May 12, 2009 07:01 PM
12119 Views
This review is for you all who are looking for used cars and for those who considered Opel Astra to be a good buy.
I had bought a used Opel Astra, as I was looking for a luxurious car. Indeed the car is luxurious, but maintaining the car is quite costly especially after Opel brand ceases to exist. We have J.C. Road and Shivajinagar (Bangalore) to rely on parts but buying Opel Astra is worthless. Youdont get good mechanic who can fix the problem, I have never took the car to Sundaram Motors as the service is quite costly there.
I could run car initially fo one year with some problems here and there, but foud it to be fuel guzzler, it used to give sometimes 6 to 7 km/litre without AC. I had taken the car to different garages atleast som 20 times in 2 years - sometimes car temparature went in to danger zone, some times car electrcals, AC and I had changed the silencer pipe ( costed me 4000 Rs which I got from JC road) after unsuccessful welding (800Rs). I had to install spacers (2500 Rs) to increase the height of the car, so that poorly designed humps dont bother the silencer pipe. I had tried getting AC done, but could never run AC as it was always down due to one or another reason. I tried to sell last year, but backed out later as I knew I will be cheating other innocent buyers who did not knew much about this car, I had collected 2000 Rs as advance from a doctor who was keen to buy, but later returned saying I changed my mind.
No doubt car had all excellent features and was fully loaded, but used car is a used car and Opel cars are not to be bought as they dont have proper service network and spares are damn ostly and in most cases not available. The right hand side mirror came out and I could not get a spare one and I was asked to look in scrap market ( SHivajinagar) and wastold that the mirror wouldcost 2000 Rs in scrap market itself. Somehow I could get it done from an expert who fixed the same mirror for mere 250 Rs.
I agree, I was a novice when I bought this car which had lot of problems, but again Opel is not a brand to eb trusted anynmore as it does not exist but used cars do exist. TOday there are some ads on Opel Astra Advantage, 1.6., Club Petrol .....and they are expecting some good moeny for it. Please dont go for it unless u have very good knowledge on cars and u are capble of getting spares from anywhere in the country. Dont just fall in to the trap of Luxurious car, sundaram as service provider, availability of spares in JC road and shivajinagar. Please stay away from any opel brand including Corsa. There was this ad on Opel Vectra in Carwale quoting 6 Lakhs for 2003 model. No doubt the car is excellent, but it does not have any support and it also a fuel guzzler ...6 kM /ltr ...
I had to sell my car to a mechanic at a very low price as I could no more fix its radiator problem ( after spending 6000Rs) ...Mechanic said, he would somehow repai an keep it himsel for sell ....
My request to all fellow used car buyers, please dont make emotional decision, think about how do you maintain car and what it costs to you. Here are the detials of the mistake I have done in buying the used car:
Opel Astra 1.6 - Mar 97 Model - the seller of the car was the third owner (Mistake 1)
Went by the Words of Seller - Well Maintained, Engine life up to 3 lakh Kilometers (Mistake 2)
Purchase Price - Rs 1.10000
Selling Price - Rs 48000
Purchase Year - 2006
Selling year - 2009
I could not take my family out for more than 10 kms within city as it used to breakdown ......So pleae learn from my experience and make good decision (value for money) before you buy and dont fall I to sellers trap especially used car dealers (I donno about Maruti True value or Mahindra First Choice - so they are excluded) they can rig the car odometer to show 10 year old car used as 40000Kms etc ....So Please be careful while you buy used cars ....
Thanks for reading , ....Make wise decision and be happy ....
