The new Opel Astra is a rad plug-in-hybrid German hatchback
The sixth-gen Astra debuts for Europe with Stellantis underpinnings and lots of new tech.
Another day, another slightly strange European hatchback that won't be sold in America -- but we're drooling over anyway. This is the new sixth-generation Opel Astra, which rides on the same EMP2 platform as other Stellantis-owned cars like the Peugeot 308 and DS 4 -- the previous generation was developed when Opel was under General Motors ownership and shared its underpinnings with the Chevy Cruze .
There's no need to mince words here, the new Astra looks awesome. The front end gets Opel's Vizor, a glossy black panel that creates the "face" of the car by integrating the LED headlights, front badge and camera, and slim grille slats. The angular lower bumper gives the Astra a bit of a dopey face -- in a good way, I think. At the rear there's super-slim LED taillights, a nicely sculpted tailgate and a cool vertical third brake light integrated into the roof spoiler.
The Astra's chiseled hips look great.
2021 seems to mark the return of the 1980's rally car–style boxed fender flare, and I'm all about it. The Astra has a subtle character line running just below the base of the windows that flows into the angular flared fenders, and the kicked-up line at the base of the doors is the only other real piece of surfacing on the body. The C-pillar is angled forward and has a nice crease to it, and it works well with the available two-tone roof. The new Astra's wheelbase is half an inch longer, but thanks to short overhangs it's not even 0.2-inch longer overall.
The interior is rad too. Its main feature is the Pure Panel, a pair of 10-inch screens that are part of one big rectangular panel that also houses the driver's air vent. Opel says that a "shutter-like layer" prevents reflections and means the displays don't require a hood over them, and the screens are available fully glazed as an option. Physical controls are minimal, with only a volume knob and about a dozen buttons for climate controls on the dashboard. Cables are kept to a minimum too, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, along with a new voice assistant system.
The interior features a pair of 10-inch screens.
There's a super-interesting mix of materials, with a slash design on the dash that bisects aluminum-look trim and a cool textured soft-touch material with a piece of bright trim. The door panels feature all of these elements as well as gray Nappa leather, while the seats get light gray fabric with a nice pattern, white stripes and more of that gray leather. The gear shifter is a simple toggle switch on the center console, and the redesigned steering wheel has slim spokes and a bunch of rectangular buttons.
Opel is offering the Astra with multiple gas and diesel turbocharged engines that can be paired with either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic transmission, but new to the model are two plug-in-hybrid powertrains. Both use a 1.6-liter turbo four, an eight-speed auto and a 12.4-kWh battery pack, with the more powerful of the two producing 225 horsepower and offering an all-electric range of around 31 miles.
It's even available with massaging seats.
The Astra has been designed with "Autobahn-proof" handling, meaning high-speed stability is a priority, and to that end it has a stiffer chassis, better stopping power and a more refined suspension than its predecessor. Opel's Intelli-Drive 2.0 suite of driver-assist features uses four cameras, five radar sensors and two ultrasonic sensors to give the Astra adaptive cruise control with stop and go, semiautomatic lane changes and long-range blind-spot monitoring. Massaging and ventilated seats, pixel LED headlights, a head-up display and a 360-degree camera system are all available.
The new Opel Astra will go on sale in Europe early next year, with order books opening in the fall. While the Astra will never be sold in the US, it does show us tech, features and design knowledge that could be used in other Stellantis models that we will get.
