Quiet British success story continues with a fresh look and bigger battery for EV version
The Vauxhall Astra is one of the UK’s best-selling cars of recent years, racking up more than three million sales across 46 years and eight generations. Yet it often feels a bit underappreciated. It’s hard to imagine the Astra’s demise would garner the same coverage granted that of its shorter-lived rival, the Ford Focus.But it should be celebrated, because this longtime Volkswagen Golf rival is still going strong, battling valiantly against SUV hegemony. It has just received a mid-life update and now offers a more extensive line-up than ever: you can pick either a hatchback or Sports Tourer estate body and pure-petrol, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fully electric power.Vauxhall has made much of offering pricing parity across both bodystyles and the three electrified powertrains (the pure petrol remains the cheapest), but that’s a bit deceptive: thanks to the UK government’s Electric Car Grant, the EV is actually £1500 cheaper than either the hybrid or PHEV even before you account for lower first year VED and BIK rates.All this makes this Astra Sports Tourer Electric a bit of a bargain, even in top-spec £32,495 Ultimate trim tested here (an entry-level Griffin will set you back £28,495).
