I just bought a 2021 insignia and its breaks are a little too stiff. I asked the dealership about it, they sent it to the mechanic which “reset” the electronic break system, but it still feels a little too stiff. Is that normal? They say the electronic break system needs some time to adjust - although it seems to me a bit shady. Should I worry?

Opel Combo Life GS XL (130 hp diesel), built in 2026

Parking heater: missing configuration options

I have a remote control for the parking heater. It looks similar to a car key. The remote has two buttons (one with a heater symbol and one labeled "OFF") and says "Webasto" on the back. It works well: I can use it to switch the parking heater on and off remotely.

What doesn't work:

None of the methods for configuring the parking heater described in the car's owner's manual (i.e. timer setting, heating duration, etc.) are accessible. The menu can't be opened.

Does anyone know this problem? Have you found a solution?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Hi everyone,

for about a year now I've had the following problem: every few weeks the check engine light comes on, and when I read out the fault, the car reports "mixture too lean, bank 1". (Corsa E 2017 1.4, 0035BGR)
A mechanic told me to clear the code and wait and see. I did that, but it keeps coming back every now and then. Admittedly it happens more often when I fill up with E10 because of the prices.

For the past six months, the ESC light has also been coming on alternately with the check engine light, and "Check ESC" appears after the engine has been idling for a while, e.g. at a traffic light. There's no fault code for it (at least Carly doesn't show one). After restarting the car, the message is gone.
Oil and spark plugs have both been changed. I've read online that I should replace the purge valve (EVAP canister purge valve). Has anyone here had experience with whether that really helps, or any tips on what else could be causing this?

The ESC issue in particular is already annoying me ahead of winter.
Thanks in advance!!

My dad passed and left me his '72 GT. He had someone swap in a Nissan engine, not sure which one (pics below if anyone can ID it). It's been sitting in Pearland since 2014 when it started stalling out a lot.
Want to get it running and driving by his birthday next December. Anyone know a good shop around Houston that's worked on GTs or swaps? Also open to tips on what to check first after it's sat this long. Not a car guy so trying not to get ripped off. Thanks.

Hi,

Astra is year 2017, 9 years and 4 months old, 84.000 km.
I am the first owner and the only driver.
Car was in no collision, not even curbs. I only drive on good roads (mostly highway).

So far I changed:
april 2021 at 24.000 km - rear brake pads (outer half of left disc was rusty)
may 2023 at 54.000 km - front left stabilizer link
november 2023 at 61.000 km - valve cover with PCV valve, known fault of this engine
may 2024 at 68.000 km - rear brakes and spark plugs
september 2026 at 83.000 km - front brakes

After I changed the front brakes I was disappointed at how the car sounded. This was what I describe in point 5. Other points were already before that, but point 4 only from June 2026 and 81.000 km.

1. Engine itself sometimes doesn't have normal sound, maybe stretched timing chain?

Idle is fine, it's only under heavier load, mainly in 2nd gear.

2. Rattling around left A pillar

It was there since new, but I think it got much worse since 80.000 km.

I tried pressing with fingers and it stops if I press on the plastic on top of the doors, just in front of the side mirror.

This car is for sure built better than Clio 3 and Alfa Romeo Mito (very hard plastic on doors and very sqeuaky inside door handles) and has softer plastic.

For sure my best car so far. Astra H was right around the same quality level, only engine was twice as weak, only 105 HP. Apart from that, to me they are almost one and the same car. Astra J on other hand was quite a different car, also much heavier than both.

Sadly I have never driven one of the holy German trinity, so I don't know what is expected with those cars around 10 years old and around 100.000 km. Probably depends on the particular model a lot.

Mechanic probably needs to tear down the left door and pad the plastics. Would make a world of difference in driving quality. Though I listen to metal music anyway. But that is the same as with PC if the graphics card fan is rattling and you say you play games with headphones anyway. It's just not the same as if it were quiet.

3. Squeaking of undercarriage over speed bumps
But I have to do at least 10 km and it must be at least around 12°C outside. It is fine in the rain.
I didn't check today when it was cold, will do it next time.
But I am already sure it has everything to do with temperature.
ChatGPT says most probably anti-roll bar bushings and lower control arm bushings.
This should be easiest to find and not that expensive to fix.

