Hyundai Coupe vs Astra Coupe

Bluehair

unkel wrote:

Yeah, right.

No REALLY this time

It's funny though cause I longed after the high-spec Rover 75 that I now own for so long it's been a bit weird to find out I actually was a closet petrol-head all along

The Rovers a beautiful car and whoever gets it will be very lucky I guess it just wasn't the car for me in the end of the day.

I'm trying to take more time this time though to find something I'll be happy to hang on for a while, at least until I can justify buying a classic 911

SouperComputer

Don't get me wrong I'm no boy-racer and not hugely bothered about 0-60 etc but I do like 'real-world' performance when it matters i.e. pulling out at roundabouts, 50-70 etc..

Get yourself a nice TDi then. Golf GT TDi comes to mind, only 130BHP but enough torque to pull down a house!

Usually these can be chipped to great advantage too.

PauloMN

Cheers for all the feedback, the above says it all really. Whereabouts are you based? If you're serious I may well take you up on that offer to have a closer look/chat about your own car sometime.

No problem, I'm located in Dublin 15. Your more than welcome to call out. Just drop me a PM.

Bar the shocks problem for the nct how are you finding servicing costs?

Servicing costs have been ok, everything has been done at the dealer bar one service (a friend of a friend who is working in an Opel garage did that one for me). Dealer servicing is on the dear side regardless of what car you get, so you're looking at probably €200 for a full service. At this stage, given the car is 5 years old now, I'd use an independent mechanic to do the servicing once I knew a good one.

interestingly a dealer I spoke to yesterday said they'd never take a 2.2 as a trade-in or offer a derisory value since they're very hard to sell on for all the reasons you mention (insurance/tax/running).

That's the thing about the 2.2 - you'll probably get one cheaper than the 1.8 actually. Ireland is a base model market as I say - the smallest engined variant of each model is the one that sells, and it's mainly the daft engine cc based road tax system is the cause of it. Just puts people off, and especially company/fleet car buyers. I mean, 1.6 litre Vectras? Come on!!!! You can't even get a 1.6 litre Vectra in the UK.

Anyway re. the 2.2 - I know that one on Carzone has been up there a while - if I was looking to buy it, I'd actually go in a few grand under the asking price to chance my arm. You might get it for a lot less if you're buying with cash. Unfortunately if trading the 75, you probably won't be able to do this. Can you sell the 75 privately?

ambro25

Just to throw a Joker card on the pack

You looked at a Cougar yet? Or is the styling too off-putting?

That's about the most metal I've seen for €€€s in a very long time, speaking of second-hand value. Especially the 2.5 V6 (same power plant as Mondeo ST).

It's very roomy (Mondeo base), well-specced and you won't need to rev the nuts out of it to get going.

And it's a Ford, so reasonably cheap to run/get spares for.

My €0.02

v10

colm_mcm wrote:

In fairness the Celica is a bit of a pain. in real life is no more powerful than the 140bhp version.

only when you lose any mechanical sympathy and absolutely cane the engine to 9,000 rpm. hop it off the limiter, change up and repeat the process until you're going incredibly fast, do you get the best out of the engine.

It's easily more powerful than the 140bhp model .. and not a pain at all. Once you get used to it (which doesn't take long) , it's quite easy to drive these cars very fast.

As for mechanical sympathy .. there quite obviously built to be driven like this .. if not, they wouldn't have lift so high in the revs.

Must try out a Celica which I believe is a great drive but there's something about the looks I getting get used to, too many angles or something.

You need to get them with a bit of kit on them .. beautiful car.


Personally, I wouldn't touch the Astra ($hite resale value) and the Hyundai does look good, but disappoints everywhere else.

PauloMN

Personally, I wouldn't touch the Astra ($hite resale value)

What do you base this on? The fact that Celicas are more expensive 2nd hand than Astras? Erm... there's about €12k in the difference between a new Celica base model and a new Astra Coupé base model - this may explain the difference in 2nd hand prices.

Matter of fact, you'll find the rate of depreciation pretty identical if you compare the 2nd hand prices of each with the new price of each. So the "$hite resale value" thing is not really valid in my book.

In any case, by your logic surely a car with poor resale value would be the perfect 2nd hand choice from a financial perspective, no?

Not saying anything against the Celica mind you - it's a beauty, and no doubt would be ultra reliable as well as fun. However a similar year (say '02 model) will cost maybe €5k or more than the Astra - is the extra power worth it? That's a question only the OP can answer.

v10

PauloMN wrote:

What do you base this on?

Just my opinion of opel resale trends in general really. We're not talking about new cars so forget new price. I just think that if you bought a 2002 model Astra and Celica, 3 - 4 years down the road the Astra would be worth very small money where the Celica would probably still fetch reasonable money. Just my opinion really.

PauloMN wrote:

In any case, by your logic surely a car with poor resale value would be the perfect 2nd hand choice from a financial perspective, no?

Not really, some cars tend to hold on to there value reasonably well for a few years, then lose value very quickly. The Fact that the 2002 Astra is already a old shape Astra would only cause it to depreciate faster now.

PauloMN wrote:

However a similar year (say '02 model) will cost maybe €5k or more than the Astra - is the extra power worth it?

In my opinion your not paying €5k extra for the power alone. The whole package is definately worth the extra... in my opinion

Anyways, to answer the OP's question, I personally would go for the Hyundai over the Astra .. simply because it's equally as good a car, looks better and is in more demand. But for me to buy either of those cars would have to be because there were no other options. Luckily there is.

PauloMN

We're not talking about new cars so forget new price.

Well we're talking about cars that were new when there was a €12k gap, so it is sort of important. Of course a Celica is going to be dearer second-hand, it cost a shed load more new. The depreciation percentage is the important figure to compare, and it's the same for both if you care to do the sums. I'm not trying to be pedantic here, but off-the-cuff remarks like "$hite resale value" need to be shown up for what they are and that is simply untrue.

Anyway, the point is whether the extra performance/package is worth the extra €5k+ (in fact more like €6k or €7k looking at what's available). You think it is, I think it's insane extra money for the extra you'd get. The OP has to decide that based on driving all of them and how much he's willing to spend.

colm_mcm

v10 wrote:

It's easily more powerful than the 140bhp model .. and not a pain at all. Once you get used to it (which doesn't take long) , it's quite easy to drive these cars very fast.

i suppose it's fun in a raw racy way, but it'd be nicer to have something you don't have to trash to get the best out of

Bluehair

colm_mcm wrote:

but it'd be nicer to have something you don't have to trash to get the best out of

This would suit my style of driving too, I prefer low-down torque readily available rather than having to rev the arse out of it.

On that I didn't get half the time today that I thought I'd have to do a few test drives but did get to take the 2.2 Astra Coupe for a spin (that gold one Paul).

I must admit I really liked it, very smooth, easy and quick clutch change, plenty of power in every gear on tap, light steering yet feels very solid on the road. The 1.8 I drove a few days ago was very nice indeed but this car was just a pleasure.

Nicely kitted out car at the 2.2 level. Air con, leather, heated seats, cruise control, sunroof etc.. nothing left wanting from a comfort point certainly. The only shame was the colour, I actually kinda like it but my better half swears she'll never be seen in it with me I'd happily bring one in from the UK though if it comes to that (which is what I did with the 75).

Should be getting a chance to drive the 2.0 Hyundai Coupe tomorrow so will have a better comparison by then. Will be trying the Celica too but so far the 2.2 Astra Coupe is my favorite.