Merc=broken. Rental company chucks me a 2.0CDTI Astra SRI.

Good bits? Engine. Quite perky. Nice dials on the dash. Nice interior
illumination. Lots of grip. Looks nice on 18s.

Bad bits? Seat base too high. Steering lightness ruins handling. Can't
feel changes in road surfact through steering. Monster torquesteer in
second. Gearbox still as slow and sloppy as astras always have been.
Lots of wind noise at speed, though that helps mask the engine noise.

On 30 Aug, 11:27, Tim S Kemp wrote:
Merc=broken. Rental company chucks me a 2.0CDTI Astra SRI.

Good bits? Engine. Quite perky. Nice dials on the dash. Nice interior
illumination. Lots of grip. Looks nice on 18s.

Bad bits? Seat base too high. Steering lightness ruins handling. Can't
feel changes in road surfact through steering. Monster torquesteer in
second. Gearbox still as slow and sloppy as astras always have been.
Lots of wind noise at speed, though that helps mask the engine noise.

And finally - how did they make a car that big with a boot that small?

In article
,
Tim S Kemp wrote:
Bad bits? Seat base too high. Steering lightness ruins handling. Can't
feel changes in road surfact through steering. Monster torquesteer in
second. Gearbox still as slow and sloppy as astras always have been.
Lots of wind noise at speed, though that helps mask the engine noise.

Drove a mate's A3 - ruined for me by over-light controls. Especially the
brakes. Although IIRC Audi are renown for this.

--
*Is there another word for synonym?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 30/08/10 11:49, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Drove a mate's A3 - ruined for me by over-light controls. Especially the
brakes. Although IIRC Audi are renown for this.

My A3 had brakes that felt over-servoed to me.

Tim S Kemp wrote:

Merc=broken. Rental company chucks me a 2.0CDTI Astra SRI.

Good bits? Engine. Quite perky. Nice dials on the dash. Nice interior
illumination. Lots of grip. Looks nice on 18s.

Bad bits? Seat base too high. Steering lightness ruins handling. Can't
feel changes in road surfact through steering. Monster torquesteer in
second. Gearbox still as slow and sloppy as astras always have been.
Lots of wind noise at speed, though that helps mask the engine noise.

That's a lot of words to say "****e".

BTW, you forgot to mention that the rear view is as bad as on a 1970s
Lotus Europa.

On 30 Aug, 19:10, (Steve Firth) wrote:
Tim S Kemp wrote:

Merc=broken. Rental company chucks me a 2.0CDTI Astra SRI.

Good bits? Engine. Quite perky. Nice dials on the dash. Nice interior
illumination. Lots of grip. Looks nice on 18s.

Bad bits? Seat base too high. Steering lightness ruins handling. Can't
feel changes in road surfact through steering. Monster torquesteer in
second. Gearbox still as slow and sloppy as astras always have been.
Lots of wind noise at speed, though that helps mask the engine noise.

That's a lot of words to say "****e".

BTW, you forgot to mention that the rear view is as bad as on a 1970s
Lotus Europa.

Oh - and the rear view is as bad as on a 1970s Lotus Europa.

On 30 Aug, 20:27, Tim S Kemp wrote:
Merc=broken. Rental company chucks me a 2.0CDTI Astra SRI.

Briefly back in UK, hired a 10 reg but old-shape Astra (think it's
SXi)

Totally gutless, to the point at which you need to change down on the
motorway if you need to speed up. Engine doesn't seem happy in 5th
until about 85mph.

Very figure-hugging sports seats are quite nice (if your waist is 34"
or less) but you have to lift your thigh quite high over the bolsters
to get out. Despite the sporting intention of the seat, the car is not
very communicative and appears to provide almost zero road grip. Had a
lot of hairy moments in it, even on dry roads. Wet roundabouts
downright dangerous.

Usual GM indicator weirdness, same system for wipers is ten times
worse!

SWMBO's old 2000MY Clio 1.2 base model is better. Disappointing as I
really like the styling, the new one looks ****e.

On 30 Aug, 22:22, fishman
wrote:

Usual GM indicator weirdness, same system for wipers is ten times
worse!

They have learned, and gone back to the normal stalks.

Wasn't it BMW who kicked it off with the previous shape 5 series?