Help on Astra VXR, what do I look for?

[maddogdaz666]

Hi, I may be going out to look at an Astra VXR this week, I'm not clued up on them so I was wondering if anybody knows what to look out for?
Do they have any weak points or common faults?
Also how much is it for a new key for them?

Any advice is welcome,

Cheers, Darrel.

[nova_t]

first thing make sure the gearbox is ok tis is the weakest part of the car and if it goes your looking at around 800 pound i sold my nova and now have a astra vxr and unsure on price of new key would say once you have bought the key its gunna cost around 50 pound to have it coded

[chris gsi]

We have had a few in at work with turbo failure and most astra h's suffer with wheel bearings and the rear tyres worn on inner edge and the gearboxes are not the strongest

[maddogdaz666]

Cheers, how can I check the gearbox? The cars not driveable at the minute too,

[novalovingned]

Yeah ive heard the box too, turbos go for fun but thats supposadly because the of the high oil pressure thats supplied to them, there is mod to sort this though. Good luck finding a good one :)

[maddogdaz666]

Yeah I've read about the turbo mod, think it was on joff's meriva thread.

[cormac81]

As above the gearbox, put the car in 6th at 40mph and see if theres any whining or jolting. I had to get the bearings done in mine and it had only 29k and was standard.

Also check the rear bumper/rear quarter lines. the slighest nudge here causes bubbling. The struts tops on any mk5 I have had always been rusted when you take the cap off. I have removed them and dapped them with grease. I can see this being a big issue for these cars in years to come.

Like any turbo car check for smoke.

[mk1nova_rich]

The cars not driveable at the minute too,

Thats usually summat to be wary of Daz lol

[maddogdaz666]

Thats usually summat to be wary of Daz lol

Cheers lol well there's 2 I wanna go look at, ones a stolen and recovered with no key fob but comes with key blade. And the other one is taxed and tested and I can drive away but seems too cheap? I'm still waiting for an email or phone call so I can arrange viewings

[maddogdaz666]

Cheers cormac :thumb: good advice and info

[phazer]

Don't bother with the stolen one, there's plenty to choose from. As for too cheap, prices dropped hard if you wanted to sell. I let mine go at the end of 2010 for a lot less than I and others though it was worth but you couldn't sell them. That was fully serviced 40k 2006 plate, 1 owner excellent condition too.

What year, mileage and price are the ones you're looking at?

[maddogdaz666]

Both 2006
Stolen has part service history 80k £3300
Other one is full service, new brakes, recent turbo, Cambelt done 900 miles ago £4200 but seller is being very akward to sell, I cannot view till weekend, and thats if I click on buy it now that he will set up a different ad up for, and then he will send me the link to. Just seems weird.

[Keif]

If you want an Astra VXR make sure it's had regular services (every 6 months would be ideal), from what you've posted WALK AWAY FROM BOTH!

A stolen one will be a pain to move on when you want to, plus a new key you'll be looking around £150 for it (inc programming) ideally you'll want two.

As for the other one, it's FAR too cheap. 06 Astra VXRs are normally around £6000-£6500 mark. one for £4200 is either non existent or not what it seems.

If it seems to good to be true, it normally is.

[Connor]

^What Keif said, no point skimping and buying a dog, your better off buying a very decent mk4 gsi than a dog vxr for that money.

[Paul]

You're living in a dream world getting a VXR for that money unfortunately.

[maddogdaz666]

There's a few advertised for £4k+ and that is my limit tbh. I've got £3k and the sale of the BMW (when I advertise it) for another £1k
What else is there for £3-4k? It's gonna be the Mrs daily too so she's gotta like it, she's always like vxr's since the nurburgring edition came out.

I don't mind buying damaged repairables etc, as I can upgrade them and repair them as and when I can afford it. Rather than forking out a large lump sum straight out.

And whatever I buy I'll be taking it to the nurburgring in may too

[Paul]

You will not get a decent VXR for anything under 6k

[maddogdaz666]

But saving £2k ? The one at £4200 seems very well kept, lots of history etc, but I'm worried about spending so much money.
£2k is a LOT of money for me, im tight, always have and always will be lol

[Keif]

You've not seen it? £4200 for an Astra VXR is too cheap. It'll be a dog!

