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... an Astra 1.4 petrol turbo auto 2016 onwards?
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 15 Mar 17 at 10:08
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I've had a couple of new Astras as hire cars, though they're nowhere where near as common on hire fleets as the Golf/A3/Focus/A class in my experience. Not auto though. IMO they look good, and the interior is way ahead of the Fords. They all drive in a similar manner for my type of hire car use, though the hire car spec Fords are always notably low spec. In petrol guise they tend to average high 30s to the gallon for the Merc and VAG products. The Astra is a couple of miles lower, with the petrol Fords being worst at low 30s. The Ford is the only one that's let me down. But performance wise the Merc and Astra are the best, with the others not far behind. The petrol A class is much nicer to drive than than the diesel, the Focus is disappointing in whatever guise, and the VAG 1.6 diesel is gutless. The Peugeot (308??) is the best all rounder from a mid size hire car perspective, bar it's useless touch screen interface!! Just my observations over >100 rentals in the last few years :)
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I had one as a hire car recently.
(Posted about it somewhere on here.)
Perky engine for a 1.4 and compared well to a Golf that I had.
Found it very easy and comfortable to drive but not to park - needs sensors.
The Sat Nav was good.
The dash has very few buttons and required looking at the touch screen display to do some basic things which I found annoying and dangerous.
The "floating roof" design at the rear doesn't appeal to me.
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I've booked an auto rather than my usual manual for next week, from National instead of Avis, so let's see if it's an Astra. If so I'll do a mini review :)
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>> I've had a couple of new Astras as hire cars, though they're nowhere where near
>> as common on hire fleets as the Golf/A3/Focus/A class in my experience.
>>
Funny how experiences differ, I've had a good few hire cars in recent years, though not 100 +, and generally the only ones that I think "oh good it's a XXX" are the Fords because, Focus or Fiesta, you know it's going to be good to drive.
I drove a Corsa 1.4 turbo (manual) last year, it performed quite well though the throttle response was a bit odd, not linear, you kind of felt that it could pull strongly and evenly though was being held back, probably down to emissions.
Last edited by: Cheddar on Fri 17 Mar 17 at 10:16
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Interesting how perceptions vary. I always expect fords to be nice to drive, because that's the reputation they have. But perhaps because I have highe expectations I'm always disappointed. Every Focus I've had has felt too heavy and underpowered with poor steering feel. Handling is precise enough, but the ride average at best. And then I start to pick faint with everything else ;). In reality there's not a bad car in the class I don't think, so it is just personal preference. Though, not sure if I mentioned it, but the only car to ever break down was a Ford Focus ;)
Edited to say, I do like the Fiesta. That is nice to drive and looks better too. And you can excuse the cheap interior because it's a cheap car :)
Last edited by: PeterS on Fri 17 Mar 17 at 11:27
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"And you can excuse the cheap interior because it's a cheap car :)"
The Fiesta isn't that much cheaper than the equivalent Audi A1, and the Audi holds its value better so that there are good PCP deals available. I think if I wanted a Ford I'd buy nearly-new.
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...or, of course, negotiate the going rate for discount on a new one....
c10% on an A1 if you're lucky, 25%+ on a Fiesta if you work at it. ;-)
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Vauxhall - Astra-K 2016 1.4 Any experience of... - PeterS
