Bhalay207's Progress thread

[bhalay207]

Well considering i've been on this forum since February and have made a few changes to the Astra, i thought it time to do a progress thread. I don't have photos for everything but for what i do, i'll post here.

So 2015 came and i'd grown tired of my old car, so after 4yrs of ownership and 50k miles i wanted a change so the hunt began. At first i'd settled on a 1.6 Titanium X Focus, however the price tag meant that it just wasn't feasible at that time so i started looking elsewhere for something slightly cheaper. This brought me onto the Astra, and me being a fan of Vauxhall wasn't put off by this at all.

I came across a red SRI on Autotrader that was supposedly at my local dealer (Burton). When i got there i was told that it was in Oldham and i couldn't reserve it due to a customer going to look at it that day. The dealer offered be an alternative. It was 6months newer but had 10k miles more for the same price but in silver. The catch was the car was in Nottingham and there were no pictures of it. So against my better judgement i put a £250 deposit down and the car would be brought across to me.

On the 14/02/15 the car landed at the dealer and i immediately knew it was the car for me. Looking around it i clocked that it had a few extra's on it. They were:

19" Wheels in Anthracite
Front and rear mudflaps
Aluminium door pins
Aluminium pedals
Power fold mirrors
Tinted rear windows
Parking sensors front and back

Given that there was some damage to it, the dealer agreed to rectify it all. As the car had a private plate on, i had to wait for the replacement log book to arrive before i could take ownership. This is where all the hassle began, which resulted in me not collecting the vehicle until the 14/03/15.

Anyway, pictures:

My old car - 2007 Ford Focus 18TDCI Sport S



And my Astra when it arrived at the dealer (including the damage)




So Feb 14th came, and after a long wait, i took collection. I also moved house the following month, so it was a busy few weeks all round. He she is at the old mans house and somewhat and cleaner (To dealership standards anyway   )



So as with any new car, you always get the mod bug and the cleaning bug. Seeing as this had a couple of mods on to appease me for the time being, i started doing little things.

22/03/15 - Auto Dim mirror. I had one in my last car, and the last 3 cars before that. I love them and think they're a fantastic idea. Even with tinted windows, its a fantastic addition. (photo's are from present day a i didn't have any from when this was done).




05/04/15 - Flying the club flag



09/04/15 - Next on my list was LED ambient lighting for the front door cards. Again with the help of the sites How to guide i was happy with the outcome, not to mention they were free courtesy of my free parts voucher from Vauxhall Trade club.




09/04/15 - The biggest thing i missed was a BT kit. I had a Parrot in my Focus, but i didn't want an add on in the Astra and wanted to have it all looking as OEM as possible. After some research i settled on a kit from Ray Smith. I fit it, and promptly removed it as the kit itself was shocking. Fortunately the the customer service from Ray Smith was excellent (no pictures of this). So now the only route i'm prepared to go down is the Vauxhall route which will be done soon.

To make myself feel better for the BT incident, i fit LED interior lights




10/04/2015 - This seemed to be a good week for tinkering. You can tell i had a couple of days off work lol. With the help of Tucpals how to guide, i fitted LED DRL's. Now usually i steer away from electrics as they're not my strongest but i thought why not. Very happy with the outcome!



18/04/15 - Time to get some wind deflectors. I've always wanted some so when they came up for a good price on Facebook i thought why not



For a couple of months, not alot happened apart from a snow foam and good scrub



07/08/15 - After much frustration (as documented on here) i finally got DAB programmed and working. I've always wanted DAB especially for the mileage i do, so when Russell was selling his roof aerial a month prior, i knew it was time to  do the retrofit. So the aerial was fitted, cabling ran, and it was eventually programme.





So thats it for now. Not the most exhaustive list or the biggest mods, but they'll do for now. Next on my list will be heated seats and OEM BT.