Plastics looked ultra cheap inside. sure, power is not bad for a 5 cyclinder turbo, but should have been more, given a VXR can produce 177KW on a 4cylinder. Not a fan of the back of the focus.

Sri-T is ok. Really depends on you. what somebody thinks is high quality might actually be the opposite for someone else.(same applies for focus though). handling is not too bad for a front wheel drive but I find the exhaust note quite annoying. I liked the seats but did not like the feel of the gear knob(the stitching on top did not feel the best after a long time.. a bit rough..). Also, interior has too much silver bits(whole centre console) and need to be careful as it will get very ugly over the years if scratched everywhere. No cup holders also.

[GreyRex]

Some brilliant replies there guys. Thanks a heap.

Yes it does feel a bit unfair compairing the 2 cars...I guess the Focus is more in the 'superhatch' class

There is no way I could afford a brand new Focus...so I was comparing a brand new Astra with a 3500KM Focus that had a driveaway prive of $35,000. Most dealer cars I have seen are normally around the $38,000 mark which is where the Astra wins. The Astra gets even further ahead on the used market.

Re-sale value is not really something of interest to me to be honest. We have just bought our own house so the car is definately going to be a long term thing and I am looking for at least 5 years and 150,000KM with it.

Mizled_SRi-T...what is it about the handling you dont like?
With such noisy tyres and going from the way the test car drove I suspect the tyres were over inflated, very low profile with stiff sidewalls and probably covered in 'tyre shine'.

Its so hard comparing cars....Especially when they are brand new because they are rattle free and still smell nice and its all to easy to get carried away with emotions and the "want" factor of having the fastest/biggest/shiniest car and ending up with something that doesnt really suit your needs.

In a way cars like the Golf GTI and the Focus XR5 have ruined hot hatches...read reviews of the TS SRI-T and the press were full of praise for a car with a turbocharged engine and 180BHP even though the interior was not THAT special.
Now if a car has less than 200BHP, no Recaro seats and a sprint to 100KMH above 7sec its classed as a failure and is not counted as anything more than a shopping car.
Hot hatches were always supposed to be a shopping car with a big donk and a few extra badges and a sensible price tag.

Take reviews with a grain of salt. They're someone else's opinion; not yours.

Use them as a guide... and if your opinion is different... so be it!!

If we all worried about what everyone else thought we'd never do anything!!

The handling to me is crap without sport on. If you drive over a long speed hump, you can literally feel the delay of the car going up over it, then the suspension actually telling you what it's doing.

Sport on seems to be rock hard for little bumps, yet feels like it wallows when having a bit of a go still. Not sure if I said that correctly... lol

Id say the rest of the market (GTi XR5 etc)... haven't ruined it. They've needed to improve because everything else has. In Aus, your standard falcon will do 0 - 100kms in 7.5 seconds!! I'd say to be 'hot'... that time or better would be necessary (even if they're better through the corners).

[Black Nugget]

Get a golf Gti or even a GT if you cant afford a Gti mate. You will never regret it.o.

absolutely agree, I drove a mates Gti with 165kw atw and all i can say is wow. The way the chasis handles power and how it could easily handle more is astounding.

In pictures i think the Vw interior looks crap. In real life its a different matter, the wheel is fat and you sit snug and low and OMG the seats are just brilliant!

[USC]

absolutely agree, I drove a mates Gti with 165kw atw and all i can say is wow. The way the chasis handles power and how it could easily handle more is astounding.

In pictures i think the Vw interior looks crap. In real life its a different matter, the wheel is fat and you sit snug and low and OMG the seats are just brilliant!

agree. interior looks much better in flesh. GT is also a good car (both turbo charger and supercharger) and fuel economy is not bad either. It will do 0-100 in 7.9 secs --manual gearbox( very similar to sri-t) and even faster with a DSG gearbox,

[deviant]

Hehehe loving the loyalty to the Astra

So I guess the general consensus is that if I got an SRI-T I wouldnt be getting a bad car per se...just that you can do much better for $35K and to look very carefully at how much I am paying for an Astra.