HOLDEN ASTRA COUPE INTRODUCED

Though it’s still about 18 months before Holden shuts down its Australian assembly lines the company is already making major moves to ensure it remains a leading force in car sales.

One of Holden’s biggest moves is the reimportation of Astra models designed and built by Opel in Europe. Though it’s a German company Opel has been controlled by General Motors for almost 90 years.

Close design co-operation between Holden and Opel has worked well for Holden for decades, particularly in the Commodore field where the original models were virtually Opels with Aussie engines and beefed up suspensions.

Holden Astras sold were sold by the tens of thousands for many years, until the decision was made in 2010 to cease imports and instead bring in lower-cost small and medium cars from GM factories in South Korea.

An abortive attempt to revive the Astra nameplate was made in 2012, with Australian imports now carrying Opel Astra badges. The Opels had higher price tags to give the impression they were prestige European imports. Just 10 months later Opel disappeared backwards, slashing prices of Astras to pre-Holden levels to clear the last of the stocks. Ah well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now the Astra is back and is again proudly badged as a Holden.

Cleverly, the marketing people have chosen to only import the sports coupe variants, sold as Astra GTC and GTC Sport with a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine and the hot Astra VXR with a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol.

Styling if of major importance in any sports coupe and the Opel folks have done an exceptional job. A low nose and tall tail joined by doors with bold swage lines that form a semi-elliptical shape make a definite statement. If the lines look familiar that’s because you’ve seen them on Opel-badged cars. This overall Astra shape has been around for over five years now yet still looks bang up to date. An all-new model is anticipated in about 12 to 18 months and we are really looking forward to seeing it.

Inside, there’s a large instrument panel with large speedo and tacho, as well as other gauges, also in a sporting circular design.

The 1.6-litre turbo engine has a useful 125 kW power and 260Nm torque if you buy an automatic. That lifts to 147 kW power and 280 Nm torque if you choose the six-speed manual.

Way up in power is the Astra VXR, with genuine hot-hatch numbers of 206 kW of power and an impressive 400 Nm of torque, the later running from 2400 to 4800 revs – this is the sort of engine that thrives on revs, though even below 2400 it’s happy enough to trundle along at traffic speeds.

Obviously chasing genuine revheads, Astra VXR comes only with a six-speed manual gearbox.

That sort of power and torque demands a genuine sporty ‘chassis’ for the VXR with 20-inch wheels and Opel’s FlexRide system that lets drivers choose from three ride settings: Standard, Sport and the track oriented setting titled ‘VXR’. The latter gives you faster steering and throttle inputs. Brembo front brakes are part of the package.

We spent some serious driving time on the Holden Performance Driving Centre (PDC) at Norwell on the Gold Coast. The Astra VXR is be a ‘real’ hot hatch, with huge amounts of road grip and a near neutral stance unless pushed extremely hard, when mild understeer creeps in. Braking that could be left well beyond the marks set by our driving instructors without the slightest sign of fade.

This is the sort of car that ‘talks’ to you through the steering wheel and the seat of your pants – we love it.

As the final tuning of the Astra VXR was done at the famed Nurburgring Nordschleife track in Germany our findings at the considerably smaller and simpler Norwell PDC came as no surprise.

Astra GTC has 18-inch alloy wheels, the Holden MyLink infotainment system with a seven-inch colour screen display with satellite navigation and Pandora, Stitcher and TuneIn Radio apps.

The GTC Sport gains 19-inch alloys, a body kit, alloy pedals and leather trimmed seats. As befits a hot-hatch, Holden Astra VXR has an over-the-top sports body kit, alloy pedals and a bespoke VXR steering wheel.

Holden’s new Astra is an exceptional sports coupe with everything you would expect from a thoroughbred European machine. It has style, performance, handling and comfort. Should you regard yourself as a keen driver the VXR is certainly the one to covet, but there’s a lot to be said for the GTCs as well.

Will a five-door Astra hatch join these three-door coupes downunder? As usual, Holden refuses to comment on future products. But, may we speculate it will happen one day? Whether that day is with the current body style, or whether Holden will hold off for the next one is the big question.

For the time being the Astra is being sold as a convertible as well as the coupe described here. This time around it loses it Astra tag and is called Holden Cascada. We have devoted a separate story to it.

The complete 2015 Holden Astra range is:
GTC 1.6-litre turbo-petrol two-door coupe: $26,990 (manual), $29,190 (automatic)
GTC Sport 1.6-litre turbo-petrol: $29,990 (manual), $32,190 (automatic)
VXR 2.0-litre turbo-petrol two-door coupe: $39,990 (manual)
Note: Prices do not include government or dealer charges. Contact your local Holden dealer for driveaway pricing.