Vauxhall Astra Sport Tourer Long Term Review

Ladies, Gents and friends beyond the binary, meet the Vauxhall Astra LongBoi. All the charisma of an Astra, but with a bigger bum for better storage.

Now, I say ‘charisma’, I’m still not quite sure if that’s the correct term I want to use for this car. You can tell by looking at it’s Crimson Red body (a £700 option which has since been dropped from the line up for some reason), black roof, black door mirrors, black 18” diamond cut alloy wheels, sports style front and rear bumpers and black griffin logo that this car is (for want of a better word) TRYING to have charisma. 

From the outside, it's a lovely looking thing. Not too in your face, not an over the top head turner, and that’s OK! Vauxhall’s design language has changed over the last few years with its new 'Visor' front and simple lettering at the back. I actually quite like it. It certainly hasn’t been over-designed that’s for sure. No random lines or creases. There is literally nothing on the exterior of this car that can offend anyone. I’d say if you’re looking for a car to secretly follow someone without them noticing, this is the one. It’s silent, it blends in and doesn’t attract attention. Not a single person will look twice. And honestly, sometimes that’s a positive.

I’ve been driving it for about a month now. Mostly long drives to the airport and trips to the forest with my dogs - two sausages named Larry and Rodney who travel on the back seats in a hammock type thing that I got from Amazon.

When it first arrived, it was a key for key delivery. They collected the Peugeot e308 long boi that did the rounds with the Electrifying team and had its last few months. They handed me the Astra long boi as a swapsies. Long boi for a long boi. 

Also, if you’re a car nerd, you’ll know that they’re pretty much the EXACT same car. Same platform, same batteries, same brain, different badges.This happens with a lot of Stellantis cars. They share parts across a TONNE of brands. Peugeot, Vauxhall, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep, Alfa Romeo to name a few. So this happens quite often when reviewing cars that sometimes you feel like you’re sat in the exact same thing over and over again...but...they all have their own personalities added on top, so you can feel a difference -sometimes.

Stepping out of the Peugeot and into the Vauxhall it immediately felt more spacious and less plush. The e308 felt more well put together, solid, cosy. This Astra has a simplicity about it. Yes it has comfy Alcantara upholstery, the panoramic roof and OOOOH HELLO HEATED STEERING WHEEL ...my Lordy I love heated steering during the winter months, Peugeot didn’t have that...but it still doesn’t quite feel as warm as the e308.

Interior wise, it’s got all you need. Heated sports style front seats (yes, comfy, still yet to get a numb bum on a long journey), panoramic roof (helps it feel lighter and more spacious), couple of cup holders, wireless charging, couple of USB-C charge ports, physical buttons for your dual zone climate control (more of this from other brands please!! I hate having to go into a screen to change the temperature), two 10 inch screens for your driver info and infotainment and ambient lighting.

Those two 10” screens are pretty decent, I’m yet to have any issues with either of them. The one behind the steering wheel gives you all the info you need and you can control the layout using the buttons on the steering wheel or by pressing the buttons on the ends of the indicator stalks (took me a while to figure that out). 

The infotainment is SO easy to use. Find your fave radio stations, stick a heart next to them, done, saved as favourites which you can now scroll through using the steering wheel buttons. 

Maps - fine, although I mostly use Apple Car Play for my navigation. One thing that’s handy to know, if you want to come out of Car Play/Android Auto and into the normal menu, just press the physical ‘home’ button under the screen, then to get back, tap the logo on the top right of the screen. Easy peasy.