Opel Astra G (1998-2009)

Basic info:
The Opel Astra (also called as Vauxhall Astra) G was launched in Europe in 1998. It was available as a 3 and 5 door liftback, 4 door saloon, 5 door station wagon (in Opel tradition, known as a "Caravan") and two special versions from 2000: the Astra Coupé and the Astra Cabrio, both of them designed and built by Bertone. The Astra G saw the introduction of a natural gas powered engine. Its chassis was tuned by Lotus and formed the base of a seven seater compact MPV, the Opel Zafira. Approximately 90000 coupes were produced, of which 7000 were cabriolets.The manufacturing of Astra Sedan continued at Opel's Gliwice plant in Poland after the debut of the next generation Astra H, with the older model being branded as Astra Classic in a similar fashion to its predecessor, catering to the lower end of the market. This car was offered in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Turkey with the name Astra Classic II from 2004 to the end 2009. Apart from European markets, these models were sold in Australia and New Zealand as Holden Astra Classic, until they were replaced by the Holden Viva in 2006.

The Astra G was built as Chevrolet Astra in Brazil. It was facelifted in 2003, and was sold in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and other Latin American markets until 2011. The GM Brazilian 2.0 8V inline 4 engine which equips the Astra has the "flexpower" technology, that allows the car to run on both petrol/alcohol fuels, providing 128/140 hp (G/A) at 5200 rpm.

A taxi version of the Brazilian sourced model, powered with gasoline 2.0 engine was sold in Chile as the Chevy Urban.

In 2004, GM's Russian joint venture GM-AvtoVAZ launched the four door version of the Astra G as the Chevrolet Viva. It was sold through Chevrolet dealers in Russia, while Opel dealers were selling the newer Opel Astra H. Sales were poor from the start due to high pricing: the only version launched was equipped with a 1.8 L engine with an above average trim level, placing the Viva's price above the Toyota Corolla. A project costing $340 million was selling less than a thousand cars annually (801 cars in 2007); rumours of shutting down Chevy Viva production circulated as early as summer of 2005. GM-AvtoVAZ shut down small scale production of the Viva in March 2008.

Engines:
In different countries it was available with different type of engines, such as:
1.4 L X14XE inline 4 (petrol)
1.4 L Z14XE inline 4 (petrol)
1.6 L X16SZR inline 4 (petrol)
1.6 L Z16SE inline 4 (petrol)
1.6 L X16XEL inline 4 (petrol)
1.6 L Z16XE inline 4 (petrol)
1.7 L TD inline 4 8V
1.7 L DTi inline 4 16V
1.8 L X18XE inline 4 (petrol)
1.8 L Z18XE inline 4 (petrol)
2.0 L X20XEV inline 4 (petrol)
2.0 L X20XER inline 4 (petrol)
2.0 L Z20LET inline 4 (turbocharged-petrol)
2.0 L Di inline 4 16V
2.0 L DTi inline 4 16V
2.2 L Z22SE inline 4 (petrol)
2.2 L DTi inline 4 16V
2.4 L inline 4 (petrol)

Based on my experience, the 1.6 L petrol and the 2.0 L diesel are the most reliable engines! The 1.4 L petrol is pretty underpowered for it's chassis and it's fuel consumption can pass the 1.6 L's in most cases + this situation is getting even worse when you add passengers and luggages (more info about this in http://allaboutdieselz.blogspot.ro/2015/08/diesel-or-petrol-engine-in-city-car.html)... Some people might disagree with me, but the 1.7 L diesel is the most unreliable of all; I have family members, friends and I know a lot of people who are owning this type of engine and after a while they all have had the same problems: turbo and flywheel! These are the typical "children's diseases" of the 1.7 L diesel. About the 1.8 L petrol I don't have a lot of experience, especially in long term usage, but a few years ago a friend of mine bought a 3 door Liftback "Sport" trim Astra G and I tried it. It had white gages, bucket seats, grey center console and CD Player (all stock), it looked pretty good, but I can't tell you how reliable is it or if it has typical problems. It is pulling the car nicely with a bit of sporty character but that's all I can tell you. The 2.0 L diesel is the absolute winner, because when I was in driving school I was driving a Caravan equipped with this engine which had 340000 km (211266 miles), which went trough serious punishment day by day and it behaved like an ordinary car. Nothing knocked, vibrated of felt to fall down, it was just bulletproof and the best part was the fuel consumption, it was somewhere around 6 L/100 (39,2 mpg) km in city! I focused on these engines, because these are the most popular in the auto market.