07 Vauxhall Astra 1.6 SXi 5 door hatch

[Chrispy]

Had one of these the other day as a hire car from work and so I thought I might put up a few opinions on the thing.

1. Looks. To be honest, the new Astra doesn't look that bad IMO. It's a little bit of a break from the norm but the sad thing is the 5 door I had looks nowhere near as good as the 3 door which are nice looking cars. Shame they're so common too.

2. Interior. To be honest it was very Vauxhall - reminded me slightly of my old Cavalier when I heard the door shut which showed the build quality has not imporved much in 15 years. Stupid one touch indicators that you can't use when you're in a hurry as you jab them too hard and can't turn them off. Silver bits that felt really cheap, seats that gave me back ache (something the previous Astra did too), a little bit cramped in the front and poor levels of kit. It didn't even appear to have a trip computer so I had no idea what MPG I was getting or anything like that.
A 'sport' button also adorned the dash and it took me several hours to realise what it did (or more to the point did not) do......slightly more perky throttle response but totally and utterly pointless on a car like this (read my next point).

3. Engine. The worst part by a long way. OMG what a gutless wheezy pile of horse-sh!t. Breathless, no torque whatsoever and such a wierd throttle response, you had to ease off the noisy pedal a little and the engine picked up a bit but only a little. At no point did it appear to 'come on cam'. With a twin cam 16v engine I'd expect at least a bit of a surge at higher RPM but nothing like that happened on this car. Motorway's are totally out of this cars league......in fact they should ban them from the M1 which I sadly had to use. Swapping lanes was scary.....putting your foot down in the overly tall 5th had no effect.....dropping it to 3rd and caning the living daylights out of it also had no effect. Basically, if you wanted to swap up a lane you had to wait for a gap the size of USS Nimitz and then move out and pray no-one hits you. Slipping the clutch was a must at junctions due to the fact the car did not want to respond when you jabbed the throttle which always meant you sounded like a boy racer every time you set off.
The MPG was naff due to the fact you had to permanently plant the throttle to make any kind of progress. About 100 miles to a 1/4 of a tank.
Also, after being given a good pasting the tappets got noisy which I thought was very poor.
Getting back in my vRS was a godsend. It revved better, and the power.....oh the power....

4. Suspension. Considering this was supposed to be a slightly sportier model (the SXi) i was bitterly dissapointed. The steering was too heavy (although felt quite accurate) and the body wallowed and rolled all over the place. The fact it was running on caravan tyres didn't help. It did not inspire confidence in the bends although I must admit it was nice to have a smoother ride than what the vRS can offer when in a straight line.
You'd almost be fooled into thinking that this car was designed for romping up and down the motorways if it wasn't for the fact the engine was so gutless I wouldn't dare take this car on anything remotely resembling an open road for fear of someone rear ending me.

In a nutshell I wouldn't own one for all the tea in China. The engine was totally unsuitable for the car being both gutless and poor on fuel, the suspension was anything but sporty, the interior was cramped and badly equipped, the seats gave me a bad back and it felt completely dull to drive.

I'd still like a go in a VXR or a 888 just to see what the truly sporty ones can do, but a lesser model would not end up anywhere near my shopping list.

Chris.

[sharkrider]

you're point "3" about the engine is interesting... it isn't the least powerful available is it? there's a 1.4 and a low power diesel (as well as the high power deisels)

after the vRS, I don't think you'd want to drive an "average" power car again

be thankful you were on the m/way and not on an A-road wanting to overtake a lorry!

[daiking]

Lol, are you the chap that said the focus st170 was not powerful enough for overtaking?

Not driven the astra myself but driving a 1.6 NA petrol powered small family car requires you to drive in a certain style and I don't think you've got it cracked yet

[ScoobyChris]

Originally Posted by sharkrider

after the vRS, I don't think you'd want to drive an "average" power car again

When I drive on my commute, I'm pretty sure that for the majority of cars I see, 130bhp is below "average"

Chris

[Dave_Fox]

Originally Posted by Chrispy

I'd still like a go in a VXR or a 888 just to see what the truly sporty ones can do

If your experience of the SXI is anything to go by... it can do alot more!!

[Tom_vRS]

Vauxhall Astra Hatchback - 1.6i 16V SXi (115ps) 5d - Technical Data - Parker's

Specs look good enough to me... Think you were expecting too much tbh.

[texasjohn]

Chris

Interesting read. I also had a 1.6 (Club I think) as a hire car not so long ago. I agree with your points, in particular regarding point 3, engine. I couldnt agree more.

Conversely I also had a Vauxhall Astra VXR earlier this week from Vauxhall fleet, on a 3 day test drive.

F me it drinks petrol. This is coming from a 3 litre petrol BMW. I managed to eek 26mpg out of it, but making progress 21mpg was more like it. This compares with about 33mpg and 28mpg from the BMW under the same kind of driving conditions.

VXR picks up very well and is fast. the surge of power comes on and then at about 5-5.5k there is a bit of a powerband til the redline, not a VTEC like jump but it is nice that there is a peak at the top end. It goes right to the redline pulling hard, no power drop off at all. Also at these revs there is a real gravelly induction roar which is very addictive.

It really is a quick car though, however power difficult to get down out of corners as you would imagine. No real torque steer issues as such, and the ride is firm but very comfy considering the size of the wheels and the sports suspension.

My main complaint with both Astras (and many hatchbacks) was the driving position. I just dont feel right sat up at the wheel and get a bad back.

That said, I dont think I'll be trying to race any of these VXRs in the Z4.

[Chrispy]

To be honest I feel that manufacturers should be putting in engines that are suitable for the car and stats only show part of the picture . The engine made the car so lethargic to drive and after driving a car that does actually have over 1ft/lb of torque it felt very slow. Due to this lack of performance I had to drive it hard and thus got poor mpg. As cars get newer they generally get heavier. Putting engines that were 'adequate' in cars 10 years ago is no good for the saftey kit laden ones of present times.

130bhp in the vRS once again only shows part of the story. It's A LOT faster than a 1.6 Astra, both 0-60 and mid range. I don't car what the stats say, driving the cars paints a fuller picture.

The Astra's main problem for me though was my driving approach. I've owned many petrols in the past, high revving and not, and this was neither. it had neither mid range torque nor high revving potency. Wierd.
The throttle response was what made it hard to drive well. Floor it and you get less power than if you only give it 3/4 beans. The 3x 1.2 Corsas, 1x 1.4 older Astra and 1x 1.8 Vectra I've driven all did the same.

In a nutshell if I were to buy an Astra it'd be a well kitted turbocharged model with stiff suspension. Probably a 888.

[robmawer]

Originally Posted by Chrispy

Due to this lack of performance I had to drive it hard and thus got poor mpg.

Or in other words, you drove it hard and thus got poor MPG...you didn't *have* to drive it hard, you could have gone at a slower pace.
I believe your mistake is taking a pedestrian low-powered version of a car and expecting it to behave like the "sporty" version of a range, and being disappointed when it doesn't. To criticise it for being slow and sporty is like criticising Ric Waller for being an atrocious sprinter...


Rob.

[Chrispy]

Originally Posted by robmawer

Or in other words, you drove it hard and thus got poor MPG...you didn't *have* to drive it hard, you could have gone at a slower pace.
I believe your mistake is taking a pedestrian low-powered version of a car and expecting it to behave like the "sporty" version of a range, and being disappointed when it doesn't. To criticise it for being slow and sporty is like criticising Ric Waller for being an atrocious sprinter...


Rob.

Trying not to get crushed by artics and to get to 60 in less than 20 seconds is what I meant. Not trying to get a sub 10 second run at Santa Pod.
I think for the size of car it needs to be a 1.8. Anything less is just dangerous (re my comments on swapping lanes on the m'way).

EDIT - To confirm, I believe the engine is inadequate for the weight of the car, not the fact it doesn't feel like a Ferrari as I wouldn't expect it to. Considering this is the SXi that suggests a degree of luke warm sportyness which this car simply did not have. The old Corsa SXi had 'Lotus tuned' suspension meaning it was supposedly a little more fun to drive than the standard one. Then fitting a 1.2 engine to it totally defeats the object.

[texasjohn]

Its more about the engine itself than the size of it.

I remember a Fiat Bravo I had as a hire car ages ago. Walked up to it, badge on the front wing says "1.2 80". Wow, I thought, this is going to be fun.

I was pleasantly surprised. Because it was a revvy 16v engine it was great fun, I remember thinking it would actually be quite quick (for a 1.2 at least) if I was driving with this motor in the smaller Punto.

The old shape Astras had a 1.6 8v engine which really was very poor, similar characteristics to the 1.6 Twinport we are discussing here.

[daiking]

lol, you would struggle to buy any new car that couldn't do 0-60 in 20 seconds. Doesn't the astra in question books about 11s? If this is "dangerous" I'd best keep off the roads too.

Have you considered thats it not the astra that's too slow but other cars are too fast?

