Holden Astra 2001 Problems

On the basis that you're doing 12,000 km per year I would have the car serviced every six months, and have the timing belt changed every four years.

Our price guide puts the value of a 2001 Astra at between $1500 and $3500, which means you are trying to sell your car at the high end of the range. To achieve your price you would have to repair the air-conditioning, so it's worth spending the money. Air is an expected feature today and the value of a car with an air-con that's not working would be most unappealing. If you don't fix it I would put the value at around $1000-$1500.

It sounds as though there could be a problem with the belt, perhaps it hasn't been installed correctly, and the timing is now out. The best course would be to take it to a Holden dealer and get them to sort it out.

You will get great value and a classy car in the Suzuki Grand Vitara. The CR-V also goes well and is slightly better value than a RAV4.

Typically it takes about four hours to do the work and most mechanics charge around $80 per hour, so you’re looking at about $320 for the labour only.

Yes, it can be rebuilt or replaced and an automatic transmission specialist would be able to do that for you. Cost for the job would be around $2000 to rebuild or replace the transmission on a changeover basis.

Putting Premium unleaded in it won't help. The problem is likely to be partially blocked fuel-injectors and I would suggest you have them cleaned.