Vauxhall Astra Hatchback (2015 - 2021) 1.6T 16V (200bhp) Elite 5d Owner Review

Generally speaking the Astra has been pretty good. Much quicker and more economical than the Mazda 3 it replaced although it has the same engine size. The infotainment system is rather nice, and the satnav is a nice add on as well as the parking sensors. There are a few quibbles as follows but nothing major so far: 1. Satnav doesn't alert you to speed cameras: while this isn't an essential feature, it would be a nice to have. I use my phone's satnav (co-pilot) which does warn of speed cameras. The Astra comes with a 'poweflex' bar and I have coupled the Vauxhall phone cradle to it. 2, Oversensitive electronics: On more than one occasion there has been erratic behaviour from the infotainment system, such as cutting out, refusing to acknowledge the USB stick, stating that no DAB stations were available whilst tuned in to a DAB station(!!) and in one instance the dashboard volume control not working (although the steering wheel control still worked). Also on one occasion, the remote locking stopped working, which seemed to be related to EMFs in the vicinity as it started working again after the car was moved to another location. I should mention, however that all these phenomena do not occur sufficiently frequently to greatly detract from the overall experience. 3. Doesn't want to work with Android Auto. Whenever I try to use this function it tells me that no compatible device was found, it seems to be permanently fixated on the previous owner's Apple phone. 4. Parking sensor alarm too loud. The parking sensors are great but the volume doesn't seem to be adjustable and it's tiresome that it screeches loudly when you reversing close to an object. The other thing is it errs overly on the side of caution. You can still be a good 30cm away from an object when the system is indicating an imminent impact 5. Headlamps too small. Because of the small aperture of the headlamps, care needs to be taken that they are kept clean because of course the small area means that dirt etc will rapidly start to obstruct the beam. Positives are: 1. Turbo works well: after about 2500 revs it kicks in and you can really feel the oomph, nice for overtaking or rapidly getting up to cruise speed on motorways 2. Economical if driven sensibly: while 40mpg isn't great, my driving style isn't the most frugal. If you drive carefully you can get up to the motorway speed limit and then some at under 2500 revs. Also the information panel between the speedo and the rev counter advises the optimal gear selection for the most economical ride.