4. Whining on highway at around 120 km/h after around 15-20 km
Whole speed range of whining is 110-150 km/h, it stopped at 100 and 160 km/h.
It's interesting it never whines outside highway, even at same speeds. But it's harder to maintain 120 km/h for longer, though 1 km is quite possible.
Wheel bearings?
This should be second easiest sound to locate and to fix.

5. But here comes a strange thing. After this sound happens and I exit the highway.
New sound happens. It's only in 2nd and 3rd gear with spirited driving, for sure not let's say in 5th gear and 80 km/h.
Something is rattling. Similar to a hole in the exhaust or flex pipe. But if that were true, I would hear this sound already when I start the car and start driving, but everything is fine then.
Probably still worth to check the exhaust. Problems with exhaust in my experience usually start after 8-10 years.

ChatGPT wrote, and it makes sense to me:
Exhaust flex pipe, joints and hangers

• Inspect the exhaust flex pipe for cracks or leaks.
• Check the exhaust joints, rubber exhaust hangers and any possible contact with the bodywork.
• Inspect the heat shields and their mounting points.
• Check whether the exhaust touches the bodywork when the engine moves.

This should be third easiest sound to locate and fix.
I think last 4 are doable for every mechanic.

First one probably requires I open my wallet a little more and I don't think I am willing to do that for a car that consumes 10 liters, even 11 liters is easily achievable. And gas is expensive, though now it went down to 1,60 EUR again.

Then there is paint to consider. I have 8 out of 13 panels that need fixing.
Fine are only left front door, both right fenders, roof and back door.
In bold are panels that urgently need fixing.

1. front bumper - Holes from flying stones, it's a 200 HP car after all. I started driving more courteously to others recently, but I bought this car at 32 years old, so it is what it is.

2. hood - same, one hole is like someone fired a gun at my car. And some really big stone scraped the paint. It's that light spot in the middle of the hood, to the right of middle.

3. left back door - 2 little scratches from 2020 when they were building a new roundabout and I guess stones flew from tyres, however unlikely that might be at 10 km/h. It's always a lottery driving through road construction, but what can you do?
On top of that 11 days ago some cat (I live next to flats and people love cats) climbed on the roof grabbing with his claws on my door. He left 14 scratches. 8 with left paw above the body line (they are together, so he must have grabbed on the paint 2 times in a row), 4 with right paw above the body line and 2 are below that below the body line.
Before that I was lucky, cats always first jumped on the hood and then on the roof. And so they didn't need to use claws, only soft paws. Sure, they had really muddy paws, but I guess that is not a problem, maybe micro scratches, but I am far beyond those. But even that was anoying to clean in average of once per 2 months.

1. right front door - Recently I got a chip in the paint. I think it was when a Twingo 1st gen with those long doors was parked next to me. I guess he just brushed his door against mine as there was no ding. Quite unbelievable if you think about it, I would have avoided it if I parked 0,5 mm to the left. I even thought about that when Twingo was not even there yet.

2. right back door - Someone dinged my door in 2020, and I parked all the way back and I was the only car there. But it's just a little barely visible ding. Would certainly be a problem on 50.000+ EUR car, but not on this one.

3. left front fender - I think there are 2 slight dings, but there needs to be good lighting. I don't know how it could happen as stone would also damage the paint.
   And some vertical scratches, most probably from snow falling from the car and carrying debris with it.

4. left back fender - 1 slight ding

8. back bumper - huge scratches on the left. They are around 5-8 cm under the body line. Probably around 20 alltogether.
I am most certain postman (99% him, 1% my mother) draged his pants over the paint and there was grit from driving in the rain on the bumper. I know because he was visiting quite often when that happened in June and December 2025.

I am actually happy I at least know how the car got every scratch. I really hate I can't know that if I buy a used car.

Anyway, I could forget all the mishaps if I repainted the car.
I think that is quite worth doing every 10 years. Basically once if you have the car 20 years. 30 years is a stretch anyway.

Probably 200 EUR for a panel?
I know 1000 EUR will be really tight and some panels can't be painted whole for that money. I also know 2000 EUR should be more than enough. But that is quite a lot for a regular Astra. If it were an OPC it would be a different story.

