All the more so because the AH series Astra is slightly larger and heavier than the model it replaced, making it not only roomier, but also giving it a feeling of quietness and refinement. In fact, the refinement is almost as good as that of that of a large family car of a decade or so back, so trading down from a large car isn't as traumatic as it might have been.

Front seat space in the Holden Astra is fine thanks to the space-saving front-wheel drive. We found the seats support well, though there may be a little too much under-thigh support for those of shorter stature. Lateral support is good in the European manner and certainly helps when the driver is in the mood for a fast run along their favourite backroads.

Enthusiastic drivers will just love the way the Holden Astra holds to the road with a minimum of fuss. It has excellent feel through the steering wheel and answers commands to the throttle promptly and precisely.

Holden isn't doing as well in the sales race with its South Korean products as it would like, and may well be considering returning to its previous policy of sourcing cars from Europe where possible. Here’s hoping...

Legroom in the rear is marginal if those in the front want a lot of space. Moving the front seats forward a few notches on their runners improves legroom and means the Astra can be used as a full four-seater for adults, though probably only for short to medium running.

Ride comfort is generally very good, though some rough surfaces can set up a judder through the car at times.

The extra weight of the latest generation Astra means it doesn’t have quite the sprightly performance of the older smaller car. However, only the revheads are likely to notice this and less demanding drivers may be happy. In any case, can go for one of the sporting variants; Astra SRi is offered in both turbocharged and non-turbo versions and provides quite a bit more grunt.

The shape of the Astra works nicely, with the nose treatment being particularly neat and adding to its European flavour. The roof slopes down to the rear to improve high-speed aerodynamics, yet this doesn’t adversely affect rear seat headroom in the hatchback we recently tested. The large tail-lights also work well and give the rear of the small-medium Holden a look apart from other cars in the class.

Holden's Astra range is staggering in what’s on offer, being arguably available in more formats than anything else in the affordable vehicle class. Body types are five-door hatch, four-door sedan, five-door wagon and three-door coupe. The latter has a particularly impressive rear-end shape that looks very sporting, yet is more spacious in its back seat than you would anticipate when looking at the slope of the rear end. Topping out the Astra lineup is a convertible with a folding hardtop – the Astra TwinTop.

Engines all have four cylinders and are offered in naturally-aspirated petrol, turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel format and transmissions are five- or six-speed manual and four-speed auto. However, not all transmissions are available in every model.

We suggest a visit to your local Holden dealer to sort out the large number of permutations that are on offer. There's certainly something for just about everyone, but it's best to be safe by talking to an expert during your early stages of shopping around.

Our road test Holden Astra for the past week was of one of the mainstream models, a slightly upmarket Astra CDX with a 1.8-litre petrol engine and a four-speed automatic transmission. A choice that's popular amongst a lot of buyers.

Fuel consumption from the 1.8-litre engine was generally around eight to ten litres per hundred kilometres in country driving, rising to an acceptable 10 to 12 litres per hundred kilometres when working reasonably hard in city/suburban use. A manual gearbox would probably pull the consumption down by somewhere between five and ten percent. Manual Astras we have driven in the past have had a pleasant enough gear change action.

Overall build quality of the Holden Astra isn't quite to the very high standard of fully imported Japanese cars in this class, but is generally pretty good and we could find no faults worth mentioning on our test car.

We began this road test report by suggesting the Holden Astra may make an ideal economy car for those considering trading down from a Holden Commodore. But if you’re driving is generally done in harsh bush conditions then the big-six Commodore may still be a better bet. But other than that, the smaller car will do pretty well everything the average driver wants.

AT A GLANCE

2008 HOLDEN ASTRA

MODEL RANGE

CD 1.8-litre five-door hatch: $22,290 (manual), $24,290 (automatic)

CD 1.8-litre five-door wagon: $26,090 (automatic)

CDX 1.8-litre five-door hatch: $26,290 (manual), $28,290 (automatic)

CDX 1.8-litre five-door wagon - $29,790 (automatic)

CDTi 1.9-litre diesel five-door hatch: $29,290 (manual), $30,790 (automatic)

CDTi 1.9-litre diesel five-door wagon: $32,790 (automatic)

SRi 1.8-litre five-door hatch: $28,790 (manual), $30,790 (automatic)

SRi 1.8-litre three-door hatch: $28,790 (manual), $30,790 (automatic)

SRi Turbo 2.0-litre three-door hatch: $35,290 (manual)

TwinTop 2.2-litre two-door convertible: $45,790 (manual), $47,790 (automatic)

FEATURES

ABS Brakes: Standard in all models

Air Conditioning: Standard in all models

CD Player: Standard in all models

Central Locking: Standard in all models

Cruise Control: Package option in CD, standard in all other models

Dual Front Airbags: Standard in all models

Front Side Airbags: Standard in all models

Stability Control: Standard in all models

Traction Control: Standard in all models

SPECIFICATIONS (Holden Astra CDX 1.8-litre five-door hatch)

ENGINE:

Capacity: 1.796 litres

Configuration: Transverse, four cylinders in line

Head Design: DOHC, four valves per cylinder

Compression Ratio: 10.5:1

Bore/Stroke: 80.5 x 88.2 mm

Maximum Power: 90kW @ 5600rpm

Maximum Torque: 165Nm @ 3800rpm

DRIVELINE:

Driven Wheels: Front

Manual Transmission: Five-speed

Automatic Transmission: Four-speed

Final Drive Ratio: 3.94:1

DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES:

Length: 4249 mm

Wheelbase: 2614 mm

Width: 1753 mm

Height: 1460 mm

Turning Circle: 10.6 metres

Kerb Mass: 1249kg

Fuel Tank Capacity: 52 litres

Towing Ability: 630kg (1300kg with braked trailer)

SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:

Front Suspension: Independent, MacPherson struts, coil springs, anti-roll bar

Rear Suspension: Compound torsion beam, twin trailing arms, coil springs, anti-roll bar

Front Brakes: Ventilated disc

Rear Brakes: Disc

PERFORMANCE:

0-100 km/h Acceleration: 10.9 secs

Standing 400 Metres: 17.5 secs

FUEL CONSUMPTION:

Type: Petrol 91RON

Consumption - Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 7.8 L/100km

GREEN VEHICLE GUIDE RATINGS:

Greenhouse Rating: 6.5/10

Air Pollution Rating: 6.5/10

STANDARD WARRANTY:

Three years/100,000km