The Saturn Astra is an all-new car. At least it's new to the American automotive landscape: Astra has been offered for years in Europe under the Opel flag, where it's been giving the VW Golf a run for top-seller bragging rights. The new Astra is so much better in every respect than the Saturn model it replaces that we've forgotten the earlier compact's name.
The Astra comes in two body styles, both hatchbacks designed for practicality and built on the same chassis. There's a three-door version that is lower in overall height than the five-door version, but otherwise they share the same outside dimensions. This package was developed on European roadways where performance is measured more by balance at speed than how fast it accelerates away from an intersection. It further benefits from German design and engineering, where you can get small cars as well-assembled and refined as some big ones, and where pointless vehicle fashion statements are dropped in favor of finding a place to park or affording a fill-up.
With frisky 1.8-liter engines Astras aren't fast, yet we found them brisk, smooth and flexible, happy to putter around town or beat the snot out of it, and that little engine is good on gas, routinely returning more than 30 mpg during our test drives. A five-speed manual or extra-cost four-speed automatic drives the front wheels, antilock brakes are standard, and the ride and cornering abilities didn't leave us wishing for more.
The Astra fits in the segment much like the Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf) and Mazda 3 in that it delivers realistic economy while feeling a little less like an economy car and more like premium small cars such as the Mini Cooper, BMW 1 Series or Audi A3. Pricing fits that aspect too, running from under $16,000 to about $21,000 for a fully loaded model.
It's also a good do-it-all kind of car: cart around a batch of kids, shuttle around town or cover big commuting miles, fill with a lot of school debris, or make a good basis for a pocket rocket like the GTI, Civic Si, or Mazdaspeed3. An Astra holds four adults and has surprising cargo space hiding under that pinched rear end, and it's one of few small cars actually rated to tow something, in this case enough for a personal watercraft or two.
We think the Saturn Astra is the best small car ever to roll out of a Saturn dealership and well worth considering.