Other than that everything is spot on, the day before my service I went on some training, set my cruise control and although I had 16 miles of roadworks (50 MPH limit) I cruised at Motorway speed all the way.
For the journey I achieved an amazing MPG, it was actually 89.3 when I pulled in to Tesco for some fuel, but then I drove 4 miles in stop/start rush hour traffic (which dropped it a little by the time I got to my destination) - I had my stop/start turned off which is the main reason it dropped a little.
I find it very easy to achieve high MPG in the Astra, I chose not to have another 1 Series BMW simply because of the issues I had getting simple things like Windscreen wipers and bulbs, the BMW was a fantastic drive, it's all about the driver experience, the reality as well was that it had almost no gadgets apart from fog lights and a speed limiter.
My company monthly allowance meant I could get the Astra SRi and the extras (AGR front seats, Keyless entry/start, Advanced parking pack and Dual zone climate control) all in my monthly budget.
My BMW over it's lifetime returned an average 49.8 MPG which was much better than my Avensis or Passat (they were closer to 36.6 MPG), the Astra is returning 59.9 as it's average - I noticed the BMW difference with fewer trips to the pump, the Astra is in another league as I'm doubling my range from the previous diesel days.
For me the cruise control in the Astra is the best I've used, while I've no doubt there are many that are better I'm sure there is a higher number that are worse, I can drop onto the Motorway and drive totally by my left thumb on the speed adjustment, the speed limiter works great as well, much easier to use both than my wifes Jeep Renegade.
Sat Nav and the on board info system is a breeze, I can alter all my settings like door locks, lights on, warning alerts etc. all from the menus and also from the driver display.
The irony of the Astra was I chose to test drive it to prove they were still rubbish cars, previous Astra's I've had were OK but nothing special compared to competitors, I found my last SRi Astra very heavy, cumbersome around bends and if you prodded the sport button the torque steer tended to favour pulling you into the nearest hedge, as with my Vectra's, Avensis and Passat, I found torque steer was always present and you often drove long distances with your left or right hand gently pulling in one direction to counteract this.
When I took the Astra on a test drive the first thing I noticed was how light it felt, the car went into bends almost identical to the 1 Series, it left cleanly and with plenty of energy, when I checked the spec I noticed the weight had been trimmed by almost 700 Kg, I then noticed no torque steer even under hard acceleration, the sport button behaved very much like the 1 Series, it responded quickly and gave a nice boost.
While testing it I noticed more internal room, more elbow and leg room a nice big info screen and all the gadgets I needed.
There are simple things that I like, such as, I'm driving along and notice no street signs, the speed limit is always in the driver display, it's rarely wrong and if I'm on the motorway and an overhead sign lights up it reads that and immediately alters the limit in the driver display.
The auto wipers and headlights, I can take or leave them but it is handy when a car or lorry splashes water as it passes or a sudden shower hits you, no need to do anything - they pop on and I have the option of disabling them in the info system if I want, the auto headlights mean I've never turned them on or off since I've owned the car.
I get an email from the car every month, telling me any problems, tyre pressures (which I can see in my driver display or on my mobile phone) as well, I can also see my mpg, journey information, oil consumption etc.
On the whole I'm totally pleased with the K series, Vauxhall were exceptional when it came to my test drive, calling ahead, dropping exactly the spec I requested, offering to explain all the controls and generally making the test drive experience a thorough 10/10 - I will add that this is also my experience of BMW, I felt totally relaxed, under no pressure but free to explore the car and ask questions.
I've driven Motorway, country roads daily and several trips over the mountains, I've even had 4 adults in and a very heavy invalid scooter and it's never skipped a beat, the handling was the same regardless, the little 1.6 Diesel performed perfectly, nice and brisk when pulling off, in town or tight country roads, effortless cruising on the motorway, it almost needs a 7th gear it's so effortless.
The BMW was a great cruising engine with it's light 1.6 Diesel, the Astra just takes this to the next level, it mops up motorway miles, is quieter than the BMW and you often have to check the rev counter to know the engine is running.
I find the steering is very close to the BMW experience, both are electric (the Astra has lane assist as well) it's light but has enough feel to it that you're not isolated from the experience, the BMW had a tiny bit more feedback, but I find the Astra is superb, on the motorway it's stable and a very easy drive, on country roads it's very close to the BMW drive, nimble and light, responsive and it feels nice and tight, the car is very well balanced - and that's without pressing the sport button.
I found over the mountains the Astra drove easier and more relaxed than the BMW, the bends and straights were great, a whoosh down the straights, a dive into the bends and not even the slightest hint of under steer or wobble, top marks to Vauxhall for engineering without doubt the best Vauxhall I've driven and if not the best car I've driven in 36 years its the second best - perhaps it's easier to say it's equal 1st place. Even my wife (who loves her Jeep) admits (reluctantly) that it's a much better drive than her Jeep (and my cruise control is much easier to use).
I recently drove an SRi 1.4 Corsa and hated the experience, the driver pedals felt like a childs Go-Kart, the steering was exceptionally light and felt totally detached from the front wheels, it needed a good push on the accelerator to get it moving and the interior (buttons, dials etc.) felt cheap and poorly designed, the A/C button was a tiny button almost at your furthest reach, no decals to make it easy to see what it was, a small red LED illuminated a logo when you pressed it, it would hardly have taken any effort to make the button easier to read and use.
The driver info display (in between the Speedo and Tacho) was a mangled array of "things", none seemed to do anything, the Astra info display is clean and clear - if I'm a safe distance behind a car my display shows a green car, get a little close and it's yellow, get too close and it's red (plus my collision detection starts to get a little touchy), the Corsa just had a slowly flashing car symbol - no idea what that means.
If I was Vauxhall I would have put the same display as the Astra across the range, it's much cleaner and useful.
Perhaps my only gripe is the stop/start, the Diesel drops the engine into standby when your are pulling to a stop, it remains in standby while you hold your foot on the brake - the BMW only worked when you were stationary (and in neutral with the handbrake on), in some ways I prefer the BMW one but I've learnt to use the Astra one, I just don't like sitting in traffic with my brake lights blazing into the eyes of the driver behind me, I feel like many automatic drivers who sit at a red light holding the brake pedal.
It's not the greatest of gripes and most of the time I'm on the Motorway anyway, apart from the possible blind spot sensor fault it's been a great 12 months.
I chose not to continue my Onstar subscription, the price wasn't too bad but you also need a data subscription with Vodafone, if it had been a simple combined package then I'm sure I would have continued it - I still get engine data and other metrics sent to me on email each month, the only feature I've lost is the on board Wifi (all our phones have data anyway) and the ability to send a Sat Nav location directly to the car.
Perhaps the only feature I've not used a lot is the auto parking, I tend to use the great reversing camera, it's got trajectory markings which means you can park in a jiffy, the auto park works well, I've parked in some tight spots with ease, it parallel parks, 90 degree parks and you can park left (by default) or put the right hand indicator on to park on the offside. it works great.
It's just that day to day I normally arrive at work in an empty car park so it's not needed, at weekends I normally let my wife drive and we rarely need the feature in supermarkets etc.
If you order the pack you get front and rear sensors (which are very well engineered - top marks on these - I found them invaluable in odd shaped car parks like Matlock, they also work while your stationary at lights etc.), you also get the auto park feature and rear camera, if I have another Astra in the future I'll definitely want this pack added.
