► Vauxhall Astra UK specs, pricing revealed
► New Astra starts from £15,295
► On sale in the UK from October 2015
Vauxhall has confirmed UK pricing for the new Astra, which will start from £15,295 when it reaches showrooms in October 2015.
Model for model, it’s positioned at a slightly cheaper price point than before, as Vauxhall seeks to gain a stronger foothold against traditional family hatch rivals such as the Ford Focus and VW Golf.
The new Astra is considerably lighter than the car it succeeds, as well as more spacious, more fuel-efficient, yet it’s crammed with kit. All models get alloys, air-con and a connectivity-packed colour touchscreen as standard.
Click here for CAR’s full briefing on the new 2015 Vauxhall Astra.
How does the new Vauxhall Astra pricing position it against its rivals?
While the most basic variants of rivals such as the Ford Focus and Hyundai i30 undercut the Astra by some margin (starting from £13,995 and £13,695 respectively), they carry far less kit as standard than the Vauxhall. The base Astra ‘Design’ derivative is more generously equipped than the second-rung-up Focus Style, for example, which tops £17,000.
Meanwhile, the VW Golf continues to carry a more premium-positioned price tag – a basic S derivative currently starts from £17,595.
2015 Vauxhall Astra trim levels and equipment in detail
Vauxhall model ranges are notorious for having a dizzying array of trim levels, and while the Astra line-up is simpler than it was there’s still no shortage of model variants to wade through.
From launch there are five main trim levels: Design, Tech Line, Energy, SRi, and Elite (along with SRi Nav and Elite Nav – which, self-explanatorily, add sat-nav as standard).
Base Design versions, which provide the headline £15,295 starting price, get 16-inch alloy wheels, air-con, cruise control and a colour touchscreen with digital radio, Bluetooth and USB connectivity as standard.
Tech Line (from £15,995) is the variant aimed squarely at fleet customers, adding a larger touchscreen with sat-nav. Energy (£17,295) does without sat-nav but adds 17-inch alloys and heated seats, while SRi (£17,895) variants include front camera-based safety tech and Vauxhall’s new OnStar emergency assistance program.
The Elite range-topper (starting at £19,315) is shoehorned with all of the above, along with every-which-way-adjustable leather seats, climate control and extra USB ports for rear passengers.
2015 Vauxhall Astra engine range
On the petrol front, the cheapest entry point is a 99bhp 1.4-litre. That’s joined by the well-received turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder unit from the new Corsa and Adam, with 104bhp.
There’s also a 1.4 turbo, which will be made available with two power outputs, 124bhp and 148bhp. Topping the Astra range for performance (at least until the next VXR performance version arrives) is a 197bhp 1.6-litre, which in SRi trim costs £20,435.
The most alluring economy figures belong to the diesels, chiefly the new 108bhp 1.6-litre ‘Whisper’, which Vauxhall provisionally claims can muster up to 91.1mpg with CO2 emissions as low as 82g/km in penny-pinching ecoFLEX spec – remarkable stats. As a counterpoint, there’ll also be a high-performance BiTurbo diesel with around 158bhp.
The new Vauxhall Astra makes its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September 2015.
CAR’s been behind the wheel of a prototype powered by the new 1.4-litre petrol engine on UK roads, and the early signs are promising. Click here to read CAR’s first drive of the pre-production Vauxhall Astra.