Ask me anything about the new Astra

[Uzzy]

But do it quick, and only ask me questions that I can answer by physically looking at the car.

Saturn of Windsor got their "demo" Astra for the staff to check out. They don't have it for long of course, and tomorrow (Saturday December 22nd 2007) I'll have a couple of hours to have my way with the car. I'll have digital camera of course, so if there's anything you want to see up close, ask me now, I'll make sure I get it. I'll be going around 9 or 10am EST.

I know from ssicarman's previous thread (which is now locked ) that the issue of the rear fogs is still unresolved. I'll check that out, but from talking to my friend that looked it over today and he said he didn't notice any

Anything else....

[SaturnSdn]

Locked.....................LOL. a good idea indeed.

[eRic 02sc2]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

But do it quick, and only ask me questions that I can answer by physically looking at the car.

Saturn of Windsor got their "demo" Astra for the staff to check out. They don't have it for long of course, and tomorrow (Saturday December 22nd 2007) I'll have a couple of hours to have my way with the car. I'll have digital camera of course, so if there's anything you want to see up close, ask me now, I'll make sure I get it. I'll be going around 9 or 10am EST.

I know from ssicarman's previous thread (which is now locked ) that the issue of the rear fogs is still unresolved. I'll check that out, but from talking to my friend that looked it over today and he said he didn't notice any

Anything else....

"demo" is short for demolition, eh make a run for the border?

I'd like to know the 0-100 km/h time and the top speed. oh and corning g's and 100-0 km/h braking distance.

[Uzzy]

Ok well I'm on my way. It better still be there, or I'm gonna be pissed!

[dm919]

If you can post a video of the 0-60 time that would be awesome.

[Uzzy]

The damn thing was in the show room! I couldn't take it for a ride and I didn't get that many pics, but I did find a few things out...news at 11(ish)

[Uzzy]

Ok, sorry, I don't have time to talk about everything right now, but I will later today. The pics are up in my Gallery. I will make one revelation, it has 5 cupholders, so quit, your b****ing.

[SaturnSdn]

Five cupholders..........I don't drink and drive, so I don't need five. Just one to drop change in.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by SaturnSdn

Five cupholders..........I don't drink and drive, so I don't need five. Just one to drop change in.

Well there's one in the center console near the rear, two built into the rear seat bottom and two built into the rear near the passener's foot well, which I too a picture of. Everyone was complaining that there was only one, like it was the end of humaity. There is also one in the glove box door, but those suck, so I didn't count it.

[GR898SL2]

Well, GM/Saturn did say the Great White North is getting the Astra first!

My dealer network is expecting its first batch just in time for the giant ball to drop in Times Square and ring in '08. The sales consultant I spoke with prefers the 5-speed over the automatic, but has always owned cars equipped with a manual transmission.

BTW, Uzzy, nice pictures!

[Uzzy]

OK so here is my impression of the new Saturn Astra, from my inspection in the showroom. There isn't a lot of room in the Saturn of Windsor showroom, so I didn't even take any exterior pics, but you all know that it looks like. And there was lots of people around, so I didn't get to check out everything quite everything like I wanted to.

The seats are awesome. The main reason I got rid of my S-series was the seats sucked so bad, it was getting to be painful to drive. I'm 6'2" and I could not sit comfortably for long. It was just too small of a car for me. This car had cloth seats with heated seats. I thought someone was complaining that you could not get those together in another Astra thread. ut there is not center arm rest. I got used to not having one in my SC1, but it's so much nicer having one again, in my truck. The seats also have a height adjustment feature and the recline is with tha dial, not the "pull a lever and fall in the back seat" type. These are better for adjustment, but the other kind are a little more convenient, I think. The rear seat backs don't fold completely flat.



The center stack and controls were nice. Far nicer than the last gen VUE, or the ION. I haven't been in too many Japanese cars, but I'd these bits are at leas on par with most of them. I'm not too sure how much I liked the info screen. Seemed like maybe too much was going on. I'm the type that might prefer a separate radio, but I think I could get used to the information screen.



As I stated above, there are 5 cupholders. (6 technically) The glove is the type where the door opens to two shelves, that were quite deep. Certainly more room than S-series glove boxes and even larger than the one in my Silverado. It is similar to my mom's 2005 VUE. The glove box door has a useless cup holder and a section to stick coins or tokens in vertically.



continued...

[Uzzy]

continued...

Next to the shifter, there was a button with a snow flake. I wasn't sure what it was for. There was a Traction Control button on the center stack, so that's not it. The power port is in the pictures I took and you have to plug things in vertically. I didn't like that, as some of those adaptors could interfere with the climate control knob mounted above it, I think.




The key fob is VW like with it's switchblade action and built in laser cut key. The detail is difficult to see in my pics, but the symbols are like || and |\ if you rotated those 90*. Another interesting thing is that the keys do not need to be in the ignition for the radio to work. As long as the keys are in the car, you can turn on and use the radio. I read on GMi, afterwards, that you can press the two button on the fob together and the windows will raise, or lower automatically. I would assume that these windows, then have an auto up feature, but I didn't know this, so I didn't check it out.



