Vauxhall Astra Car Leasing & Contract Hire

Pretty much an all-rounder, the latest Vauxhall Astra has a spacious interior, plenty of technological advancements including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a good range of both petrol and diesel engines alongside a choice of trims to suit all pockets and requirements from runarounds to small families.

Up against such rivals as the Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Golf, the Vauxhall Astra is still one of the best-selling cars in the UK, having held a place in the Top 10 throughout the 21st century.

Vauxhall Astra Key Features

• Good to drive
• Affordable
• Well equipped
• Good safety options
• Good choice of engines and trims

Comfort and Practicality

For family road trips, a ride in an Astra is firm, without feeling all the 'jarrs' in the road, but agility is not its' strong point in comparison to the Focus. However, comfort is key with adjustable seating and steering, and easy to reach controls.

Inside the Astra, interior decoration is good (although a little behind both the Golf and the Skoda Octavia) and although the back seat sees a bit of a squeeze for 3 adults, the medium size family fits comfortably. With quite a bit of storage space, with a 60/40 split seat arrangement, and a good-sized 370-litre boot space, fitting in trip essentials as well as shopping is a breeze.

Safety

Naturally, as you would expect from a family car, safety features are well up to scratch, with driver and passenger airbags and seat belts as standard, along with rear-seat head restraints, ESP and ABS.

All cars come with cruise control and hill start assist, with front and rear parking sensors and a front camera system as optional extras along with a range of other driver assistance features, some of which are standard on higher trim models.

Power & Performance

Both petrol and diesel engines are available, offering up to 85mpg and a low of 99g/km emissions, depending on choice.

Petrol engines start with a 99bhp 1.4-litre unit, and move on through two turbocharged 1.4-litre engines (124bhp and 148bhp) and a 104bhp three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine up to a top 197bhp 1.6-litre.

When it comes to the more economical diesel engines there are 1.6-litre diesel options to wrestle your thoughts over: a 134bhp version that offers an estimated 72.4mpg, a 109bhp ecoTec model (85.6mpg) and a fast 158bhp twin-turbo version that doesn't scrimp on fuel savings either.

Extras

As standard, on all models, the Vauxhall Astra offers a colour touchscreen with DAB, Bluetooth, USB and aux-in ports, smartphone projection, Apple Car Play and Android Auto, alloy wheels, electric windows and mirrors plus air conditioning.

Other optional extras that are standard the further up the trim trail you go include:

• Vauxhall's customer support and monitoring system OnStar
• Dual-zone climate control
• Parking sensors
• Blind spot monitoring
• Forward collision alert with auto braking and lane keeping assist
• Heated front seats