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Once considered GM's best hope for fighting the Japanese small-car invasion, Saturn's cars have grown larger and more expensive while its customer base has grown older and more conservative. To get back in the groove, the company has borrowed a popular European brand to replace the aging and bland Ion. The 2008 Saturn Astra may be new to us, but this version has been a hot seller in Europe for over four years. Saturn hopes the reasonably-priced Astra will once again put it on the shopping list o...

Matt Pillow, sales manager at Saturn of Hartford, says the Astra's reception in Greater Hartford has been extremely positive. "It is a great new face of our store and the brand," he said. The Astra comes in two body styles and two trim levels. The basic XE is offered only in the five-door hatchback model. The better-equipped XR is available in the three-door or five-door version. "Right now, I'd have to say that it is 60/40 in favor of the five-door," Pillow said of buyer preferences. "It's abou...

Brian Harper from the Canwest News Service: Saturn is on borrowed time as a General Motors brand, jettisoned along with Pontiac, Hummer and Saab by the automotive giant. This is a crying shame because Saturn's lineup, after a couple of decades of corporate indifference, comprises an eclectic mix of interesting and entertaining vehicles. The Astra might be the brand's least expensive product, but it's also one of the most impressive. This European-derived subcompact (thank GM's Opel division) mad...

Here in San Francisco Saturn held a combined retailer/consumer product event for the Astra. Retailers were allowed to drive the Astra during the day and consumers got their turn at night.

The soul of the Astra is a 138-horsepower four-banger. While we've seen several automakers bumping displacement of their compacts from 2.0 liters to something in the 2.3- to 2.5-liter range recently, Saturn seems content to buck the trend by moving backward to a 1.8. Even if it means Saturn can't win the spec sheet wars, the engine still impresses with its willingness to do what you want and expect of it. The Ecotec is ready to rev and is responsive in the 3,000-to-5,000-rpm arena, while the exh...

The Saturn Astra has been popular in Europe for several years, under GM's Opel brand. Introduced to North America this year, it replaces the unpopular Saturn Ion. The Astra has smart styling inside and out, with an interior that feels more upscale than other vehicles in this price range, including contoured seats with real side bolsters that feel solid. Maybe it's the European heritage. The five-door model has more trunk space than the three-door, and in both models the rear seats fold down for ...

Saturn is bringing a new compact model based on a European model to North America. The Astra is Saturn's version of General Motors' Opel Astra, and GM has announced plans to sell a five-door sedan and three-door coupe here. The Astra is nearly an inch longer , and 1.7 inches wider than the compact Chevrolet Aveo five-door, and it has more interior space.

The Astra, essentially the same car sold as an Opel Astra in Europe and assembled in Antwerp, Belgium, replaces the Ion as Saturn's price leader, but beyond that, there is no comparison. The Astra comes to the United States in three- and five-door hatchback configurations (versus the Ion sedan and coupe models) and provides spirited Euro-engineered underpinnings that skew to go-kart versus golf cart.

One letter. On paper, only one letter separates Frankfort, Ohio from Frankfurt, Germany. In reality, the two cities could not be more different. One is a small town with a blue-collar population of 1,045; the other is a true international city of 650,000 with industries ranging from biotechnology to banking. Regardless, General Motors is betting the same small car will play in both places. The car is the Astra, and history supports the theory. "We sell the Astra everywhere," says Michael Harder ...

Google has begun scanning the streets of Paris, gathering data for its Street View service, which adds street-level photography to the satellite views offered by Google Maps. The search company will gather a wealth of data from the project but, thanks to France's strict privacy laws, it may also pick up a few lawsuits on the way if it chooses to publish the photos unedited. Two Google employees were spotted on the Western outskirts of Paris on Friday as they mounted a sophisticated array of came...

The new 2008 Astra is a European-bred car from GM’s Saturn brand. It comes in two flavors: two-door hatchback and four-door hatchback. It gets its power from a 1.8-liter four-cylinder that spins out 138 horsepower and 125 pound-feet of torque. The sweet-revving four-cylinder teams well with a five-speed manual that offers a light-touch clutch; there’s a four-speed automatic offered as well. The Astra's ride feels Euro-tuned, with electronic power steering and strong brakes. The Astra has fea...

The drawback with most economical compact cars is that they look, well, economical. Or worse, cute. The 2008 Saturn Astra, on the other hand, offers striking styling that will turn some heads. The sportiness isn't just skin deep. The Astra, built in Europe where it's sold wearing the Opel badge, is solid to drive thanks to taut steering and a tight suspension. The interior is well-built, but retains some of the European quirks of the Opel. There is a single front-seat cupholder, for example. And...

To modify the Astra for U.S. tastes, GM did just the minimum to meed federal regulations - the headlights, fuel tank, and front and rear fascias were redesigned to meet U.S. standards. Beyond that, however, transforming the Saturn back into the Opel can be done by switching a total of three badges - one each on the grille, steering wheel, and tailgate. The nifty on-board computer even retains the capability for 13 various languages, including German, Dutch, and Spanish.

Inside, the soft-touch materials are very good and the fit and finish is up there with the Astra's Japanese competition. Considering its station in life, the Astra is rich. The driving position is also very good. The seats are bolstered but do not confine, the tilt/telescopic steering wheel has a pleasant heft in the hand and the pedal setup promotes heel/toe shifting.

Jill Ciminillo, Autos Editor for the Chicago Sun Times: Cashing in on the current Euro styling trend, GM brought it’s Opel Astra to the U.S. under the guise of the Saturn Astra. Not much changed between the two models except the badging, which makes the Astra a bit of a departure from the run-of-the-mill GM lineup … And I liked it. Available as three- and five-door models, the Astra is compact, affordable, functional and fuel efficient. It also happens to be peppy, attractive and fun-to-driv...