There are no rear fogs on this car from what I could tell. I wish the car had an owner's manual, but it didn't The head lights were very similar to the SKY with projectors that was parked next to it. This one had projectors as well. Somebody asked about flash to pass on GMi and I don't really know what that is, but think that's when the headlights stay on when you pull the turn signal arm back. This car did do that. That did not turn on the brights permanently either. I didn't figure out how to do that.



The steering wheel was nice and thick. Had a good feel to it. Far better than the S-series, ION or VUE steering wheels. The dash illumimation was ok, nothing great. I really like the look of my mom's 2005 VUE dash with the white faces and the bright red dials. This one had a orangish glow to it. The showroom was fairly bright, so I didn't get to see much of it. I did notice the dash lit up everytime I opened the door, along with the overhead light. There is a nifty little sunglasses holder where the driver's holy s*** handle would be. I've always got a few pairs of sunglasses in my car, so I like having those built in.



Well that's all I can think of right now. My post, might seem a little scatter brained, because I would go back and add stuff that I thought of while typing another paragraph...sorry

If you can think of anything I missed, let me know. Maybe I just forgot, or I might be able to go back on Monday.

[PaulGraz]

Good write-up and and pics, thanks!

I'm going to GUESS that the snowflake button is to put the traction control and/or transmission into Winter mode. I've seen other cars with this. Basically it puts the traction control into a more sensitive mode which is setup more to driving in snow. My daughter's 98 Volvo has a 3-button switch for this: Sport, Economy, and Winter. I've never been 100% sure if this changes the transmission, the traction control, or both. It'll be nice when we can check out the owners manual to be sure...

BTW - I think your "cloth seat" comment was for me - but that wasn't exactly my complaint. It seemed like there was a whole package of nice goodies bundled with the leather seats, that werent available outside of the package. (Such as leather wrapped steering wheel) But I did notice that cloth heated seats were a separate option.

I'm not sure I would call those side cubbies in the rear "cupholders", but they look very handy, and the 2 that pop out in the center should be more than sufficient for the rear passengers. I guess the folks in the front seat share that one in the middle?

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by PaulGraz

BTW - I think your "cloth seat" comment was for me - but that wasn't exactly my complaint. It seemed like there was a whole package of nice goodies bundled with the leather seats, that werent available outside of the package. (Such as leather wrapped steering wheel) But I did notice that cloth heated seats were a separate option.

Yes, that was it. Ok, when I read your earlier post, it sounded like coth heated seats were not available. They are.

Originally Posted by PaulGraz

I'm not sure I would call those side cubbies in the rear "cupholders", but they look very handy, and the 2 that pop out in the center should be more than sufficient for the rear passengers. I guess the folks in the front seat share that one in the middle?

They are cubbies, yes, but the front portion is defiantely shaped with the intention of it being a cup holder. Much like the doors pockets on the older U-body minivans and, I think the VUE was like that too, but maybe not. I would think the passenger can either hold their drink, or put it in the one in the back seat bottom. Or don't drink in my brand new car!

[AuraDrvr89]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

continued...




The key fob is VW like with it's switchblade action and built in laser cut key. The detail is difficult to see in my pics, but the symbols are like || and |\ if you rotated those 90*. Another interesting thing is that the keys do not need to be in the ignition for the radio to work. As long as the keys are in the car, you can turn on and use the radio. I read on GMi, afterwards, that you can press the two button on the fob together and the windows will raise, or lower automatically. I would assume that these windows, then have an auto up feature, but I didn't know this, so I didn't check it out.

There is something about this car that screams volkswagen to me... The key... The windows going up and down with the fob...

This car is just so European.. One thing is driving me nuts though... The guage cluster looks like a spiffed up version of a cobalt cluster...

This car is really growing on me.... It's beginning to be a problem. lol

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by HotIonDrvr89

This car is really growing on me.... It's beginning to be a problem. lol

One thing I know for sure is, I like it a lot more after seeing it in person.

[Xanatos]

Man I wish I would have seen this article!

I've heard both a yay and a nay on an auxiliary input for the audio system. I did a "Chat with a person" think on Saturn.com yesterday and they said it does indeed have on on the XR models (but not on XE). Are you able to confirm?

That's really the "deal breaker" at this point for me, because I cannot deal with no iPod or no XM hookup!

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by Xanatos

Man I wish I would have seen this article!

I've heard both a yay and a nay on an auxiliary input for the audio system. I did a "Chat with a person" think on Saturn.com yesterday and they said it does indeed have on on the XR models (but not on XE). Are you able to confirm?

That's really the "deal breaker" at this point for me, because I cannot deal with no iPod or no XM hookup!

I didn't notice. Hopefully I can get a chance to find out tomorrow.

Oh and another thing I forgot earlier as that the steering wheel is tilt and telescopic.

[Xanatos]

Thanks for finding out If you could take a picture of where it is located (if it actually exists!) that would be nice as well!

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by Xanatos

Thanks for finding out If you could take a picture of where it is located (if it actually exists!) that would be nice as well!

I took a close look at the pic of the center stack I took and I don't see anything. Might not be. I recently found out Best Buy carries a kit that you plug into your CD changer port on your factory deck and you can plug an iPod into. It's like $90 CDN though.