we aquired our astra in march 2000. we were lucky to get the new 2000 model, which came with electric windows as standard , but unfortunately only in the front.
we have had no teething troubles at all , and on the whole we have been very pleased with it.
although vauxhall have made good use of space , it is still a small car , and leg room and storage space are not great. i also keep getting the tip of my shoe caught when using the pedals.
a very annoying thing about the astra is that the cassette does not have auto- reverse. this may seem like a petty complaint if you do not listen to alot of tapes , but it really is very distracting having to keep turning the tape over.
i never even thought to check this when we first looked at the car , as i thought they had stopped making cassettes without auto- reverse around fifteen years ago !
another disadvantage of the astra is that it is designed for very small people. i am only average height, but i was unable to get my legs under the steering wheel , so we had to have an adjustable column put in at extra cost.
it is quite a nippy little car when using the sports button, and the ride is fairly smooth. i have an automatic, and the gear changes are not as smooth as they could be. in the bigger automatics i have driven , you could not tell you were changing gear at all.
having said that , it is certainly the smoothest small car i have been in.
it is very , very economical. it is quite difficult to park , as you cannot see the bonnet , but its small size makes up for this , as you can get into small spaces.
overall, although it has its faults , it really is a very good car.