Test drive Opel Astra sedan since 2007 sedan
Turkish gambit
Opel for a long time did not let the Astra market with a sedan market with a chess board. To evaluate how this car will change the alignment of forces, Denis Harutyunyan went to Turkey. Photo by the author and Opel. Sedans respect not only in our country: the production of this asters began in Poland, in the town of Glivitsa. And in Turkey, about 67% of customers choose cars with a separate trunk. This can be seen without statistics: in the vicinity of Antalya, one hatchback has several sedans. Why did the Germans pull time, obviously missing a significant share of the market of a number of countries? Maybe this is a classic chess gambit of the beginning of the party, when a player deliberately donates a figure for the sake of a strategic advantage?
PLASTIC SURGERY The family sedan should be, of course, elegant, but also impressive, spacious, necessarily with a large trunk. Opel-astra is successfully knocked out of a number of victims of operations to increase the stern. The designers did not change their faces, but the smooth line of the roof with massive rear racks gives solidity this astra looks completely independent. By the way, to some extent, the sedan was built not on the basis of the hatchback (as they do most often), but ... an elongated station wagon! It is not surprising that even tall passengers from behind are more comfortable than in a five -door. In addition, the wide openings of the doors allow you to get into the car, without performing complex acrobatic somersaults.
Despite the obvious desire to expand the space of the rear sofa, the roomy trunk was not injured: 490 liters are a very good indicator. You can easily fit all family suitcases when traveling to rest. Well, a small road bag was simply lost in the bowels of the compartment. There are also secret niches in the sidewalls, a hatch for long -meters and the rear seat folded in parts. About strength and weakness
He found his landing quickly, not getting confused in adjustments. Habitually pushing the chair to capacity, I was surprised to realize that I could hardly reach the pedals. I was pleased with the range of the steering column, you can sit both with outstretched hands and half -bent. A hard, but quite comfortable seat suffers only by a lack of lateral support in a quick turn from it smoothly slipped out. The chopped salon (the same as that of the hatchback) liked, the impression could not spoil even the mourning and dark varnish of the central console.
The first kilometers by car with a 1.8-liter gasoline engine and a manual box caused bewilderment: where are the promised 140 horses? Apparently, the motor was significantly strangled to fit into the ecological norms of Euro IV. Alas, the car accelerates much less energetically than you expect. Only having shot well, he went more or less energetically. To do this, I had to keep the tachometer arrow above 3000, and the sound of the motor in this mode is annoying. Of course, such a style is more characteristic of the highway in the city of Astra without tension is kept in the stream, but its character can not be called calm. But he was really not even puzzled by the lack of traction, but its combination with a hard suspension: the car sways on the smallest bumps and asphalt waves of the highway. And large potholes and cracks in the road surface
they are given to the body with booby, sometimes frightening blows. True, the matter does not reach the breaks, but still there is not enough comfort. Only in the mountains, on a winding serpentine, from the suspension, you begin to enjoy the sedan almost not heating and holds the trajectory very clearly, clinging tightly to the rough Turkish asphalt. But still, is such a stiffness of non -fast a family sedan needed? Only a temperamental driver will appreciate it, and passengers will complain that they shake the soul. Compensation of disadvantages
A much more pleasant impression was left by a car with the same engine and a four -speed automatic.
Of course, the shaking did not disappear, but the box works smoothly and at the same time quickly. You do not have to independently catch the maximum traction area. But there is also a sport mode! It is worth turning on it significantly increases the sensitivity of the gas pedal, the program of operation of the machine changes noticeably. Going into this mode, you feel an energetic push when switching to a lower stage. Here, already about acoustic comfort, there is no need to talk about the roar of the motor at revolutions that are close to the maximum, even the screech of the tires drown out. And this cacophony continues for a long time, the box stubbornly holds the lower gear and does not want to switch up even on short lines. For a while it can be endured, but I do not want to abuse the sports regime. 
Pawn or queen? Three hours of flight from Antalya to Moscow are enough to smoke impressions. It was thought that, despite the nit -picking to a noisy and weakly motor and a hard suspension, in general, a new sedan is not bad. He, of course, is not perfect. But to join the solid and modern appearance, a large trunk and space on the back sofa, a hard and even gambling character is extremely difficult. The designers, I think, managed to find a reasonable compromise.
The prices for the Opel-Astra sedan promise acceptable: 497 000622 000 rub. ($ 19,975 25,000), which on average only $ 600 is more than 5-door hatchback in a similar configuration. Maybe, really, the Germans for so long restrained a strong figure for so long?
Opel Astra Sedan is a good combination of family values, strict appearance and some kind of sports. There is a slightly more powerful motor. Internal content
The Opel-Astra sedan will be equipped with two gasoline engines with a volume of 1.6 and 1.8 liters. Versions with diesel engines (1.3 and 1.7 liters) are intended only to Europe and Turkey, they do not plan to supply such machines to Russia. The electronic filling is quite modern, together with the interactive IDSPLUS chassis, the computer controls the ESP-Plus, ABS stabilization system, assistance devices for touling HSA, distribution of brake forces in the CBS turn, emergency braking, and much more.
A source: The magazine "Driving"
