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Vauxhall Astra 2.2 DTI

Only a few years ago, Vauxhall dropped a howler by calling its entry-level turbodiesel Astra the TDS. Tedious it certainly was, with only 80bhp, dire performance, little in the way of refinement and no appeal outside the minicab industry.

By J

October 2002

Only a few years ago, Vauxhall dropped a howler by calling its entry-level turbodiesel Astra the TDS. Tedious it certainly was, with only 80bhp, dire performance, little in the way of refinement and no appeal outside the minicab industry.

A decade later and Vauxhall is guilty of yet another diesel blunder. Or more to the point, parent company General Motors is. Fitting the Vectra's 2.2-litre 125bhp oil-burner into the compact Astra isn't such a bad idea, but forgetting to engineer it for right-hand-drive models certainly is. If a UK Astra came with this engine, claim GM technicians, it would have to make do without a steering column. Rumour has it that Vauxhall's UK bosses are furious at the error, because the company's Focus and Golf rival has long been crying out for a decent oil-burning engine.

With sales of diesels booming and arch-rival Ford finally having a derv-powered unit that can rightly be called a class leader, the Luton-based firm is set to see sales dwindle in the all-important fleet sector. The next Astra, which is due in 2004, will use a new range of common-rail engines, so until then Vauxhall will have to soldier on with what it's got. And that's a crying shame, as the German-spec 2.2 diesel we drove is a marked improvement over the 1.7 and 2.0-litre versions. It lacks the responsiveness of a Golf TDI PD and the refinement of a Ford TDCi, but it's a flexible, gutsy unit that makes the diesel Astra much more attractive.

But with no right-hand-drive model available, it looks as though Vauxhall buyers in the UK will be left behind...

For an alternative review of the latest Vauxhall Astra visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

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FIRST OPINION

    Why didn't GM think of fitting this engine to RHD Astras? The omission is unforgivable, as here is the best ever diesel version of the compact Vauxhall. But in the UK there's no chance of buying a RHD 2.2 Astra DTi, or a Zafira MPV with the same engine.
 
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