Vauxhall Astra 1.2 Turbo: long-term test review

First report: we welcome the new Vauxhall Astra hatch to our fleet with a 700-mile road trip

Verdict

The Vauxhall Astra has a reputation for accessible competency, and the early miles in our car back that up. It’s surprisingly entertaining to drive in the right situations too, though, so we’re off to a promising start.

• Mileage: 3,641
• Economy: 51.5mpg

There’s nothing quite like a major road trip to get you settled into a new car – be it your own purchase or a long-term test car. The first few miles around home are easy pickings for a box-fresh arrival, after all, whereas a journey over several hundred miles can really help you to pick out strengths and weaknesses.

That’s certainly been the case with my latest Auto Express fleet car, the Vauxhall Astra. Here’s a model that has made its name racking up millions of miles over the length and breadth of the UK, so it seemed entirely fair to deny the car much of a settling-in period and immediately point it (far) north of my base in south London.

First up, though, an introduction to our specific Astra. It mates GS Line trim with the 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine – a well known powertrain from Vauxhall’s parent group Stellantis. It produces 128bhp and 230Nm of torque, and is paired with an eight-speed auto gearbox.

GS Line sits in the middle of the Astra line-up, but on the face of it, I don’t see any glaring omissions from the spec sheet that would persuade me to stump up for a range-topping Ultimate. Our car features LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors with a 360-degree camera, adaptive cruise control, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, heated front seats and steering wheel, power-folding door mirrors, a 10-inch infotainment display and a similarly sized digital instrument panel. It also comes with 17-inch black alloy wheels that look a good match for our car’s Vulcan Grey paint job. In fact, the two-coat metallic finish is the only option on our car, and it looks a lot of family hatch for less than £30k.

The aforementioned early test was a 700-mile round trip to visit friends and family in the North East, coupled with a wedding in Northumberland.

Packing up was easy, because there was plenty of room in the 422-litre boot for our luggage. Indeed, with just my husband and I travelling, we were able to lay out our wedding outfits across the empty back seats.

Setting off from London, we stopped to fill up with fuel and buy a cable to connect our phones up using Apple CarPlay. This was a rookie error on my part, because I didn’t realise that the system also works wirelessly. But it was still a useful purchase because it meant we could charge our phones and switch between them.

The 10-inch touchscreen is bright and clear, and we both like the way it’s angled towards the driver. But swiping between the menus proved awkward and it sometimes needed a few attempts. It took me a while to work out how to change the climate control, too; the temperature and fan are via buttons on the dash, but to change the direction of airflow you have to use the touchscreen.

Once out of London, the first leg of our journey up to Middlesbrough comprised motorway virtually all the way. We both found the ride comfortable and, while the road noise was noticeable, it certainly wasn’t obtrusive. We were even pretty lucky with traffic, meaning the four-hour journey was more enjoyable than anticipated.

Day two brought a short trip up the A19 to Sunderland. I haven’t been to the city since Covid, so despite there not being a match on, I had to visit the Stadium of Light and go to my team’s shop. However, my Arsenal-supporting husband Dave refused to get out of the Astra at this point!

The wedding on the following day was amazing and the best driving of the whole trip came on the leg from Otterburn in Northumberland to visit our friends in Yorkshire. We detoured through part of Kielder Forest for a walk along Hadrian’s Wall, and Dave switched to Sport mode, enjoying accurate steering on the country roads. He did admit later that he wouldn’t want to stick with it for too long, because the heavier steering would be too much.

We got a good economy figure for the trip as well, averaging 51.5mpg – north of even the official quoted figure of up to 50.4mpg for this engine. But I’m sure our average will drop during our time with the car, as we do more trips around London.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

Keyword: Vauxhall Astra 1.2 Turbo: long-term test review