Latest in Astra

About Astra

The Astra has been Vauxhall's family car since 1980, when it replaced the Viva as the brand's mainstream hatchback, and for decades it fought the Ford Escort and later the Focus for the hearts, wallets and company-car allowances of British motorists. Over the years it came as a hatchback, sedan, estate, convertible and van, and it spawned performance heroes such as the GTE and VXR, along with a sharp-suited coupe and convertible styled by Bertone.

The current generation, launched in 2021, is the first developed under PSA and Stellantis ownership, and it shares its underpinnings with the Peugeot 308. It brought a crisp look built around the flat Vizor nose, a more upmarket cabin and a range that includes gasoline engines, plug-in hybrids and the fully electric Astra Electric, in both hatchback and Sports Tourer estate forms. Reviewers have generally praised its styling and refinement while finding the driving experience competent rather than exciting.

The Astra now faces a shrinking market as buyers abandon hatchbacks for crossovers, and reports say the next generation, expected before the end of the decade and still to be built in Germany, will take on a less traditional, more SUV-influenced shape, with the conventional hatchback possibly disappearing. In the meantime, Vauxhall has refreshed the range with new trims, GSE styling and a cheaper electric version. Rivals include the Volkswagen Golf, Kia Ceed, Toyota Corolla and its cousin the Peugeot 308.

Coverage here follows new trims and prices, lease deals, reviews, recalls and the debate over what the next Astra should be. For a nameplate that has been part of British driveways for more than four decades, the questions are unusually existential: whether the family hatchback still has a place in a crossover world, and whether the Astra name will survive the transition with its identity intact. Used buyers, meanwhile, will find plenty of older Astras on the market, and plenty of advice on which ones to choose.