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The new Astra comes with six engines – four petrol and two turbodiesel. For the petrols, there’s a choice between non-turbo and turbocharged 1.4- and 1.6-litre units, which is all part of Vauxhall’s plan to offer smaller, more efficient engines. The starter 1.4 has 86bhp and takes 13.8 seconds to get from 0-60mph. A better bet is its turbo’d sister 1.4, which makes 138bhp and covers 0-60mph in 9.0 seconds. This is expected to be one of the key big selling engines and it’s a sound choice for its smooth refinement and mid-rev flexibility, helped by a six-speed manual gearbox as standard that has a light, precise shift. The two 1.6s offer 113bhp in non-turbo and a punchy 178bhp with the turbo. The latter is the quickest of the lot, managing 0-60mph in 7.9 seconds. The 1.7 turbodiesel is the other big seller of the range and has 109bhp, or can also be ordered in 123bhp form. For the 2.0-litre turbodiesel, 158bhp is the power output and it takes 8.5 seconds to get from 0-60mph. All engines bar the 1.6 Turbo can be ordered with an automatic gearbox.

There was never much wrong with the handling of the previous Astra, so the new car had a solid base to build on. However, Vauxhall has taken things much further and developed the Astra into one of the most stable, sure-footed cars in the small family hatch sector. It might miss some of the outright agility of a Ford Focus, but it has the measure of the Ford when it comes to grip and balance through any type of twist or turn. The Vauxhall also enjoys steering that is both accurate and precisely weighted, helped by a new assistance system that only comes into play when needed rather than always working. This has the advantage of offering more feel and saving energy. Some Astra models come with Vauxhall’s FlexRide system as standard and it can be ordered as an extra on the rest. It works by altering the shock absorbers to the driver’s choice, which ranges from comfort through normal to sport settings. This system also sharpens up the throttle response in the sports mode. As for comfort, the new Astra has this nailed from the outset. It rides all sorts of imperfections with ease and is especially impressive around town where small indentations and lumps are calmly soothed. The Vauxhall is also one of the most refined cars in its class, bearing easy comparison with the Volkswagen Golf.

Vauxhall’s reliability record may not be outstanding, but the Astra is built at the company’s Ellesmere Port factory, which leads the way in the GM empire for quality and consistency of manufacture. This bodes well for the new Astra, which appears to be better made than the Insignia and uses high grade materials throughout. The engines and other mechanical components are proven units, so we reckon the new Astra should be a safe bet.

No worries on this score. Vauxhall equips every Astra with twin front, side and curtain airbags as standard, as well as every model coming with ESP traction control. There’s also the Adaptive Forward Lighting option, which tailors the headlights spread of light to suit the conditions, whether it’s to lower the high beam in the face of oncoming traffic or help illuminate around corners as the car approaches. Isofix child seat mounts are fitted in the rear seats. An alarm, immobiliser and deadlocks should keep thieves at bay.

Vauxhall has followed the design lead of the Insignia’s cabin for the Astra and that’s no bad thing. The upper dash sweeps around into the doors to give a cosy feel to the cabin, while the main instruments are easy to red. Only the large number of small buttons, the combined stereo and sat nav dial and the functionality of the satellite navigation let the side down, though there are not major black marks against an otherwise well laid out driving environment. Driver comfort is superb, with lots of adjustment for seat height, back rest angle and also steering wheel reach and rake. There’s good all-round vision from the driving seat, though the rear window is quite small, but parking the Astra is a doddle. Rear seat passengers have plenty of room, though the curve of the roof line means their side view out is not as generous as for those in the front. However, there’s lots of leg, shoulder and head room for adults, and the boot is one of the largest in this class.

A Vauxhall Astra is not the car to buy if you want class-leading residual values when you come to sell. However, there’s still plenty to like and enjoy about the Astra during the intervening period. All of it engines are frugal and deliver low carbon dioxide emissions that are significant improvements over the previous generation Astra’s, and overall running costs are very affordable thanks to low insurance ratings and cost-effective servicing prices. There are five trims to choose from – S, Excusiv, SRi, SE and Elite – and all have air conditioning and a CD stereo as standard. The SE and SRi are the big sellers and they have alloy wheels, cruise control, rain sensing wipers and an electric parking brake.

