Vauxhall Astra Electric Sports Tourer review

We’ll level with you, it ain’t much fun. But that’s not what you want from a cheap electric estate, is it? Vauxhall knows this, and so hasn’t put driver enjoyment on page one of its priorities. It might not even be on page two. Or three. Or…

The steering has a relaxed feel, and the only feedback it gives you is vibration from the road; nothing about what the tyres are doing. We’ve noticed this on some Peugeots as well, so it must be a Stellantis family trait. There’s a bit of roll through corners, but it’s predictable and easily managed by not driving so quickly. Suppress your inner loon, yeah?

The brakes are well judged, giving you good feel that helps avoid jerky stopping. As part of the facelift all versions now get three levels of regenerative braking (compared to just one before), adjusted via paddles on the steering wheel (compared to… none before). All pretty seamless.

Is it comfy?

As with the hatch, the ride’s pretty firm and doesn’t isolate you very well from bumps and ruts in the road. You won’t be thrown around inside the cabin at least, and the Astra Sports Tourer won’t identify microscopic imperfections in the road if it happens to be relatively smooth.

It’s pretty quiet in here too (soundproofed windscreen ahoy) although we noticed a bit of road noise creeping in above 60mph.

How fast can I go?

Oh you’ve picked the wrong car to be in a hurry in, sunshine: 154bhp and 199lb ft from the single motor is enough for 0-62mph in 9.5 seconds. Pretty leisurely, then (indeed it’s slower than the MHEV and PHEV). There’s enough gusto for motorway overtakes, but not much else. We’re obliged to tell you – for reasons we forget – that the top speed is 106mph. You won’t ever do that. Unless War of the Worlds actually happens and society breaks down, or something.

The more pertinent question is ‘What’s the range like?’

Okay, what’s the range like?

On paper you’re promised 275 miles from a 55.4kWh battery. But you don’t drive on paper, you drive on asphalt. And on the latter we saw 4.2 mi/kWh in warmer temps, or around 230 miles. So not groundbreaking, but not awful. And let’s face it, can any man, woman or child’s bladder last 200 miles between loo breaks?

Vauxhall can credit liquid cooling and relative lightness (it’s almost half the weight of a Cybertruck, though admittedly that’s more a product of the Tesla’s beastliness) for its decent showing here. Every Astra gets a heat pump as standard now, which means the inevitable drop in performance in winter won't be quite as pronounced.