Mk1 Vauxhall Astra Saloon: Review and Drive (Opel Kadett D) 

What a lovely, charming car! Great that it is still alive after 40 years - despite being a base model, it's been loved.

Even about twenty five years ago Astra mk1 base models were rare. So rare that I forgot you got the small circular headlights with them.

It's incredible that the car has survived this long, especially in more or less factory spec. I imagine that most examples of the Astra E were originally fleet cars (or used by dealers to upsell customers into an L) and were used up and worn out by the late 1980s. However, I reckon that in 1981 that the model would have been an absolute revelation to anyone trading up from a Viva HC or an early Chevette.

I sold one of the first 1.2 Astras 40 years ago. I worked at Main dealer as a salesman. Thanks for sharing a bit of welcome nostalgia 😊

What a class car. Love the simplicity. I had the new model 2 Astra Merit 1300. A bit of a blobby shaped car with a 'cheese cutter' grey grill but it was good value for money at the time. Much better than my first car, a Vauxhall Viva HC.

My first car was a 1981 Kadett. This video brought back many memories. Great car and a great video.

Wonderful content! Thanks for sharing this Kadett with us. I love this car, have two and grew up with them. Also the first car I ever drove. Thank you for this video. It's definitely one of a kind and special. Keep it coming. I hope to see much more of this Kadett. Also, my father's 1200 L also had the handbrake button staying in and get stuck and sometimes struggled a lot to get the button out. Those Opel engines are stunning and has a beautiful and unique tone and rumble.

Cracking video. Memories of my dads 1.3 L company car that I drove whenever I could. China blue as I recall.

Fabulous video, reminds me of my V reg Fiesta (old V reg!!) very basic 1.1L that had intermittent wipers that my parents coveted! Neither dad's montego or my mothers car had that luxury

Great review, wonderful survivor, look forward to the tinkering video

Wow that is a prop base model of a car! So many blanks, even the ciggy lighter is blank (which at the time must have been a big loss). So much metal is on show too and the only partially cloth seats! This car must be the first occurrence of the multi light switch, plus pull for interior, that lasted for decades in Vauxhall cars :-). My friend had a 1.3 s mk1 in our day, and that was a great handling and fast car, easily out matching my Strada 1.5 super 85.

What a sweet little car! Fab video x

My dad had a 3 door estate model called the caravan model and had the 1.2 engine. The Opel Kadett D was very common in Ireland, the estate was very practical in terms of space but hard to access the rear seats. Thanks for the video. I would buy that car off you. ❤

Yeah, more Opel Kadett content, please! 😍❤️

What a lovely old charmer, I remember my old Jamaica Yellow Nova SR and a prior I had a Nova 993cc ohv smaller engine to this car featured

Great video, was highly tempted by this when it was for sale, glad it's gone to a good home :-)

Switch blanks are L to R. Front fogs, rear wiper (when fitted as accessory), heated seats. Rear wiper usually on stalk. I fitted an ash tray light to mine. I guess I got that out of a GL.

Great lovely car

Good detailed reviewing. 👍👍

I was driving a base level VW Golf at the time this Astra was launched. I went to look at the base model and admittedly was very tempted to buy one but was swayed by the then new Golf 5 door Formel E which I subsequently bought and kept for 3 + years.

What a great car. Love that it’s a base spec with round headlights as I am currently collecting parts for my own yellow Kadett. Mine is a 1982 1.3N automatic caravan. It is buid by german coach builder Voll for the Swedish post with RHD and sliding door for easy entrance. It has a high windscreen and is odd looking, but it is 1 of 4 in the register and it needs to get back on the road. Last MOT was in 2001.

Great video, I couldn't help noticing that in the front passenger footwell you have a slot where the service history book is meant to go. If you can find a copy, get the book by Trevor Alder "Vauxhall: the post war years" you will like it!

My first car was a 9 year old X reg Astra L 1200S 5 door hatch. I really loved it as it felt more grown up than my friends Minis & Fiestas. Sadly rust killed it in the end as it did with most Astra D's. The old 1200 Opel unit was as tough as old boots and was dead easy to work on and unlike the Family 1 OHC engine, it didn't chew through its camshafts.