I already painted the Punto 2 (3 door) on the cheap in 2010. I only paid 200 EUR and I got rid of all the major scratches on left back side and on back doors (I don't know what previous owners were doing to make such deep scratches, but whatever). There was only a 10 cm or so scratch left on right door. But as I park with fence on the right side, I was quite happy for only 200 EUR.

For the end, this thing flies. Today Austrians had holiday and went through Slovenia. There were so many I didn't find a suitable hole in the right lane.
I had enough of them and just flied 170 km/h almost all the way. Left lane was clear.
But for sure that comes with expense. On BC it is 9,5 l, that means around 11,0 l. In average I have to add +1,15 l, but it depends a lot on driving style. At 11 liters it is around +1,5 l.
Max per tank was 11,95 l so far. And I only drove 140-160 on highway. But outside max acceleration.
Driving in Germany at 190 km/h at 4500 rpm, it would most probably be 13 liters, and that with low traffic where you have cruising speed and don't need to accelerate. Otherwise probably 15 liters.
But average for now is BC 8,1 l, real 9,25 l / 100 km. So quite managable for such a power.
I wouldn't want for less power nor for more power. I think 10 liters is a nice psychological barrier.

Which car is even faster on the roads?
Provida Passat 2.0 TSI 220 HP was keeping pace with me the whole 10 km, that was expensive.
And that was pretty much it in 9 years.
M135i F20 lost me in the corners (18,1 seconds to 200, but cornering speed was much more important than acceleration, he was flying through corners).
I struggled keeping up with an S3 310 HP on highway (18 seconds to 200, mine needs 29 seconds, so completely different league, but he wasn't that much in front, 100, 200 meters).
Then Viper III SRT-10 506 HP 712 Nm (14,3 seconds to 200) smoked me in the dust on highway. He even waved goodbye to me as he saw I was trying to push my car. Sure, like I cried after, he had more than twice as fast car, real achievement.
Some Cupra Formentor (most probably 245 HP with 27,2 seconds to 200) was head to head once, I was on right lane, so I had to back down.

I could say it's a sleeper, but is it really? The guy on MOT said that it is. Maybe if it didn't have double exhaust pipes and the red TURBO badge. Which I would rather it were a GSi badge or something more sensible. I don't know of 100-150 HP cars which have double exhaust pipes, so it is quite a large tell. Even 200+ HP cars don't all have an exhaust on each side.
But for sure, from any other angle than behind, it could very well be your standard 1.4 16V 100 HP. Maybe matrix LED headlights could also be a tell it is something better than 100 HP, but theoretically 100 HP with matrix LED is still possible.

That is actually fine. Before that I had a blue Clio 3 RS 197. When I was going besides primary school, kids cheered me. That was embarassing/incomfortable or whatever, I didn't like that car standed out so much. And one day some guy wanted to talk to me about the car on stop light from left turn lane. With this Astra with 2 exhaust pipes no one ever cared what I drive.
Though I admit I did get into several road rages in all the years. By far the most of all my cars. Though I only had Clio RS for 1 year, so that makes sense. I don't think I ever got into one with Astra H 1.6 16V 105. But with this one already end of 2017.
I had this car all the way from 32 to now 41 years old. I think I am now finally old enough and grown-up, that it won't happen again.

What I can say for quite sure, this particular car is probably the fastest car you can get for around 10.000€ in EU and that it isn't more than 10 years old and doesn't have more than 100.000 km.
If I were to sell it, goal should be more like 15.000€. But whoever has so much money, will rather buy a GTI. Currently you can get 2 Fiestas ST 1.5 200 and 2 Golf 7 GTIs 230 6 speed manual for 14-17k, so not much choice in cheap fast(ish) cars.

But otherwise max speed on highway is mostly 150, maybe 160 km/h, so not hard to be the fastest with max 235 km/h car. My max though was 230 km/h speedo, 220 km/h real. I would need almost 250 km/h speedo to safely say I reached max speed.

