Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer (2015-2022) Review

Anyone seeking a bit more space than a regular compact hatchback that doesn’t want to upgrade to a massive wagon will find the Astra Sports Tourer a suitable choice. It’s no more demanding to drive than the hatchback version, so it’s a sensible purchase if you’re trading up to a bigger car, especially if you have a growing family, and there’s good space inside for everything that goes with being a parent.

Where the Sports Tourer may not be such a strong choice is if you are looking for the most comfortable option. Its ride quality can be quite niggly on some surfaces, and cars like the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf are better in this respect.

All of the Astra Sports Tourer’s engine options are impressive, with a good balance of performance and fuel economy. Of the petrol options, the 1.2-litre 130PS is the sweet spot - it has the same claimed fuel consumption as the 110PS version but the same torque figure as the more powerful 145PS version, so you’re getting the best of both. As for the diesel options, the more powerful 122PS version is your best bet, as it has useful extra torque over the less powerful version and offers very similar levels of economy.

The standard specification SE model is well equipped, with the 7-inch touchscreen, DAB, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, air con, cruise control and automatic headlights, and for most people this would be enough. The Business Nav model simply adds navigation - which you don’t necessarily need if you have a smartphone - which just leaves the most expensive SRi model. 

It’s all the usual suspects here, with almost every brand both mainstream or premium having some kind of compact estate. The cars to beat in the class are the Volkswagen Golf Estate, Ford Focus Estate and Skoda Octavia Estate, but there are also strong contenders in the shape of the Peugeot 308 SW, Renault Megane Sport Tourer and the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports. The latest SEAT Leon Estate (which car formerly known as the Leon ST) is a sporty alternative.

It’s a matter of deciding if you want the most space, the best driving experience, the lowest running costs or the best all-rounder, but whatever you want there is something to suit your needs.

Vauxhall has traditionally been somewhere in the middle when it comes to the quality of its cars. With brands like Volkswagen pushing upwards towards the premium brands it has meant the more traditionally mainstream rivals having to raise their game too, and the Astra Sports Tourer demonstrates where this trend has led to.

There’s a lot of black plastic on show when you get inside - there’s very little scope for brightening up the cabin with choices of trim or fabrics, but the upside is that helps to keep the sticker price down. 

There’s also a decent amount of soft touch surfacing in here, around the tops of the dashboard and where your hands would naturally fall, but rather than contrast this with straightforward harder plastics, the Sports Tourer has more piano black to fill in the gaps. It’s moderately successful, but the interior feels quite business-like and functional rather than particularly luxurious.

The physical quality of the Astra Sports Tourer is good however. The switches and buttons may be mixed in terms of how tactile they feel, but it is clear that they are robustly put together which inspires confidence that it is a car that is built to last.

Both versions of the infotainment system fitted to the Astra Sports Tourer have touchscreen display, and are fitted with a DAB radio, Bluetooth for phone operation and audio streaming, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and six speakers for audio output. Business Edition Nav and SRi Nav trim add a sat nav function to the system including European mapping and increase the screen size from 7-inches to 8-inches.

To use, the touchscreen system can be frustrating. At 7-inches it is reasonably sized but the colour scheme for the graphical display is quite pale, with black and red text on a white background.

You need to fiddle with the settings to generate much in the way of contrast within the image. The response of the screen to inputs is good, but as with many touchscreen system accurately hitting the button you want can be a challenge, and the ability to rest a steadying hand on the bezel surrounding the screen is frequently necessary. There are a useful number of shortcuts though, and you can perform a number of tasks via the steering wheel controls.

While the navigation system works well enough, it seems an unnecessary expense when you can use a native smartphone app for navigation through the cheaper standard system.

This is probably the most important element of any estate car, but in the case of the Astra Sports Tourer it is trading on it more than most, as opposed to touting to be the best driving or most comfortable car in the class. Thankfully the news is good, and unlike some of those same rivals it offers a good balance of space for passengers and luggage.

Those in the front seats are very well catered for - there’s seat height adjustment as standard so you can get into a comfortable driving position and there’s plenty of legroom for taller people and if your passenger just wants to stretch out. 

Headroom is also generous so you’re unlikely to have any problems there, and the Astra Sports Tourer doesn’t suffer from an overbearing centre console either, so shoulder and hip room is also good.

Almost more impressive is the space available in the rear. Legroom is competitive, if not up there with the best in the class but headroom is - arguably the more important of the two - so taller adults will be able to get comfortable in the back easily. The centre seat on the back row isn’t quite as generous as the outer two but it’s better than most, and it’s able to take a child’s car seat so in theory you could have three of them across the back row, something of a rarity in this class.

Head for the boot, and you have a space that is comparable to some rivals, but quite not big enough to be top of the three. There’s 540 litres available with the rear seats in place - both the Volkswagen Golf and Skoda Octavia offer more than 600 litres - while this is increased to 1630 litres with the seats folded, still less than the Octavia but actually a little more than the Golf. 