I love how the roofline kicks up to fit in the hatchback it doesn’t have

Your Astra is very austere rather like its predecessor base model HC Viva & Chevette / Chevanne. No headrests, wow. Without central locking, those are called snipper buttons on the inside. Haven't driven a manual since the Viva & Chevette / Chevanne days. I remember the HC had offset pedals to the drivers seat 💺 😒 and we just got on with it & just drove without questioning it. Thanks for the review & greetings from the colonies of New 🇳🇿 Zealand 😊❤ PS - forgot to mention mother 👩 sold those austere Vauxhalls from 74 to 81 out in the colonies of Auckland back in the day.😂

What a brilliant little car I drove one the same colour last year at a car museum in matlock I thought it was very well put together and modern feeling to drive compared to the chevette or viva 👌👏👏👏👏👏👏👍🏻

There was an update to the mk1…the headlights went square. The gearshifters changed to mk2 cavalier style. The 1.2E was rebranded as just 1.2….but it came with slightly more stuff as standard inc the proper glove box. I might be wrong but on the slightly later models the hatchback rear wash wipe was operated by pushing the wiper control stalk away from you….integrated in, not a separate switch.

A detailed and enjoyable video, thank you. I hope you will make videos sometime about the FIATs in the background!

My parents bought a new Kadett E saloon in 1986. Surprising to see how many items were taken over from this car.

Absolutely mint old car lovely.

I had a red 2 door 1200s saloon, I don't recall the spec but mine had square headlights, headrests and a opening glove box. Sadly on having some work done on it, found serious rust issues had been hidden using such materials as bread to fill cavities, newspaper and cardboard had been used to partially rebuild the front suspension towers!

Cool little car😍😍,love the yellow,but not crazy about tan interiors,though.

not sure whether the saloon version was just entry level. the round headlights were the trim sign for that. small boot lid was generally another option available with any trim and only for short. and that makes it even rarer. that car has it all. if you got this for under lets say 3k consider yourself lucky. i see the price point at at least 5k let alone finding such a gem. [edit:typo]

Nice review. I had two mk 1 Astra's, both 1300S, one a "X" (VHA227X) the other a "A" reg and both brown lol. The X reg was a L, the A reg was a GL model so had 2 extra gauges for oil pressure and amps as well as a tachometer. Both were very nippy, however the earlier car still used points ignition unlike the later one. Between the two Astras I had a mk 2 Cavalier 1600 GL, however I found the Astra a nicer and nippier car.

I'm not surprised you like the steering wheel: Over in Europe only the top-spec Berlina got this type of wheel. I personally don't remember the 1.3 engine being more refined, it seemed to have a very light flywheel. Many people disliked the automatic choke that the 1.3 had the first few years. I recommend to have a look at the gear change, I found these to have a very sweet gear change, definitely one of the plus points of the car. Lovely car, enjoy it!

Never realised they did a saloon...😅

The saloon option wasn’t as pointless as you might think. Company fleets often preferred saloons into the ‘90s, as they were generally a bit cheaper to insure. The first hatchback cars (of all makes) from the ‘60s onwards were treated by insurance companies as as big a risk of break-ins (because the contents of the boot were visible) as estate cars. This continued even when removable parcel shelves became commonplace in hatchbacks - the lag in cottoning on to the contents of a hatchback’s boot being hidden were advantageous to the insurance companies. Plus they had the excuse that the owner *may* leave the parcel shelf out of the car anyway. Plus there was the perceived problem of people pulling the tailgate glass down on their luggage and smashing it. Any excuse to bump the premium up a bit, but which wouldn’t wash with a saloon. Fleet buyers noticed the difference in premiums with cars like the Chevette which came in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants, and no doubt exerted some pressure on manufacturers like Vauxhall to keep a saloon in the family car range. I know the chemical plant where my Dad worked had a fleet of Allegro 3s that they kept until the mid/late ‘80s - bought as a job lot from the local dealer as the run-out models were cheap, and specifically because they were saloons rather than hatchbacks. As an aside, the two door Mk1 Astra saloons were highly sought after for their shells by anyone who’d totalled their (hatchback) GTE or SR in rallying. The saloon shells were stiffer, and so reckoned to lead to marginally better handling, as well as less chance of damage if they landed after a jump. A mechanic I used to take my cars to had a Mk1 Astra saloon car for rallying - though somehow it was on an F plate as he’d put the mechanicals of a Mk2 GTE into it. Never could figure out how that was anywhere near legal, and I’m guessing that meant the Mk1 and Mk2 must have had the same/similar floorpans?

