Home News Vauxhall Astra CDTi – On the Road

Vauxhall Astra CDTi – On the Road

If you were to ask me to describe the least Evo car imaginable, there is a good chance that it may involve the words Astra and Diesel. Mostly, that’s down to historical prejudice. Recent hankering for an original white GTE aside, the only Vauxhall i’d ever considered was actually a Holden underneath. Again TT manages to pick the right tester for the right car.

What do you do with a diesel hatch and a Sunday off then? A run to the coast of course. Get out there and see how the car behaves on some quick and twisty roads, test out the handling and pick up an ice cream on the way back. Driving west from Glasgow, down the M77 with it’s average speed cameras and into Ayr, the test hadn’t really begun. 20 miles further down the coast, still under the horrid watch of the gestapo-cam we were starting to question our life choices. The slog did present us with a rather nifty but unnerving feature present on the Astra, automatic lane assist. Now we’re not talking a bong, a beep and some flashing dash lights, the car actually steers back into lane. Bizarre to say the least. I can’t help but think, especially in this day and age of endless roadworks, someone might come a cropper from this “driving aid” but i guess time will tell.

As you may have noticed, the Astra has recently gone and won itself a few prizes including the ASMW Car of the Year. That might not set your pulse racing but as a broad spectrum of all the cars they have tested over the year then it’s an accolade that Vauxhall can be proud of. What’s our verdict…

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The looks. Always a subjective matter and i kindly took a few pictures for you to make up your own mind. I’ve got to admit i do like the way it sits on the road, especially in silver (for a rep mobile? Never!). There are shades of a few of the Astra’s peers in here but as a package, it’s going to appeal to the right people. The front and rear lights sit nicely on each of the 4 corners without trying anything too fancy, the creased coach line breaks up the big doors well and the rear 3/4 is all Mk1 Focus. I’m definitely not sold on the fan blade wheels but that’s easily enough changed.

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It’s a 1.6L 4 pot with 160bhp, 6 gears, 2 turbos and is affectionately known as a “whisper diesel”. I hope that doesn’t mean it’s made of chocolate. (Yeah, sorry about that one). The engine pulls strongly through the impressively wide power band as you might expect from a bi-turbo. On the motorway, where the Astra may well spend the majority of it’s life, you can dispatch old biddies in shopping trolleys with ease. They might not even notice the cdti badge on the back either. Well they definitely won’t. Will the bloke in the de-badged 320d with M-sport kit and £5 supermarket sunglasses on at 10pm at night? Damn right he will.

The economy stats are quite impressive to say the least. High 60’s and even into 70mpg are quite achievable if you’re careful enough. You’d quite rightly give me grief if i suggested that the engine is tuneful so i’ll save you the hassle. As diesel’s go though, it certainly didn’t sound like it was going to fall apart while it sat idling and it is quiet enough on the go to almost forget which brand of go go juice it consumes.

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The chassis. This is always the most challenging aspect of a car to put down into words so i’ll go back to the trip and tell you what i found. All the way down to the bottom of the West coast we stopped off for lunch in Stranraer. It was cold and it was wet. Always is down there. Thankfully, what the town also has going for it is the A75, which in itself leads to the A712 that runs through Galloway Forest. In all my years of hoonage around Scotland i have no idea how i’ve missed this little gem of a road. If you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels like to take on a rally stage without the need for gravel tyres, this is it. Next to no traffic, dips, bumps, yumps, off camber corners, 4 left tightens into 2 right, trees everywhere. Love it.

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The Astra soaked up almost everything we could throw at it. Adjust your mental driving style to use the power delivery and you can really test the limits of the car’s grip and balance. Lean on the front end, let it carry you through the corner as it loads up and you’ll struggle to find the point where it understeers. You won’t be setting any stage records but you will be having fun. There’s enough poke to get you using some heel and toe by the time you are into the next corner and the exit speeds are what you come to expect from a well heeled, torquey powerplant.

Overall i was pleasantly surprised by the new Astra. Maybe even enough to undo the damage previous generations have done to my views. Vauxhall have definitely built a car that is going places and it will be good to see where the future lies in their VXR program. A new VX220 is probably a bit much to ask but you never know. If you’re in the market for a new hatch then the Astra has to be worth a day’s test drive. You might surprise yourself.

TT Rating 3

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