New Vauxhall Astra - the Interior

The New Astra's interior has been revealed by Vauxhall / Opel today

Yesterday we brought you a video of the new Vauxhall Astra taking on the Focus and Golf at Millbrook (‘taking on’ is a bit of an exaggeration) which was the starting point for Vauxhall’s build-up of interest in the new Astra before it launches at Frankfurt in September.

So it was a bit of a surprise that so soon after we’ve had info on the interior of the new Astra drop in to our inbox from Vauxhall. But then I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. Vauxhall have a habit of throwing things out in lumps. We had some daft ‘Vanity’ teasers on the new Astra back in May which showed the designers draped across the font of the new Astra, hiding any bits of relevance. And that was followed a day later by a full reveal of the exterior of the Astra. So Vauxhall have done it again and dropped one teaser straight on top of the other.

Having had a little moan (it’s my job!), I must admit that the cabin of the new Astra looks a good place to be. It’s clear that Vauxhall / Opel are shifting the quality up a gear on the new Astra. Not surprising are the design cues from the Insignia – which are also present on the exterior – with big play made of the ‘Blade’ and ‘Wing’ theme.

The cabin looks to be full of quality materials and cleverly designed, and the seats feature a whole raft of adjustments. The cabin also gets ambient lighting, which is one of those things you love or hate. I love having the interior bathed in pretty (and useful) light, but my Dad used to want to turn off even the dash lights if he could. But it looks cool, and makes the cabin feel more up-market.

Vauxhall has also tried to review the storage needs of modern drivers by adding cubby-holes for things like sunglasses, CDs, coins and pens; the glove box has two removable compartments and there is a second mini glove box as well. You can also have under-seat storage and there is extra storage under the boot floor.

Pictures are great, but we won’t really know how good a job Vauxhall has done until we get our hands on one.

Looks pretty promising, though.