Hi Guys. Please may I ask Your thoughts? My son has a 07 Vauxhall Astra H manual diesel. Only 70,000 on the clock. He has a garage doing the clutch for £1,100 . They have now advised the gearbox needs replacing too. They will ring Him when they have found one and a price. Should He continue or forget it and look for another car? Any advice or opinions appreciated

So many questions, £1100 sems an awful lot for a clutch. Why have they said the gearbox is stuffed ?

As an example, my Dad has just put his 07 Fiesta up for sale, not perfect, but a nice car for £1000.

Any car is a gamble, but with those figures, I would walk away.

Or find a cheaper garage.

Thanks for replying. They found the fly wheel was damaged (its diesel) which is anlso needed also swarf in the gear box from gear damage when they removed it. It seems it’s a week point on them

I guess that would make sense. Still an expensive job though.

Have you shopped around ?

Thanks. lol it was one of the better quotes we got. It’s the labour on it all rather than the parts it seems

Out of interest, is it a Dual Mass Flywheel ?

They are usually more expensive, but can often be substituted with standard, though this can result in some harshness in the driving experience.

Thanks yes dual mass fly wheel

Replacement gearbox will add another £500 or so. I doubt a 20 year old Astra is worth much more than the cost of repairs.

Personally I'd scrap it - but only if they can afford to buy a better car. If not then they're probably stuck having to keep this one going a bit longer. The car world is totally different to pre-covid, very hard to find cheap reliable cars now.

No experience of this year Astra, but in LandRover circles it is quite common to swap to standard on replacement due to cost.

Worth considering/pricing ?

If it's a 1.9 CDTI then I wouldn't recommend an SMF conversion. It's a rough old engine and an SMF puts even more strain on the gearbox as well as shaking your fillings out.

(I had one in a 2006 Vectra back in 2013. Didn't like it at all. Forced myself to keep it for almost a year and was glad to be rid of it!)