Buying a car Medium cars

Vauxhall Astra

The Astra is currently fifth in the UK sales chart, and equally at home doing the school run or ferrying sales reps up and down the motorway

Astra is aimed at families and business reps

Astra lab test results

Vauxhall's claimed petrol economy figures for the Astra are modest at 36.2mpg and 47.9mpg (urban/combined), and it came close to achieving these in our test (at 33.2mpg and 43.5mpg respectively).

But we found the diesel Astra didn’t return on Vauxhall’s claims of 57.6mpg and 68.9mpg (urban/combined). In our tests it missed the urban figure by more than 11mpg and the combined figure by 13.5mpg.

The £2,370 price premium is also a significant extra cost before you even drive off the forecourt. In order to recoup the premium price in fuel savings, you’ll need to keep the diesel Astra for nearly nine years (getting on for 100,000 miles) or, if you mainly drive in urban areas, nearly five.

Vauxhall Astra comparison table (opens in a new window)

Verdict

Petrol wins. It’s easy to get a good discount on the Astra, so list prices aren’t the only factor. But it’s only worth getting the diesel if the reduction you get is decent enough to allow you to recoup your money through the superior fuel economy. Otherwise, with the £2,370 price premium, you’ll be waiting for almost the lifetime of the car to make any savings.