New Grand Sport Tourer

[bransoj]

Well after going from just having one car to looking at having a different estate and then going back to just having one car again out of the blue we’re now looking at getting a new Tourer!!

90 min drive to Chester on Wednesday gave us time to think about it and we’ve realised that now we have the little one as well as the dog the Astra hatchback doesn’t have the room for even day trips let alone breaks away for a few days.

Just need to test drive one to get my head round the 1.5T Petrol engine being enough for an estate that’s a fair bit bigger than my current one...in fact the latest Astra estate is the same boot size as my current siggy.

Not going to my local dealer as they’re crap but going to pop to pentagon in derby to take a look. Pondering the 1.5t 165 Sri I think. Lack of built in Nav I don’t think will be an issue as I can use my phone via CarPlay.

[Dustyone]

Grand sport tourer 1.5t test/review here, https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review...r-15-turbo-165

[marko301]

That review is pretty much spot on regarding the 1.5t 165. Though I haven't redlined mine so can't give my opinion on that. As I keep saying, the Grand Sport is over 27 stone lighter than its predecessor which means the engine isn't having to lug the same weight around as the older version. I haven't had the car full of adults yet, most has been two adults and 3 kids with no noticeable difference in power. The carplay is more than enough for your sat nav needs. I opted for built in sat nav purely because I don't want to plug my phone in via cable but if you're only using sat nav occasionally, it won't be much of a chore plugging in. It's a shame they didn't incorporate carplay/android auto within the bluetooth like they have the rest of the car/phone features. It would be nice if it could be done in a future update.

If you do decide to get one after your test drive, I'd advise you get front and rear parking sensors at the very least.

[bransoj]

Cheers....useful info. Dont use the sat nav loads and we had a Corsa courtesy car a while ago that had Carplay and i was happy enough with the maps via that for what i would need i think. Was thinking that parking sensors would be needed especially on the Tourer...seems a big car to be parking etc without them. My current elite has lots of toys so trying to figure out what i'd really miss from that wasnt easy but really it'd be Parking sensors in the main then i'd like DAB radio but that seems to be pretty standard these days, Sat Nav i can either have depending on the trim level we go for or use the Carplay intergration and thats about its i think. Thinks like the heated seats, power boot, fancy headlights would all be great but i could live without them unless its a good deal. Think i'm going to be looking at an SRi or Techline if i can push a deal on one. Out of interest where is the USB located for plugging the phone in? On my current one its under the front armrest which is handy as it can just pop my phone in the cup holder whilst its plugged in. Also means i can just leave a cable hanging out from under the armrest so its simple to plug in when i get in the car.

Anyone ever used Carwow out of interest? Popped some details on there and got some offers to consider at some point. One is a 1.5T Nav SRi Vx-line with 1400 miles on it and seems to have plenty of options on it. May be one to consider.

[Adzteign21]

I have just bought a new a 1.5T Nav SRi Vx-line, having previously owned the 2.0 CDTi 163, I have been carting around 4 adults and a bootfull all weekend, and although it doesn’t have the same grunt/delivery as the diesel, it’s not far behind at all and hasn’t struggled once, It’s certainly not too heavy for the engine.

Whatever you do, get the parking sensors, they are a must on a car this size. They are very hyperactive though. Better safe than sorry I guess.
If you go for winter pack 4 I think it is, you get heated seats and front window, and if you get that in Sri vx line it should have heated leather steering wheel as well

Adam

[bransoj]

Cheers for the info....majority of the time it will be 2 adults, currently a small baby and a labradoodle that will be getting carted about along with associated bits for said baby and labradoodle! Should get easier when the baby moves from the carrycot attachment on the pushchair to the actual seat as the carrycot bit takes up loads of room! Also hoping to get a cage for the dog that sits in the boot so i can use the rest of the boot. Currently i've just got a net across the back to stop him coming through into the seating area so i need to be careful what goes in the boot as it could fall on him. Currently i've been using the hooks in the boot to strap the bottom of the pushchair in which works to an extent. Pictured below is one i've looked at shown in an old ST and they still leave plenty of space and should be fine in the new one which has a bigger boot. Also they are fully crash tested so would give the dog a degree of protection in the boot should i be in a crash. Also suspect it will keep the boot tidier as well....he's not he cleanest dog at times!!



Just looking on Autotrader at new STs and saw this one...is it me or does it have a Vauxhall badge on the front and steering wheel but an Opel badge on the back?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201711201402078

[marko301]

Haha yeah it does....they've probably made the photos up from more than one car.

[bransoj]

Haha yeah it does....they've probably made the photos up from more than one car.

I thought that but looking at the photos of the front and rear the front wheels appeared to be turned facing the same way in each photo to suggest its the same car.

[marko301]

Very odd in that case. Maybe it's because it's a show car. I just watched the video and it deffo has two different badges when the camera moves around.

[stewlewis]

Cut n Shut, check the door jambs with a pound coin.

[bransoj]

Finally got round to going to a couple of dealers regarding a new sports Tourer today. Drove a 1.5 turbo Sri hatch and very impressed. Less impressed with both dealers as they don’t give you a straight answer over what deals they can do, moving stuff around to make it look better etc then to top it off one said they could do 0% finance on it then just as we were about to do a deal on one suddenly said they couldn’t and it upped the monthly payment by £45!! That said the salesman we were taking to them stopped us as we were leaving to ask if he was ok to call us tomorrow after speaking to the higher boss as the manager in he doesn’t like, they can do more and he’s a bit of a prat.

I partly realised that when he tried to convince me they had other cars with similar boot space...such as the Mokka!! We shall see what tomorrow brings but one positive is I’m convinced the small turbo engine is more than good enough in a big car!!

[marko301]

I hope it goes better tomorrow. It's the usual dealer crap...Get you hooked then move the goal posts. Well done on standing your ground and walking out. I've been singing the praises of the 1.5t engine since I bought mine in August.

[bransoj]

The second dealer the salesman was decent to be fair, it was his manager that was a prat. Dragging it out knowing we had our 12 week old with us then just as we said if you can do it for this price we’ll take it he drops in that something actually didn’t exist so it would actually be a load more. That’s when he started trying to blindside us with some financial crap that it was still a good deal not realising my wife is a top accountant at a massive firm then he tried to steer us onto other models saying the Astra and the Mokka were the same size as the Insignia hatch...we want an estate though!! As you say we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Massively impressed with the engine though...when I test drove it at the first dealers, pentagon in derby, I wanted to go on the a38 to get a good impression of the car at motorway speed. There is an uphill stretch off a roundabout that I always think is a good test of how a car can pull and it was very impressive up there. Feels very light to drive as well.

[bransoj]

Phone call today...close to a deal on a white sri 1.5 Tourer with parking sensors and winter pack.

[marko301]

Nice! Fingers crossed it goes well. How soon will you get your hands on it if it goes through?