1.6CDTi 136ps BlueInjection Elite Nav Auto 5dr Hatchback

Comfortable, efficient yet fun to drive

I’ve had this car for 6 months now and I still enjoy it as much as day one. I’ve got the car in gray and it certainly scrubs up well. Around the houses on runs less than 15 minutes I get around 45mpg, when the engine has warmed up around the houses I get around 52mpg. On the motorways this is where the CDTI engine comes in to its own, on a recent trip from Newcastle to London on the M1 and then M25 I got an mpg of 76 and that included several road works, 3 mile stop and start traffics jam on the M1 and a hour of traffic on the M25.

I opted to get I high spec Astra over an entry level 3 series and not once have I regretted my choice, the heated seats and steering wheel seriously make early morning starts in the winter bearable, the comfortable leather seats, cruise control and lane assist make motorway driving a doddle and the car is great fun on single lane roads up in the highlands as the car is well weighted, plenty of torque to offer and the automatic gearbox is always in the right gear.

Combine all of this with the price and in my opinion it beats any entry level BMW. The only thing I would say which lets me down is the dealership, my local Evans Halshaw (EH) (Vauxhall) are nightmares to deal with, I bought the car from them and they found it acceptable to hand the car to me with moldy chips down the side of the passenger seat and a half sucked lolly pop in the cigarette lighter socket, I ended up getting a £75 professional valet done and sent them the bill (they paid it immediately in thier defence). I’ve had to make one warranty claim from a rear light with minor water ingress and getting the work accepted by Vauxhall themselves was quick and easy but EH failed to pick the car up, after a phone call the receptionist explained it was accident and then a man turned up to pick the car up tried to pin the blaim onto me. I also had a cold call from EH a few weeks after buying the car and this person tried to sell me a service plan that was over 30% more expensive than Vauxhall’s website, when I quizzed her on the prices she played dumb and claimed that she didn’t have a clue what Vauxhall was charging.

Purchase your car at Evans Halshaw by all means as they are really good on the prices but I would leave the aftercare to somewhere else.

Despite the dealership I still love the Astra and I’ll be holding onto it for quite a few years!

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