Opel is like the Toyota of Germany, making bread-and-butter cars and vans for ordinary people.
Occasionally, Opel offers a spread of jam in the form of turbocharged hot hatches, with the last one sold in Singapore being the 1.6-litre 192bhp Corsa OPC.
Before that, we had the 2-litre 200bhp Opel Astra Turbo with 6-speed manual gearbox and trick dampers.
Here and now, we have an all-new Opel Astra, which is plain bread and butter with a dab of sweet jam.
Supplying much of the sweetness is the styling, which has ditched the previous model’s upright stance and sharp angles for a smoother, softer look.
The predecessor’s funky, frosted tail-light covers have also been abandoned, but the new tail-lamps are still stylish and the Insignia-inspired “blade” bodyside pressings are cool.
Our test car’s sombre grey paintwork is not the most flattering, though.
Generally well designed in here, with instrument needles that flick across the dials upon start-up.
The bumpers, by the way, can withstand impacts at up to 15km/h without major damage and are specially designed to be cheap and easy to repair or replace, while also protecting costly components such
as the radiator, bonnet and tailgate in a fender-bender.
Doing its best to avoid that crash in the first place is the Opel Astra’s handling. It is neat, precise and almost entertaining.
Almost, because it is ultimately less sharp in corners than a Ford Focus, with the tyres and suspension running out of ideas sooner.
The electric power steering is quick and light, which makes it driver-friendly whether parking or punting, but the rack feels inert on initial turn-in, with both weight and feedback missing in action just off-centre.
Actual roadholding by the humble 205/60 R16 tyres (which come with individual pressure monitoring by a nifty in-dash device) is useable and they provide adequate notice that the grip is about to hit the limit.
Stopping the car also harbours no surprises, even when doing so (for the sake of road test research) halfway through a fast bend.
Opel Astra’s hi-fi panel array hides the traction control switch somewhere.
The car is not fast at all, incidentally. With output from the 1.6-litre improved by just 10bhp and 5Nm, and kerb weight increased by around 150kg (mostly due to enhanced equipment), the Opel Astra would have been slower still if it didn’t get a new 6-speed automatic in place of the old, idiosyncratic 5-speed Easytronic robotised manual.
The engine is willing, though, and it stretches to the redline without complaint, apart from a bit of buzz transmitted through the dashboard.
The gearbox shifts fluently across its six well-spread ratios, but it stumbles a little when prompted suddenly to swop gears in a hurry. Also, the manual mode is noticeably more responsive in downshifts than in upshifts.
Grey leather in a cabin with other shades of grey could lead to a greying population.
In keeping with the fun-to-drive ideal of the Opel Astra, the transmission does not change up automatically during DIY shifting with the plus-minus gate, so you could bounce off the rev limiter at the redline just for fun.
When playtime is over and you want to cruise in peace, the Opel Astra delivers.
Its chassis is standard fare, apart from a clever rear suspension that is essentially a common torsion beam given an Opel technical twist (that is patented), but coupled with significant gains in body rigidity (a claimed 43 percent stiffer laterally and 10 percent stiffer longitudinally), it does the job very well.
Opel Astra’s FlexFloor system makes it easier to carry and organise cargo, but said flexible floor is fiddly.
Over dips and bumps that would rattle even the perfectly sorted Golf, the Opel Astra simply sails through, without noise or harshness. You can hear the tyres at work over poor patches of tarmac, but this is because the interior is so quiet and tight.
The cabin is massively better than before. With a generous wheelbase (a full 105mm longer than the Golf’s) and space-efficient packaging, the Opel Astra feels roomy from every seat.
Rear legroom is particularly impressive. Boot space is useful, with the FlexFloor feature making the cargo hold unusually versatile.
Also making a positive impression is the cockpit. Compared to the previous Astra, this place is a revelation.
Like the redesigned exterior, the interior has replaced brutal straight lines with gentle curves, at the same time softening some portions of the dashboard for that pleasant tactile quality.
Another nice touch is the sleek electronic parking brake. Chrome embellishment, “metallic” plastic highlights, and red mood lighting at night provide eye candy for the uninitiated.
Those with more motoring experience would point out the cheap ignition surround (for the comparatively classy key), the clackety mirror control cluster and the awkward adjusters for the front seats.
There are also more hard plastics than soft-touch plastics, and the hard parts have a harsher finish than in a Golf.
Other niggles are the air-con vents (more stylish than effective), the audio panel (buttons too busy) and the glovebox (not spacious).
The new Opel Astra is a bread-and-butter car, but with a dab of strawberry jam.
The biggest disappointment, perhaps, is the display bar beside the transmission lever that shows the driving mode – Opel’s bean counters must have cut the budget to move the display to the right side, where it won’t be blocked by the gear knob in the Opel Astra for Singapore.
The Golf has been mentioned no less than five times in this story so far, and for good reason – it is still the benchmark for continental hatchback design, quality, practicality and value for money.
In the all-important Europe market, the Golf (this would be my sixth mention of the VW here) sells twice as well as the Opel Astra.
Opel Astra ha a pretty rear end with a bumper engineered to be less “painful” in a minor accident.
The VW is not twice as good, though, because the new Opel Astra is a perfectly decent vehicle with its own set of strengths.
It is worthwhile for the curious buyer to study this latest lesson in Astra physics, but he should not read too much into it.
Opel Astra 1.6 (A)
ENGINE 1598cc, 16-valves, inline-4
MAX POWER 115bhp at 6000rpm
MAX TORQUE 155Nm at 4000rpm
GEARBOX 6-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 13.3 seconds
TOP SPEED 182km/h
CONSUMPTION 14.1km/L
PRICE INCL. COE $99,888 (as of December 2010)
