We liked, more than loved, the way the Astra generates its power and then directs it to the road. Interestingly, while Vauxhall unsurprisingly provides a whole raft of information about its new car, it was unable to divulge any information concerning its weight, even though the car is on sale now. Anecdotally, it is said to be approximately 40kg heavier, model for model, than the car it replaces.
And that’s not enough to put much of a dent in its performance. Indeed, its claimed 0-60mph time of 9.0sec is 0.5sec ahead of the old 1.8 SRi, doubtless thanks to the new, smaller, turbo engine producing substantially more torque (147lb ft compared with 129lb ft) at markedly fewer revs (1850rpm rather than 3800rpm). It’s a willing and smooth performer, too: there’s hardly any identifiable lag and its note is keen.
The surprise is that this new engine develops peak power at just 4900rpm, giving it more in common with a diesel engine than most petrol units. The good news is that it will still rev happily far beyond that point – past 6000rpm, indeed – although there appears to be little extra to gain from it.
This SRi comes with a six-speed gearbox as standard and although we have few complaints about the action of the lever or the progression of the clutch, the ratios themselves are more questionable. Both fifth and sixth are substantially overdriven, doubtless in order to assist official fuel consumption test figures that will rarely, if ever, be matched in real life. This means that you almost always have to change down to overtake, often dropping more than one cog and spoiling the kind of real-world performance that never shows up on the stopwatch. We also didn’t like the needlessly large gap between second and third gears.
Vauxhall is to be praised for the clarity of thought and simplicity of design that led to the addition of a Watts linkage to a normal torsion beam rear axle. Cheap to manufacture and easy to package, it’s a clever and effective move. Just don’t let anyone convince you it’s quite as good as a far more complex and expensive fully independent multi-link rear ends such as those you’ll find on not just the rival Ford and VW but Hyundai’s i30 too.
That said, we like the set-up of the Astra SRi far more than that of other Astras we have tried, and we commend Vauxhall for taking the time and making the effort to tune its electric steering specifically for UK roads. The result is a car that rides proficiently, turns in crisply and possesses sufficient body control not to become flustered even by some of the most challenging roads in the land.
But there is something missing. Yes, the ride is good, but it lacks the exceptional absorbency of a Golf. And while we like the way the SRi handles, we’re never going to start cooing over it in the way we have the Focus for many, many years. Nor does it strike some kind of optimal middle ground between the two. It feels like what it is: a well executed compromise solution born of production pragmatism rather than engineering excellence.
Likewise, we’re more enthused than ecstatic about the steering. The weighting is just heavy enough, the precision beyond reproach. What it lacks is feedback through that big, thick, leather-lined rim, particularly just off straight ahead. It means that the interaction between car and driver is less intense than we’d like, which limits the amount of fun available.
At least the brakes are first class in all areas, from initial bite to outright retardation by way of pedal progression and fade resistance.
