Can anyone help?
I have a Vauxhall Astra '98 S reg 1.6LS 8 valve which I am finding somewhat sluggish!
I used to get my kicks from my Honda Fireblade which I have just sold to fund my first house - I can't afford to buy a faster car (doing the house up!) so my question is this:
Can I do anything to my Astra to improve the performance without sacrificing the reliability or should I just leave my innocent little 8 valve alone?
I am not after a massive turn of speed - just a bit more ooomph for overtaking lorries etc.
Please can anyone help!?
Cheers!
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the most sensible thing to do is sell it and buy something else i think.
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Fraid so. Engine is way too slow for this car - a friend rented one about 4 years ago - and it was pulling in third like most cars would in fifth. It was also available in the Vectra, which is even more frightening.
Anyway, can you do anything to the car? Not really. It's too slow to even bother tuning because most people who've bought one It's also an old-tech 8v n/a petrol so you can't really mess around with it. I dare say you might be able to spend £1k on getting an extra 8 bhp out of it at most, from an air filter, custom stainless exhaust and possibly a couple of mods - but it'll still be painfully slow. Modded cars also cost more to insure and many companies won't touch them at all; and if you don't tell them, you've invalidated your insurance.
You say you can't afford a faster car, but you can - as long as you're willing to put up with something older and/or higher mileage. At least it would do the job you ask of it. The stock answer of a 2.0 Mondeo might also help you here as 98 Astras are one of the first of that shape and therefore oddly desirable whereas Mondeos are so common that they're not.
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My dad had one of these before his current 1.6 16v auto. Whenever I drove it I found to get anything out of the engine you had to rev it above 4000 rpm before the engine really woke up. You haven't said how many miles it's done, but if the previous owner has only pootled about in it, this could be the reason for the sluggish response. What I would do is try some injection cleaner, (either Winn's; or if you can get hold of it, Forte) and then give it a good Italian tune up. If you're wondering what that is, btw, search though some of the threads using the site search box at the top of the screen ;o)
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You could try a tank or twos worth of Optimax to see if that helps. A mate has the later 1.6 8v with 85bhp and an auto gearbox and he said Optimax did the business for him.
Tony
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oops I think I sent that to the wrong place!
I'm not very good at these forum things!
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You think that's bad? We rented an 02 1.4 Club on holiday this year.
Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear :)
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I just tried to type a reply to all your posts and have no idea where I sent it to!!
It was something along the lines of thanks v. much for your responses!
I think I may have sent it to Tony??
Oh dear - it's been a long day.....
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I think I will stick to my works van - a Mercedes Sprinter - I'm convinced it's faster than my car!!
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Believe it or not, the 1.4 16v actually has more power than the 1.6. Scarily, there is also a 1.2 in some European markets, which is as asthmatic as it sounds.
Actually, the Sprinter might be faster. I've been overtaken by them at speeds I wouldn't care to admit to doing; and also they are invariably driven by people with no sense of danger whatsoever.
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I got stopped for speeding in mine a few weeks ago - 66mph in a 60 mph limit. A bit harsh I thought but then the nice officer pointed out I was in a commercial vehicle and am restricted to 50mph in a 60!! I was blissfully unaware of this - he told me to go home and and read the highway code again. I am now saving for a toaster with my new points.
The 1.4 is quicker eh? Time to flog the 1.6!!
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No, it has more power because it's a 16v engine... i.e., if you like thrashing the pink fluffy dice off it, you might get there a little sooner. If you don't like doing your overtaking in second, there might not be much difference and the 1.6 may even be faster without changing down - although this is a slow car.
If injector cleaner and an Italian tune up don't do it, flog it for a 2.0 Vectra or (my preference) Mondeo. It may cost slightly more to run but at least you'll be happy with the car.
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Must admit don't think I will ever buy a car with an 8 valve engine again. Last car was a 1994 1.8 Cavalier and it was very hard to red line the revs. Now have a three year old 1.8 16 valve Mondeo zetec and it is very easy to get the rev limiter to cut in. I have driven several hundred miles in a 2 year old Astra 1.4 16 valve and was quite impressed with the performance from that size engine. I even acquired my first 3 penalty points in it after over 30 years driving, for exceeding the motorway speed limit!
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