Handling is also not that bad, especially if you also consider how comfortable it is. For example last time there was some VW ID.7 EV merging on highway. He braked before right corner before acceleration lane to 30 km/h. I don't know if it was skill or car issue, but regular ICE cars do it at 50 km/h. Just after that he spend half the acceleration lane driving 70, only then he showed what his EV is capable of. Then he drove on the middle line of both lanes, so most probably skill issue.
My Astra does it at 70 km/h. Sure, you need to take a racing line, why wouldn't you? I think best cars in the world can do it at 80 km/h as it is quite a tight corner, but they probably cost 50.000-500.000€.
Conti's PremiumContact 7 are a chef's kiss. If God were to make tyres, he would make the same. They really don't lose a grip in both dry and wet and make you forget you drive an FWD with understeer. 3 seasons old, mind you.

These are photos from today so you can see my parking skills. There's like 50 cm to the line on the left (I don't know what's with the closer line of the 2 together, were they so tight in the past? Man, try owning a Q7) and then another 30 cm from the line to the red car. I always open the doors to check. Then even press S/S button, apply handbrake and check right and back side if everything is fine and dandy. Not like people who just park crooked and be done with it. There were like 2 very tight places before this one because of bad parkers.
I don't think this car would have wanted for a better driver/owner. It is also probably very happy I use all its power and that I don't push it cold and that I don't shut it down warm. Why buy something you won't use?
I didn't even buy park assist. That thing just beeps all the time, that really helps me. Though I wouldn't mind a back and side camera.

On photos hood and front bumper damage can also be seen.
And front lights are getting foggy and that black border on top of the lights is peeling. I have the car under the roof, but front light are under bright afternoon sun.

I thought I will only list the problems, but I guess I am the type of person who doesn't want to leave anything in the mind, but everything in writing. At least you have bold text for TLDR.

Hi, my 2003 Omega B 2.2 doesn't have the Traction Control button, is there a way to retrofit this?

Hi! I recently bought an Astra K from 2017, equipped with the matrix LEDs. However, I’ve noticed that the high beam on one of the units is pointing way too low: like right in front of the car. The low beams are good on both sides though. I asked the local mechanic if it was possible to only realign the high beam but he said that the whole unit likely has to be replaced. I know that’s not cheap…

Do any of you know a way to adjust the high beam without messing up the low beam? Right now the car is a pain to drive at night and borderline dangerous.

Hey guy, i notices today this squeeking noise when i lift of gas peddal fast . It seems that it comes from second fuel injektor but im not sure. Did anyone have similar problem or maybe its normal.. idk 🤷🏻‍♂️

Is this normal sound for a roll bar?

Just a quick question. Bought a 2024 corsa and had it for 16 months, when I first got into it, I'm sure I had to put my clutch in to start the car but now I sont need to do that, I can just start it as normal, but there's no lights or anything showing up.

I also had post this here.
Look how huge the Monza is compared to this Ford Granada wagon.

Hi everyone,
I’m actually driving a 2021 Peugeot 208, but since the Opel Corsa F shares the same platform and many technical components, I wanted to ask if anyone here has experienced a similar issue.
My Peugeot is equipped with the Bosch RCC infotainment system, and I’ve noticed a strange audio problem.
Whenever the microphone is activated, for example during a phone call, Siri, or Apple CarPlay voice commands, the bass almost completely disappears afterward. The music suddenly sounds flat and thin, almost like it’s still playing through a telephone speaker.
I suspect that the infotainment system gets stuck in the hands-free audio profile and doesn’t properly switch the DSP (Digital Signal Processing) back to normal music playback.
Interestingly, I’ve found a workaround that works every time:
I go into the sound settings and change the audio focus from “All passengers” to “Driver” or “Front”, then switch it back. The bass immediately returns, and the sound quality is completely normal again.
Even more interestingly, once I’ve done this, the problem doesn’t happen again during the same drive, even after using Siri or making another phone call. However, after switching off the car and restarting it later, the issue returns.
This makes me think it’s a software or DSP initialization problem rather than faulty speakers.
My question to Opel Corsa F owners:
Has anyone experienced something similar, especially with the standard infotainment system? Does the bass disappear after using the microphone, Google Assistant, Siri, or making phone calls?
And if so, has anyone found a permanent solution, perhaps through a firmware update or a specific setting?
I’ve already found several Peugeot 208 owners reporting the same problem, and I also came across a similar report involving a 2020 Opel Corsa.
Since both cars share many technical components, I’m curious whether this might be a wider issue affecting both models.
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!