AJAC's Best Small Car, but is it more than that?

As many of you already know, the new Saturn Astra is a European designed vehicle, which GM borrowed from its partners across the pond to inject a little compactness into the Saturn lineup.

The idea was well-founded, because almost straight away, it became the recipient of AJAC's Best Small Car award. Considering that the Saturn Aura, another Euro design, won so much praise last year, I'm sure that the executives at GM are rather proud of what they have achieved of late.

In fact, personally, I was rather hoping that the Saturn Astra would pick up the Car of the Year title, as I believe that it rightly deserved it. Of course, it had some pretty tough competition, and at the end of the day, the amazing Audi R8 won over my fellow journalists.

Now, I won't take anything from that wonderful vehicle, other than to say "I dearly wish that I had $150k lying around doing nothing"!

This brings us nicely back to the affordable Astra, and perhaps poses a couple of questions...

Should a vehicle with a base price of under $20,000 dollars have to compete with the likes of a $150,000 super car for the title of Car of the Year? Well, a lot of AJAC members have already voiced their opinions on this, and so here's mine... I believe that the true Car of the Year should be a vehicle which transforms the industry. That said, who can question the impact of the R8; after all, it has turned many other manufacturers green with envy and propelled Audi into another league entirely.

However, vehicles like the R8 come along once in a decade (if we are lucky), and in my mind, Saturn was simply unfortunate that it pitched the Astra at the same time as the R8. At any other time, the Astra would have walked away with the title easy. At least, that's my opinion!


European design

The second question which pops up is, why has it taken GM so long to realize that people on this side of the world like European designed vehicles? After all, the likes of VW, Audi, and Volvo have been marketing their products here for years, and with more than a little success.

There is simply something different in the feel of a European designed vehicle which sets it apart from what the North American manufacturers usually have to offer. It puzzles me that the U.S. manufacturers all have European divisions, yet it took so long for them to grasp the idea of bringing some of their models over here.


Let's take a closer look at the Saturn Astra...

Well, the exterior design is certainly bang up to date. In fact, it makes some of the Japanese competitors look somewhat dowdy. My test vehicle was the 5 door XR hatchback model, although if I am perfectly honest, I'd personally go for the 3 door version as it looks way sportier.

I believe that the younger buyers will have a hard time not falling for the Astra as it comes in stock form with a certain element of tuner looks. Much of this is down to the stylish lighting units with which GM's Euro partners have adorned the vehicle.

The vehicle also sits nice and square on the road, adding nicely to that performance look, and although the company has fitted some rather nice stock wheels to the vehicle, I think that a quick trip to an aftermarket rim shop would propel the vehicle into the super-cool sports hatch category.

Now I might be getting a little long in the tooth but I enjoy the odd cup of Tim Horton's, so I often stop and chat to the youngsters parked outside in their hot Honda's and VW's. From now on, my advice to them will be to ditch those and go for the new Euro GM. After all, log on and Google Hot Vauxhall or Opal (GM's Euro divisions) and you'll find plenty of add-on extras to enhance the Astra's looks, and likely at more reasonable prices than their present brands accessories. It will also carry an element of rarity value for a while, which is always a good thing.