Amazon and its board, including founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, are being sued by an institutional investor over hefty launch contracts the company awarded to Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin.Image Credits: Apollo Fusion More news from across TC As we noted in the car’s international launch, don’t be fooled by the sporty badge: the Astra GSe isn’t.An Apollo Fusion thruster. Sure, maybe I’m being a cynic and there will be buyers who truly want an Astra GSe, but to me, it feels like a missed opportunity, and translates as more of a top-end trim level rather than the debut model in a new electric performance brand. It will be one who sets out to buy a true hot hatch – like the above mentioned – but after totting up the tax, commuting fuel cost (even with a quick hoon, it averaged around 40mpg – and will do even more in hybrid and full-electric modes), and the dreaded insurance bands, the Vauxhall becomes the much more affordable option. That’s because that buyer will be one who will most likely be settling rather than choosing. What is the point of this car? It feels confused, but maybe that’s unfair, especially when the buyer of this car is considered.
The GSe is still not cheap, mind, but it's better value than the equivalent Volkswagen Golf GTE, Peugeot 308 or Cupra Leon hybrid. It’s not horrendous by any means, just a tad on the noticeable side.Īs it stands, the GSe is only £150 more expensive than the similarly equipped but slower 180 Hybrid Ultimate, which renders the latter slightly redundant. Yet, this new stiffened set-up means it loses its soft, comfortable nature in normal driving, feeling harder than the standard car. It takes corners well, aided by this pleasingly direct steering, which leaves a satisfying, rather than excited, feeling. With the chassis tweaked for stiffness and steering tightened compared to the standard car, the GSe feels at home on British B-roads – especially with Sport mode enabled, which weights the wheel and keeps the engine primed.
#Astra cms plus
This might all sound disappointing, and if you were hoping for a more ecologically responsible VXR successor, it will be.īut, there are plus points: on the road, it pulls well. Although it doesn't have a plethora of power, it’s nice to know you can deploy it all without ending up on a speed awareness course. Visually, it’s marked out as the GSe by unique 18in alloy wheels, a unique front bumper and a black roof.īilled as Vauxhall’s answer to the Volkswagen Golf GTE, it delivers nippy-ish performance, sprinting to 62mph from standing in 7.5sec (compared to the Golf’s 6.7sec) and pushes all the way to 146mph.
#Astra cms driver
Standard equipment is also pretty generous, with a head-up display, matrix LED headlights, wireless charging and a suite of driver assistance features. The Astra GSe sits above the Astra Hybrid 180 in the range and additionally gets a more dynamic suspension set-up, with a 10mm-lower ride height, Koni frequency-selective dampers and a more permissive stability control system. An eight-speed automatic ‘box – which sadly doesn’t hold onto manually selected gears long enough - sends this to the front wheels. What that means is the same 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine (assisted by a 107bhp electric motor and 9.9kWh battery) as found in the standard 178bhp Astra PHEV, but now uprated to 222bhp. In a different approach, the British marque has instead launched GSe with a hatch powered partly by dinosaurs with a sprinkling of electrical aid. So, an electric hot hatch then to kick off the named “electric” subbrand? Nope, you’d be wrong there.
0 kommentar(er)
