That Vauxhall raised its game with the latest Astra is not in doubt. In almost every area of its design, huge strides forward have been made. The problem for Vauxhall was that huge strides forward were needed. Family hatchback buyers are a lot more demanding than they used to be. And the competition is frighteningly good.

Not good enough to prevent the company claiming class leadership for its strong-selling family hatchback however. The development objectives for the car were uncompromising; it had to be a quality benchmark in the class. Better than the latest VW Golf. Better than a Mercedes A-class. And above all, better than the latest version of the all-conquering Ford Focus. A tough call, certainly but few would argue that Vauxhall hasn't come close.

But how close? To find the answer, you need to go straight to the heart of the latest range where lie the 125bhp 1.8-litre petrol models, priced from £14,115 in five-door Life form or around £1,000 more for an estate. There's also a three-door Sport Hatch version priced from £15,965.

This powerplant may have its work cut out with a pair of decidedly more modern engines introduced to flank it in the range. The 114bhp petrol 1.6 and the 180bhp 1.6-litre turbo option both make strong cases for themselves on grounds of performance and economy but if you need something somewhere in between, the 1.8-litre unit is it.

A line-up of advanced diesel engines is also available, which centres around willing but not overly rapid 1.3-litre 90 and 1.7-litre 100bhp options. Vauxhall has developed 120bhp and 150bhp 1.9 diesel options for this car of course - but they are a little pricey, a fee you're not likely to recoup until you habitually clock up a huge mileage. Even a 100bhp diesel variant is close to £1,000 more than the comparable petrol 1.8, model for model. So, 1.8-litre petrol motoring it probably is then, if Astra motoring becomes your choice or destiny.

"You don't need to go very far to realise that you're at the wheel of an uncommonly well-engineered car."

Vauxhall has tweaked the latest Astra's cosmetics a little, with sharper-looking front and rear lights, a revised front bumper, more chrome splashed about the grille and the choice of piano black or matt chrome interior finishing. Sport Hatch models also get a honeycomb front grille.

There a decent choice of bodystyles, with five-door and estates available and the three-door Sport Hatch for younger buyers. Trim levels in five-door form range from entry-level Life to Club, Design, plush Elite and 'sporty' SRi. Equipment levels are strong, the Life being fitted with twin front and side airbags, ABS, remote central locking, a CD stereo and air conditioning. Opt for the Club and you'll also get 15-inch alloy wheels, curtain airbags, body coloured addenda and audio controls on the steering wheel amongst other niceties. The Design variant gets treated to alloy wheels an inch bigger, sports front seats with leather bolsters and hide trim on the steering wheel, an MP3 compatible stereo and sophisticated electronic functions such as rain sensitive wipers and a Driver Info Centre with trip computer. Quite a step up in trim for the ardent button presser! The Elite model is fully leathered, gets electric folding door mirrors, cruise control, a rather interesting 40/20/40 split folding rear seat and electronic climate control. As befits its sporting nature, the SRi features lowered suspension, sports seats, sports instruments, front fog lights and a matt chromed centre console.

All 1.8-litre models manage the benchmark rest to sixty sprint in under ten seconds on the way to a maximum of 123mph. For SRi customers, that's 12mph and 1.4 seconds down on the equivalent 2.0T model, in return for a £2,000 sticker price saving: sounds fair enough to us. Fuel consumption hovers at around the 36mpg mark - as opposed to 31mpg for the 2.0T and about 56mpg for the diesels. You pays your money.

On the road, you don't need to go very far to realise that you're at the wheel of an uncommonly well-engineered car. One thing that Vauxhall trust will be immediately apparent is the Astra's ride quality courtesy of an advanced suspension system. It's the first car in its class to feature Continuous Damping Control (CDC), electronically controlled shock absorbers that continuously adapt to the road surface and the driver's style. It's all part of what Vauxhall dub the Astra's 'Interactive Driving System' (IDS) that can integrate all of the electronic functions in a way that's a good deal cleverer that you might think. For example, the ESP stability control system now beefs up the damper forces first before applying the brakes to the front wheels during extreme cornering manoeuvres making for a more sensitive and less intrusive intervention. Upspec models also feature a 'Sport' button so that the suspension settings, accelerator and steering response can easily be adapted to the mood of a driver. It's something we've become used to on premium sports cars but not on a family hatchback. Despite all of these high tech touches, the Astra still uses a relatively simple beam axle at the back instead of the sophisticated multi-link layouts used by Volkswagen and Ford.

The forgettable styling that has historically characterised this car has also been banished. Vauxhall's bland effort last time round with this model range cost them dear when the dynamically-styled Ford Focus was subsequently launched. "That Astra was the answer to my prayers", one Ford marketing man told me at the time. The men from the Blue Oval are unlikely to be as smugly self-satisfied this time around.

That's not to say that practicality has been sacrificed at the altar of styling. Clever packaging and a long wheelbase have helped to maximise the car's interior space, helped in no small part by the fact that the exterior tale of the tape shows the Astra is one of the biggest cars in it's class. That sloping roofline looks as if it'll pinch rear headroom but look a little closer and you'll notice the sloping line that catches the eye is but a chamfer and the actual roofline arcs higher. Rear headroom is in fact better than the old-shape car and legroom and shoulder room is in another league. A Vauxhall spokesman claimed that the interior of the new Astra fitted like a glove, but as few people we know are shaped like hands, this would seem to present certain problems. Not so. Big doors and surprisingly upright side windows give an airy feel to the interior, although anybody familiar with the look and feel of the latest Vectra's cabin won't find much to excite them with the Astra's fascia.

Overall, this Astra is a hard car not to like, particularly in this 1.8-litre petrol guise. Don't buy a VW Golf or a Ford Focus until you've driven it.

TOP 5 ASTRA DEALS

The results below show the top ASTRA deals on buyacar

	Vauxhall Astra 1.8i VVT Design 3dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £219	Saving £4,474	Price £11,885
	Vauxhall Astra 1.8i VVT Design 5dr Auto Estate
	ETR	Mthly £264	Saving £5,069	Price £13,234
	Vauxhall Astra 1.8i VVT SRi 3dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £221	Saving £4,575	Price £12,107
	Vauxhall Astra 1.8 VVT Sport 2dr twintop Convertible
	ETR	Mthly £310	Saving £3,002	Price £16,117
	Vauxhall Astra 1.8i VVT Design 5dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £229	Saving £4,474	Price £11,885

typical 12.44% APR

PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000