By EWAN KENNEDY
8 March 1999

Holden Astra is a small-medium car which was popular in its day and continues to hold a strong place in the minds of used-car buyers. Solidly built and long lasting, with good engine performance and attractive looks, it is well worth considering in this market segment.

Built in Melbourne by Nissan, and also sold as the Nissan Pulsar, the Holden Astra has some parts made by Holden and others by Nissan under a joint-development agreement.

This car is an example of genuine model sharing, not simply badge engineering (the latter term referring to cars which are completely made by one company, but carry badges from another). Over the years the Holden percentage of the car increased markedly. Major components built by it included the engine and some body pressings.

Astra has good interior space for four adults and three children can be carried in the rear without too much fuss. Boot space is good in the five-door hatchback and even better in the four-door sedan.

Interior noise levels and overall suppression of vibration and harshness were ahead of their time in cars of this class. The relentless engineering push means new cars are significantly better, but if you want a refined ten-year-old small car this is one of the better ones.

Engines are all four-cylinder units, beginning with a 1.5-litre carburettor unit in the 1984, moving up to 1.6 litres and a carb with the model change in April 1986 and to a new design fuel-injected 1.6-litre in July 1987. At the peak of the engine tree is an injected 1.8-litre engine offered as an option in the Astra SLX and as standard in the topline Astra SLE.

The turbocharged engine offered on some Nissan models was never officially available on the Holden.

All manual gearboxes are modern five-speed units, but Astra comes from an era of three-speed automatics so none of the self shifters come with the advantage of an overdrive fourth gear. Nonetheless performance from the automatic is reasonably good and the aforementioned noise, vibration and harshness reduction means it doesn’t sound too frantic at freeway speeds.

An advantage of a locally built car is that it can be offered in a bigger variety of forms than imported models. This Holden is sold as the entry level Astra SL, mid-range Astra SLX and top-of-the-line Astra SLE.

Astra is generally easy to drive but not all came with power steering as standard. If the one you are looking at doesn’t have steering assistance try driving it at parking speeds in a couple of tight figure-of-eights and see if the effort required is too high.

Spare parts are moderately priced but some are becoming hard to get due to the car’s age. Aftermarket suppliers, either recyclers or old-Holden specialists can still supply pretty well everything.

Insurance premiums are lower than normal for a car in this class, largely due to the lower costs of local panels compared with imported ones. None of the major companies make any fuss about the extra oomph provided by the big 1.8-litre engine.

Sales of the initial Holden/Nissan Astra model ceased in 1989 when Holden entered an agreement to sell rebadged Toyota Corollas as the Holden Nova. The name Astra was revived in 1998 when Holden began to import the Opel Astra from Germany. Obviously, other than the name, that now-current Astra has nothing in common with the original one.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Feel for sticky gearchanges and listen for crunching. It’s normally worst during fast third-to-second downchanges.

Automatic transmissions should change smoothly and go into Drive or Reverse promptly when the lever is moved from Park or Neutral.

Engines will smoke from the exhaust when they get near the end of their lives. That’s at worst when the engine is worked hard after sitting idling for a minute or so.

Body rust was relatively common in pre-1985 cars, but unusual from then. When it does get in, it is normally in the door and hatchback lower corners, but may also affect the wheelarches and door sills. Also look at the petrol filler flap.

Listen for a clicking noise from the front wheels when the steering is turned on full lock (try it in both directions). It indicates worn CV joints and was more of a problem on pre-1987 Astras than later ones.

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