Used Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer 2010-2015 review

Among family estate cars, the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer stays true to its maker’s hallmarks of mass-market appeal, ease of use and good value.

If we are being picky - and due to the talents of its rivals, we think that’s justified - we’d say there are a number of areas it could be better. But for the money, the Astra Sports Tourer is a sound used buy.

The main reason why most people go for an estate car is boot space, and the Astra Sports Tourer scores well here, being more spacious than its peers, and even outdoing Vauxhall's larger Insignia Sports Tourer in terms of capacity with the rear seats folded down.

The Astra also gains points for its use of that space, as there is a small cubbyhole under its boot floor to secure valuable items like laptops and tablets, and buyers could even specify a neat system to divide the boot floor up by using a rail-mounted net. Then, when you do need to fold the rear seats down, they lie completely flat, which is really useful when you're loading longer items.

The rest of the interior is also spacious; not as much in the rear as rivals like the Volkswagen Golf Estate, but there's lots of room in the front. The front seats also have plenty of adjustment, especially if the car is fitted with sports seats.

There are a few too many buttons on the Astra Sports Tourer's dashboard, which means the infotainment isn’t quite as easy to use as rival systems. It’s also quite dark inside, with thick windscreen pillars blocking the light coming in and also obscure your view out.

The driving experience lets the Astra Sports Tourer down, and it isn’t a patch on the Golf Estate, let alone the scintillating Ford Focus Estate. Vauxhall fitted a more advanced rear suspension to this generation of Astra, but it doesn’t help it to outhandle its contemporaries. The ride, at least, is comfortable; in short, the Astra Sports Tourer is tuned to cope well with potholes and speed bumps rather than to be fun on a winding B-road.

You can get quite a lot of car for your budget, because there are plenty of used Astra Sports Tourers to choose from. Really high-mileage diesels from 2010 can cost as little as £2000. Reduce the milage to 50,000 or less and you can find 1.3 CDTis for £4000, or 1.7 and 2.0 CDTis for £6000. The facelifted car with the newer 1.6 CDTi engine will cost you around £7000.

If you need a petrol Astra Sports Tourer, be prepared to have to search more for one, because the majority sold were diesels. For a 1.6-litre petrol, you'll need around £5000. There was also a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol, but it was only available for a short period of time, so they are rare on the used market.

The Astra Sports Tourer offers a number of efficient and cheap-to-run engines . Earlier cars are slightly more expensive to tax than their later incarnations. The 1.3 CDTi costs £20 to tax and can return 68.9mpg, while 123bhp 1.7 CDTi and 163bhp 2.0 CDTi versions cost £115 per year in road tax and claim 62.8mpg and 60.1mpg respectively.

Later, facelifted Astra Sports Tourers were fitted with the new 1.6 CDTi diesel engine, which reduced the road tax and fuel consumption figures. They come in two different power outputs; the 108bhp version is exempt from road tax and records 76.3mpg, while the 134bhp one will cost £20 and averages a claimed 72.4mpg.

The petrol engine range is smaller than the diesel range, with the most prevalent being the 1.6 VVT. In manual form. This achieves 44.1mpg and costs £150 per year to tax. The 1.6 is also available with an automatic gearbox, which increases running costs to 39.2mpg (38.2mpg for higher-specification versions) and £220 per year in road tax.

You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to engines for the Astra Sports Tourer, from a low-powered 1.3 diesel to a 192bhp 2.0 diesel. There are also naturally aspirated 1.4 and 1.6 petrols and a turbocharged 1.4.

We recommend the 1.6 petrol if you do most of your driving around town, because it's a great compromise of pace and efficiency. It also has more power and torque than the 1.4 – something you'll need if you plan on lugging lots of heavy stuff.

If you plan to cover lots of miles, choose the 1.6 diesel. This is flexible and efficient much more refined than the 2.0.

Tech Line trim has most of the standard kit you’ll need, including air conditioning, electric front windows, cruise control, 16in alloys, a CD player, sat-nav, a USB port, Bluetooth and a DAB radio.

If you want your Astra Sports Tourer to look a bit sportier, there's SRi trim, which comes with 17in alloys and performance-inspired bits of interior trim.

Our favourite Astra Sports Tourer: 1.6 CDTi Tech Line

The Focus Estate is much better to drive than the rest of its classmates, but it doesn’t have the best interior in terms of quality or infotainment. Its boot is also smaller than the class norm.

The Golf Estate is a classy load lugger. It drives with a great sense of stability, especially on the motorway, and has a comfortable ride. It also provides all occupants with plenty of space. The problem is getting hold of one, because Golf hatchbacks outnumber estates by about 10 to one. It will also be quite a bit more expensive to buy, partly due to its rarity, but also because of its premium badge.

To think of the Seat Leon ST as a budget alternative to a Volkswagen would be to sell it short. It's equally as practical as the Golf Estate and can often be found in a higher specification. It offers a better interior than the Astra Sports Tourer, even if it is a little bland. It has a firmer ride, though, because Seat is a sportier brand.

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