Opel Astra van 1.7d

Gazza09

just wondering if people have any information on these thinking about getting one?? thanks in advance

Nissan doctor

What do you want to know?

colm_mcm

Theyve been out for 20 odd years so you'd need to be more specific

Redshift

I drove one for work until a few weeks ago and I do very heavy mileage 1500 to 2000 Kms a week. It was an ok drive and not too bad on juice at least compared to the rental transit I’m currently and temporarily in.

At least a few times a year it was in the garage replacing some sensor or other, boost pressure, ABS, throttle position, airbag I've been through them all more than once for some of them. The engine light liked to come on sometimes particularly when dropping a gear to overtake which meant an instant loss of power at a very inconvenient time the dealer was never really able to nail that one completely but it happened less frequently after the last time they looked at it.

The headlight which blows frequently is a pain the arse to change as you have to go in through the wheel well. I've a thing about lights being correct on a vehicle and I carry a full set of spares so I often changed it at the side of the road in the rain which was a pain, many times I cursed whoever designed it that way.

The last problem was the fly wheel which started making an awful racket it was a big job to fix and the mileage at 230,000 too high to justify the cost so the fleet hire company scrapped it.

A couple of colleagues driving the same van had the engine run away on them, something to do with the turbo going. the engine revved way over the red line and kept going with the key removed. I think its running on sump oil at that point and is difficult to stop. I never had that happen but my colleague said it was terrifying.

Like me they would be doing massive mileage so I suppose things wear out even though all our vehicles are serviced by the main dealer as and when due.


Overall it was grand It worked hard and never left me stranded anywhere and you would probably get most or all of the above problems on any van that is doing big mileage

Nissan doctor

^^^What model/year are you talking about there?

Gazza09

just wondering what theyre like mechanically and what there like on diesel? are they any good for pulling single axle trailers? its a 2007 car derived van the small one

L1011

Have an 08 one, 204k on it now, not had a single mechanical issue worth reporting. Actually its only had one issue at all - it went in to limp mode once in very heavy rain, came out after 2 miles.

Only had one headlight bulb blow compared to 2 a month on my previous van so my experience doesn't match Redshift's at all - I'd imagine that you can probably class them as two ends of the scale of reliability/unreliability!

Fuel consumption is neither terrible nor fantastic, but as I don't pay for the fuel I only really pay attention to how often I end up going in for it.


Biggest problem is that it hasn't got any bloody cupholders.

Nissan doctor

The 1.7cdti's are very prone to deposit build up from the EGR valve in the intake pipe and inlet manifold. This is the most common reason by far for random limp home mode/loss of power instances.

The new model(astra H) vans have most of the modern diesel things to watch out for, DMF, DPF(in the 100hp version anyway) etc.

Fuel economy depends on how you drive them. I've never bothered working it out exactly but my older model(astra G, same cdti engine) has gone just over 1000kms to a full tank(55L max) in gentle driving and I put 60 quid in it every week and get 750-800kms with mixed driving.

You could look at the 1.3cdti models as they have 6 gears and are even more economical and only have 10hp less then most 1.7cdti engines.

The biggest problem with any astra van, or van in general for that matter, is finding one that has been well looked after as vans are not often owned by the driver and get abused.

I looked at loads of hen sheds before I found my one which now has 128,000kms on it(22k in the last 5 months) and is still running like clockwork, although thats not especially high mileage for a diesel.

colm_mcm

Don't royal mail in northern Ireland use these? I'd imagine they're well maintained.

Greenman

Nissan doctor wrote: »

The 1.7cdti's are very prone to deposit build up from the EGR valve in the intake pipe and inlet manifold. This is the most common reason by far for random limp home mode/loss of power instances.

The new model(astra H) vans have most of the modern diesel things to watch out for, DMF, DPF(in the 100hp version anyway) etc.

Fuel economy depends on how you drive them. I've never bothered working it out exactly but my older model(astra G, same cdti engine) has gone just over 1000kms to a full tank(55L max) in gentle driving and I put 60 quid in it every week and get 750-800kms with mixed driving.

You could look at the 1.3cdti models as they have 6 gears and are even more economical and only have 10hp less then most 1.7cdti engines.

The biggest problem with any astra van, or van in general for that matter, is finding one that has been well looked after as vans are not often owned by the driver and get abused.

I looked at loads of hen sheds before I found my one which now has 128,000kms on it(22k in the last 5 months) and is still running like clockwork, although thats not especially high mileage for a diesel.

While your there N d anything I should watch on my Astra estate 2007 1.9 CDTI, I have it since Nov 2011, it has 118,000 kms and I do mixed motorway and local driving but no traffic jam stuff.
I drive very gently and manage to get about 6.1 litres to the 100 km.

Your views most welcome.:)