Astra proves a cut above all the rest

THE Opel Astra 1.4 Turbo Enjoy has been crowned the 2017 Wesbank/South African Guild of Motoring Journalists South African Car of the Year.

The popular Opel saw off eight other runners, including the Audi A4, Honda Civic, Hyundai Tucson, Jaguar F-Pace, Renault Kadjar, Toyota Fortuner, Volkswagen Passat and Volkswagen Tiguan.

The announcement, which took place at the Kyalami Racetrack in Gauteng, was attended by motor industry heads and media.

Although many – including Dispatch Motoring – had their sights firmly on the Volkswagen Tiguan, it was not to be.

In the end, the Opel Astra clinched the prestigious accolade, to triple Opel’s victories since the inception of the competition back in 1986. The brand’s first win came in 1993 when the Kadett romped to first place, followed the next year by the Astra.

The new Astra came to the competition having already clinched the 2016 European Car of the Year award, so perhaps it should have come as no surprise that it came up trumps. The Opel Astra is a great package; it’s well-styled, comes with a fairly high amount of standard equipment and, most important, is competitively priced at R334 600.

The competition sets out to find the vehicle that represents the most significant advancements in its segment. This includes innovation, emotion, driver enjoyment and, of course, value for money.

The Audi A4 managed to bag second position ahead of the Passat in third.

If anything, this year’s competition again demonstrates the strides taken by manufacturers in bringing improved iterations of their respective products.