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My son is looking to buy a Holden Astra, 5 dr, manual. 2003. 90,000k. It was Company owned and is now with a dealer.

We hear these Holdens need 60k cambelt changes, what can you advise please on this vehicle, your experience?

Cheers,

John,

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 19 December 2007

The TS Astra of this era was a fairly new model and did have its fair share of initial teething problems I'm afraid.

The more frequent (60,000km or three years) changing of cambelts is correct, I believe there were many problems with cambelt failure and so the original 80,000km interval was deemed too long.

We have also heard of reoccurring issues with the vehicle's camshaft and crankshaft sensors which causes rough running, the sensors may be several hundred dollars to replace.

The later model Astras of today seem to have much of the early issues sorted, but if reliability is of utmost concern stick with what you know. The Corollas, 323s and Pulsars of this world may seem a little run of the mill by comparison with the European designed/built Astra, but history dictates they are far more dependable.

Also the other issue to note, is this european design had hard pads and soft discs, resulting in frequent disc changes. Great car, but brakes can be expensive.

I was amazed when at 45000km I had to replace the discs on the front, without ever having replaced a set of pads.