Name's Vaughn, but my friends call me Raisin.

[Raisin]

Hey all, so I guess I should tell you a bit about myself.

I'm a pretty big Opel fan, having inherited this from my father, who inherited it from his father, I guess you could say Opels run in the family. I came from South Africa to Australia with my parents in 2007 and currently reside in Sydney. Prior to moving here my father always had Opels. First car I remember him having was a white Opel Rekord E when I was about 2 years old. He only had the car for a few weeks and fixed it up, rebuilt the engine, new tires, the works and when he took it for the roadworthy and registration inspection they told him the car was stolen despite having received police clearance on the sale when he bought it. So unfortunately the car was impounded by the Police and he never saw it again. Next car he had was a blue Opel Monza GSI that he kept for years, clocking up well over 300,000km on it with original engine and still the original clutch. After that he bought a silver Opel Astra G CD which he drove around for a couple of years before buying an Opel Astra G Executive (Leather seats, 2.2 engine etc). Then from that he bought a blue Opel Zafira A OPC, brand new from the showroom floor. After 18 months he sold it due to us moving over here. That's where I'll leave the story because he ended up with company cars that weren't Opels.

Now, for me. When I was 16 I bought a Holden Astra F for $610 that needed work in the hopes of fixing it up for my first car. This is where I discovered how expensive (for a high school student) Opels/European cars are in Australia. I did a full service on the car, replacing the timing belt, oil, spark plugs, HT leads etc etc as well as the front disk brake rotors and the windscreen that had a crack in it. This completely cleaned out my savings and when I took the car for a blue slip because it had been unregistered for a few months I was told that it needed a number of extras still before I could get it registered. Being jobless at the time I decided to cut my losses and sell the car. My mother has a Nissan Micra that I was learning in which she never drove anyway. Since then, I have finished school and begun working. I have taken over the running costs of the Micra in exchange for use of it and am putting money aside for my own car. Right now I have my eyes set on either a Nissan Pulsar SSS N15 or an Astra G SRi 2.2. If I was no longer on my P's I would be going for an Astra SRI turbo hands down, but alas I'm not there yet. I am leaning most heavily toward an Astra SRi 2.2 at the moment, but I will be asking questions around the forum (searching first) to wrap my head around anything I should look out for in buying one or any nasty surprises I might encounter after buying one.

From where I stand right now, the Nissan and Astra each have pros and cons.

Nissan Pros: Cheap on spares and easy to source from Japan, SR20 engine has huge aftermarket following, very reliable and easy to work on
Nissan Cons: Bland in stock form with a cheaper feeling interior, hard to find in stock, clean shape these days, tuning options more focused around high end performance or track use rather than every day driving.

Astra Pros: Newer and easier to find in good condition, interiors feel much more luxurious and comfortable, great daily drivers with more low end torque and tuning options to further improve this.
Astra Cons: Spares are more expensive and harder to source, 2.2 engine perhaps not as well documented, not as easy to work on due to more modern electronic systems

Anyway, I guess I have rambled on long enough and extended out beyond the realm of an introduction post. I'm looking forward to hanging out and talking to some fellow Opel enthusiasts!

Warning: This is an Old Thread This discussion is older than 120 days. information contained in it may no longer be current . Please think of the children before resurrecting this ancient thread!

[guy 27]

Welcome to oa.

For heaps of info about the 2.2 check out z22se.co.uk it's actually an extremely well documented engine.
I believe there's a member on here from Sydney looking to sell his. Very low km's and well looked after.

[Raisin]

Welcome to oa.

For heaps of info about the 2.2 check out z22se.co.uk it's actually an extremely well documented engine.
I believe there's a member on here from Sydney looking to sell his. Very low km's and well looked after.

And this is why I signed up! Thanks I will check z22se.co.uk out ASAP and get reading.

[dutchy]

Welcome to the forum Vaughn

[faneca]

Welcome along Vaughn! Astra parts are like the pulsars, better sourced from overseas as you can find everything out of the UK cheaper than here and that includes postage fees.

[rocky424]

Welcome raisin

[TeamTS]

Welcome man. i'm rocking a pair of Astra G's, and even in 1.8 form, they get along pretty well

[rodsfromday]

Welcome Vaughn. Where in RSA u came from?

[Raisin]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Welcome Vaughn. Where in RSA u came from?

I came from Johannesburg.

I also used to speak with another South African Opel fan over MSN who I believe was a member on here by the name of "Calibrated"?

[Silver Surfer]

Welcome