• Mark MusutuThe Opel Astra can be traced back as far as 1936 to a time where it bore the name Kadett.
If you were born before the 90s and have an eye for cars, you will be the most excited person to come across the name Opel Kadett again.
To many, it was the best thing that had ever moved on four wheels. The Opel Kadett was the sportiest car we knew and adored – it was the pinnacle of automotive prowessness, a road star in every right. The Opel Kadett made its nearest rival the VW Golf look like a pigeon next to hawk. But somehow Opel lost this position and the Golf has gone on to mature into something of cult status.
As the years have rolled by, the arena has changed. There are many new market entrants and crossovers meaning the market has been redefined and is another ball game altogether.
Flirting with the recent crop of Opel hatches, they have blown me away. I failed to immediately understand what Opel was doing by making cars such as its Astra OPC (Opel Performance Centre), Opel’s top of range hatch, and its sweet Adam. I have come to understand that the Opel team is all out for lost ground and they are taking no prisoners. OPC is Opel’s answer to Merc’s AMG, BMW’s M, and VW’s R line.
The Astra is an embodiment of Opel’s design philosophy ‘sculptural artistry meets German precision’, it ensures that the new Astra conveys a lighter, more athletic appearance. If I were asked to describe the Opel Astra’s appearance geographically or culturally, I would describe it as the most Italian-looking German hatch, with some French touches. Most noticeable is its pointy razor sharp theme, the elegant floating roof line and chrome highlights. For some reason, it appears to be the largest hatch in its segment.
Opel pointed at this design direction in 2013 at the Frankfurt Motor Show when it unveiled its Monza Concept. Most of these features were on it, though in a more audacious way.
On the interior, the Astra has the same design theme as its exterior. It has a plain interior and looks very easy to operate as it only has about a dozen buttons (in plain sight). The Astra feels very airy and light but firm at the same time, more like a mix of a VW and a Toyota. The interior is not so symmetrical but is rather more of an abstract work of art.
The Astra is positioned as an up-market hatch and has a host of features. These include: Electrically adjustable sport seats which are also heated and Lumbar adjustable; Apple car play; Android autos intelli-link; seven-inch touchscreen; Bluetooth; USB; MP3; auxiliary; rain-sensing wipers and auto-dim mirrors.
Our test car was a 1,4 litre with a turbo- charger giving out torque of 147 kw/280Nm through a five-speed manual, this allows it to have a speedo that reads 270 km/h. It took me a while to reconcile the two (1,4 litre and 270 km/h) but after a small brief on its turbo charger, I got a clear picture.
I took it on Windhoek’s Western Bypass and the suburbs and found it to be a very composed car and agile at the same time. It’s not the fastest sprinter, though it cruises with grace that you wont believe is from a 1,4 litre engine. Credit must also go to its efficiency programme which has seen it shed 200 kilos and the use of innovative materials and production processes.
Opel has few aces up its sleeve such as the 2,0 litre OPC super-charged hatch which is top of the range and a terror to the hatch society.
The Astra is a mobile safe haven thanks to features which include: Front, side and curtain airbags; ABS with EBD and brake assist; electronic stability programme; hill start assist; a pedal release system; front passenger airbag deactivation switch and ISOfix child seat anchorage points. It also packs a driver assistance package with forward collision alert, intelli-lux LED lighting (which puts oncoming traffic in a shadow), following distance indicator, lane keeping assist, speed collision mitigation and traffic sign assist.
Opel avails technologies and innovations from higher segments. Astra is available with Opel OnStar from its launch. (I came across On Star in a Cadillac Escalade). The personal connectivity and service assistant is a 365-day-a-year guardian angel available at the push of a button. If an airbag deploys, Opel OnStar will be alerted automatically and contact the emergency services. Furthermore, OnStar will turn the new Astra into a 4G LTE mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. Up to seven devices, from smartphones to tablets, can be connected simultaneously.
Opel has gone all out for the hatch upper market and they are arguably the best in it. It’s an award winner in Europe and South Africa and it’s evident why. And Opel is certainly not stopping there. If you are out for a hatch and don’t stop by an Opel dealership, you may just be doing yourself an injustice.
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