Holden Astra 2001 Problems

A four-cylinder car is the way to go when you're learning; toomany young drivers buy turbos, V6s and V8s and often get into troublewhen they outdrive their skill and experience. The Astra is one ofthe cars I would certainly consider, but you need to be aware of thecam timing belt problems they had with that model. To avoid breaking the belt, and causing massive internal damage to the engine, the beltneeds to be replaced every 60,000 km. With that in mind it'simportant to makesure that any car you consider has had the beltchanged according to that schedule, and be aware that he will have toreplace it every 60,000 km in the future. A 10-year-old Astra willset you back $8000-$9000. Others to consider are the Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Pulsar, Mazda 323 and Toyota Corolla.

THE handbook is out of date. Holden will have told dealers, who would take it into account when cars came in for their 60,000km service. Check your service records to see if it's been done.

This problem might affect other light, front-wheel-drive cars, but the Astra is renowned for it. While I previously suggested the Mazda3 might also suffer from the problem, there is no real evidence from the trade to suggest it does. I believe the problem is just road noise being amplified by the body cavity, and Mazda does not want to spend the money to reduce it.

THE flat spot sounds like fuel vaporisation. Fuel can vaporise in the fuel rail because of the heat generated while sitting idle, and it can cause a slight misfire when it's time to go. Get the fuel pump checked to see if it's delivering its full flow of fuel. Also check the fuel-pressure regulator to see if it's maintaining the correct fuel pressure.

This is not unusual with the Astra which, like all European cars, chews through brakes, both pads and discs, quickly. It seems unusual that both front and rear discs should need replacing at such low kilometres, and at the same time. You'd normally expect the front discs to wear faster than the rears, but I have heard of similar cases with the Astra. You could try taking it up with Holden as a warranty claim, but I think you'd find they consider disc rotors as consumable items not covered by the warranty.