Opel Astra Hatch 1.4 Turbo Review: Astra-nomical boost

What we like:

Significant improvement in performance over the 1.6

well-equipped

practical boot

spacious interior

affordable to tax

nicely honed steering

What we dislike:

Unresponsive gearbox

not as quick or efficient as a 1.4 TSI Golf

useless bike carrier for non-cyclists

The Astra not only offers a well-designed cabin but a spacious one as well thanks to its generous exterior dimensions. Rear passengers will appreciate the generously proportioned seats and the good amounts of leg and headroom and flat floor design.

Up front, the dashboard looks contemporary enough thanks to the big LCD screen displaying radio settings in the middle and the cowled instruments but the myriad of buttons on the centre console somehow looks cluttered at first. Thankfully though the buttons are laid out in a logical manner, making them intuitive to use. The driving environment is rounded off by a smart looking and chunky three-spoke steering wheel.

Overall quality is right up there with its German rivals thanks to the tactile switchgear and the soft touch materials. The Astra is pretty hard to beat on the utility front. The boot features the clever FlexFloor load separating system. Standard on the turbocharged models is Opel's smart FlexFix bike carrier, which is integrated within the rear bumper and makes transporting bikes a cinch as it slides out of the bumper like a drawer to reveal the carrier by pulling a lever on the boot sill. With this feature, bike lovers won't need to install those ungainly looking aftermarket external bike carriers on their boot lid anymore. Avid cyclists will undoubtedly be impressed with this device as it works rather well indeed.

The 1.4 turbo costs just $7,000 more than the base 1.6 model and we are pretty sure that every single dollar over the price of the 1.6 is very well spent indeed considering the extra performance and additional practicalities the 1.4 turbo offers over the base model. It might still be not a quick as a Golf 1.4 TSI in a straight line but the Astra 1.4 turbo is more than a match for the Golf when it comes to handling dynamics, interior space and utility.

Credits: Story by Raymond Lai Photos by Yang and Raymond Lai