WE’ve already seen this new Vauxhall diesel engine in the Zafira and Meriva MPV cars.

Now it’s the turn of the Astra, a far more important berth for this significant diesel engine.

Vauxhall calls it ‘whisper quiet’. With good reason.

It is.

More to the point, for company car drivers the new ‘whisper quiet’ Vauxhall Asrta 1.6  diesel offers improved fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions: cue lower company car tax rates.

[contentblock id=9 img=gcb.png]

And this is what this new version of the Vauxhall Astra 1.6 diesel is all about: better refinement, lower running costs, and lower company car tax.

The SRi model we reviewed has CO2 emissions of 104g/km and a 16% BIK company car tax banding. But if you go for the Design or company car driver focused Tech Line versions, then the banding drops to 15% with the lower powered 110PS unit – and 97g/km CO2 emissions.

For company car drivers, that’s a tax bill starting from £47 a month. Not bad. And all that quietness to enjoy the thought of it too.