Our cars
Low rider
Our Vauxhall Astra’s hatchback shape is paying off immediately at the pumps.
Sean Keywood
When we take cars for long-term review on Business Car, the idea is that we can, over a period of several months, gain a deeper understanding of the car’s strengths and weaknesses in day-to-day life than would be possible in a shorter test. However, in the case of our Astra, I’m tempted to skip straight to the end, and answer the question I first posed last month, of whether it could stand up for hatchback-kind against SUVs, with a resounding yes.
Much of this is in the context of the Citroen C5 Aircross, the fellow Stellantis plug-in hybrid model I ran before the Astra. Although, owing to my lack of home charging facilities, I’m yet to plug
Vauxhall Astra Ultimate Plug-in Hybrid
P11D price £40,845 As tested £42,045 Official consumption 44.1mpg Our average consumption 47.1mpg Mileage 3,266
the Astra in, I’m still averaging more than 47mpg with it in my early running, which compares with the less than 39mpg averaged by the Citroen in my time with it. This is a welcome advantage for the Vauxhall, not just from a cost point of view, but also convenience, since I’m covering at least 50 miles further between fill-ups. Also, the Vauxhall’s lower weight and centre of gravity (and different chassis priorities from the Stellantis brands’ respective engineering teams) mean a far more dynamic drive. Okay, the Citroen is still more comfortable, but the Vauxhall’s ride is absolutely fine nevertheless, with no feelings of regret from myself so far on long motorway trips. In addition, although opinions I realise will differ on this, I personally much prefer to be sitting lower down, rather than raised up in the usual SUV manner.
“The idea of paying more than £40k for a Vauxhall Astra can still be a pretty difficult one to swallow for some.”
Negative points for the Astra? Well, the Citroen is wider, which will probably appeal to those who regularly carry three people in the back, and it does have a bigger boot. Also, perhaps surprisingly, the Astra is £4,000 more expensive as tested, which although we are talking mid-range (albeit more powerful) Citroen versus top-spec Vauxhall does bring me on to a wider point, which is that impressive though the current model may be, the reactions of people when I tell them the sticker price has shown that the idea of paying more than £40k for a Vauxhall Astra can still be a pretty difficult one to swallow for some.
Something else negative I have to report concerns the Astra’s head-up display. This does a great job of putting info such as speed and sat-nav instructions – including from smartphone-based systems – in the driver’s eyeline, however on one recent trip it failed to appear. Not the end of the world, as if this happens the info appears on the regular digital instrument cluster, and it has resumed working since, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for any repeats, since anyone paying the aforementioned price for a car with technology such as this will want to be able to reliably benefit from it. Worth noting also, for any reading Blues Brothers or similar – the head-up display is very difficult to read when wearing sunglasses.
One last word for now, concerning our Astra’s Electric Yellow metallic paint. I reported last time that the shade had divided opinion, but having driven it around for a few more weeks and received other views, it appears the consensus is very much in the negative. However, I should note one thing in its favour – it does make the Astra easy to spot in car parks.
Why we’re running it
To see if the Astra can strike a blow for the good old hatchback against the SUV onslaught.
WEBSITE Please visit
www.businesscar.co.uk/tests/long-term-test/ for previous reports on our fleet
www.businesscar.co.uk | August 2023 | 47
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
