So Saturn is bringing the Astra to the US.

No its not a Saab, but it is a very nice GM car that Europe gets a lot of (over 400K units a year if I remember correctly).

The 5 door model that they announced initially looks like a very nice car, and a decent alternative to the Mazda 3 and Volkswagen Rabbit. The 1.8L is a not on the side of the power/economy tradeoff that I usually prefer to be on (its a little weak at 140hp with 2700+ of car to move), but the comprimise isn't too bad. That compromise in the Rabbit seems out of whack, 20/30 for mileage with only 150 hp (while the GTI manages 24/31 with 200 hp and tons of torque, much nicer). The mpg numbers they are listing for the Astra are something like 27/34. These are not spectacular, but these are 2008 adjusted numbers (which are supposed to be something like 8% lower than 2007). In Europe, the rating for the Astra 5-door with the 1.8L converts to something like 39 mpg highway, which is about what I would expect for a NA 1.8L with a long 5th gear. If they would offer us 1.9L TurboDiesel and 1.6L or 2.0L Turbo Petrol engines, that would really cover the gamut nicely, but for a car they only expect to move tens of thousands of units on, this may be asking a bit much.

But with gas prices where they are and a "little one" on the way, this may be the car to replace my 99 9-3 (173K miles) sometime next year, hopefully when my 9-3 reaches 200K or so.

Anyone else interested in new Astra? It finally appeared on Saturn's website:

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/futurevehicles/index.jsp?futureModelLink=astra

Otherwise, the really good stuff (in English) is on the Vauxhall site:
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/carsandvans/brandcarhub.do?brandName=astra&vehicleType=C&scope=S&method=loadBrandHubCarPage

What d'ya think?

posted by 136.237.60...

• Saturn/Opel Astra Anyone?, dchmiele1992, Tue, 20 Mar 2007 08:44:06 <-- Viewing This Message
  • Rented a Holden..., Mike Lynch , Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:57:45
  • Re: Saturn/Opel Astra Anyone?, yaofeng, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:09:42
    • We got ours to 200 kph :), Craig, Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:20:36
    • Great pic, that's faster than I am likely to drive one, dchmiele1992, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:32:01
  • Re: Saturn/Opel Astra Anyone?, anthonySF, Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:33:22
    • Astra is basically just shipped as-is from Belgium, dchmiele1992, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:13:44
  • One major flaw for a family car (+), vvk, Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:59:47
    • Astra wagon would be ideal, dchmiele1992, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:06:51
      • Legacy 2.5i comes with manual 5-speed (+), vvk, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:36:15
        • subaru.com shows only 4 or 5 speed slushbox, dchmiele1992, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 11:12:17
          • Weird. Their brochure shows 5-speed manual (+), vvk, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 11:41:26
            • That is wierd, dchmiele1992, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:47:27
    • Speaking of less interior volume, Caarma , Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:36:23
      • Tough to beat a proper wagon on cargo volume (+), vvk, Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:32:09

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