No point "saving" £2000, then spending £3000 when it falls apart!

Take a look VXRonline Astra VXR's For Sale (http://www.vxronline.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?129-Astra-VXR)

[maddogdaz666]

No I've not seen it but his 1st email was full of information about it says full history etc. but now he's gone quite :(

[Keif]

Exactly, too good to be true.

[novalovingned]

Trust me mate walk away. It will be cheap for a reason! A couple of years ago i really wanted one, i mean really wanted one. Only had 6k to spend but all the good ones were around 8k, just had to leave it :( that was my head talking, and if you had any common sence you will do the same lol

[Southie]

Daz, save up for a decent one IMO, you've obviously done well the last few years buying and selling a few cars on so don't rush for some tatty heap of a VXR.

[kevster]

I would only be looking at vxr's from 2008 onwards , with service history , I've had a vxr back in 2008 bran new and in the 9 months I had it I went through 2 turbos , oil leaks , lamber sencers and a cat lol in the end the dealer wrote the car off.
I put it down to poor build of that one car lol.

Would I have another YES I would lol .

[chris gsi]

You could always look at the Vxrs older brother the astra gsi as there are a few nice looking cars about

[staggy_gsi]

^What Keif said, no point skimping and buying a dog, your better off buying a very decent mk4 gsi than a dog vxr for that money.

It just so happens im trying to sell one of them atm lol

[maddogdaz666]

Not a fan of gsi turbo's. Plus turbo coupe's are £1500 ish.

[phazer]

As others have said, walk away.

When I said prices have dropped hard I didn't mean *that* hard lol You'll need to spend at least £6k and I would suspect a decent one that's been looked after is going to cost you 6.5-7k.

Don't what ever you do buy a ****ter, you'll regret every minute.

[maddogdaz666]

cheers for all your advice guys

[maddogdaz666]

id much rather buy a Cavalier turbo but the mrs wont have it :(

[turbojolt]

a cavalier turbo? there extinct now ain't they lol

[maddogdaz666]

lol i hope not, i will own one...... one day.....one day

[staggy_gsi]

You'd be much better off spending top money on a cav turbo than buying a dirt cheap vxr....

But i understand that getting this point across to a female is difficult to say the least. They just look at the reg plate and think the newer the better, even though the majority of remaining cav turbo's will have been cherished and looked after better than a vxr in your price range

[maddogdaz666]

I have been trying to explain this to her . Even saying that it's more of an investment as it won't loose money, in theory it should go up in value, but she just doesn't want one as her daily.
I best get her nova SR on the road then n she can use that as her daily lol
Bit of a change from the 62 plate fiesta she had when I first met her nearly 3 yr ago lol
But she sold that as a deposit for our house we bought 8 month after meeting lol

[Dan Stanley]

Just a point to think about, but wouldn't you prefer your Mrs to drive around in something newer with a better safety record? As opposed to something older? Cav's have got an airbag, side impact bars and seat belt pre-tensioners. But a mk4 or 5 Astra will have that and a whole lot more. Would much rather suffer a crash in a newer car than an old but cherished car.
If you couldn't afford the Astra VXR, could you have the sporthatch with the 2.0T engine, or even the 5 door 2.0T SRi with the bodykit and big wheels?

[maddogdaz666]

We have looked at a few Sri 2.0t's too. Then I would buy the VXR bumper and interior lol

[ste scott]

Trust me mate walk away. It will be cheap for a reason! A couple of years ago i really wanted one, i mean really wanted one. Only had 6k to spend but all the good ones were around 8k, just had to leave it :( that was my head talking, and if you had any common sence you will do the same lol


I have been trying to explain this to her . Even saying that it's more of an investment as it won't loose money, in theory it should go up in value, but she just doesn't want one as her daily.


I best get her nova SR on the road then n she can use that as her daily lol
Bit of a change from the 62 plate fiesta she had when I first met her nearly 3 yr ago lol
But she sold that as a deposit for our house we bought 8 month after meeting lol

62 reg 3 years ago?