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The new Astra has a line-up of seven engines at launch, with a couple more to be added later on, including a more economical and low-emitting EcoFlex version. We drove cars fitted with the 1.7-litre CDTi diesel with 123bhp and 205lb-ft of torque, plus the petrol-engined 1.6-litre Turbo unit that produces 177bhp and 170lb-ft of torque. The diesel is the higher-powered of the two 1.7-litre units (there’s also a 107bhp version) and, while it provided enough urge in the mid-range, it felt a little flat below 2,000rpm. The engine felt relatively refined, though, and proved quiet enough on all types of road and in all conditions. The petrol-powered car we drove was equally proficient but uninspiring: the 177bhp came on stream in a relatively linear manner, with nothing to stir the senses, even in the ‘sporty’ SRi trim level we drove. Both models were mated with six-speed manual transmissions, which were precise enough in their changes.

Vauxhall has laid great emphasis on the work it has done to make the new Astra suitable for the UK’s poor roads. It has been tested and tweaked at Vauxhall’s engineering facility in Bedfordshire to ensure that when customers get inside, they aren’t shaken about too much. It’s a move that has borne dividends, as the ride of the new Astra is very accomplished. Whatever the road surface throws at it, the Astra copes well, soaking up bumps and potholes with ease and proving comfortable at all times. The handling is competent enough but once more it comes off second-best in comparison with the Ford Focus. Where the Ford is sharp and keen, with pointy steering and lovely balance, the Astra is pretty ordinary, despite decent grip levels. The steering has improved, but apart from that, Vauxhall hasn’t made enough changes to a car that needs to break new ground just keep up with the competition.

The family hatch market is highly competitive, so it’s inevitable that an important new player such as the Astra will be compared to the likes of the Golf and Focus, as well as the new Korean kids on the block, the Hyundai i30 and Kia Cee’d. So it’s pleasing to report that the perceived quality of the Astra is very good, with better plastics and materials than those previously found in the cabin. Everything feels substantial to the touch and there’s none of the brittleness to the plastics you sometimes find in cars that have been built to a budget. The exterior of the car also gives the air of being well assembled, with consistent shutlines all across the new Astra. However, a few words of caution: Vauxhall has a poor record for reliability and usually performs badly in customer satisfaction surveys, so any judgement should be suspended until the cars have spent some time with their owners.

The Astra, as you’d expect from a new product from a major carmaker, has all the latest active and passive safety measures, including six airbags (two in the front, two side airbags and a pair of curtain airbags that cover the glass area the length of the cabin), seatbelts with pre-tensioners, active head restraints that protect occupants from whiplash injuries and Isofix child seat anchor points. Vauxhall has also thrown all the usual electronic safety measures into the mix, including ABS with electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), plus electronic stability control with traction control, which also features a host of other fancy measures such as Cornering Brake Control and Hydraulic Brake Fade Assist. There are also some clever lighting systems that enhance the Astra’s safety: adaptive brake lights at the rear warn drivers behind if the ABS is engaged above 20mph and the Adaptive Forward Lighting system has nine elements to improve driver visibility.

The new Astra has a much roomier cabin, thanks to Vauxhall increasing the wheelbase and pushing the wheels further towards the corners. It certainly feels a lot more spacious than the previous generation, which always felt a little on the cramped side: with average-sized occupants in the front seats, there’s enough legroom for adults in the back, with sufficient headroom for most grown-ups. Vauxhall has also concentrated on providing plenty of innovative storage space inside the cabin. The company has researched the kinds of items people take around with them in the car and compiled a list of the 20 most common. So if you want to keep the likes of pens, coins, a road atlas, a parking disc, sunglasses, a wallet, tissues, a mobile phone, CDs, sweets, cups, a first aid kit and drinks bottles, there should be plenty of cubbies to suit you.

Despite improvements in efficiency – 13% across the range – the new Astra’s engines can’t quite match other cars in the hatchback market: the 124-129g/km of CO2 for the diesels doesn’t fall below the magic 120g/km figure that the Focus and Golf both achieve, for example. The petrol engines are more competitive (129-167g/km), but they haven’t made the kinds of strides they should be making these days. Insurance group levels are lower for this generation of Astra than before, so owners will save a bit of cash in that area. Vauxhall has a history of building too many cars and discounting them in order to shift units, which has always had a negative effect on residuals. While Vauxhall’s current financial position means that its strategy should change, the ubiquity of a mass-market car such as the Astra will always mean that you’ll never get much back when you come to trade it in.

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