What's the news?
The new Opel Astra Sports Tourer (that's estate to you and I) will make its debut alongside the new Astra hatchback at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week. As much s 200kg lighter than the outgoing Astra Tourer, it comes with an engine range that runs the gamut form 95hp all the way up to 200hp, that top figure being provided by a new direct-injection 1.6 petrol turbo that's also being shown off for the first time at Frankfurt.
Space in the car has been improved, and Opel says with the back seats folded flat, up to 1,630 litres of luggage or cargo space is created. There's 26mm more headroom in the front and 28mm more legroom in the back, too. The rear seats can split-fork in 40:20:40 layout and there's the option of a clever FlexOrganiser luggage space divider. There's also an optional powered tailgate with a kick-the-bumper sensor so that it can open it when your hands are full.
There's also the option of a lot of high-tech toys. The new Astra Sports Tourer will be available with Opel's OnStar communications and connectively technology, as well as a big touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, clever LED lights and a bevy of safety kit including an auto-braking system that can slam on the anchors and stop the car from speeds of up to 40km/h should it detect an imminent collision, with either car or pedestrian.
"Our new Astra Sports Tourer and our new Astra hatchback - they are two sides of the same coin. Both represent a quantum leap for Opel and for the compact class. Apart from offering ultramodern connectivity and evolutionary design, the station wagon version focuses even more on efficiency," said Opel Group CEO Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann. "Our Sports Tourer is the perfect combination of practicality and dynamism: more space, less weight and in addition clever, trendsetting equipment details and features such as the power tailgate that opens and closes automatically with a little kick of the foot. This is how compact class station wagons should be nowadays."