Pleasantly surprised by white goods rental car?!

Pleasantly surprised by white goods rental car?!

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Discussion

Raino144

Original Poster:

121 posts

76 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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So this week I have been tootling around in an 18 plate Astra SRi Nav 1.4 turbo (150). Only because I didn’t want to pay the extortionate upgrade to a ´premium’ (e.g. A class diesel). Rental was £130 for8 days from one of the majors via a broker. upgrade would have been another £144!

It’s been a great car over 400 miles, reasonably comfortable, punchy enough and returned 45mpg mixed. They seem to be going at around £10-11k at a year old or so.

Given that £5k often only stretches to a 9-10 year old car, is this a hidden bargain or will the wheels fall off at the first opportunity?


Ron99

1,985 posts

88 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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Although I generally like Vauxhalls, I wouldn't touch a 1.4T with the B14XFL or B14XFT engine, nor would I touch a 1.0T with the B10XFL or B10XFT engine.
A fair few of them have been having problems with piston damage or misfires.
Even if the engine is running fine now, you never know whether a previous owner had a problem and damage has already been caused.

The older A14NEL and A14NET and its latest incarnation the B14NEH or B14NET don't seem to be troublesome and are a completely different engine (1364cc & port injection vs 1399cc & direct injection in the troubled engine).

Bennyjames28

1,702 posts

99 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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I could think of way better ways to spend 10k than to buy a vauxhall.

Flumpo

4,024 posts

80 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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Bennyjames28 said:
I could think of way better ways to spend 10k than to buy a vauxhall.
Telling us might help?

WonkeyDonkey

2,419 posts

110 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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I've driven a few modern Vauxhalls and they have all been perfectly fine vehicles. Not exactly an enthusiasts car but it does the commute to work fine. Comfy, well refined when it comes to NVH levels. Just the same as a German car but possibly a bit slower.

And maybe without the 'soft touch plastics'. Although unless you're a special case who goes around biting on their dashboards I really don't feel they're worth a £10k uplift for just getting you to work and back.

Raino144

Original Poster:

121 posts

76 months

Sunday 11th November 2018
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Coming from a £40k merc C250d 4matic I did get the feeling that something like this could do 90% of what I do now at a fraction of the cost. Hopefully invisible to the thieves as well as it’s not German?