Car of the week: Vauxhall Astra

Now there are two groups of people who drive a Vauxhall Astra. Boy Racers, who opt for the VXR models and try to fit the biggest concert-size speaker known to man in the car’s boot, and the elderly who line them up outside their old people’s home and forget they even have them.

Dan Boland

21/02/2026

2–3 minutes

There is no in between, it’s either simple and easy to use and smells of old people, or the smallest boiler room venue ever.

You can tell a lot about the UK’s population by the fact that, astoundingly, one in four British people have either owned or at least driven an Astra. We can therefore conclude that 25% of the British population is either an old person or a reckless youth.

The first generation of the Vauxhall Astra dates back to the 1980’s and paved the way for Vauxhall’s future. It was defined as a turning point for the company; not only was it Vauxhall’s first Front Wheel Drive car, but it also marked the start of Vauxhall’s rebranding of Opel’s cars.

After General Motors acquired both Vauxhall and Opel in the 1920s, they were run independently until the company decided to merge their product lines in the early 1970s. Therefore, when Vauxhall was designing a restyled version of the Opel Kadett D and General Motors was facing some financial difficulties, they cancelled its development and released the Astra, with the only difference being the car’s badge.

Since then, Vauxhall and Opel have released identical cars, with Vauxhall sold across UK markets and Opel across European markets.

But as a car, it flew off the shelves. Everywhere you went in the UK, you would find an Astra, and you still do. 4 million Astras were sold in the UK, with the majority of them actually being made down the road from me at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire. Which is interesting, as the first car you think about when you mention Cheshire is a footballer’s Range Rover, not a Vauxhall Astra.

But the car was technically interesting as well; it was one of the first Vauxhalls to feature an overhead-camshaft engine. It boosted the car brand’s prowess in power, economy, and refinement. The Astra was therefore fitted with an all-aluminium head, overhead camshaft and hydraulic valve lifters, which quickly became desired by consumers.

Top speed	115 mph
0-60	8.5 seconds
How many units were sold?	110,461
Cost when new	£3,404
Is there an overlap between the Astra’s two demographics?	How many grannies do you know who listen to drum and bass?

Vauxhall Astra mk1

The Vauxhall Astra is therefore our car of the week, as I saw someone drive an Astra with a collapsed rear suspension the other day, which I can only assume was the result of an industrial speaker bolted into the boot.

“Vauxhall Astra Rally” Taken by Daniel Boland