Our quick take
Vauxhall Astra VXR - 4.5 / 5
Jaw-dropping looks
Too much power?
Technology-a-plenty
The polar bears will not thank you
To recap
The Astra doesn’t have the reputation of the Golf but it has more power and it’s arguably the better-looking car. In isolation, the VXR is brilliant to drive, and has lots of great equipment as standard. But, it’s worth remembering that there’s a new performance Focus on the way, and the new Golf is based on a ground-up rebuild, with some stonking performance rumoured. But, the fact remains, this is the best-looking, best-performing Astra ever, and we love it.
