A VAUXHALL motor that once surprised Jeremy Clarkson with its power can now be yours for a bargain price.
The Astra SRI CDTI 1.6 Ecoflex, to be precise, was released in 2014 and is still available to buy today.
But used models from around 10 years ago can be found for under £5,000 - and when new they were certainly given the stamp of approval from Clarkson.
Writing for the Sunday Times in 2014, the former Top Gear host couldn't fault it, writing: "The current generation is good-looking and if you push and pull at all the bits of trim, you will quickly learn that it’s well made too.
“And, of course, it’s reasonably priced."
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What's more, this particular motor is diesel and so has the typical pulling power that you'd expect.
Even so, the little Vauxhall's torque certainly surprised Jezza.
He said: “ I put my foot down and it was like diving into a lake of torque. It’s a big lake too, with more torques in it than you get from an equivalent Volkswagen or Renault.
"And that means you never really need to change gear. It’ll always pull no matter what the revs. And it’ll pull hard.
"This is a very good engine. Economical as well."
Of course, Clarkson does caveat this by claiming "the biggest problem" with the Astra is that "you don’t want one."
He added: "That’s why we chose the Astra as Top Gear’s Reasonably Priced Car.
"The whole point of this segment in the show is we’d put big-name stars in the sort of vehicle that is so reasonable and inoffensive that even reasonable people would rather drive something else."
10 years on from Clarkson's words, these motors can be picked up very reasonably.
Indeed, we found one for as low as £4,495 on the Piston Heads website.
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According to Priceanycar, at a dealer you can expect to pay between £5,900 and £7,450, while the most you'd pay a private seller is up to £6,700.
Elsewhere, an iconic sports car that's loved by Clarkson recently rolled off the production line for the final time.
And a group of car experts have revealed to Sun Motors five of the best used cars you can buy now for under £11,000 after they received major price drops - including the Ford Mondeo.
