On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:54:23 -0600, cjt wrote:
I've got a Saturn Astra that I bought recently. It's a horrible piece
of sh*t, IMHO. I don't expect to have it for long.

:-) I really did like the drivetrain and handling on my father's one - but
the styling (both exterior and interior) I could certainly live without,
and the inside had a horrible "cheapest possible" feel about it; I suspect
it won't age well at all.

I'm not sure where they got the 6-speed from, whether it was developed
in-house or bought in from somewhere else. It did good on mileage; my work
was about 50 miles away and a mixture of small twisty lanes (i.e. lots of
braking and acceleration) and then fast roads (used to keep it on 90-100)
and I could still average 40mpg out of it.

I think that's perhaps the one thing I do like about modern vehicles; they
do generally fare better in terms of fuel use...

cheers

Jules