The reality that has always haunted Opel is the delay behind key rival, VW. Clearly, way behind on the market-share front, they need to pull something unique out the bag to compete.

The new Opel Astra has cool stuff like on-board computer and cruise control as standard features. And the overall appearance seems to be of a high standard, way ahead of anything they have done before. Especially the interior from a distance, looks to be pretty amazing.

Then again, the previous model was pretty far behind the rivaling Golf and also the BMW 1 Series which knocked the wind out of their sales.

My opinion is that they have just arrived, finally becoming a relative rival to the far more established brands. Honestly, it will need to be a killer drive to be worth it’s salt. And I plan to find that out soon enough…