What’s hot?
- The Vauxhall Astra Tech -Line is built at Ellesmere Port, so your small fleet can buy British…
- …And what they’ll get is a really well built car with excellent standards of fit and finish and a nicely glossy paint job.
- There’s 300Nm available from the 1.7 turbo diesel, giving the Astra plenty of low down acceleration and fantastic in-gear flexibility.
- Lowered suspension and good-looking 18 inch alloys complete the picture.
- With CO2 emissions of 114g/km, company car drivers can have all the show and go without the sports car style company car tax penalty.
- Suspension is firm: compliant but never crashy.
- Steering is suitably meaty and accurate from the leather covered three-spoke sports multifunction wheel.
- Great level of specification includes Bluetooth, Navi 650 sat nav on a seven-inch colour monitor, sports style front bumper, body-colour front upper grille, side sills and rear lower skirt, digital DAB radio, aircon, sports seats, electric front windows, USB and aux-in connectivity.
- There’s also standard anti-skid ESP.
- Neat shopping bag hook in boot – you’ll find plenty more useful storage areas around the well thought through cabin, too.
What’s not?
- The 1.7 turbo diesel is old school – while it is pleasingly growly under acceleration it is too noisy.
- There’s a new 1.6 diesel engine that’s already been introduced to the Zafira Tourer and new Meriva and now coming to the Astra which is much more refined and promises better power/economy.
- You have to watch the front apron over speed bumps – the lowered suspension makes it highly vulnerable, so a slow and careful approach is required.
- Front A-pillar stretches a long way forward and can obscure vision.