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Automotive News & Views Saturn gets Opel Astra
154 messages, Last post on Feb 21, 2008 at 2:23 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: harrychezt (Jun 11, 2007 9:29 am)
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Replying to: bumpy (Jun 11, 2007 10:25 am) If Astra makes it here as it appears - unchanged other than the front&rear bumper and some cup holders, and GM price it right, it should sell very well. It has the best looking interior on the small car market - I dare the say even better than the Mazda3. |
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it sounds ok. I'll wait for the SX4 sedan this fall. Check it out(although hatches are better, imho). It will be about Elantra sized(176-177 in length) 143HP. MPG may only be 30-31, though( Suzuki always has had lower MPG than Asian automakers). But MPG would be similar to the Astra(but no hatch, but a larger vehicle, think the hatch is 167.3 inches long, iirc, if what I heard is correct, and the SX4 is 177 inches long... 10 more inches of"Crunch room" in case of an accident... I believe the Civic is longer than this car, or close to it...so not as small as the Astra?). The Astra will be labeled a sub-compact, but with larger interior than most? I like it. I just don't understand how a car, 2.4Liter, I-4, with 160HP, similar size and weight , can get same, or better mpg as the Astra with 1.8 liter/140HP engine? Is it tighter tolerances(in the engine.....)? That's what one mechanic told me. The tighter the internal tolerances(and if done correctly)the higher the MPG they can get? This MPG is Suzuki-like. Then others may say"Fusion gets 31MPG, is a larger car", and that's true. Who knows? Unfortuantely, no matter what i like, due to upside-down in loan/trade-in, I ain't getting nothing new for 1-2 more years. So, I may have time. Maybe the 173(one site said 178? Think Edmunds has a first drive on Astra now,on blogs?)...turbo would suffice....maybe by 09- 2010? If that's the case, hmmmmm. Oh, btw... if yer in a small(Yaris sized, at least) car, pull up to some of the larger suv's and trucks... see where the bumper hits... about head-level  Now ya can see why I am thinking of larger cars. Around here, GM country... 65% of all vehicles are still trucks. see ya. |
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Replying to: harrychezt (Jun 14, 2007 11:01 am) Gearing, and how unaggressively the fuel maps are set up.
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Replying to: harrychezt (Jun 14, 2007 11:01 am) The SX4 was VERY impressive at the auto show---I really like the way it is put together. The Versa pi**es me off because ABS isn't included in the cars for sale on the lot (why? who are they kidding?) I'm hoping the Astra doesn't disappoint.
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Replying to: bumpy (Jun 14, 2007 11:13 am) As for the fuel economy, I would hold my breath until the EPA numbers show up. I read some reviews from European publications and they didn't seem to complain about the fuel economy. |
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Replying to: danzigdan (Jun 14, 2007 11:15 am) Yes, it looked good from the photos, and sounds good, too. The In-Laws CUV SX4 is solid as a rock, and not a bad interior, either. Handling is sharp, ride is decent, and 0-60 feels faster than the 10 seconds it takes to get there(or so, with automatic) . MPG is 27-28(I dunno if he still leadfoots, or not). The car/sedan SX4 should get 30-31MPG, at least? It is supposed to be lighter, due to FWD set up only. It will be on the list of "test drives" for the Fall. |
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When was the last time anybody over the age of 19 floored their accelerator from a standstill to reach 60mph in the least amount of time? It amazes me how Americans consider this and BHP as important stats. Torque, specifically the torque band, and mid-range acceleration figures are the real world figures that count, because they dictate your ability to accelerate under real world conditions. You avoid being run over by an SUV by being a good driver, not sitting in a hot rod. I drove a Saturn SL2 for years which was a total dog with no mid range pickup whatsoever and I just learned to not put myself in situations where I needed to accelerate hard. Some facts from the Vauxhall ( UK Opel ) site in Europe. The 1.8 VVT engine variant there develops 140BHP and 175 ft/lbs of torque at 3800 rpm. It looks like the US version has lost 45 ft/lbs of the torque and so it will possibly not perform that well. Begs the question as to why they would detune the engine in this way? I suspect so that they can con the Americans into paying another $3k for a 6 cylinder variant they don't really need that gets crap mpg. It is hard to relate fuel economy figures but the mixed cycle UK figure is 36.2mpg which translates to 30mpg using US gallons. Highway consumption in US gallons is 37.8mpg which seems to be pretty good. Overall it looks as economical as one would expect. It's a pity for me that they are not out yet. I just bought a Golf ( i.e. Rabbit ) and I was not chuffed at having only a 2.5 liter engine option. I for one don't need to be catapulted to 60mph in under 10 seconds.
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Replying to: helmutvonkopf (Sep 12, 2007 6:45 am) |
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Replying to: helmutvonkopf (Sep 12, 2007 6:45 am) It happens every morning on the Saw Mill and Hutchinson River Parkways in the New York area. |
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