Holden Astra sedan

Honey, I shrunk the Caprice

WHAT you’re looking at is an Astra in name only. Sourced from Korea, rather than Europe where our Astra hatch comes from, the Astra sedan is in essence a rebadged new-gen Chevy Cruze.

Sheetmetal, interior plastics and critical dimensions all differ greatly from the hatch, and the Astra sedan boasts its own character and flavour.

There is, however, some commonality. The 1.4-litre turbo four that serves in the Astra R and R+ hatch powers all three variants in the sedan range, and though its 110kw and 240Nm outputs are modest compared with the firecracker 1.6 turbo in the fivedoor RS and RS-V, it’s smooth, tractable and more than adequate.

Lugging four adults up hills at just 2000rpm doesn’t faze it. Relaxed, unfussed and exceptionally quiet, it may be the smallest engine in the Aussie Astra family but it’s a sweet one. Paired with the slick-shifting six-speed automatic that’s optional in the base LS grade and standard in LT and LTZ, it’s especially good.

Both Astra bodystyles share GM’S Delta II platform, however it’s elongated to provide a 38mm longer wheelbase for the sedan, which also boasts 280mm more in overall length. Think the Honda Civic four-door is huge? The 4665mm Astra sedan is even longer and roomier.

All that extra metal goes into increasing cabin space, and therein lies the Astra sedan’s greatest virtue – it excels at carrying people and their luggage. Front-seat accommodation is on par with the hatch, but rear-seat legroom is positively limo-like in its generosity and the rear backrest is tilted at a comfortable angle.

The Astra sedan’s locally honed suspension is another key point of difference between it and the hatch, with Holden deliberately tuning the four-door’s dampers towards the comfort side of the ride/ handling spectrum. It does a superb job of ironing out lumps and practically floats over even truly nasty surfaces, but there are a couple of caveats.

For one, the 18-inch alloys of the top-shelf LTZ grade introduce unwelcome sharpness to the ride, which jitters over smaller corrugations and negates the comfort advantage of soft spring rates. The 16-inchers of the base LS are far more compliant, while the 17-inch alloys of the mid-spec LT aren’t objectionable, either.

The other catch is the sedan simply doesn’t have the dynamic crispness of the hatch. Though equipped with a torsion-beam rear suspension like the hatch, the sedan is missing that car’s stability-enhancing rear Watts

linkage. Soft springs may be great for dispatching pockmarked roads, but the sedan doesn’t corner as confidently as its fivedoor sibling.

The sedan’s steering also has a slower rack ratio, though it shares its on-centre precision and progressive weighting. It requires a few more degrees of lock, but that’s in keeping with the car’s softer nature.

And that needs to be kept in mind when considering the Astra sedan. It may share a name, but it’s a very a different beast to the existing five-door. It’s little wonder that GM markets the two as distinct models overseas.

Value, space and comfort are the Astra sedan’s greatest virtues, especially in small-tyred $ 20,490 entry-level LS form. Buy it on the basis of those strengths rather than an expectation of the same European panache as the hatch, and you won’t be disappointed.