Diesels are still considered the reasonable, and mostly conservative, choice in Europe, but Opel wants to make own offering in the C-Segment appeal to a wider audience.
To this end, it has launched a 1.6-liter four with two sequential turbochargers. With an output of 160 PS, this Astra does the zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint in 8.6 seconds and tops out at 220 km/h (136 mph) with an average consumption of just 4.1 lt/100km (57 US mpg).Peak torque measures 350 Nm, all of it available as early as 1,500 rpm.
A quick rundown of some of the all-new Astra’s rivals will (sort of) back up Opel’s claims. Models such as the Ford Focus, VW Golf, SEAT Leon or Peugeot 308 have 2.0-liter diesel engines with outputs of 150 PS, while the Mazda3’s 150 PS come from its 2.2-liter Skyactiv-D engine. And while on paper, the Astra 1.6 BiTurbo CDTI isn’t the quickest to 100 km/h (that would be the Mazda, followed by the Leon) nor the most fuel efficient (that would be the Peugeot), it is pretty close in all of them despite sporting an engine with a significantly smaller capacity.
PHOTO GALLERY
