Hasn't the Vauxhall Astra changed? If it hadn't been for the badge on this latest version, I'd never have guessed it to be a Vauxhall. But then, this brand has been reinventing itself over the last few years. Not long ago, no chic woman about town would have been seen dead in anything with a Griffin badge on the front. No longer. The latest Tigra coupe/convertible, the Monaro coupe, the VX220 roadster - even the family Vectra and Signum models - all helped to transform the brand. The latest Astra is another car from Luton that does just that. The swoopy lines of this Family Hatchback promise an involving driving experience that doesn't disappoint. We'll get on to that in a minute. Prior to driving however, you want a car that looks good on the driveway - and this one does. In the design phase, the car had to pass what's apparently called the '100 yard' test. A large percentage of the buying decision, it seems, comes about in the first 100 yards of any given test drive and the Astra had to make the driver feel instantly at home and comfortable with the controls, impressing through sheer ease of use. Take note, BMW. Vauxhall has tweaked the 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.

I'm told that clever packaging and a long wheelbase have helped to maximise the Astra's interior space. There's certainly no doubt that the Astra is one of the biggest cars in it's class. I thought that sloping roofline would pinch rear headroom but on closer inspection, I found that the sloping line that originally caught my eye was something of an illusion: the actual roofline arcs higher. Rear headroom is in fact better than the old generation 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 I 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.

The design of the interior isn't quite as eye-catching as the exterior styling but everything falls to hand easily enough. The engine line up consists of the usual wide selection of powerplants, some new, some heavily revised and some carried straight over from the previous model. The line-up kicks off with an 85bhp 1.4-litre petrol unit, alongside a 114bhp 1.6-litre and the familiar 125bhp 1.8-litre engine. A 1.6-litre turbocharged unit is also offered for sportier versions with 180bhp or there's the 240bhp 2.0-litre Turbo from the VXR. The entry-level 1.4 and 1.6-litre engines will use the Twinport technology as already seen on the Corsa whereby one of the two exhaust outlets are closed down at low revs to boost torque and improve fuel economy. Four diesel engines are available, a 90bhp 1.3, a 1.7-litre unit with 100bhp and 120bhp or beefy 150bhp versions of a 1.9-litre powerplant that was developed by Fiat. Future developments are rumoured to include a version of the dual-clutch DSG gearbox and even a continuously variable transmission option to supplement the available five and six speed manual boxes, the four speed auto and the Easytronic clutchless manual system.

There aren't too many modern-day Vauxhalls I wouldn't be happy to live with these days. This Astra has transformed itself from being worthy but dull to being genuinely desirable - as far as a practical Family Hatchback ever can be. For that, Vauxhall deserve credit.