If you remove the plugs, you will see 1-front additional headlights (installed in the grille), 2-rear fog lights, 3-rear wiper + washer, 4-heated driver's seat.

Nice Video (as always) and have you test driven a 1.3S? When I was 17 (just) and I had a 1.2 Hatchback (RSG714Y) which i (stupidly) wrote off after a week (my first car). I then went out and bought (with the insurance money) a 1.3S Hatchback, and i can tell you that the 1.3S engine was amazing when compared to the 1.2, a lot more refined, and went like stink! The 1.2 felt like a slug when compared to the 1.3. I recall they both had similar mileages on the engines. Sounds like you have a really nice 1.2 there though.

The round headlights scream "base model" so loudly - merely to annoy the owners into upgrading...

The 1200S needed to run on super while the 1300N ran on regular petrol. Later there was a 1300S too which had 75 hp

Well done Sion a lovely review and what a great car a true survivor! Ironically my dad was one who was suspicious of front wheel drive so he had another chevette then had a couple of nova Astras and then belmonts! It was strange back then! A lot of what you said I remember my dad saying with his Vauxhalls the unusual driving position, direct steering and engines picking up well. He also used to mention an issue with second gear on his Vauxhalls! Great to see it survive and look forward to see it receive the morsels treatment!

You asked about ideas for future videos and I know this has nothing to do with the Astra, bur I've always wanted to watch a Sweeny challenge, Mk1 Ford Granada vs Jaguar 2.4. It would be really nice to see if the Granada was the better of the Jag or was it that Ford gave the Sweeny free cars providing they were used by the goodies not the badies.

The dinky door cards at least allow plenty of cheery yellow gloss to show through. And even the base-spec interior looks better than the Chevette's.

Yeah but nostalgia is a funny thing..it twists minds and empties wallets....its nice to see older cars surviving but would you really go back there? I loved my Kadett C (sport lol) and sort of wish I'd kept it but times move on and they are so basic now compared to say a modern Hyundai We tend to forget that parts and planned obsolescence are a major factor plus I fancied an astra gte ;) I haven't really got the inclination to buy and maintain an oldie especially at the asking prices....we don't have the room for a Sunday driver.

How do you know that Astras steering wheel angle is strange compared to Fiat Uno for example? You did not give us the whole clue?

I always remember that the heater only comes out hot on the window or the feet but not on the vents that face you 🤷‍♂

Got to be honest, the 1300 was sooooo much better than the 1200, free revving, quiet, and MUCH quicker actually 20 bhp more 75 vs 55 thats a big difference percentage wise, in fact they were as quick as everyone else's 1600, my first car, a sierra 1.6l could'nt hold a candle to my girlfriends mk2 astra 1300 merit, sierra had 52000 on the clock and astra had 120,000 on the clock to.

The MK1 with OHC 1.3 engine was a great car to drive - a way better engine than your example [sorry] and far better than the Fiesta equivalent. I was a big fan of both Ford and Vauxhall but the Astra interior even though equally poverty spec' as the Fiesta appealed more to me - the gearbox on the Astra was also a delight so your car needs some tlc

Its got the twin tow eyes that not a 1st year thing? I am liking your collection. I notice you do like early models of certain cars and base models. The driving position looks awful and I've always found Vauxhalls seating not good. Try blipping the throttle going frm 4th down to second gear. Theres a twin tow eye astra up in Scotland at my local show it was a Opel RHD

Maybe I. Wrong

This ain’t no saloon no saloon at all.. on the contrary it’s a hatchback

I’m sorry but this car really isn’t poverty spec. Far too many L features!

It's a hatchback not a saloon