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Call it Euro Brash: 2008 Saturn Astra (Visit this link)
Europhiles are often miserable to discover, when they rent a car overseas, that some big old Detroit firms actually make terrific small cars with the lean, quick-twitch muscle fiber of a proper European. They just don't import them to the U.S. To its credit, GM has been changing that in recent years. The Saturn division is now the conduit for a raft of German-engineered products. The Saturn Astra is striking in the fact that none of the tensed ligaments and bunched muscle – the overall sense of ready athleticism – of the Euro-spec model has been relaxed for American consumption. This is a stiff, flat-cornering little road racer that is hugely entertaining to drive, even if it is just slightly, um, boisterous. The steering wheel is fat and heavy in your hands; the ratio is quick and the response off center immediate. Give it a little tug to the right or left and the car tacks instantly with big, biting turn-in. Pull the Astra into a long fast sweeper and the car takes a well-controlled set and just hangs on like crazy.
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