Test drive Opel Astra Sedan 1998 - 2008 Sedan

Primrose

The new generation Opel Astra demonstrates increased ambitions
European mass -demand cars gradually give up positions to Japanese competitors such a trend is visible for several years. Sales results show that in Europe (including Russia), the middle class increasingly prefers cars from the country of the rising sun. The new Opel Astra is called upon to save the honor of European automakers.
The commercial fate of the previous, the second in a row, the Astra generation was successful: the sales volume of this model in Europe reached 755,000 cars a year, and its average (over the past five years), the share in the compact car class was 12.9%. Nevertheless, Astra did not become the main flower in a bouquet of European cars of a small middle class. It was just a car in the shade of its main competitor Volkswagen Golf.
For the first time, the new Astra was shown to the public six months ago at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The first visual and tactile impressions were remembered: Opel was in no way inferior to the new Golf. In the basic version, the Astra interior looks even a little more expensive than the VW budget salon. The recent riding presentation Opel Astra showed that the car took a new height in the movement: it at the same time became more comfortable and acute in management.
Astra petals
The model finally had its own expressive face. This is also confirmed by a study conducted by the leading German automobile magazine Auto, Motor und Sport. Publishers suggested that visitors to the visitors to the question: what new compact class car did you like the most on the Frankfurt Motor Show? 32,500 Internet users took part in the vote, and 52% of them chose a new Opel.
Astra design is unusual. And the point here is not in catchy details of the exterior. Despite the fact that Astra was noticeably heard in the dimensions (it is almost 14 cm longer than the previous model and 4.4 cm wider), the car looks more compact. The dynamics of the wedge -shaped silhouette of the body and significant for a car of this class of the wheelbase (2.61 m) are given to him. The new Astra is 5 cm below its predecessor, but this did not affect the comfort of passengers and the driver: two adults can conveniently accommodate in the rear seats above average height. At the same time, the heads of passengers of the second row do not rest against the ceiling, but their knees in the backs of the front seats.
Sticking up the wheel of a new Astra, he caught himself thinking that the traditional tactile examination of the interior decoration took more time than a similar study of other cars. The fingers themselves were held on plastic torpedo, upholstery of the doors, buttons, steering wheel. Compared to the previous model, the quality of materials, the thoroughness of the adjustment of the panels increased by an order of magnitude. Opel designers explain such a leap with the successful performance of the slogan form follows the function. Even before drawing the interior, they picked up materials that allow you to create accurate faces and radii of rounding, to achieve narrow gaps and warm sensations from touch. Only after that was the design of the design of the new Astra was developed.
Visually, the interior holds on the edge separating the central console. It seems to flow from the hood and divides the control panels of the information and entertainment system into two parts of the driver’s and passenger.
Martin Smith, Design Director of Opel and Vauxhall, responsible for developing a new Astra (recently he went to work in Ford), explains: the goal that was set before the designers of the new Astra and raise the prestige of Opel cars. We achieve this due to strong visual impressions and a dynamic appearance, despite the fact that these machines are models of mass production. Opel is well represented in the compact wan segment thanks to Zafira and Meriva. It would be completely pointless to try to create another family of cars with a high roof. Therefore, our designers felt much free when they developed the third generation of Astra. As a result, it has acquired a special dynamics and emotionality.
Sharp faces. Not only in design
The driver’s attitude awakens as soon as you are settled at the wheel of Astra. Planting in the new Opel is slightly lower than in the previous model. A fundamentally, the car suspension scheme has not changed, but there are practically no previous details left in it. Astra has become noticeably sharper and more responsive, it definitely reacts to the actions of the steering wheel and provides excellent feedback. In this case, the back suspension preserved a half -dependent design. For example, Peugeot 307 and Ford Focus rear suspensions are independent multi -link. Nevertheless, according to subjective sensations, the new Astra in controllability is in no way inferior to competitors. The main plus of a half -dependent rear suspension is obvious, it is more reliable in operation and is easy to maintain.
As an option, the car can be equipped with an adaptive suspension of IDS Plus. Her trick in shock absorbers capable of changing the stiffness of the computer. Such an option has not yet been proposed in mass models. In the ASSTRA electronic lotions, there is a system that women will especially like: Hill-Start Assistant helps to move in a hill without a handbrake. At the moment when you release the brake pedal, the pressure in the system maintains a second and a half, which are enough to squeeze the clutch, turn on the transmission and start movement.
Opel Astra can be installed both by a traditional 4-speed machine and a robotic EasyTronic gearbox. Compared to a similar box on Opel Corsa, the operation of the mechanism has become much more smooth. Sport mode also appeared: when accelerating, the box will automatically hold the transmission, and when braking independently, to put the lowering.
Orders for the new Astra Russian Opel dealers are accepted since May. Living cars in car dealerships will appear in late summer. They will be equipped with a suspension adapted for Russian conditions and the so -called package for bad roads. With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that in our country Astra will be delivered exclusively with gasoline atmospheric engines. There are three of them in the gamut of the new Astra, to choose from: with a volume of 1.4 liters, 1.6 liters and 1.8 liters (with a capacity of 90, 105 and 125 hp, respectively). There is no clarity with prices yet. In the German market, Astra is cheaper than VW Golf for 1000,000 euros. The General Motors Russian pricing policy regarding the new Astra will undoubtedly be affected by the fact that in September 2004 in Togliatti, the production of the previous generation of the car will begin at the joint venture of the GM-authorship. In Russia, they will be sold under the Chevrolet Viva brand and, according to the chairman of the Board of Directors of AvtoVAZ Vladimir Kadannikov, their cost is planned in the region of $ 10,000. So we have a new Astra to bloom on the soil prepared predecessor.
Igor Komarov
 

Source: Wheel (company)