[Andy]

was gonna say just the same LOL

[maddogdaz666]

Sorry 59 lol lol

[scott.parker]

Dude here's my 2ps worth, from purely friends experience ect I think you would better off looking at a mint mk4 Astra coupe turbo, you can get them cheap enough, then fit the mk5 vxr turbo setup on it and spend more cash modifying it to how you want, instead of full price of the car, also imo the interior in the mk4 options is nicer... :-)

[L33 LEG]

Wouldnt touch either of those cars mentioned lol The one for £4200 clearly doesnt exist anyway! Carry on saving for a half decent example or look at other cars, there's plenty of nice cars out there for around £4k, you can even look at something other than a Vauxhall Lol

[maddogdaz666]

Funny you should say that as I'm going to look at an estriol blue 330 club sport

[L33 LEG]

You can have mine for £4,500 if you're after a clubsport :) Wasnt planning on selling it but one day i will be.

[maddogdaz666]

It's £3800 with 90k lots of history on a 52 plate, says he'll give me some 19" m3 rep alloys with it too, that were on his old 320 saloon

And it's about 800yard from my house lol

[L33 LEG]

That's not too bad. There's a few cheap ones about. When i come to sell mine i'll put it up between 4500-5000. 2003, manual, 2 prev owners, fully history, bloody mint Lol, also comes with black nappa m3 interior and the genuine clubsport wheels which for some reason most dont have anymore.

Saying that i hope i keep it for years, great cars imo! Better than an astra vxr anyway lol and cheaper!

[maddogdaz666]

well after many emails i found out the astra for £4200 doesnt exist! lol i have reported it to ebay and forwarded all the emails to them, its on Ebay at £4200 classified ad, but send him an email and see how wierd and sketchy it is, he says its mint with 4 new tyres, all new brakes all round, recent turbo, cambelt done 900 miles ago and full service history. but asks for my phone number and never rings.
always sends emails, in and out of ebay. says he wont take less than £4000 and will send me a link to a "buy it now" auction on ebay.
sends the link and its via another site but looks exactly like ebay! but copy and paste the item number on proper ebay and it goes back to the classified advert at £4200.

Dodgy Fecker!
email says he's called Mike Salt, but email addy is chen34324d@gmail.com
Ebay user is Salt316 with 10 feedback from buying suff, not selling. item number is 221180178675

me and the mrs have emailed him seperately, which he didnt know, and we both recieved the same emails word for word. some started differently to work with the emails we had sent different.

i knew it was too cheap right from the start but im too stubborn and have to find out by myself.

You Have Been Warned!!

[Keif]

well after many emails i found out the astra for £4200 doesnt exist! lol

NO, i'd have never have guessed!!!!

Seriously a £6500 car for £4200 with all that work just done. It never ever existed.

[maddogdaz666]

Like I said, I did think it but I had to find out.

[Keif]

Your replies on here say different.


But saving £2k ? The one at £4200 seems very well kept, lots of history etc, but I'm worried about spending so much money.
£2k is a LOT of money for me, im tight, always have and always will be lol


No I've not seen it but his 1st email was full of information about it says full history etc. but now he's gone quite :(

[maddogdaz666]

i did have the thought in the back of my mind, but wanted it :( yes i was kidding myself, i admit that, but after a few more wierd emails i had to get to the bottom of it, secretly hoping it wasnt dodgy

[turbojolt]

just buy the turbo cav, you can start divorce hearings on the internet for 70 quid




lol

[maddogdaz666]

lol lol lol +rep!!

[L33 LEG]

lol doesn't exist, what a surprise!

[raf24]

Might be nothing but a quick scan of the photos i noticed something.
Both the astra & mondeo have scottish reg prefixes starting 'S' & the location is york?
Not impossible i know,but maybe a clue that they are random pics taken elsewhere for a fake advert.

[MattBrown]

Bought an 06 one in black with a rusty arch for £4000 end of last year for a mate.

£4000 Vxrs are out there quite a lot tbf, but older, more abused ones.