Mark 4 Astra GSI turbo opinions?

[TeddyThom]

I'm thinking of getting one. Anything I should be worried about? They do good as a daily? Anyone had one?

[Alex J]

Turbos and pistons ahoy if you buy a pig

[paddy235]

Terrible engines in my opinion

[turbojolt]

1ltr micra= win

[Jeff16v]

how about a nice reliable datsun

[turbojolt]

how about a nice reliable datsun


like a 1300 micra so he can feel the power!

[millworm]

1ltr micra= win

Nissan march/micra super turbo ;)

[jonn]

engine sensor problems, turbos. i just finished converting my 1.8 coupe to z20et. fully forged engine running 250bhp for now big plans for it next year. they are lot of fun!

[cossienova]

Few of my mates have had them and always repairing something on them! Go ok with some mods but nothing to shout about!

[Dan Stanley]

My brother ran one for years. It never broke any more than any other car. The forums are full of info and joining something like the Astra Owners Club is worth doing.
His turned out to be a top notch car, freaking fast as well.

[burgo]

Just yes! 90% of people who slag zlets off have never had one.

Build them right they are completely reliable

[_Jake]

Awesome cars, rather have the SRi turbo though.

[Edd]

Going from my personal experience of owning a mk4 GSI...

Great cars, but lots of common expensive problems

Standard turbocharger units are utter crap, replacement is a VXR unit, £600
Both boost solenoids fail
AFM's fail
Coilpaks

[burgo]

Can get an uprated vxr core for 300 these days. Rear bcs delete means only one can fail. Can get them set up in alpha n now which eliminates the afm

[Edd]

still fcuking crap engines tho

[Stuart]

As a car, the mk4 was/is one of my favourite Vauxhall chassis of all time (and I ran a vx220 lol )
the rear calipers are known to fail and the rear springs are common to snap.
other than that its just anything engine related. Dire mpg and ved for all petrol engined versions though :(

[Edd]

MPG was ok under 2900rpm, but who wants to drive a 200bhp turbo car like that lol

I loved mine but it kept breaking all the time, didn't like any abuse

[burgo]

As said build it right and they are fine. My zaf has been battered for a year and never let me down

[Stuart]

And the VX lot screw the **** off the zlet and only have issues due to ropey remaps lol

[kc_08]

I've owned my sri turbo for a few months now isn't a bad car at all standard other than vxr turbo crossover delete pre cat and hard pipes sounds ok they make a great noise I'm getting 24mpg ATM could get 30 but it's hard driving like it lol but can also see single numbers with ya foot down, gear linkage broke and exhaust snapped at the down pipe does owe me a few quid but is with any car, has been lovely and having a 3year old now looks much better than my old stripped out corsa b lol has abit of poke would kill my old x16xe with full system inlet c/r box an stripped ect but it's a completely different car, corsa was a lot of fun as it took nothing but abuse

[Southie]

Probably decent engines when low miles and looked after ie well serviced and plenty of history, turbos are weak though so make sure if you get one it's maybe been replaced.

[Mieran]

Stem seals is a common problem and clutches fail when running more than standard power

[letvalva]

Run a 280 ish bhp mk4 gsi as my daily. Handle very well and driving it normal I get 35 mpg and on a run it does 38/40 mpg.

It's poorly at min wants a set of rings but it's done 136000 so I can't grumble

[Johnny A]

Bought a 2001 Astra coupe turbo with 110K on the clock, did a phase 1 remap but turbo failed at around 120K (this is good for a factory Z20LET turbo)
Broke up car for spares and kept engine
Fitted engine into Carlton with a massive turbo (no internal mods), remapped to 350bhp
Everyone (including the tuner who mapped it) said it wouldn't last 5 minutes, will throw a rod etc....

It ran very reliably for 2.5 abusive years to 175K where number 2 piston ring failed - not bad eh!!

It averaged 30mpg till the day it died

[TeddyThom]

Sounds like if I get myself a half decent one then I'm on to a winner! Looking at a couple now actually. Lovely standard example, and one that's had a tune up. Made an offer on the tuned up one and I'm just waiting upon a reply from the seller. Shall see what happens!! :d

[TeddyThom]

So after a while of sitting on some funds, I found The One. I shall let the pictures do the talking:

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy173/teddythom/478D111C-AC04-4DF1-975B-A116968A234E_zpshcgeyvui.jpg (http://s789.photobucket.com/user/teddythom/media/478D111C-AC04-4DF1-975B-A116968A234E_zpshcgeyvui.jpg.html)

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy173/teddythom/D3E9CB9C-B694-4A8B-982B-2B4B5301EF47_zps6ary5cwc.jpg (http://s789.photobucket.com/user/teddythom/media/D3E9CB9C-B694-4A8B-982B-2B4B5301EF47_zps6ary5cwc.jpg.html)

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy173/teddythom/4518315C-E5CA-4FDD-9877-DC22C2E00542_zpsmadlrfhj.jpg (http://s789.photobucket.com/user/teddythom/media/4518315C-E5CA-4FDD-9877-DC22C2E00542_zpsmadlrfhj.jpg.html)

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy173/teddythom/B595005E-0B8E-449E-A675-6D7599F275B4_zps5s7qna9j.jpg (http://s789.photobucket.com/user/teddythom/media/B595005E-0B8E-449E-A675-6D7599F275B4_zps5s7qna9j.jpg.html)

[Johnny A]

Not sure on the wheels but the rest is spot on

[conza123]

Not sure on the wheels but the rest is spot on
Agree with above statement put some snow flakes back on it :)

[staggy_gsi]

Looks sweet apart from the wheels! Im sure you will get a lot of fun out of it. I got my old one pretty cheap as it needed a new turbo and new stem seals, but once I replaced them bits it was a peach. Some cheeky mods and a remap saw 272bhp (could have gone more but standard clutch was letting go on the rollers) and I was getting 28mpg driving it steady round town. Would have it back in a heartbeat!