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My family affair with Opel

Thursday, 31 July 2008

The new range of Opel Astra cars has been available in Ireland since 2004 and having already tested the regular model and the sports hatch it was time for a drive in the new Saloon. It didn't disappoint.
Back in the 1990s I owned three Opels in a row – an Ascona, Corsa and Astra – and the latter I sold onto my son. So you could say that there is a history of Opels in our family thanks to Boland's garage.
If you go back another decade to the 1980s Opel's sales in Ireland showed a significant increase thanks to their sponsorship of the Irish soccer team when Arnold O'Byrne and Jack Charlton combined to help raise the company's profile here.
New Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni has the use of a Ford Mondeo when in the country, but Opel is getting back into sports sponsorship with their links to the Gaelic Players’ Association.
Indeed this new model would be ideal for transporting under 10s or under 12s to football or hurling games. And there is plenty of room for hurleys or gear bags in the massive boot.
When my children were younger I used to do just that, but enough of the nostalgia.
I drove a dark blue model which was very attractive. The only resemblance the new Astra has with the old model is the name as it has changed so much.
The front headlamps are really attractive, with three individual lamps on each side. After getting a rare puncture a few cars back I'm now paying more attention to the tyres. This time they were Continental 205/55 R16 91H which have a good grip.
In the cabin all the controls are simple and easy to use. Once again black is the dominant colour, apart from a spec of white on the seats.
I find Opel's indicator switch a little annoying. Compared to other cars Opel's indicator only needs a very light touch and you never really know if you have hit the switch hard enough. This has been a problem with Opel since they introduced the new Vectra, but after a week you get used to it.
Seeing as it's a saloon there was plenty of room for five adults. The seating position for the driver and front seat passenger is fairly low and you cannot see out over the bonnet, but again you get used to it after a few days.
As I said earlier the boot is massive but it took me a while to figure out how to open it; there is a switch on the dash or it can also be opened by pressing the open switch on the fob for a few seconds. The boot narrows into a strange 'bottle-neck' shape which if you leave down the back seats would be ideal for carrying very long items.
Prices start at e23,035 for the entry level 1.6, while the Design model I drove costs e25,190.
Standard features include 16-inch twin-spoke alloy wheels, air conditioning, ABS, adjustable steering column and much more. The C02 emissions on the 1.6 petrol engine are 158, which just pushes into band D for road tax, which is e430 per annum.
The Astra Saloon was a very enjoyable, quiet ride and I would definitely recommend a test drive. It's slightly smaller that the Opel Vectra, which incidentally is soon to be replaced by the Insignia.

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