Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

[Dougie_SRi]

I picked the car up on Sunday from Benfleet in Essex for £400, having arranged the sale two months previously. It's had four owners, 85,000 on the clock and MOTs dating back to 1994. It's covered a maximum of 5800 miles over a year during that time but it's typlically done about 3000 a year. The owner Mick only used it for short journies for the last four years - 4 miles a day to work and back most of the time.

Driving it back, it was smoking quite badly! Probably a result of it never having had a good blast for so long; it's cleared now. The overall condition of the car is superb. It drives like new. It's smooth, quiet and responsive - there's barely a rattle anywhere in the interior. The ride quality is way better than I expected (probably down to the 185/65 tyres) and it handles safely enough for a standard car.

Only things I've done so far are to change 5 dash bulbs. I'm going to flush the matrix out tomorrow and sort one of the rubber fuel hoses which is leaking slightly. I've already sorted out some springs for it and a new set of Boge/ZF gas shocks. I'm in no hurry to lower it though as it's so comfortable.

Here's a couple of pics I took on my phone, will get some better ones over the weekend.

[gazo]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

brave clean straight looking car dougie and a nice bargan. these belmonts are popping up everywhere but are still rare here in n.ireland. any engine mods planned or are you going to leave her as vaux intended

[Gteman]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

Wow nice find there Dougie

Is she going to be daily transport for you ?

[astrachamp]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

iv said it before and i will say it again, those seats are lovely. tartan not BURBERRY before im classed as one of those ned fellows LOL

[Simon]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

Love it.....nice and clean

[James C]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

If you come to sell it later on in the year bear me in mind. If there is hardly a rattle inside I am certainly interested! Mine drives me mad

Nice find there by the way!

[Dougie_SRi]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

Yes it's my new daily driver. The GSi 4x4 is too complex and heavy on fuel.

I want some serious work done on the 130 before it comes back out so the GSi will get some more suspension bits and a set of arches this year and I'll use it as the weekend car. It's great on the road but it's not ideal for crawling into Bath every day.

The Belmont's getting a good service, a panel filter and some paint/cleaning/rust prevention measures. The 1800 motor seems mint and has a decent amount of poke so I don't see any need to change it. It's so straight I'll have no problems showing it either. I might take it out round Combe as well, but it'll be getting some 16v brakes if I do - the standard ones feel good for about two decent stamps of the pedal.

It's a total steal for the money, especially if you consider the price you'd pay for a comparable VW or Ford.

[Dougie_SRi]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

If you come to sell it later on in the year bear me in mind. If there is hardly a rattle inside I am certainly interested! Mine drives me mad

Nice find there by the way!

I think the reason it doesn't rattle is that it's never been lowered, plus it was always reckoned back in the day that saloons were more refined due to the separate boot - how much truth there is in that I don't know. My mate's got a 100% original K reg Cavalier SRi SEH with 90k on the clock and its the same - not a squeak. Hopefully the springs I have and the new shocks won't make the suspension crash.

[Ian T]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

A lovely find Dougie, and it's nice to see that it'll get used as well.

I think you are right about the theory about boots - there was something I read many years ago that described the Astra GTE as being over powered and under tyred, iirc the same article pointed to the Belmont as having a better ride than the equivalent Astra, which they put down to the extra weight at the rear end.

Ian.

[Dougie_SRi]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

Are you at the VBOA meet next week Ian?

[Ian T]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

Yep.

Should I be coming up in the Astra?

Ian.

[dansturbo]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

Very nice dougie!! looks like ive got a bit of SRi competition there!!

[Belmont turbo]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

MINT!!! loving it

[vauxmad]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

I'll have no problems showing it

i am sure they'll be space on the mk2 astra owners club stand, nice to see more non gte examples

and i'm sure we'll be very useful to you in your mk2 ownership (nudge for a mention in tv about how wounderful we are, or we'll send )

seriously thou mint looking motor that, i like the look of booted cars for some reason

[Dougie_SRi]

Re: Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

Dunno Ian, I've blagged a Meriva VXR off Vauxhall for the weekend so I'll be taking that.

The Belmont's in the next issue, I think I mentioned the site...

I've always liked the saloon versions of cars. It's a bit odd how the Cavalier saloon is considered sportier than the hatch, but the Astra saloon is pretty much forgotten about. The Cav had its range toppers as saloons and the BTCC though, while all the top Astras were hatches.

The SRi itself is generally under-rated, especially when you consider it had an almost identical spec and performance to a 8v Golf GTi - which the mainstream press always rate highly.