Holden Astra 2016 Review

There’s a very important new model coming from Opel for Holden and we’re not talking about the Commodore replacement.

It’s the next-generation Astra hatchback that made its global debut at the Frankfurt auto show last week and lands in Australia late in 2016.

The immensity of its task cannot be understated. The Astra must take over from the locally-built Cruze as the company’s flagship in the small car class, the biggest selling individual segment in the country, fighting the likes of the Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and Volkswagen Golf.

So while the Commodore replacement expected to be based on the Opel Insignia attracts most of the headlines, it is the Astra that will surely do the heavy lifting when it comes to sales.

And based on our first drive of the new Astra K – as the Germans dub it – in Slovakia last week we reckon it’s got a shot at establishing itself in the Aussie market.

We should say establishing itself “once again” of course, because all four previous European Astra generations have been sold in Australia as Holdens (the fourth also as an Opel briefly) and the second-generation TS was hugely popular.

So there’s some residual goodwill toward the car, which won’t do it any harm.

We drove both direct injection turbo-petrol engine varieties coming to Australia – the 114kW/245Nm 1.4-litre and 147kW/300Nm 1.6-litre – but only with six-speed manual rather than the six-speed autos that will be far more popular in Australia.

We’ve gone through the product details here, Holden’s early expectations here and the juggling act the company must perform as it flows the British-built Astra in and the Aussie-built Cruze out here.

Holden is staying pretty quiet about the spec level the new Astra will receive when it gets here, but the high altitude picture is this; the new car is lighter, stronger, smaller, more fuel efficient and more high-tech than its predecessor. Some of that high-tech we won’t get here, such as OnStar, and some of that tech, such as clever self-adjusting matrix headlights – Holden won’t tell us if we are getting here. Which hopefully means we are.

But even so there’s plenty of other stuff including a long list of safety aids that should be on the way including lane keep assist, forward collision alert and blind spot alert.

But right here, we’ll concentrate on the driving.

The 1.4 is a world debut and has the specifications -- all-aluminium construction and variable inlet and exhaust valve timing -- to suggest it should be a ripper. But it doesn’t quite live up to that billing.

There’s a resonance and vibration that intrudes at higher revs that isn’t overwhelming but is obvious. It also doesn’t make it all the way to the 6500rpm redline before running out of go.

But the most significant issue is the gearing, which is set for the autobahn, ambling along at 1900rpm in top gear at 100km/h. It just makes the engine feel lethargic. Hopefully this is an area of calibration Holden engineers can have a crack at before the car goes on sale here.

By comparison, the 1.6 felt significantly livelier and responsive. It thrummed along at 2200rpm at 100km/h, showing just how fuel economy conscious the 1.4 is. The 1.6 also missed out on the 1.4’s resonance and vibration, although it was probably a tad louder overall. But it sounded pretty good doing it.

The 1.6 also came equipped with a sport button that made throttle response more aggressive and the electric assist steering weightier. They were both improvements over the standard setting and perfectly reasonable for everyday driving.

Rolling on slightly less aggressive 17-inch Michelin Primacy rubber, the 1.4 definitely displayed a softer and more pliable ride. For the most part it was preferable to the firmer and clearly sportier 1.6, which rode on 18-inch Bridgestone Potenzas and produced more impact harshness over bumps. Both cars displayed an ability to deal with corruptions in one pretty concise movement, which was impressive.

The centrepiece of our Slovakian drive was a climb up and down a hairpin-festooned hill climb which attracted the constant attention of local bikers and hot car drivers, as well as the usual trucks, cars and bicyclists.

The Astra behaved well in what isn’t really its natural habitat. The front-wheel drive chassis had reasonable grip limits before breaking the front-end loose. Ditto with traction. Steering was admirably accurate and responsive. With its softer settings, the 1.4 wanted to break loose sooner and roll more.

The manual gearbox in both cars proved up to the challenge of quick and hurried changes, while the clutch provided a broad and pliable engagement.

Ally its stronger engine with its stronger chassis and the 1.6 was definitely the more enjoyable of the two to drive in a sporting sense.

Wind the pace back to the everyday and the quietness and comfort of the 1.4 maybe gives it an edge. In both cases the 11.05m turning circle was a turn-off in tighter spaces.

It will be interesting to see just how much retuning Holden’s engineers do to the chassis of the car we eventually see here.

No such attention required to the interior, which only needs a Holden badge on the steering wheel – and said steering wheel to shift to the right-side of the cabin – for most of us to give the new Astra a thumbs up.

Quality is through the roof in terms of presentation and materials. Maybe it’s not quite to Golf standards, but it’s surely ahead of the Mazda3.

There’s a simple elegance to the sweep of the dashboard and a logic to the controls. But while button numbers have been reduced dramatically compared to the old car, the print size identifying what each button does is too small. The touch-screen at the top of the centre stack is clean and simple to use with sharp graphics and keeps working on the move (unlike the Mazda3).

The combination of stitched leathers and piano black plastics is well melded in the test cars.

Opel is making a song and dance about the new seats. They seemed fine to us, although maybe the base lacked a little support when cornering hard.

Space throughout the cabin is excellent. Despite being smaller than its predecessor the Astra has plenty of headroom and knee room for rear passengers, although the cars we tested lacked some expected features like a fold-down armrest and rear air-conditioning vents.

The boot stays the same size as its predecessor at 370 litres and that is OK rather than outstanding. Fold the rear seat down and it expands to 1210 litres, which is slightly less than the old car. You’ll find a space-saver spare tyre under the floor.

Overall the new Astra delivered an impressive first drive experience. It could have been better, but not in any way that can’t be rectified with a little tuning sympathetic to Australian requirements.

2016 Holden Astra pricing and specifications:
Price: TBA
Engines: 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol and 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Outputs: 114kW/245Nm and 147kW/300Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual/automatic
Fuel: 5.6L/100km and 5.9L/100km
CO2: 130g/km and 137g/km
Safety rating: TBA

What we liked:
>> 1.6-litre engine’s grunt
>> Comfort of 1.4-litre chassis
>> Interior design, quality and space

Not so much:
>> 1.4-litre geared too tall
>> 1.6-litre chassis a bit sharp
>> No rear AC vents