6 things to love about the new Opel Astra

By: CAR magazine

We were reunited with the new Opel Astra last week and within only a few minutes of driving it around the city of Cape Town we remembered why we loved it in the first place.

From the outside, the design of this eleventh generation Opel Astra might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But step inside for a drive and you’ll soon discover that the benefits of its performance, comfort and practicality absolutely outweighs any less favoured factors.

What we love about the new Opel Astra

  1. Sufficient power

We drove the 1.4 Ecotec Direct Injection Turbo (a first for Astra) which offered 110 kW and up to 245 Nm of maximum torque. As you can imagine, it’s punchy, powerful and extremely responsive thanks to its weight saving aluminum design.

Opel claims that it’s up to 200 kilograms lighter than the previous model, thanks to a 20 percent weight savings from the body itself, and paring weight off systems like exhausts, and individual components like seats. It sprints from 0 – 100 km in just 8.3 seconds –  great for quickly pulling out of slow lanes or safely overtaking on highways!

2. A sizable boot and rear interior

It might look smaller on the outside, but boot (and interior) space is plentiful! Clever use of packaging has resulted in a roomier interior with 35 mm more rear legroom and 22 mm more front headroom.

Despite being smaller overall the new Astra offers just as much boot space as its predecessor at 370 litres.

3. Traffic Sign Assistant

You’ll have no excuse for exceeding speed limits or illegally overtaking with Traffic Sign Assistant. Using a front camera, the Astra detects designated signs and displays them in the Driver Information Centre. So you’ll never miss the speed limit and other restriction signs.

4. It parks itself!

Advanced Park Assist and Rear View Camera adds to the list of comfort features in the new Astra. Using ultrasonic front and rear sensors it automatically notifies you when objects are detected within the range of its sensors. It identifies suitable parking spots and does all the work for you (something we wish all bad parallel parkers could have!)

5. Euro Car of the Year for 2016

It was crowned the 2016 European Car of the Year in April before hitting South African showrooms. Journalists from 22 European countries awarded the Astra a total of 312 points among a field of seven other finalists.

6. Low fuel consumption

It’s as low as 4.9 litres per 100 km with 114 g/km of CO2 emissions. If you’re wanting the most fuel efficient engine in its line-up, you’ll get as low as 4.2 litres/kilometer with the three cylinder 1.0 ECOTEC Direct Injection Turbo engine.

There are plenty of reasons to suggest that we’re pretty fond of the new Astra. Find out what WOW editor, Juliet McGuire had on her mind while driving the Astra, in her new video review below:

Read more: Juliet reviews the Opel Astra 

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