The new Astra is substantially larger than almost all of its class mates (as well as the outgoing Astra). It’s by far the longest of all selected rivals, sits on a longer wheelbase, is alone in being over 1.5 metres tall and is beaten for width only by the Focus. Given that, at £18,845, this 1.4 SRi is just £10 dearer than the car it replaces, there’s no doubting the extra metal your money buys. Whether that is a uniformly good thing is another matter; there are many who reasonably think of cars in this class as compact and easy to park.
Visually, there has been a clear move from the clean but slightly dull lines of its predecessor to the more sculpted look pioneered by the Insignia. Done badly it could look cheesy but we think Vauxhall has pulled off another winner.
In engineering terms, this bigger body is also 43 per cent more torsionally rigid than before to provide a more stable platform for its suspension (MacPherson strut up front, torsion beam with Watts linkage at the rear).
Under the bonnet is a 1.4-litre turbo engine. This follows VW’s lead in replacing larger, normally aspirated units with small-capacity forced-induction motors. You can see why; it has the same 138bhp as the 1.8-litre it replaces but it comes with CO2 emissions of just 139g/km (as opposed to 172g/km) and combined consumption of 47.9mpg (39.2mpg).
