Road Test: Opel Astra GTC 2.0 CDTI 165 Sport

Price as tested: €25,495

+ Gorgeous styling, spacious, excellent chassis (with FlexRide), well priced
– Grumbly diesel engine, inert steering
= Best Astra ever

So the question, before we even get started, is; who will buy a coupe in 2012 Ireland? In the heyday of the now-defunct Celtic Tiger, the Opel Astra Sport Hatch (as the previous, slinky, three-door coupe Astra was known) sold like the proverbial heated cakes, making up around a third of Irish Astra sales, when the European average was around 15%.

Now though? Who can say? Opel is making the relatively sensible prediction of “less than 1,000” sales of its new Astra GTC coupe in Ireland next year, which seems a bit of a lo-ball figure for a car as good looking as this.

Being good looking is for a coupe as much of a raison d’etre as it is for Derek Zoolander, and the Astra GTC certainly hits its glamour marks spot on. The standard Astra 5-door hatch is hardly ugly, but this coupe version is really very handsome. 15mm lower, 40mm wider and 10mm longer in the wheelbase, the GTC looks low, lean and very tasty. Some will still prefer the more understated charms of its closest rival, the VW Scirocco, but it’s a clear nose in front, to these eyes, of the over-styled Renault Megane Coupe. It is a bit colour sensitive though. Yellow looks awful. ‘Mineral White,’ which is actually more of a matte pale grey, looks gorgeous on a sunny day, but will likely look dreary and washed out under Irish drizzle. Better stick with red.

It shares only three exterior components with the more family-friendly five-door; the radio aerial, the door handle and the door mirror. While you’d hardly mistake it for any other family line, the two cars are actually radically different. Even underneath, they diverge. The basic mechanical package is the same, but the GTC ditches the 5-door’s conventional McPherson strut front suspension in favour of the much more sophisticated, and expensive, GM-designed HiPer Strut. In simple terms, the HiPer strut is there to make the GTC drive with a great deal more verve than the 5-door Astra.

And it does so. Oddly, it’s rather lacking in true sporting sensations. A car so ground-hugging as this, you would assume, would be rather more direct and to the point about its sportiness. But the Astra GTC instead impresses initially with a healthy dose of refinement and comfort. Lower and stiffer the suspension may be, but the combination of HiPer struts and the optional electronic FlexRide dampers means that the GTC rides with a firm calmness that belies its hot hatch looks. In fact, it feels more like a big, comfy GT car at first.

Show it some corners, and it reacts well. The electric power steering robs you of true road feel (whatever the engineers may claim) but there is excellent grip, sharp turn in and real poise to be found. Keen drivers won’t be disappointed, even if ultimately they would be better served in the Scirocco.

One area where the GTC notably lags behind its rivals is in the engine department. The range topping engine, at least until the 280bhp turbocharged OPC high-performance variant arrives next year, is the 165bhp 2.0- CDTI diesel. With 380Nm of torque working its way through the front wheels, it never feels slow, and its on-paper 0-100kmh time of 8.9secs simply doesn’t reflect its muscular in-gear acceleration feel. The claimed fuel consumption figure of 4.8-litres per 100km and the Co2 emissions of 127g/km mean that even this range-topper will not be too expensive to run. But boy, is it noisy. There’s a constant obviously diesel clatter at low rpm that never really goes away, until it is drowned out by wind and tyre noise at motorway cruising speeds. Even then, the slightest touch of the throttle pedal will have it grumbling away to itself, and a distant turbo whistle, that sounds disconcertingly like a far-off ambulance siren, makes itself known at urban speeds.

At least the cabin plays a strong hand. With a layout and switchgear lifted straight from the impressive Insignia saloon, it could hardly do otherwise and everything looks and feels much more expensive than the entry price of €22,995 (for the 1.4T 120bhp petrol) would have you think. There’s even decent space in the back and boot; Opel engineers’ struggles to make the GTC as practical and useable as the 5-door paying, mostly, off.

So, as we asked when we came in, who will buy it? Younger buyers, drawn by its enticing looks and sporty promise, will likely not be able to afford it, or at least not be able to raise sufficient credit. Older buyers, able to pay the sticker price, will probably shun it in favour of a bigger, more practical Insignia. Which leaves the Astra GTC in an unfortunate middle ground.

Its clever front suspension and sharp-edged looks mean it’s without question the most impressive of the current Astra range. It’s not quite as satisfying to drive as an equivalent Scirocco, but is far cheaper. It’s more expensive than a Megane Coupe, but far more powerful and overtly sporting. Fix the diesel engine’s refinement and engineer a touch more feel into the steering and it could be a world-beater. But, their hands forced by economic realities, few enough buyers will ever realise what a good car it is.


Facts & Figures

Opel Astra GTC 2.0 CDTI 165 Sport
Price as tested: €25,495
Range price: €22,995 to €30,495
Capacity: 1,956cc
Power: 165bhp
Torque: 380Nm
Top speed: 210kmh
0-100kmh: 8.9sec
Economy: 5.9l-100km (58.8mpg)
CO2 emissions: 127g/km
VRT Band: B. €156 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested