Driven: Opel Astra

[afty]

I recently spent nearly two weeks in Ireland.  I went for a conference, and at the end my wife joined me and we drove around the Irish countryside.  Ireland can be a great place to drive, with wonderful twisty roads and beautiful views, as long as you can avoid an accident.

We were given an Opel Astra GTC by Hertz, and I drove the car probably 550 miles over 3 days.  By the end I had a pretty good feel for the car and was generally impressed.

The foot controls all have a light, precise feel.  The clutch especially is light and has a good engagement point just off the ground.  The brakes are either touchy or responsive, depending on your viewpoint.  The pedal placement is perfect for heel-and-toeing.  Overall I liked the feel of the clutch, brakes, and accelerator.  They felt like they were designed for hard driving.

The 1.8l 4-cylinder is predictably weak but adequate for city driving.  I enjoyed winding it out to redline pretty frequently; in my car, I can't do that without unwanted head-snapping and speed-limit-breaking.  The engine produces little power until about 3000 rpm, when it surges forward noticeably.  It is fairly smooth and doesn't mind revving.  However, it is also very slow to rev when you hit the accelerator.  My Altima's VQ is far more responsive, and it was very hard for me to recalibrate how much throttle to use when trying to rev-match on downshifts.  If I just blip the throttle in the Astra like I do in my Altima, the revs don't climb at all and you get a nice driveline jerk when you let the clutch out.

The handling is excellent.  Overall it feels very composed and refined.  The ride is firm but well-damped.  Handling is secure, if not eager.  I drove on many twisty roads in rural Ireland, and the car always felt confident and composed.  However, you can feel the car's heft, and it doesn't have the playfulness and quick reflexes of a light Japanese hatchback.

The steering was good as well.  The steering wheel is small and thick-rimmed; it makes you feel like you're playing Gran Turismo.  The steering itself is a bit heavy and reasonably communicative, very European.  I liked the steering feel a lot.

One major complaint I have is the seats.  They are very narrow, and even though I'm not a big guy (5'10", 155 lbs.) I found them uncomfortable.  Also, both my wife and I had lower back pain after sitting in the seats for only an hour or two.  I tried adjusting the lumbar support to no avail.  I'm just glad we're not any larger; I saw a gigantic American guy with a big potbelly in the rental lot getting out of an Astra, and I can't imagine how uncomfortable he must have been.

I'm not that picky about interior quality, but the Astra's interior is nice and feels well-made.  Most surfaces are soft-touch, and the parts of it I interacted with felt solid and durable.  Many of the controls were mystifying to me, though.  For example, on the right side by the headlights, there are three additional controls: two buttons and a knob.  The knob controls the headlight angle; you could angle them up or down over four settings.  One button seems to turn on the foglights, and I have no idea what the second button did.  As far as I could tell, it turned on a light on the dash and nothing else.  Also, I never did figure out how to turn on the high beams (not necessary when the sun sets at 11 pm).  The radio controls were also baffling, with unfamiliar acronyms like "TP" and "BC" on the buttons.

I really liked the Astra, but here in the U.S. I think it would be tough to choose one over a Mazda3 or a VW Golf/Rabbit.  Both provide a similar "upscale sporty hatchback" feel but with more power and at similar cost.  The Astra's uncomfortable seats alone (assuming they are the same here) would probably be a deal breaker.

As an aside, this was my first time driving on the left side of the road, and I adjusted pretty quickly.  I have to admit that during quick maneuvers, my instinct was to turn onto the right side, but I never did actually screw up.  One thing I did have trouble with was the shifter.  I never fully adjusted to having it on my left, and again during quick maneuvers I found it very difficult to find the right gear.  I blame this on having to shift with my off hand.  In this car I always had to think about shifting and plan things out in advance, but at home shifting has long been second nature for me.

[cawimmer430]

Good review. 

Essentially it's your average European family car for the middle classes who shop in the mainstream car market. Pretty decent, nothing special, boring but dependable and good value.