It's been a while since I wrote anything, since the last post I've ripped out and completely re-decorated the bedroom making sure the Xbox and 37" TV have prime place so everything's gone fine there.
Holiday was back at Bigbury on Sea, drove down in pouring rain, arrived in blazing sunshine - fried some local sausages (from the Saint Annes Chapel shop - awsome shop by the way) and local bacon on the beach which started the week as it meant to go on.
My Avensis finally reached the end of it's company lease so was returned with only 87900 miles on the clock, I had just got the diesel nice and loose and there it was being returned.
Unfortunately the previous owner had managed to dent and scrape every body panel on it so it wasn't worth me buying it otherwise I would have considered keeping it.
I'm now in a hire car for a while, a brand new Astra Sri (1.9td 150psi).
Comparing the two cars it's surprising what you miss, no cruise control in the Astra, no rain sensitive wipers, no electro chromic rear view mirror, no sat nav built in, no leather seats, no electric seats, only front electric windows, no folding door mirrors, no under floor storage, no pop out cup holders, no rear arm rests or cup holders, no rear 12v accessory point, no climate control.
In fact I think the list goes on and on, the Astra (considering it's a high spec model i.e SR) is as sparsely equipped as the older Club or similar models I used to drive in the past.
The dashboard only has a radio (with MP3 input) a basic computer and that's your lot.
Add into this mix the Vauxhall Trick wipers and your in for some fun, I had these on my Vectra, press the indicator and you get three flashes, press it harder and it stays on. If you need to cancel it then you have to press the SAME direction, if you press the opposite then that one comes on.
It's common to see Vauxhall drivers going along with one indicator going then the other and so on until either they give up or the system self cancels.
Now I can live with these to a degree, the other problem is the driving position, the seats are like solid wooden boards, very little comfort and quite deep seat bases so you find yourself hitting the steering wheel getting in and out and I'm not a tall chap.
Getting yourself into a reasonable driving position you then find other problems, the indicator lights on the dashboard are exactly in the position the steering wheel rim is, you cannot see if you have your indicators on other than listening for the faint tick sound emitted by the unit, you have to duck your head down below the steering wheel to see if they are on - come on Vauxhall have you actually tested this car with real people in it ?
Toyota put the indicator and headlight icons together in good view, your headlight icons are fine why not do similar and put the indicator icons on either side then it's sorted - not a hard one to solve for Christ sake.
Even more fun though are the air vents, the side ones by the window need the vertical fins turning all the way up to close it, this means you can't set a position and leave it, if you do then you always get air out, if you close it you have to set the position up all over again - for fuck sake Vauxhall, we can send probes to Pluto, why can't you leave the air vent where you like it and just close off the air flow ?
The central vents are effectively null and void, in most cars they are high up on the dashboard and you can direct a cool breeze to your face in the summer etc.
On this car someone with very limited intelligence put them half way down the dashboard, if your like most people you have comfort positions on the steering wheel to place your hands at 10 O'Clock and 2 O'Clock positions, they are the recommended positions and lots of people hold their steering wheel this way.
If you do on the Astra the central air vents will blow cool air onto your left arm, nothing at all will find it's way to your face unless you change your grip on the wheel, for many people it's natural to hold it the same way as they have done for the last 30 years so i'm sorry Vauxhall but your wrong, the vents are shit and your Astra design sucks big time.
Interior is drab, sparse and looks little better than a Corsa, for £21k I would expect a damn site more from my car and this is not cutting the mustard, imagine going into a lap dance bar, paying a premium price and finding a drab, dull tired looking woman in front of you who does nothing to inspire your senses or provide any kind of eye candy.
Similar to a lap dancing club your compelled not to touch anything in the Astra in case it breaks or you feel tainted by the experience, in fact there are so few options or features inside you won't press more than one or two buttons anyway.
The seats slide back and forth with 1960's styling, bringing a few moments of fond memory's, your first driving lesson in a Fiat 127 when you had manual seat adjustments because it was cutting edge technology 30 years ago.
Now it's there because Vauxhall cannot compete with other manufacturers so turns out cheap looking and poorly dressed lap dancers in a world of style and entertainment.
As far as the engine goes, I used to think the Avensis was a noisy engine, most diesels are particularly at tick over, the Astra does not let you down here, lots of vibration and noise at tick over, it's certainly no better than the Avensis.
Power ... well the Avensis was 125hp, this is 150 and has 6 speed box, you find yourself a gear higher than you would be in a 5 speed box so you feel your changing a lot more at lower speeds, its common to be in 3rd when you would have been in 2nd and so on.
The Astra has one and only one redeeming quality about it, the engine has plenty of oomph, 0-60 is gone in a flash, 1st gear is like many diesels, a quick struggle to light up the turbo and your in 2nd gear 2 microseconds after pulling off, in the Astra though 2nd gear propels you forwards similar to the Enterprise engaging Warp drive, there is a yelp of power and your now in another county, keep the power on and go to 3rd, 4th and 5th and your well above motorway speeds before you know it, engage 6th and your still pulling strongly.
