Vauxhall Focus

ALF · Vauxhall Focus

Last week's hire car in France was a brand new Astra estate. Not sure of the spec (not being that into spec-sheets of cars I'm not interested in) but it was fairly well equipped, with climate, half "leather" seats, auto lights and wipers, etc and felt like a 1.6 or 1.8 ish petrol.

Anyway, after feeling somewhat at sea in the 207's and C4's and the like that I've hired in the last few months, this felt very much better. It doesn't have a stupid windscreen extending to the headlights, and as a result doesn't have stupid visibility lapses caused by the pillars. And all the dials are in "normal" places and look half-decent, rather than nasty cheap stuff in weird pods in the middle of the dash. Materials quality was decent enough for a basic spec car - well ahead of the C4 - though many of the controls for things like the climate control and radio were quite unintuitive and hard to use, which seems to be a modern-car disease.

In fact I felt immediately at home and found the seats/driving position incredibly comfy - as comfortable as any car I've driven - and it occirred to me that the main reason was that it could have been copied directly from our Focus, which is very very good for motorway miles, comfort wise (if a little high-seat and unsupported when pressing on). In fact it felt remarkably like Vauxhall had basically copied the Focus... The gearchange, pedal action, and engine response were all much better than our Focus but it would not be fair to compare it directly with a 2001 90k miler...

NVH was very well supressed (way more so than the C4 or 208 or our aged Focus) and the engine eager enough and very smooth for a 4-pot despite only 5 gears and quite a low top gear. I far prefer this to very widely spaced gears, which is a pasionate pet hate of mine, anyway. It felt like a quality item overall, and I was much happier with it buzzing away at sufficient revs to have some response at 80mph or so - though it burned notably more fuel than the 1.6 diesel C4 as a result. Ride was very good despite managing to keep bodyroll firmly in check. Steering was fine, a bit light and not as good as the Focus, but better in feel and gearing than the Audi. With the sort of driving I do abroad, and not being that familiar with RHD and thus being fairly careful, I'm not qualified to talk about the handling in detail but it felt nice - not as good as a Focus but well in check and not as sloppy as the C4.

All in all, I'm impressed - apart from the VXR range (which I liked a lot bar the turbo engines) I've not driven many modern Vauxhalls and it's not a brand I normally go for, but I'd rather one of these over the French opposition any day.

Matt

This Astra was a significant step forward for Vauxhall, considering it was still on the torsion beam rear. The next one could well be better again with its multi-link rear, although it looks likely to have poorer visibility with long pillars, C4-style.

They're very popular in Vauxhall circles, especially the CDTi models. I'd consider a petrol 3-door with the panoramic roof.

Frank Bullitt

I had an Arse-tra 1.6 estate in Germany a few years back and it felt well-engineered; more than capable of hitting an indicated 200km/h, smooth apart from an odd resonance at 130km/h which was a pain, decent sterring, sharp handling and a great ride. I liked the interior too, including voluminous boot and rear legroom (think the estate has a longer wheel base than the hatch).

However, I did prefer the 307 1.6 so my taste and analysis could be questioned...

Colin

Come, come, come.......... we know that when the likes of "Auto Plus" and "l'Auto Journal" do comparison tests of mid-rangers then the ranking is always: C4, 308 and Megane.... (in some combination), then everything else. The Focus and Astra are usually about at the bottom of the pile!

And when "Auto Motor und Sport" and "Auto Bild" get to it, a Golf will win, whatever......

And Autocar would give the crown to the Focus.....

So, the Astra can't be any good, despite what Swiss might say........... and where is he when he needs to defend the honour of the unlovable Antara elsewhere on the Forum?

Actually, the one and only recent Astra I drove (a 1.6 SXi, about a year ago) impressed me in most respects, too........

simonp

Sounds like a Design. Peugeot don't make a 208 yet, do they?

Matt

Not as far as I'm aware, but their styling has gone a bit 2&8.

ALF

What I liked most about the Astra was that - even more than a Focus - it just looks and feels like a real car. It is totally beyond me why so many manufacturers of mostly small cars (and so often French ones, though the BMW Mini and various Fiats and Japanese cars are as bad) feel the need to feck about with the basics so much. Windscreens so long that the pillars obscure your view, important dials way off to the side of you eyeline, and fiddly unintelligible controls, all mixed up with a hideous "style" and poor materials quality, do not a good car make!

Not suprised about the wheelbase being longer Frank - it didn't feel like a smalle car than my 156SW, and not much smaller than the Audi. Back seat and boot space were both notable excellent for the class, and the seats among the most comfortable I've used. Shame is looks so steady... Though I think the Astra coupe is a good looking car.

PR

I've forgiven the MINI its Jodrell Bank sized speedo dial on the basis that you can display the speed in clear, digital form in the LCD screen in the rev counter, which is in front of the driver.

The rest of its basics are spot-on, though. Excellent ergonomics, superb control weighting for everything from the window switches to the steering/pedal/gearchange matching and pleasing details galore. The interior lighting is genius, for example. Whilst I accept that the styling won't be everyone's cup of tea, I am always struck by just what a feelgood car it is to sit in, travel in and drive.

To paraphrase ALF, it feels like a real, big car.

PG

I had an Astra 1.6 hire car a couple of year ago and I can see what you mean ALF. Overall it was probably a better package than the Focus 1.6 apart from the air con controls being next to your ankles (one of my pet hates and dangerous to boot) and the radio being impossible to operate on the move unless you have two spare eyes to watch the road for ten minutes.

In fact, as we all list stuff that "amazes" us about cars (in a bad way), you do wonder what the testers at manufacturers actually do?

Pkh72

I have also had an Astra 1.6 hire car, a few months back now, i was impressed with it, i don't really think there is that much to choose between the driving experience of that and the Focus, i haven't driven a current 1.6 petrol focus though, the closest i've got was a 1.6 diesel, i think they are so similar it comes down to whether you're a fan of the Blue Oval or the Griffin.

Gooner

I had an Astra 1.8 in Scotland a few weeks back and going between Glasgow and Edinbugh (treatchurous bastard as I am) it was reasonably good on the M8. The only complaint was that the engine was too loud and needed a 6th gear to keep the revs down. The interior of the Focus is not much better or worse so it definately comes down to personal taste. My one was black and was actually quite smart from the outside with tinted rear lights.