Our cars Cause for alarm A house move with our Astra GSE proves noisier than expected. Sean Keywood


I recently moved house, and according to long-term test cliché, this is a sure-fire cue for a report focusing on practicality and boot space. However, as it turned out, the moving process saw our Astra GSE let itself down with an unexpected annoyance. It started during a weekend visit to my parents’ house, on the final morning of which I loaded the boot with my luggage and also moving supplies, ready for the drive home later that day. A few minutes later, having returned inside, I heard a car alarm, but on checking out the window was reassured that it couldn’t be the Astra as its hazard warning lights were not flashing. The alarm sounded again a couple more times during the next few minutes, during which time I was thinking that one of my parents’ neighbours really needed to sort their car out, after which my dad came to inform me that, in fact, it was the Astra’s alarm sounding after all. Why its lights also weren’t flashing to accompany the alarm – which should happen according to the car’s manual – I have no idea.


Anyway, having returned to the Astra in a state of annoyance and some embarrassment, I concluded that


Vauxhall Astra GSE 1.6 225PS Plug-in Hybrid 8-Speed Auto


P11D price £41,745 As tested £42,245 Official consumption 256mpg Our average consumption 44.4mpg Mileage 3,961


something must have fallen over inside to trigger the alarm, and resolved to repack it more carefully. But clearly not enough, as it went off again a couple more times before I left that evening, leading me to constantly keep an ear out for it in a slightly paranoid state, for fear of further annoying my parents’ neighbours. Having returned home, and unloaded the Astra, there were no more alarms for a few days. But then, on the day of the move itself, and with it now parked outside my new home, the alarm sounded again. By this point I’d concluded that for some reason leaving the Astra parked with a full boot was a problem, and delved into the instruction manual for a solution. Having eventually found the relevant section (overcoming the issue mentioned in a previous report of the manual’s pages being printed out of order) I discovered that by holding a button on the


Why we’re running it


To see if a sportier plug-in hybrid makes sense.


ceiling when the ignition was turned off I could activate a mode designed for leaving a pet in the car, which would deactivate the interior sensor, and after doing this until the car was unloaded later that day, there were no more alarm soundings. At the time of writing, a couple of weeks after the move, these have yet to return, leading me to suspect my ‘full boot’ theory is the correct


“On the day of the move itself, and with [the Astra] parked outside my new home, the alarm sounded again.”


one – but why this should have been an issue, I can’t explain.


Anyway, returning to my initially planned subject for this report, the Astra GSE’s boot doesn’t benefit from a flat load lip, but it offers a reasonably practical space, with the presence of an under-floor storage location for the EV charging cable making it slightly more so than my previous long-term Astra Ultimate, which had a storage bag for this in the main boot compartment. Also, as well as 60/40 folding rear seats there’s a useful ski hatch which can be used for longer items. However, at 352 litres the boot’s capacity is 70 litres down on a petrol Astra. One other matter relating to the move – I am expecting the appearance of the Astra’s white paint to improve, as unlike at my old house, with my new driveway it is no longer parked under a tree. Here’s hoping that it will continue to sit there peacefully, with no more phantom alarms to potentially annoy my new neighbours.


WEBSITE Please visit www.businesscar.co.uk/tests/long-term-test/ for previous reports on our fleet www.businesscar.co.uk | April 2024 | 47


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