2008 Holden Astra Review

These days, you expect small cars to be reasonably well behaved in the cornering department. The Astra CD with the optional 16” wheels does not disappoint. You can throw this car into corners and there is very little body roll meaning, the suspension has been well tuned.

As good as the handling is for a base model car, the overall ride is firm but never harsh. Those nasty little metal speed bumps in the shopping centres, produce no jarring or thump through the body of the car, whatsoever.

I don’t recall holding back very often while in the Astra, given that the manual box encourages some, shall we say, enthusiastic driving. So, I was surprised to register just 7.6-litres/100kms which is near enough to the published consumption of 7.4-litres/100kms.

There are currently sixteen Astra variants to choose from at your Holden dealer, from the CD manual at $21,990 to the 2.2-litre TwinTop convertible with a 4-speed auto at $47,490. That may be a tad too many to choose from I suspect.

If you do go for the Astra CD, you might keep an extra $1500 in reserve for the “K” option pack. You get a decent set of 16” alloys along with Cruise Control and one-touch up/down windows all round, instead of front only. Well worth it, for the alloys alone.
The overall look remains contemporary, despite the fact that this “AH” generation Astra, has been around since 2004. Styled in Europe and made in Belgium, might explain some of that.

If you’re intending on using the Astra as a family run around, safety is reasonably well provided for with 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS, Brake Assist (BA) and Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD), Driver, front passenger airbags and side impact airbags.

What you miss out on in the CD variant is full size curtain airbags and Electronic Stability Control, which is not so good. To get both of those features, you would need to step up to the CDTI or SRI. Boot space is both deep and wide and plenty big enough for a decent length trip away for three to four people and the rear seats are 60/40 split fold.

© Source: caradvice
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