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 Astra GSi
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donsrno1
Level 10 User

Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Posts: 575

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:35 pm

Anyone know much about these?

One of my mates has just swapped his 2.0 corsa for a J-Reg one and just thought I'd see what peoples opinions of them were. How do they compare to a Clio/19 16v in standard from? I believe they are about 150 bhp so would be a bit quicker, but not sure how much there is in it.
Chet T16
Retroholic

Joined: 12 Feb 2004
Posts: 5685

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:37 pm

I used to love them them, never drove one. Infact i've never even seen one over here
bidderman1969
Retroholic

Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 1000

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:45 pm

good cars for a vauxhall, i believe engine mounts are a problem, and the rust too
Doc
Site Subscriber

Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 2929

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:47 pm

my mate had one, tbh its faster than a valver but its a 2.0l and has the extra bhp. his had 180bhp though so was quite rapid.

nice cars but they dont look as nice as the valver, nor do they handle as good.
donsrno1
Level 10 User

Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Posts: 575

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:51 pm

I've never really liked any astras I've seen before but saw his briefly the other day and I have to say it looked rather nice. The corsa he had was on about 170bhp so as you can imagine it was pretty rapid, so unless this has had a lot of engine work which I'm not sure of I can't see it being quicker than that.

I'm not the biggest fan of vauxhalls but ocassionally I see some I like.
bbracer16valver
Retroholic

Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 3315

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:55 pm

the only one i have a soft spot for is the MK1 astra, i had a 1.6sr with gte bdykit and recaro seats front and rear Shocked and on webbers it was my 1st car at the age of 14

lol slight off topic
mals
Self Proclaimed Comic Genius

Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 3482

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:02 pm

bbracer16valver";p="101086 wrote:
the only one i have a soft spot for is the MK1 astra, i had a 1.6sr with gte bdykit and recaro seats front and rear Shocked and on webbers it was my 1st car at the age of 14

lol slight off topic


One of my mates had one of those, quite liked them actually very retro!

Saw a mk2 White GTE the other day, they go like stink, well they used too!
bbracer16valver
Retroholic

Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 3315

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:06 pm

yea drove a mk2 sxi which is the gte with more extras and that was a storm
mals
Self Proclaimed Comic Genius

Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 3482

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:16 pm

No a Storm is a VW Scirroco! now this is getting confusing
Roger Red Hat
Site Subscriber

Joined: 13 Oct 2004
Posts: 4722

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:13 pm

hmm, funny this, was having a (long) Rolling Eyes convosation about astra gsi's eairler today.
Chris H
Forum Moderator

Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:58 am

mk3 gsi will get humped by a decent 19.

Mk2 the 19 will have it in the twisties, straightline the 156 XE has it.

But its a 2 litre the 19 uisn;t.

And that is renaults biggest fuck up, the 19's competition the astra and escort both had 2 litre engines, the 19 may have been equal or 15bhp down on power but the extra torque of the bigger engines especially on roll on pull would hjave been very much appreciated.
Neal
Forum Moderator

Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 7432

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:31 am

One or more of the road test articles in the scan section includes both the 19 16v and the mk3 astra GSi. Handling is pish on the Astras by all accounts. mk3 has some electronic traction control thingy that's meant to tame the handling, but it's still shite. I've been in a mk2, it's just a boat full stop.
bidderman1969
Retroholic

Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 1000

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:49 am

also, i reckon that most people modify both the 16v's and the GSi's anyway, so.............. Bah, Laughing

so i hope you are all talking in standard form.......... Laughing Cool Shocked
bbracer16valver
Retroholic

Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 3315

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 6:09 am

yea to 19 not begin a 2L is a issue spesh with these damm fiesta ST's and 172/182s around!
Roger Red Hat
Site Subscriber

Joined: 13 Oct 2004
Posts: 4722

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:01 am

there is a turbo for that lump tho..

2.0 16v turbos that came out of the 4x4 cavs.

plenty of them about.
Clio 16valver
Level 4 User

Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 83

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:18 am

The 'redtop' engine is a good strong engine,that is providing the cylinder head doesn't go porous!haha! - common problem!! My friends got a nova with the astra gsi engine in and its pretty fast. My second car was a nova then i grew up and decided a 16valver was the only way forward Very Happy
bbracer16valver
Retroholic

Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 3315

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:27 am

good man!
Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber

Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 5:06 pm

Mk3 GSi the only Astra I would have!

Someone on the Vectra forums has shoe-horned an Omega 3.0 V6 lump into a Mk2 GTE - man after me' own heart!
bbracer16valver
Retroholic

Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 3315

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 5:09 pm

i seen a few v6 novas aswell was one on ebay not to long ago
bbracer16valver
Retroholic

Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 3315

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 5:13 pm

link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUPER-NOVA-2-5-V6-VERY-FAST-150_W0QQitemZ130002900792QQihZ003QQcategoryZ9858QQcmdZViewItem
Evo
Level 4 User

Joined: 10 Mar 2004
Posts: 89

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:42 pm

I drove one of the mk4 GSi Astras the other month as it was up quite cheap, but it was pap.

The engine was very nice ill give it that, 197bhp turbo, and the recaros were nice, but everything else wasn't.

The gearbox being the worst, it was shockingly bad, and i wanted to like it so much.

Aw well, saved me some cash Smile

Mk3 early 2.0 red tops are cracking though really, yeah so the handling isnt that great but in most situations in day to day driving you wouldnt notice I reckon.

MK1 GTE with a redtop dropped in would be nice though Smile
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