Vauxhall ASTRA 1.8-LITRE RANGE
Vauxhalls Astra Has Transformed Itself From Also-Ran To Front Runner. Jonathan Crouch Checks It Out In Mid-Range 1.8-Litre Guise
That
Vauxhall raised its game with the latest Astra is not in doubt. In almost every area of its design, huge strides forward have been made. The problem for Vauxhall was that huge strides forward were needed. Family hatchback buyers are a lot more demanding than they used to be.
And the competition is frighteningly good
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Not good enough to prevent the company claiming class leadership for its strong-selling family hatchback however. The development objectives for the car were uncompromising; it had to be a quality benchmark in the class. Better than the latest VW Golf. Better than a Mercedes A-class.
And above all, better than the latest version of the all-conquering
Ford Focus. A tough call, certainly but few would argue that
Vauxhall hasnt come close. But how close? To find the answer, you need to go straight to the heart of the latest range where lie the 125bhp 1.8-litre petrol models, priced from £13,295 in five-door Life form or around £1,000 more for an estate.
Theres also a three-door Sport Hatch version priced from £15,295. Its not hard to see why so many fleet customers the people who account of course for the lions share of Astra sales will opt for this particular powerplant. There is, after all, a yawning gap between the 100bhp petrol 1.6 and the 170bhp 2.
0-litre petrol turbo, which is the next engine up since Vauxhall declines to offer us a normally aspirated 2.0-litre petrol option. You could say the same about the much improved diesel options available, which centre around willing but not overly rapid 80 and 100bhp options. Vauxhall has developed 120bhp and 150bhp 1.
9 diesel options for this car of course but they are a little pricey, a fee youre not likely to recoup until you habitually clock up a huge mileage. Even a 100bhp diesel variant is close to £1,000 more than the comparable petrol 1.8, model for model. So, 1.
8-litre petrol motoring it probably is then if Astra motoring becomes your choice or destiny.
"You don't need to go very far to realise that you're at the wheel of an uncommonly well-engineered car"
There a decent choice of bodystyles, with five-door and estates available and the three-door Sport Hatch for younger buyers. Trim levels in five-door form range from entry-level Life to Club, Design, plush Elite and sporty SRi. Equipment levels are strong, the Life being fitted with twin front and side airbags, ABS, remote central locking, a CD stereo and air conditioning. Opt for the Club and youll also get 15-inch alloy wheels, curtain airbags, body coloured addenda and audio controls on the steering wheel amongst other niceties.
The Design variant gets treated to alloy wheels an inch bigger, sports front seats with leather bolsters and hide trim on the steering wheel, an MP3 compatible stereo and sophisticated electronic functions such as rain sensitive wipers and a Driver Info Centre with trip computer. Quite a step up in trim for the ardent button presser! The Elite model is fully leathered, gets electric folding door mirrors, cruise control, a rather interesting 40/20/40 split folding rear
seat and electronic climate control. As befits its sporting nature, the SRi features lowered suspension, sports seats, sports instruments, front fog lights and a matt chromed centre console. All 1.
8-litre models manage the benchmark rest to sixty sprint in under ten seconds on the way to a maximum of 123mph. For SRi customers, thats 12mph and 1.4 seconds down on the equivalent 2.0T model, in return for a £2,000 sticker price saving: sounds fair enough to us. Fuel consumption hovers at around the 36mpg mark as opposed to 31mpg for the 2.0T and about 56mpg for the diesels. You pays your money On the road, you don't need to go very far to realise that you're at the wheel of an uncommonly well-engineered car. One thing that Vauxhall trust will be immediately apparent is the Astras ride quality courtesy of an advanced suspension system. Its the first car in its class to feature Continuous Damping Control (CDC), electronically controlled shock absorbers that continuously adapt to the road surface and the drivers style. Its all part of what Vauxhall dub the Astras Interactive Driving System (IDS) that can integrate all of the electronic functions in a way thats a good deal cleverer that you might think.
For example, the ESP stability control system now beefs up the damper forces first before applying the brakes to the front wheels during extreme cornering manoeuvres making for a more sensitive and less intrusive intervention. Upspec models also feature a Sport button so that the suspension settings, accelerator and steering response can easily be adapted to the mood of a driver. Its something weve become used to on premium sports cars but not on a family hatchback. Despite all of these high tech touches, the Astra still uses a relatively simple beam axle at the back instead of the sophisticated multi-link layouts used by
Volkswagen and Ford.
The forgettable styling that has historically characterised this car has also been banished. Vauxhalls bland effort last time round with this model range cost them dear when the dynamically-styled Ford Focus was subsequently launched. "That Astra was the answer to my prayers", one Ford marketing man told me at the time. The men from the Blue Oval are unlikely to be as smugly self-satisfied this time around. Thats not to say that practicality has been sacrificed at the altar of styling. Clever packaging and a long wheelbase have helped to maximise the cars interior space, helped in no small part by the fact that the exterior tale of the tape shows the Astra is one of the biggest cars in its class.
That sloping roofline looks as if itll pinch rear headroom but look a little closer and youll notice the sloping line that catches the eye is but a chamfer and the actual roofline arcs higher. Rear headroom is in fact better than the old-shape car and legroom and shoulder room is in another league. A Vauxhall spokesman claimed that the interior of the new Astra fitted like a glove, but as few people we know are shaped like hands, this would seem to present certain problems. Not so.
Big doors and surprisingly upright side windows give an airy feel to the interior, although anybody familiar with the look and feel of the latest Vectras cabin wont find much to excite them with the Astras fascia. Overall, this Astra is a hard car not to like, particularly in this 1.8-litre petrol guise. Dont buy a VW Golf or a Ford Focus until youve driven it.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Vauxhall Astra 1.8-litre range
PRICES: £13,295-£16,245- on the road
CO2 EMISSIONS: 187g/km
INSURANCE GROUPS: 6-7
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 123mph / 0-60mph 9.8s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (average) 36mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags / ABS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: [5dr] Length/Width/Heightmm 4249/2030/1460mm
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