Opel’s Astra-nomical potential

The saloon variant of the Opel Astra has a sporty look to it

Picture an Opel Astra. Chances are your mind has conjured up an image of a sleek looking hatchback.

Well, there’s more than one Astra in town and the lesser spotted four-door saloon version is just as stylish.

The Opel Astra saloon is probably the car you’d go for if you like the look of the Opel Insignia, but don’t need the space that car offers.

That said, the Opel Astra saloon is still very spacious. The test car I was driving had a beautifully appointed leather interior, with leather seats, and leather upholstered door panels.

The cabin in the Opel Astra Elite saloon is luxurious

A lot of thought also went into the design of the cabin, with beautifully sculpted curved rear door panels and a well placed centre armrest/storage box, which doesn’t hinder your gear changing abilities.

A comfortable five-seater, the centre seat in the rear slopes downwards at the front and that seat can also be repurposed, with a pull down armrest accommodating a storage box and two cup holders.

A ski-hatch also links the cabin to the enormous boot. As in a hatchback model, the rear seats can be lowered to extend luggage space. The Opel Astra saloon also comes with a spare wheel.

The height and reach of the front of the driver’s and passenger seats can also be manipulated through the seat inclination button.

The 1.7-litre 130ps diesel Elite model test car was also well specced, with auto lights and wipers, built in SatNav, Bluetooth, cruise control/speed limiter, dual control air conditioning and stop and start technology.

The test car also had lovely toasty heated front seats – a luxury you might think you’d never use, but as they’re instant, they’re brilliant to warm you up quickly if you’re sitting into a cold car.

The infotainment unit, with its plethora of buttons, at first glance looks quite daunting, but the essentials can be worked from the steering wheel. The USB and Aux ports are very well placed in this car, located at the bottom of the centre console, with a ledge for the phone or MP3 player.

The boot in the Opel Astra saloon is massive, and also houses a spare wheel

Our test route for the Opel Astra saloon took us mostly on city routes, as well as along the hilly roads around Dalkey, South Dublin.

I found the Astra to be middling fast at the lights – not especially fast, but not slow either.

While not having the most refined sounding engine, the Astra is very smooth on the road, with seamless gear changes and it’s a beautiful motorway cruiser.

It also handled the cliff-front terrain with the same ease as cruising on the motorway.

Overall, I found the Opel Astra saloon to be a decent, well turned out family car that will take you where you want to go in comfort and in style.

The Opel Astra saloon is available now with prices starting from €19,495. The top of the range Elite model I was driving costs from €25,295.

Tech Spec
Engine: 1.7CRDi 130ps (diesel)
Acceleration: 0-100kph in 11.3seconds
Maximum Speed: 206kph
Fuel Economy: 4.2l/100km
CO2 emissions: 114g/km
Annual road tax: €200

Visit the Opel Ireland website for further details.

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