2008 Holden Astra Review

These days, you expect small cars to be reasonably well behaved in the cornering department. The Astra CD with the optional 16” wheels does not disappoint. You can throw this car into corners and there is very little body roll meaning, the suspension has been well tuned.

As good as the handling is for a base model car, the overall ride is firm but never harsh. Those nasty little metal speed bumps in the shopping centres, produce no jarring or thump through the body of the car, whatsoever.

I don’t recall holding back very often while in the Astra, given that the manual box encourages some, shall we say, enthusiastic driving. So, I was surprised to register just 7.6-litres/100kms which is near enough to the published consumption of 7.4-litres/100kms.

There are currently sixteen Astra variants to choose from at your Holden dealer, from the CD manual at $21,990 to the 2.2-litre TwinTop convertible with a 4-speed auto at $47,490. That may be a tad too many to choose from I suspect.

If you do go for the Astra CD, you might keep an extra $1500 in reserve for the “K” option pack. You get a decent set of 16” alloys along with Cruise Control and one-touch up/down windows all round, instead of front only. Well worth it, for the alloys alone.
The overall look remains contemporary, despite the fact that this “AH” generation Astra, has been around since 2004. Styled in Europe and made in Belgium, might explain some of that.

If you’re intending on using the Astra as a family run around, safety is reasonably well provided for with 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS, Brake Assist (BA) and Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD), Driver, front passenger airbags and side impact airbags.

What you miss out on in the CD variant is full size curtain airbags and Electronic Stability Control, which is not so good. To get both of those features, you would need to step up to the CDTI or SRI. Boot space is both deep and wide and plenty big enough for a decent length trip away for three to four people and the rear seats are 60/40 split fold.

© Source: caradvice
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2008 Saturn Astra XR Five-Door Road Test

While the current immigration conflamma has O'Reilly frothing, Pelosi gnashing, and Home Depot's stock tumbling, it's good to know that legal border crossing still rocks it out as the foundation of America itself.

Nowhere will that be more obvious than at a Saturn dealer early next year, when the Anglo-Saxon-bred Astra makes its way across the waves via Belgium to the U.S. in three- and five-door form.

When the Astra arrives, it'll do a couple of things for Saturn. It will give the 17-year-old nameplate the freshest lineup in the GM universe, with its oldest car being the two-year-old Sky roadster. And it will give a final shove-off to the plasticky, inspiration-free Ion, one of the last cars to emerge under GM's old, fusty way of killing cars by committee.

There's almost none of the old domestic GM in any cupholder or storage bin in the Astra. It's a smart, savvy small car with a great price tag that probably will give Saturn the kind of boost that Ford got from the Focus lineup at the beginning of the decade.

But is the five-door XR really up to the global standard set by cars like the Mazda3 and Volkswagen Rabbit? TheCarConnection.com drove the newest Saturn to be put into orbit and found out exactly how its European breeding matches up to Saturn's thoroughly American attitude.

© Source: thecarconnection
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2007 SEMA Show: Saturn Astra Tuner Concept Aims for a "Racier Look"

LAS VEGAS — The Saturn Astra makes its maiden appearance at the 2007 SEMA Show in the form of the Astra Tuner Concept, sporting a lowered ride height, high-performance Recaro seats and 20 more horsepower than the production car.

The Saturn Astra Tuner Concept is based on a production Astra XR three-door. Modifications to the 1.8-liter Ecotec DOHC inline-4 include an exhaust header, a cold-air intake and a modified throttle body. External touches include new front and rear fascia extensions, a new grille surround finish and tinted headlamps, taillamps and windows. Study it with a keen eye and you'll notice that the production side moldings have been deleted and a rear center-outlet exhaust has been added. The concept also gets OPC 19-inch wheels and an OPC rear spoiler.

The cabin is tweaked with a Blaupunkt sound system, GMA pedals and unique interior trim.

Saturn describes its SEMA show concept as one that "applies some of the latest bolt-on performance and appearance components to show what's possible with this all-new compact."

What this means to you: Expect the Saturn Astra to become one of the darlings of the tuner crowd.

© Source: edmunds
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