[robmawer]

Originally Posted by Chrispy

I think for the size of car it needs to be a 1.8. Anything less is just dangerous (re my comments on swapping lanes on the m'way).

At 1250kg, the Astra is not a dissimilar weight from the Fabia - does this mean most of the Fabia range is dangerously underpowered too?

Only version of the new Astra I've driven was the 1.4, and in total honesty I had absolutely no problem with it on motorways and that - easy enough to overtake left-hand-lane traffic without needing to thrash it.



Rob.

[Chrispy]

Originally Posted by robmawer

At 1250kg, the Astra is not a dissimilar weight from the Fabia - does this mean most of the Fabia range is dangerously underpowered too?

Funny you should say that.....IMO it is a bit. The 1.2 Fabia is painfully sluggish especially. The hire car I had was dreadful. The only Fabia's I think are adequately powered are the 1.4 16v, the 1.9TD and the vRS.

Besides, it's torque that's the key here. The Astra may have 115bhp or whatever but it lacked grunt. The engine didn't rev well which you would think would be aimed towards torque but it had none of that either.

Once again, stats bely the true feeling here. The car felt very lethargic and reluctant to pick up speed. The 'Sport' button on the dash didn't really help either.

But you must remember, throughout all of this it's just my opinion hence why I wrote the review. It's subjective, just like all reviews even the ones done by professional journalists. Don't take it too seriously.....I think the 1.6 Astra is gutless, you found it to be fine. Personal thing.

I imagine people coming from a 1.0 Fiesta would find the Astra to be perfectly fine. The trouble is I've been spoilt. Coming from a car that can change lanes easily with just a prod on the noisy pedal to a car that needs to be dropped a cog or 2 and even then has nowhere near the same effect.

I think as a result I would find it very hard to go back to a N/A petrol car. The torque is what I missed most with the Astra and was glad to hand the keys back, hence right at the start of this thread I said I'd like a go in an 888 or a VXR.....ones with punchy engines.
Even a standard CDTi would be worth a shot. I imagine they're fine.

Diesels are the future. Heavy car? No problem.

[robmawer]

Originally Posted by Chrispy

Don't take it too seriously.....I think the 1.6 Astra is gutless, you found it to be fine. Personal thing.

Well...it was actually the 1.4 I found to be fine, and that's a good 30bhp shy of the 1.6...
Dunno...I just couldn't see that it was incapable of changing lanes safely...maybe different driving style, maybe (as you say) it's what you're used to...am sure my views on the Fabia vRS after I test drove it are still on here somewhere.

Diesels are the future. Heavy car? No problem.

But they're usually only heavy 'cos their diesels!


Rob.

[Chrispy]

Originally Posted by robmawer

Well...it was actually the 1.4 I found to be fine, and that's a good 30bhp shy of the 1.6...
Dunno...I just couldn't see that it was incapable of changing lanes safely...maybe different driving style, maybe (as you say) it's what you're used to...am sure my views on the Fabia vRS after I test drove it are still on here somewhere.


But they're usually only heavy 'cos their diesels!


Rob.

Hmm. Well, each to their own I guess. The only 1.4 I drove was the Astra before and that wasn't too bad. I could live with it, just. Still had the odd throttle response though.
Next time you drive one, have a play with the throttle to see what you think.

I've found the extra weight added by a diesel engine is 'outweighed' by the extra torque they provide making them so much easier to drive. It's just the handling that goes to pot with a heavy cherry popper hanging over the front wheels.
When they start mass producing all alloy diesels that'll be a great day. Much lighter.

The vRS may not be the fastest car in the world but it feels like a rocket compared to the 1.6 Astra I'm afraid. The one thing I did like about the Astra was the ride quality though. Very smooth, one thing the vRS cannot do for love nor money.

Also, if i get another hire Astra, can anyone tell me how to get it to display mpg etc?

[robmawer]

Originally Posted by Chrispy

Also, if i get another hire Astra, can anyone tell me how to get it to display mpg etc?

It might not have it...the "driver information centre" is a cost option on the SXi (same on the Corsa).
Is odd because the SXi is all-round a pretty well-specced model, but I guess maybe the fact it's well-specced means they've cut costs on a few bits.


Rob.

[Chrispy]

I've just seen an ad for the new Astra, including a 'new generation of engines and a sport button for a more responsive drive'.

I had to laugh but also it made me think. If the engines are new, then perhaps this explains why we found different characteristics? I recently drove a 53 plate 1.2 16v Corsa and to be honest that had more go in it that the Astra. I know it weighs less but with a 1.2 I didn't think there'd be much in it.