Average fuel consumption at the moment is 39.8mpg, not impressive, on the Motorways over a 300 mile run I could not break 39.9 mpg on country or urban runs it gives 36.8. The Avensis would give 36.9 without fail on country runs and was very easy to get this up to 45 by keeping a higher gear or cutting the speed down a little (5mph), on motorways the Avensis would be in the high 40's or 50mpg, in fact at 70mph you would often see 52mpg with a full or empty car.
On the dashboard of the Astra is probably the one and only button that would interest most of you, the Sport button, hold your throttle steady and press it, the car immediately responds with considerable increase in throttle and power, holding it at 60mph I engaged and the car (without touching the throttle) went above 80 and was still going when I disengaged.
Traction control seems about the same as the Avensis, it's a far cry from the old traction where they simply killed your engine rev's, the current ones control your traction with elegant precision and you hardly know they are there, perhaps a little squeak from your wheels every now and then is all you ever get.
The Avensis was almost impossible to wheel spin, this seems no different.
Unfortunately no button to turn traction off though - on the Avensis I had control manually if needed.
The ride itself is OK, the suspension is firm but comfortable, firmer than the Avensis but you feel more pot holes and bumps, I've also found it has a tendency to be twitchy on the road, often moving to the left or right through no action of yours but most likely due to a small defect in the road etc, the Avensis on the same roads would not wander as much, you would sense the road change but the car would carry on regardless.
I've also seen a bit of under steer, give it some rev's and take bends a bit closer to the car's envelope and on perfectly dry roads it can twitch out and under steer leaving you a little wide, I think this is perhaps the fact there's a stonking heavy diesel engine under the bonnet and the laws of physics apply.
The Avensis didn't suffer too much from that, I think the wheel track was wider and it always seemed to go where I pointed it with very few issues considering it was a much much heavier car.
Boot space is OK, it's an estate but no more space than the Avensis hatch, the problem with estates is the immense drumming and booming from the rear when your driving, the road noise is amplified and makes using the radio pointless, in fact for most of our motorway journey we turned the radio off as we couldn't hear it. On the Avensis the road noise was much less and the sound system infinitely better. On the subject of noise the Avensis had no perceptible wind noise, you often had to open the window to hear if it was stormy or feel any cross winds, the Astra whistle like the old models, get to motorway speeds and your accompanied on your journey by natures rendition of Roger Whittakers "Streets of London", another reason to turn the tinny and cheap radio off.
We tried adjusting the bass, treble etc but these seemed to engage other settings such as Shit, really shit, bass only shit, can't hear a fucking word shit, was that the news ? shit and so on - I think all I ever did on the Avensis was put the treble up 2 notches and left it like that for several years.
All in all, apart from the fact it's quick (but easily beaten by other cars such as Golf GTI etc) the car leaves me dry, it's nice looking on the outside but that's like your lap dancer looking nice and being an axe murderer on the inside, you get inside the Astra and feel cheated, I've had a Skoda with more buttons and gadgets and many many cars that offer more than this, the SRi badge should stand for Shitting Robbed Innit, they have robbed all the gadgets and features you would expect for one thing and one thing only, a bit of speed, on the urban roads it's a sprinter, sprinting from junction to junction leaving boy racers in their Corsa and Saxo's far far behind, press the Sports button if they appear in your rear mirror and see them vanish.
Take it on the motorway and you need ear plugs, and you need a big wallet as cruising economy is not impressive, the body rumbles and roars with every bump and mile, touch the throttle and there's more noise but it's all wasted due to the general road noise and the song that should be "lots of power and torque" sounds like its playing along with "music to murder your loved one's by Vol3." your getting a mixed track, one that encourages to say "Fuck this, I'll drive slower because I'll get my hearing back", at this speed the road noise is much better but the engines effectively turned off so the music's not playing.
At 50mph it's like Radio 4, a sombre tune with little to entertain you.
Would I buy one, Yes but only if Vauxhall had a shotgun at my testicles, in reality NO, not a chance, not ever, not even if I was given a large discount (which I can get from my company) - it's just a 100m sprint racer and although it appeals to the child inside you and inspires lots of giggles when letting the horses out to play it's the subject of dark nightmares and bitter dreams when you let it above 50mph.
Hopefully I'll get a new company car and we'll see what that's like, odd's are it will be far slower but with fuel prices it's perhaps time I took my right foot off a bit and also saved a few points on my licence.
Final words, a tip to Vauxhall, when your designing a car, try asking real people what they want and go from there, horizontal arm rests in the door might look good on Gok but in the car it looks like someone's put 0.1 seconds of thought into it, the wing mirror controls are almost on the bonnet of the car, the Japanese ? they put them within easy and obvious reach. As far as my lap dancer goes, I feel a bit let down and violated, I wanted a pretty and sexy dancer with some class and breeding, this one looks the part outside but her dances only inspire for a moment then are lost on the dull soundtrack and club atmosphere, you feel when she speaks it's with the mouth of a whore but not words to make you feel sexy, warm and tingly, instead you feel the need to get your coat and look elsewhere, you surely shouldn't be paying premium prices for such offensive behaviour.
