2017 Holden Astra Sedan First Drive Review | Quiet, Comfortable, And Conservative
Holden is playing a game of Celebrity Heads with its newest Astra sedan. For Australia this new small sedan will become a part of the Astra family, but elsewhere in the world it will sell as the second-generation Chevrolet Cruze.
Holden has decided to abandon the Cruze name locally, hoping the stronger Astra badge recognition will give the new four-door a boost in the showroom - much in the same way Toyota applies the Corolla tag to fairly different sedan and hatch styles.
Where the five-door Astra is positioned as something a little bit sporty, Holden has decided that a more comfort-biased approach is right for the sedan without scrimping on comfort and technology.
Vehicle Style: Small sedan
Price: $20,490-$29,790 plus on-road costs
Engine/trans: 110kW/240Nm (245Nm manual) 1.4-litre 4cyl turbo petrol | 6sp manual, 6sp automatic
Fuel Economy Claimed: 5.8 l/100km man, 6.1 l/100km auto| Tested: 6.9 l/100km man, 8.2 l/100km auto
OVERVIEW
Like the hatch, the 2017 Holden Astra sedan comes in a four-model range, but the variant names and specifications are a little different to the hatch. Those differences come down to where the sedan is made, unlike the European-sourced five-door the sedan comes from Korea, leading to a few important differences.
The biggest change is a lack of autonomous emergency braking for the sedan on any variant, something deemed too difficult to add for Australia, which was the only market that showed an interest in the tech. There’s also no 1.6-litre turbo engine option like the hatch, with the sedan sticking to the still-decent but less powerful 1.4-litre engine from the base model hatch.