My first car in Spain was the Opel Astra 1.6 from 2001, a sedan version... That was the only time bought an older car than I had (Skoda Fabia 2003), but I liked it a lot and the trunk was huge!! When I was moving from one to another apartment, I used it to transport all our things... As we just moved to Spain and had to "re-allocate" to another apartment, we didn't have too many things, but I did do 6-7 trips with a car full of things...
But, in the end, I have to say that I wasn't too happy with its performance... It broke many times, and in the end, it had a huge problem with the engine, so I almost gave it away as it was worthless... 😞
Did you already found a replacement for your Betsy?
I had before Betsy an Astra also 1.6 I think it was, around the same age as your Astra but an estate. It was huge and great for transporting things. I moved country in it a few times.
I really liked the feel of driving it, which is why I bought another newer Astra, although it didn't drive exactly the same.
The older Astra did have a few issues, I couldn't get replacement parts for it and needed to use string to pull the wipers on its last journey to the scrap yard.
I didn't find a replacement for Betsy yet, I might wait until next year even before getting something.
I suppose you have a spare car to use until you get a replacement for Betsy? While I don't move too much with the car as of work from home, I can't imagine NOT having one for some time...
Yes we have another car to use until we decide what to do. You can see it on my post when I broke down in Augsburg. Lol.. my wife has taken it though, so I will only have it when she not using. We work from home, but a car is pretty handy for shopping and stuff, kids activities etc.