Astra 1.7 TD Test Drive/ Review 

This takes me back to when I was in the police, I drove them everyday for several years. They were solid and reliable and they certainly got plenty of abuse, I even had the wrestler Big Daddy in mine once.

I had a Mk3 Astra 1.7 TDS LS with a Isuzu, bullet proof. Had it for a few years. This video took me back.

My favourite era of Astra. I really liked the shape and i remember those engines having a great reputation. A radio cassette player with 6 speakers and a high up display seemed quite classy back in the day too for a run of the mill family wagon. Get your Ace of Base cranked up Also the sort of car you could imagine would just stop outside a chip shop whether you wanted it to or not.

Good strong engines these and I remember the Nova 1.5TD being quite the little rocket.

I still have my late father's 1.7 td estate. Only done 80k. After seeing this I'll dag it out of retirement and feel proud of it.

I owned a K plate Cavalier 1.7 TD from 1996 -2001 sold it with 168000 miles never had any problems with it but the rear arches were starting to bubble, it was still around for another few years.

We used to use these as courier vans. They would clock up about 200k in 4 years, and with 5k oil changes rarely gave problems.

A good starter classic for one of those young people!

I really miss this era of cars, reliable, cheap and easy to fix, actual buttons and knobs for the ventilation instead of a stupid i pad on the dash.

I have a soft spot for these cars, the vans and estates are the best looking and most useful versions. Rusty rear arches, dog legs and sill ends came as standard after a few years of exposure to road salt so every after market panel supplier offered the repair section at very reasonable prices. I rebuilt a worn out 1.4 petrol van that served me well for a couple of years and later on had a 2.0 Belmont that was stolen from outside my home and used as a get away car in a post office robbery. The GSI was the top of the tree and so the bodykit and bonnets from these flagship models found their way onto 1.2 and 1.4 merit versions for young and “enthusiastic” drivers.

I have wanted another one of these for years !!

Just passed one of these in Uppermill, looked in good nick too. They are still out there.

Always thought the MK3 Astra had a slight resemblance to the Maestro with the shape of its large glasshouse.

We had a 2002 Astra LS Estate with that engine. I hated it at the time. We had it for years after the Rover 75. My Dad did miles for work and family in it! 175k when we sold it and still perfect. Quite like to have it back now! Nostelgia is a strange thing! 😅

Excellent review thank u

My mum had a J plate 1.4 8v, it gained momentum instead of accelerated, I had an N plate 1.6 16v estate in red, quite nippy for what it was. It was such a good car and had little extras like body coloured bumpers and fog lights, it was my third car and of my favourite cars, I wish I never parted with. Had an Astra G later on in life and liked that. Can’t stand my other half’s new Astra, it’s a barge that’s just cost £1500 for a new turbo.

Is that not James Bond's car? Surely that number plate is a dead give away? It has "M" and "SPY" there... and £8 6s !d - Moneypenny (from a time when £8 6s was money - then add the penny)

That engine it’s a beast. My friend have an Astra G Caravan from 2002 with 1.7 Isuzu engine, the simple DTI not newer CDTI. Him bought the car with 200.000 km and scrapped with over 800.000 km and most probably like all cars imported in Romania from Germany, the initial kilometres most probably wasn’t the real number. Him only changed one EGR valve. 😅 Later edit: it was used as a taxi.

1.7 Isuzu diesel engine best ever built 1000000000 miles just go on and on

Had a number of Corsa 1.5 TD Isuzu engined cars in the past. So frugal and reliable. Great, cheap family motoring but not the most dynamic vehicle I ever drove.

I remember these in non turbo form often had a stiff throttle pedal, reluctant to do much but would go on forever.

I remeber reading auto express back in the day and they did say the steering on the astra and cavalier was woolly. I did like the shape when they came out , yep the mk2 and the mk3 flat rear arch design always rusted.

I really enjoy these videos. Nigel but hate the astras had 1 bk in 2007 as a stop gap 1997 plate td what a horrible old box on wheels it was 😢 the escort was a much better car to drive

Had several of these in estate form with same engine, every one had head gasket failure at some point. Good family car though, good review!

looks like a fed car,when i was a lad and smoked jazz cabbage down a country lane at night you could hear one for a mile,

All Vauxhall Astras drive much better than they look. I've noticed the upholstery in this Astra has lasted very well. If it was a Ford Escort mark 5, or a Volkswagen Golf III, the tops of those black seats would have started to fade to purple 20 years ago.

I had a K reg estate with the straight diesel, slow but.... slow. A local bloke bought it off me in 2008 and he finally scrapped it just a couple of years ago.

Nice little car Paul 👏👏👏👍👍👍👍

Very basic car but tough as old boots and very reliable.

My one and only company car was a 17D Estate, that's right, no turbo... It was in every respect, awful. Couldn't break it, it was too heavy at the front, painfully slow and didn't like corners, the worst understeer of any car I've ever driven. Not that comfortable and noisy. When I left that job I bought a Rover 200GTi three door...

Didn't Lotus do stuff to the Astra's suspension to make them better to drive than all the other front-driven Vauxhalls?

In the early 90s I went with Liverpool John Moores University on a visit to the Ellesmere Port factory during the summer shutdown, and they were all set to build these. There was a GSi on display that looked fantastic at the time, very fu5uristic. These were so much better than the dull baggy Mk5 Ford Escort being made across the Mersey estuary at Halewood….. I later went to the Halewood Getrag gearbox factory… fair play Ford always did good gearboxes…. The contemporary Fiat Tipo gave a lot more than both the Astra and Escort !

I had a k reg 1.7tdi isuzu diesel bulletproof bodywork rusts that was the only ly issue i had with mine oh and it seized in reverse gear so scrap it was for it .😅

Astra F with an Isuzu engine. Wonderful car and engine. Was a sort after engine at one time, folk would pull them and fit them in Suzuki Jimny's.

MI6 SPY on the reg plate lol

Typical Vauxhall , as good as it needed to be but no better .

I've got an Xpower I'd like you to review, sent a FB message, thanks Neil

Oh, the 1990s and the changes to drunk driving! Gone were the days (before I was born) where people could drive drunk and be escorted home by police... Although, a few years ago I heard a story of a friend who was attending a wedding and was quite drunk, and that very same scenario occurred. 😂 He said he was paranoid that the police were following him, but was told after the fact that one of the wedding attendees was a policeman who used his squad car and was following him home to make sure he got back okay. 🤣 Crazy.

And no poxy speed limiter

My dad used to have one sadly not the Isuzu engine one 1998 bluw Merit TD 1.7 and it was awful so agricultural compared to modern diesels reliable but awful and the ride is hard on them bone shaker lol

Is it the Isuzu in that

Engine I mean