Astra has the looks to match price tag
VAUXHALL’S PHEV IS EXPENSIVE BUT IT DOES IT WITH STYLE
SINCE it’s made in the UK, the Vauxhall Astra is an important car for us Brits. So I make no apologies for testing a plug-in hybrid PHEV version this week, after driving a normal petrol Astra in August.
There will be more to come too – the Sports Tourer estate is due out later this year and I’ll also be testing the fully-electric Astra when it arrives in 2023.
As I’ve said before, a PHEV is a pricy option but can make sense if you do lots of short trips and the occasional long jaunt.
Under the bonnet of this machine is a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine. It drives through an eightspeed automatic gearbox via a 112PS electric motor which, combined with the petrol engine, gives a total output of 180PS.
There’s also a 225PS version of the same arrangement coming later which, along with its Sports Tourer brother, will be badged as the GSE – the first in a line of performance electrified models.
But back to the lower-powered car we have here.
The new Astra looks excellent. Vauxhall’s design revolution, which started with the Mokka and which features the ‘Vizor’ front end, continues in even better style on the hatchback.
And because I prefer hatchbacks to crossovers, this is my favourite Vauxhall right now. The firm quotes an official fuel consumption of 256mpg which, of course, is meaningless.
More relevant is an electric range of 43 miles. This is generous and although experience on our test drive indicates that you’ll be very unlikely to achieve this in the real world, it does help to give the Astra a very low 8% benefit-in-kind rating.
Great for company car drivers for sure, but private owners are going to wince at the Astra PHEV’S on-theroad price.
Our car is in Ultimate trim, which is the top level, and costs £35,815.
That’s without options and ours had leather upholstery for an extra £2,100, along with £700 worth of metallic paint.
Also fitted is a 7kw on-board charger at £500 (the car comes standard with a 3.7kw charger).
For some logistical reason all the test cars were left-hand drive but to pretty much the correct UK spec.
You have to bear in mind when testing left-hand drive cars that the left-hand side of the road is often in far less good condition that the part just to the left of the centre white line.
This means that you tend to experience a less impressive ride than your passenger.
The PHEV version of the Astra weighs about 350kg more than the 1.2-litre three-cylinder car that we drove before, so it could be the extra weight as well as the sitting on the left that gives this Astra a harsher ride.
Inside, Vauxhall gives you something it calls Pure Panel. It stretches from the A-pillar to the centre of the dashboard and looks rather smart.
There is a good selection of buttons and knobs for heating, ventilation and other often- used systems, and you get a little rest for your thumb which helps when using the touchscreen on a bumpy road.
There’s plenty of space up front in the Astra but it isn’t quite so generous in the back where tall passengers will find their heads a little close to the roof lining. Other rival hatchbacks are a bit more spacious.
Which powertrain you choose for your Astra is down to budget and what you will use the car for – and how green you are.
You might want to wait for the fully electric version but we haven’t had a heads-up on prices for that car yet and it isn’t going to be cheap either.
The GSE with its extra power will also cost more than this week’s car and I suspect it’s unlikely to be worth it. But whichever version you choose, the new Astra is a great looking car, both inside and out.