Does anyone drive a new shape diesel Astra?

How new is the new shape astra? We have one like this?

That's the style I was looking at. What do you think of it? Is it cheap as chips to run?

We have one! It's 07 reg astra sri 1.9 cdti 150.

We regularly get 50+ mpg and it runs lovely!!

I wouldn't say cheap as chips unfortunately ? but it's much cheaper than the automatic petrol astra I sometimes drive. Mr jaz uses it more than me atm so I'll check with him and let you know. I really like it otherwise, interior and how it looks from outside etc. Looking at the website I think the model is - Astra Sport Hatch SRi 1.9CDTi 16v (150PS). I think he puts about £40 in and that does about 200 miles - does that sound about right? I'll double check with him though as that could be nonsense sorry ?

The only v minor probs so far is the doors are massive so I have to be careful opening them when parked beside other cars and you have to reach away back for your seatbelt ?

I put £45 in my petrol Astra and get 400 miles so I doubt it somehow.

I'm looking at the 1.7 d so not very sporty or fast but hopefully good on fuel. My current car is huge and is a 1.6 petrol and costs me £200 per month in fuel. My plan is to get the Astra (54 reg) which will cost £120 per month in fuel and leave me £80 to pay the finance on it. I need to be sure the fuel economy is good enough to save me £80 a month or I'm stuffed.

Thanks for the replies.

Hooby, that sounds good too. I put £40 in my mum truck and get about 270.

Oh bollox ? I'll email him now.

When I drive the petrol astra £30 only gets me about 150 miles max I think hmmmm. I must actually pay more attention to these things. I'll ask mr j now

I have the 54 reg petrol Astra which sounds like a diesel but that's probably because it gets a proper thrashing. ?

Sounding less good now Hooby. That's top end of my woeful budget though.

Other people's Astras don't sound like mine. My boss has one a fair bit older and it drives quietly. I can only assume it's a combination of my driving plus high mileage. It's just passed its second MOT with no problems so I'm happy with it and the fuel economy is good. I assume it would be better still with the diesel.

Our engine sounds great, shame about the horn for some reason it sounds little like a comedy horn. The horn on the petrol astra is fine though ?

I've never beeped the horn. Has someone else got my share of road rage? ? I only get road irritation which doesn't warrant beepage.

FOr all diesel drivers, is it still like driving a tractor? I learned to drive in a diesel and it was very chuggy. It was 16 years ago though.

OH had a 54 reg 1.4 petrol and has recently got a newer 1.7 diesel but we've not really noticed much difference tbh. He says he gets around 400 motorway miles when he puts £40 in.

Thanks Bohemian Raspberry, that sounds quite promising. Is it quite a comfortable car? My budget is tiny so I'm looking at Astras, FOcus' and 307s. They all seem small to me but much of a muchness in space and the Astra is cheapest.

Spooky, OH has/had the astra and I've got a 307.

I much prefer OH's car and so does he. The astra seems to have more boot space and it feels a lot more comfortable to drive than mine. We've had trouble with it too, it failed it's last MOT and the clutch has gone on it twice now.

H thinks he gets about 250-300 miles from £40 but doesn't do any motorway miles, just country roads.

We used to have 307s. I loved them but we had lots of problems with them e.g. recalls, exhaust being knackered when still quite new, little things going wrong. The diesel 307 sounded like a real tractor towards the end before the unisured twat crashed into it and wrote it off [sob] The only thing I've noticed about the astras I don't like as much as the 307s is that both their fuel guages don't seem to be very accurate e.g. the light comes on for low fuel, then a few minutes later it's off again - this happened a lot whereas with the 307 I never ever noticed it.

It's very comfortable. Our diesel has heated seats which I love ?

Re the horn I only noticed when I was tooting goodbye and realised it sounded like a comedy horn ? I hate tototing at people for bad driving as I got tooted at loads when I'd just passed my test so only do it when I'm really mad. Honest!

Sounds like a nice car jaz. I believe the 1.7 does more mpg than the 1.9 but I don't imagine it goes very fast. Mind you I do 15000 miles a year mostly commuting so speed is neither here nor there.

I'm scared to jinx myself but they do seem v reliable. Test the horn before you commit to one though ? Good luck!

Hmm, just need to rustle up £4,500 or so and sell the mum truck. ANyone fancy buying a 6 and a half year old scenic? 63,000 miles and an aversion to starting?