Find your Vauxhall AstraOffers from our trusted partners on this car and its predecessors...Find your perfect new carFrom:£307 pmOr are you looking to sell your car?9/10 sellers got the price they expectedAdvertisementVerdictWe've endured a troubled start to life with the Vauxhall Astra, although that’s mainly through no fault of its own. Let’s hope getting a few more miles under its wheels will see some of our initial reservations disappear.
Mileage: 305Economy: 48.0mpg
The retu of a car with a plug to the Adams’ drive required a few spiders to be made homeless before I could take advantage of our Astra’s PHEV tech.
The Wallbox charger had been dormant for almost a year when the Astra arrived and had become clogged with webs, leaves and other debris. A quick wipe and the charger was ready, but there was no chance to use it before the Astra was parked up for more than a week through no fault of its own.
A country lane at night, low-profile tyres and a pothole added up to a three-hour wait for recovery and another hour to get home in our ill-fated first trip in the GSe. There’s no spare in the Astra thanks to its batteries, (which also squeeze boot space), and no sealant can fix a pothole pinch puncture in the sidewall a couple of centimetres long.
Then, Vauxhall’s tyre partner ATS hardly covered itself in glory getting the Astra back on the road. Thanks to a missed appointment, it was a week later before we could tackle our second trip in the car.
After running a series of برچسبها :
VerdictThe stylish Tonale stands out, while the tech on board has been effective on the whole. The PHEV version only really makes sense if you can charge it regularly, otherwise fuel economy takes a hit.
Mileage: 9,061
Economy: 35.3mpg
It’s time to say goodbye to our long-term Alfa Romeo Tonale, but over the six months I’ve had the keys, my opinionon its looks hasn’t dulled at all. It really is a stylish car, and one of the best bits of its design for me are the LED lights both front and rear. Not only do they look really stylish, but the shorter days and dark winter evenings have also highlighted how effective they are, too.
Since moving to the south coast, I’ve noticed a definite lack of street lighting. That’s great if you want to enjoy the night skies with less light pollution than in the city, but you really notice the need for good illumination of the roads when driving, or even the pavement when running.
The Alfa’s headlight clusters are great, though. The design, with two pairs of triple light clusters, harks back to the Montreal and SZ sports cars, but with adaptive matrix LED bulbs, the light they deliver is as good as in any mode rival.
More reviews Car group testsIn-depth reviewsRoad testsAnother thing that has come in useful are the illuminated doorhandles. My parking space is overshadowed by a tall hedge, and when combined with the Alfa’s Montreal Green metallic paint, it can be very difficult to see. But as you approach the car with key in h برچسبها :
VerdictI’m looking forward to exploring the benefits of these all-season tyres over the next few months. With negligible trade-off in performance, ride or refinement, it already seems a no-brainer. Full verdict to come!
Mileage: 3,390 (replacement car)
Efficiency: 2.8 miles/kWh
It's the same story every year. We get a short spell of cold weather and the British public panics. Meteorologists give us plenty of waing, yet society still grinds to a halt at the slightest sign of snow.
But I decided 2024 would be different. So before the sub-zero temperatures set in, I booked the Genesis Electrified GV70 into my local HiQ centre to get its existing Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres swapped for a set of Goodyear Vector 4Seasons.
These tyres are widely considered the very best of their type, triumphing in our all-season tyre test in 2023. At around £170 each (235/55 R19), they’re not cheap, though that’s roughly on par with big-brand alteatives from Continental and Pirelli. Our products editor, Kim, is a huge advocate of cross-climate tyres and immediately confirmed I’d made a sensible choice. He runs similar on his own cars and told me: “They give great confidence in winter.” Particularly with him living at the top of a hill.
More reviews Car group testsIn-depth reviewsRoad testsI’ll be running this car into the spring and early summer, so I chose an all-season design rather than full-on winter tyres – allowing me to assess the pros and cons in all cond برچسبها :