Astra or mazda3

johnmck

2010 1.7 Sri cdti astra or 2011 1.6 diesel Mazda 3

Zurbaran

Don't know much about the Astra but I have read on here that Mazda diesels from around that time are terrible. I'd go for a Civic personally.

Do you definitely need a diesel? What sort of annual mileage do you do?

JohnBoy26

Zurbaran wrote: »

Don't know much about the Astra but I have read on here that Mazda diesels from around that time are terrible. I'd go for a Civic personally.

Do you definitely need a diesel? What sort of annual mileage do you do?

That Mazda 3 will have PSA 1.6 hdi unit which can be troublesome bit still a long way off being as bad as Mazda's own 2.0 and 2.2 units.

Op out of those 2 cars I'd go for the Mazda but if reliability is high on your list of priorities I'd second the above advice of a civic or else I'd go for a facelift 2011-2013 corolla Luna 1.4 d4d

GustavoFring

Those astra's are an underrated car. Quiet, decent chassis and the engine is old but reliable. The only real worry is the m32 gearbox, but if that was it I'd be tempted to go with one over the PSA 1.6.

bazz26

Is it the newer or older model Astra? Both were sold in 2010.

johnmck

bazz26 wrote: »

Is it the newer or older model Astra? Both were sold in 2010.

New model astra.

johnmck

Zurbaran wrote: »

Don't know much about the Astra but I have read on here that Mazda diesels from around that time are terrible. I'd go for a Civic personally.

Do you definitely need a diesel? What sort of annual mileage do you do?

Not sure if I do need a diesel. 30km roundtrip to work daily, not much, plus weekend trips.

Drove a civic at weekend and didn't care for it.

bazz26

Out of interest how did you arrive at those two models, what criteria are you using?

johnmck

bazz26 wrote: »

Out of interest how did you arrive at those two models, what criteria are you using?

Mid size hatchback is all really

bazz26

There are alot of other similar cars out there in that class to look at too - VW Golf, Ford Focus, Toyota Auris, Honda Civic, Hyundai i30, Kia Ceed, etc.

johnmck

bazz26 wrote: »

There are alot of other similar cars out there in that class to look at too - VW Golf, Ford Focus, Toyota Auris, Honda Civic, Hyundai i30, Kia Ceed, etc.

Golf, civic, auria, hyandai. Kia have all been ruled out.

Focus hasn't

Special Circumstances

Zurbaran wrote: »

Don't know much about the Astra but I have read on here that Mazda diesels from around that time are terrible. I'd go for a Civic personally.

Do you definitely need a diesel? What sort of annual mileage do you do?

If you are writing off that diesel engine,
You're writing off
Peugeot
Citroën
Ford
Volvo
Mazda
Mini...
...
Any more?

Zurbaran

Special Circumstances wrote: »

If you are writing off that diesel engine,
You're writing off
Peugeot
Citroën
Ford
Volvo
Mazda
Mini...
...
Any more?

I didn't write anything off I was just going by what I have read. Johnboy has already explained that this particular engine is not one of the bad ones.

I shouldn't need to explain this to you as it has already been posted but there you go.

Special Circumstances

Zurbaran wrote: »

I shouldn't need to explain this to you

Honesty, you're grand, no thanks!

grogi

johnmck wrote: »

2010 1.7 Sri cdti astra or 2011 1.6 diesel Mazda 3

As far as I can see, the much better 8 valve HDI was put into Mazda3 since 2011... You'd need to verify if the Mazda in question comes with it is the 8V or 16V.

The 16V is very fragile and does not tolerate any service skipping... 8V is much better:
* the injector seals don't loosen as easily as with 16V
* this massively reduces the amount of sludge buildup
* oil starvation is much less probable...

If it is the 8V, I'd be tempted to get the Mazda. If it is 16V, save yourself a trouble and get much more boring Astra.

Special Circumstances

grogi wrote: »

As far as I can see, the much better 8 valve HDI was put into Mazda3 since 2011... You'd need to verify if the Mazda in question comes with it is the 8V or 16V.

The 16V is very fragile and does not tolerate any service skipping... 8V is much better:
* the injector seals don't loosen as easily as with 16V
* this massively reduces the amount of sludge buildup
* oil starvation is much less probable...

Good to know, I wasn't aware of that!

bazz26

In the Mazda3 the older 16v is 110bhp and 5 speed, the newer 8v is 115bhp and 6 speed afaik.