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Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200+

13K views 66 replies 18 participants last post by  Ian T 
#1 ·
So with the difficult selling of the Saab and the even more difficult selling of my trusty Mk4 SRI being two fairly big sticks, now the carrot of the new shiny. Enter stage left:



A 2005 model with 81k miles and service history in possibly the best colour - Ultra Blue. A red one would have also been nice (although we already have two red cars), but this was the highlight of the resale grey era so a vast majority are black, grey, dark grey, light grey or black. This was fairly close, too. My main requirements were the 200BHP engine and the XP or exterior pack bodykit, and the 18" wheels. Crazy.
Got a lift to go and view it, with the insurance due to start in a couple of hours I was hoping it was the one for me. The dealer in Hook, Maxprime Autocentre, fronted by a nice lady called Lenka simply handed me the keys and told me to help myself. Good start.
Had a poke round, all seemed good. Started it up, set the climate to 'Lo' and behold - no compressor activity at all. This could have been a deal breaker, but was prepared to do a deal. "No problem" said Lenka and one of the lads took the car away and plugged it into the AC servicing machine. It was then I noticed this was a nice swept up place, not yer usual dingy car sales pit. I asked if the re-gas didn't work could I take the car for a discount but she was preferring to sell it fault-free. Time was getting on if I was going to cancel the insurance in time not to incur costs. Sure enough, the car reappeared and I could hear the rad fans working straight away. Ice cold! All that was left was a decent test drive. Again I was handed a trade plate and told not to go on the motorway. Er, OK! There was a few national limits about so I duly gave it some stick. No issues with power delivery, gear change, steering vibration or anything.
Got back and shook hands on £100 under asking price (and the air con service is generally worth £50 round these parts). 3 months warranty and both keys, one flip style. No car pass though. I've covered about 100 miles so far and it's showing 34MPG so that's not at all bad.

Pretty straight:



Engine clean but not too clean:



As perfect as I'm going to get interior I reckon:



A few I saw had leather but I prefer cloth. Rear seat has minimal pulling on the joins which the Mk5s really seem to suffer from:



Only one of the 5 I looked at that had all the roof rail covers present:



Hardly any stone chips at all:



Wheels not amazing but not too scuffed. 2 Kumhos and 2 BF Goodrichs. Will have my man see to these soonish:



Surprisingly important badge:



Boot hasn't seen a decent tip run I think. Quarter turn flap clips missing though:





Nice touch:



Steering wheel in excellent nick. Normally the right hand roller for the volume is worn smooth:



Has the CD30 MP3 which should be fine for me. Also fairly rare full climate control!



Also flappy fold in mirrors!



And cruise, which I love:



Xenons which I'm not too fussed with, but you know, spec:



Headlight showing a very small amount of crazing. Hopefully a bit of wet and dry will nip that in the bud.
Auto lights. Dunno if it has auto wipers too though. Not even seen if they work yet!



Auto dimming mirror:





Shade storage:



Nice pedals:



Whilst fiddling with the settings I notice:



I know some CD30s had an aux in by the handbrake. Word is some can have it enabled via OP-COM and then get a wiring kit on eBay. Maybe this has it enabled, although I was told it was the 9 buttons variants.
A few jobs to do; looks like this has broken and been stuck up or bits have been wedged in to stop rattles:



It also had no books other than the service book so a scrap yard run to secure those and the other odd bits is need soon. I'm lucky in that I rarely drive to work and it's only 6 miles away so the miles should stay fairly low.
No real mods planned. If I get sick of the CD30 and lack of hands free I have my eye on a Kenwood 6 or 7" sat nav double din head unit with Garmin sat nav. Fairly pricey but look good.
 
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#5 ·
Re: Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200

Looks very nice - the radio will not be coded BTW but I guess you will need the code to do anything key related.

The Ext In is generally for the telephone equipment - there will be 3 slots on the back and the mute connection will need earthing for the input to work. Once this works the volume for the Ext In is adjustable on the radio etc.

Tom
 
#9 ·
Re: Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200

I suppose the phone connection is for a plug in solution rather than a bluetooth type.
It's for a Bluetooth kit - was available as a factory option. As you have the GID screen you may be able to retrofit the factory kit and get the on screen phonebook and steering wheel control.

On my old one I just harnessed a Nokia Bluetooth box into the radio loom with an off the peg kit. No display or control with that but I only had the BID screen anyway.

How do you know the radio won't be coded?
No user controlled code on them - the headunit is paired to the screen with tech2 for security.
 
#11 ·
Re: Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200

All radios with the volume in the middle - not to the left are coded to the vehicle instead of being coded if power is lost if that makes sense.

the external in can be used for factory UHP4 or for any other aftermarker handsfree kit to connect to.

Tom
 
#12 ·
Re: Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200

There is a guy who runs a diagnotics website that sells the UHP4 with interlinking wiring loom and microphone. The only thing the Vectra guys said to me about it is it changes the functions of the steering wheel controls as well.
 
#37 ·
Best Cruise stalk too IMHO. Always liked that design on the preface Vectra C. The facelift and Insignia steering wheel mounted ones are horrible in comparison. Just nicely in reach, and easy to use.
This used our insignia the other day and the cruise is horrible

Nice new car!!
 
#20 ·
Re: Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200

Dunno how well the Astra lines up with the Vectra of the same age..

Half Canbus? Should make retrofitting electric rear windows quite easy. I see its got the really nice ambient lighting in the base of the mirror. You could retrofit a rear passenger courtesy light into the Vectra too, so maybe worth looking at if the Astra doesnt have it fitted. The Vectras also had an extra storage cubby that could be fitted into the big plastic panel in front of the courtesy light and sensor, again, extra spec, especially if the current one is bust and rattles.
 
#21 ·
Re: Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200

I thought the Mk5 was full canbus; it's got a large fuse box in the boot. I'm not 100% sure it's got ambient lighting in the mirror. I was messing about in it last night and didn't notice it anyway. It has a light above the rear seats, is that what you mean?
I think I know what you mean about the cubby; going to a breakers today to ferret about today hopefully.
I do like the cruise switch there, but the switch feels quite old and has a lot of travel compared to the rest which feel very tactile in comparison. Maybe just a little worn out, or maybe it's to make sure you really mean to push it! First car I've had with a proper cruise light, too. In fact it has many firsts for me, despite being my 32nd car. I will make a list.
 
#22 ·
Re: Mk5 Astra SRI Turbo 200

Light above the rear seats is what I meant. IIRC they were a bit of a randomly fitted extra - certainly in the Vectra anyway. Theres a small indentation in the bottom of the mirror in the picture, which looks like the ambient lense, its one of those things you dont really notice until you change the car for one without.

As far as canbus goes 05 was around the time the Vec C went full. It was around this time upgrades got harder to do.. I remember my 53 SRi could have rear windows and loads of other bits fitted easily, but my 58 SRi XP had so much less upgradable. The looms were made to spec on the later ones too, so the wiring wasnt there either.

The other thing I was always intending to do on the Insignia was a second boot light, theres a hole in the boot plastic on the other side making it really easy to extend the wiring across. Just always had the others to fix, and not enough inclination to do on a car I intend to change. Maybe worth checking if the Astra can be modded the same.
 
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