VAUXHALL ASTRA

From a clean slate, this eighth-generation hatchback promises to tempt buyers through striking design, a hint of sportiness and next-level tech

- MATT SAUNDERS

TESTED 9.2.22, CASCAIS, PORTUGAL ON SALE MAY PRICE £26,700

The eighth-generation Vauxhall Astra is a handsome devil, isn't it? And Lordy, didn't it need to be. I mean, it's a hatchback to start with. Fewer and fewer people seem to want one of those, and fewer still when the one in question isn't great looking or premium-brand desirable. But also it represents huge technical change for one of Britain's longest-lived and most successful compact cars.

The first Astra of Vauxhall's Stellantis-owned corporate era, this car effectively switches onto a widely updated version of what, not so long ago, we would have called a PSA Group model architecture. A Peugeot 308 chassis, basically. It adopts engines and suspension technology that we would have been happy enough to describe in exactly the same terms.

It will also be the first Astra to offer electrified powertrains, and in no small number: in time, there will be two plug-in hybrids and a full EV.

So there was always the risk that the new Astra simply wouldn't look, feel or drive very much like what we might recognise as an Astra at all. But how well Vauxhall has side-stepped that little problem with the perfect diversionary tactic. You just look at the new car, with its 1960s Bill Mitchell-inspired sheer' surfaces, its Vizor front grille and all of those retro-cool design references to the early 1980s Mk1 Astra and the 1970s Opel Manta, and somehow you can't help saying: "Wow, that's a bit of all right.”

Broadly speaking, this Astra is a bit of all right to drive as well – although I'm not sure I mean that in quite the same way. It's more refined and sophisticated-feeling than any of its forebears and more dynamically competent, too. Not particularly memorable, though.