The boot space is a good shape too, but it’s a little short on handy features you get elsewhere. There’s no boot floor divider and the seat can only be split 60/40 - there is a 40/20/40 option on the hatchback but disappointingly it is not available on the Sports Tourer.

The Astra Sports Tourer isn’t blessed with the widest choice of engines, but that really doesn’t matter because all five of them are impressive. 

The basic 1.2-litre turbocharged unit is a gem - it’s pleasingly quiet even when worked hard, it is eager to respond to accelerator inputs from the driver and the performance is useful too. The basic 110PS isn’t slow at all and is no poor relation, although the 130PS and 145PS versions are a little quicker thanks to the extra torque. If you want petrol over diesel then any one of these engines will do a good job.

On the diesel front both the 105PS and 122PS versions are also fine examples of what a diesel should be, with good torque from low engine speeds and of course, excellent economy. Of the two it makes sense to go for the more powerful version, as the price difference is not substantial and the fuel consumption is almost identical but the extra torque makes short work of pulling heavier loads.

All versions of the Astra Sports Tourer are fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox that gives comfortable cruising, but the shift action is adequate rather than pleasurable - it lacks weight adn can feel a little vague. The automatic gearbox option works well on the 1.5-litre diesel but is less impressive when paired with the 1.4-litre petrol, so if you need an auto we’d suggest the latter option.

As well as offering strong performance and economy, the fact that the engine range offered in the Astra Sports Tourer is relatively young also means they are quiet and refined. The 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol has a lot of work to do to pull a car of this size, but it goes about that work with an impressive lack of fuss, even if you start to rev it hard. 

There’s a bit less refinement from the 1.5-litre diesels however - typically diesel engines dish out more vibrations, particularly at low engine speeds and when cold, and the Astra Sports Tourer suffers a little from this common affliction. All of the engines also offer quiet cruising, helped by the six-speed gearbox fitted as standard. The 1.4-litre petrol automatic model is not particularly quiet either - it’s an older unit and is not quite as refined.

There’s better news elsewhere, however. Road noise well suppressed on most models, although there is inevitably a little more grumble on higher specification models riding on bigger wheels and tyres. Wind noise is well contained though - the Sports Tourer’s slippery aerodynamic shape negates much of the rustle you typically get at motorway speeds.

The Vauxhall Astra was tested by Euro NCAP in 2015, and while it was the hatchback version that was tested the organisation decreed that the results could also be applied to the Sports Tourer model. 

Euro NCAP awarded the Astra an impressive five star rating. It had an impressively consistent score across all the categories, achieving 86% for adult protection, alongside a score of 84% for child protection. Pedestrian mitigation was given a high 83% rating, while safety assist was recorded at 75%.

As standard, all Astras are fitted with front airbags including side chest and pelvis airbags for the front seat passengers and curtain airbags for front and rear passengers. A knee airbag for the driver or passenger is not available as standard or an option. Seat belt pre-tensioners are fitted to both front and rear seats, as are seat belt load limiters standard. Isofix child seat mounting points are fitted in all three rear seats as well as the front passenger seat, with an airbag deactivation switch for the front passenger seat too.

All versions of the Astra are fitted with ESC as standard, as well as cruise control with speed limiter. SRi models are also fitted with a driving assistance pack which includes features such as automatic city braking, following distance indicator and lane departure warning. The pack can also be upgraded with traffic sign recognition and pedestrian detection at extra cost.

The Astra Sports Tourer fits into a quite narrow band of insurance groups, partly due to the fact there are only three trim levels and relatively few engine options. The 110PS petrol and 110PS diesel in SE trim are both in group 16, as is the 1.4 petrol automatic in SRi Nav trim. The 145PS petrol and 122PS diesel in SRi Nav trim are in group 17, while the Business Edition Nav trim is in group 19 for the 130PS petrol and 20 for the 122PS diesel - the SRi Nav getting into a lower group thanks to the increased safety tech.

The Astra Sports Tourer went on sale in 2016, so it is a car affected by the April 2017 VED changes, so if you are buying used you can make a saving by purchasing an early car. 

For example, lots of the early 1.6-litre diesel models came in at under 100g/km so qualified for the zero rate, while the more efficient versions of the 1.0-litre turbo model came in at zero or £20 for the annual VED bill. As for newer models however, despite their efficiency, they all attract the £150 annual rate.

SE models feature a 7-inch colour touchscreen, DAB radio, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, USB, air con, cruise control with speed limiter, 16-inch alloy wheels, automatic lights, heated door mirrors, and LED daytime running lights.

Business Edition Nav models add sat nav with European mapping, a leather covered steering wheel and adjustable front armrest.

SRi models add Sportss-style front seats, driver’s ergonomic active seat, storage pockets on front seat backs, 17-inch alloy wheels, chrome-effect upper window surround, LED headlights, rain-sensitive windscreen wipers, automatic lighting control with tunnel detection, automatic anti-dazzle rear-view mirror, Driving Assistance Pack One featuring intelligent front camera system.