Focus vs Astra

David09

For the past few days I've been having a love/hate relationship with a 00 1.4 Opel Astra. It is a friend's car which blew a head gasket and I was repairing for her. Absolutely nothing went to plan, but in the end after sorting out all the teething problems after the big job, it ran fine.

I've had the privilege of driving it around for a while and was rather surprised by it.
I normally drive a 99 1.4 ford focus myself and really like the car. Indeed my default choice would be a ford without hesitation. The focus has been ultra reliable, has pin sharp-handling and reasonable power for it's engine size. It does everything I could expect and feels really good to drive on the road. I couldn't fault it.

The opel is an interesting comparison. It is the same class car as the focus, with same size engine. However, it felt really slow and gutless. The ford would appear to be far livelier. In terms of suspension, the ford would win, hands down. On bends the astra felt wobbly like a jelly and really rough and choppy over the bumpy bits.

In terms of comfort and trim, both cars are nicely finished, with quality materials with a reassuringly "heavy" feel and no signs of any jap-esque "tinny-ness" or cheap plastics in sight.
However, the one thing that really surprised me about the opel was it's fuel consumption. If I drove the same distance in my focus as I did in the astra, I'd have probably have used a lot more petrol. To say the astra is a miser is an understatement.

So, in the end, which would I opt for???

It's an extremely difficult one to call. Both have their positives and negatives. For the moment I'll keep my focus, but an astra will certainly be a contender when the time comes to change.

Ardennes1944

the astra is much faster im sure than the focus, its got 90bhp which is more than enough for it to be quite nippy. "raced" my buddys 1.4 focus in my old 1.4 astra and beat the socks off it. and i also thought the astra was quite heavy on petrol with its gear ratios being higher? id have the astra personally

Couldn't agree with the your performance views to be honest. Focus would be a better handler though for sure, I had a rental astra for 3 months back in 2003, two different ones actually, hatchback 1.6 sxi, both were murder for oversteer for some reason. Lift off variety obviously.

W.Shakes-Beer

I also had a 1.4 Mk4 Astra and it was nippy for what it was.

By the base figures the 0-60 time for the Astra is a whopping 11.5 seconds

The 0-60 on the Focus is 13.6 seconds.

Maybe the Astra is buggered in other ways than the head gasket.

I couldn't fault the Astra in fairness, the Focus does handle nicer but has a weird driving position.

Both cars have their + and - really

NUTZZ

I have an 02 Focus, can't fault it all, it doesn't have the fastest 0-60 alright but I find it very comfortable on the motorway at 120km/h and above. And like you said they are very reliable, when looked after properly obviously!

Would definitely recommend it anyway!