Review
If there is a particular type of car that represents a fleet car more than any other, it is perhaps the lower-medium estate car.
Where retail customers looking for a practical medium-sized car may be swayed by the versatility of a compact people carrier, they overlook the multi-purpose appeal of the estate car.
It’s a body style that’s adaptable, coping well with the demands of home and family, or as a carrier of technical and servicing equipment for an engineer in the field.
And while there is a trend in the upper-medium estate towards a sleeker but ultimately less practical vehicle, the lower-medium estates are still capable workhorses.
Vauxhall knows its audience well, and the Astra Sport Tourer is designed to offer the best of both worlds.
Compared with the previous version, minimum luggage capacity has increased by 30 litres to 500, while maximum luggage capacity matches the previous version at 1,550 litres.
This is larger than the Insignia Sport Tourer’s top volume of 1,530 litres.
The Sport Tourer benefits from all the improvements made with the latest Astra introduced at the end of 2009.
With a stiffer body, ride, handling and refinement are improved while the interior is attractively designed.
The range comes with the latest generation of lower capacity turbo-charged petrol engines, as well as a choice of diesel.
Vauxhall has begun to roll out fuel-saving stop-start technology across its range in 2010, and this will continue over the next few years.
So while the lowest CO2 produced by the Astra Sport Tourer is currently 109g/km, we can expect reductions in future.
Verdict
The Astra Sport Tourer offers a significantly sleeker and higher quality car than the old Astra estate, with lower running costs. But despite its raking good looks, its practicality has been retained.
