GM Debuts Production Saturn Astra

[stevecmh]

great to see a GM small car with NAV.. i like the coupe version alot

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by stevecmh

great to see a GM small car with NAV.. i like the coupe version alot

This generation gets the in dash navigation? Anything about automatic climate controls and it has On Star right?

[JVal14]

Originally Posted by TriShield

http://www.opel.ie/action/go?cntryCd...tc&nav=catwalk

http://www.opel.ie/action/go?cntryCd...astra&nav=main

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/utility...turn_astra.pdf

Sweet, thanks.
Wow, $800 for leather seems pretty cheap, doesn't it? Especially considering it includes heated seats which is $250 as a stand alone. On the other hand, $1325 seems like a lot to pay for a plain old 4-spd.

[appman]

Originally Posted by Saturn69

See: Pontiac Firebird/ Chevrolet Camaro for how NOT to design an overhang.



Say hello to 38 inches of superfluous design and plastic!

You didn't just compare a legendary RWD V8 to a girly Saturn Astra !?! Wow that just made me sick. Have you ever seen under the hood an F-Body? The overhang of the Trans Am isn't bad at all.I think any real car enthusiast would take an F-body over the Astra. The Astra and Trans Am have nothing in common with each other, except for they are both made by GM. When the Astra is dropped in a few years due to slow sales (see Aura) no one is going to shed a tear and will quickly be forgotten. To those of you that think this car will sell, which are most likely the same people that said the Aura is going to a smash hit, it won't. Even with North American Car of the Year award, the Aura still isn't selling more than the godforsaken L series was. Nobody will pay VW prices for a Saturn, just like the Outlook isn't selling either. I'll bet my paycheck the ION will put up better numbers than the Astra will. This car does nothing to challenge the Civic and Mazda 3. GM should have pulled the plug on Saturn a long time ago and kept Oldsmobile, which by the way sold much better than Saturn ever dreamed of. Has Saturn even posted one year of profit yet?

[SUPERBADD75]

give it 170-200hp and i'm in.

[Saturn69]

Originally Posted by appman

You didn't just compare a legendary RWD V8 to a girly Saturn Astra !?!

Has Saturn even posted one year of profit yet?

Unclench, I wasn't comparing them for the hairy-chested, mullet-level horsepower, just the length of the front overhang, which was at it's worst on that year Firebird. Wow. There's no comparison between a FWD econo car with sporting pretentions and a RWD muscle car, and I wasn't even trying that. I think you read too much into that post. Girly? Whatever...let's not even get into assigning gender to an inanimate object. And yes, Saturn posted a profit in 1994, but again, that's not what my post was about. Read the one I was responding to and you might get an idea of the sarcasm behind mine.

[markwalt]

Originally Posted by ZRock

Edmunds has this:
http://www.edmunds.com/saturn/astra/2008/index.html

I assume those are estimated prices though(?)

The pricing is set already:

3 Door XR manual: $18,495
3 Door XR auto: $19,820

5 Door XE manual: $15,995
5 Door XE auto: $17,320

5 Door XR manual: $17,545
5 Door XR auto: $18,870

Plus options.

A fully loaded 3 Door XR auto would run $21,905

[appman]

I wasn't responding directly to you Saturn69, that was more of a general statement of my opinion of the Saturn division. One year of profit, 13 years ago, wow. We wonder why GM struggles to survive. Why can't I assign gender to a car? Cars like the ION, Astra, Sunfire with nice soft curvy lines certainly look more "feminine" than cars with straight bold lines such as the 09 Camaro and 09 Challenger look more "masculine".

[GMusa]

GM needs that Astra sedan! It looks so much better then the hatch.

[351E]

why would you launch the Saturn-badged version where people have seen the car for years? i don't think the Saturn version is even sold in Europe.

why not launch it in Spring Hill, or a place that captures some of the essence of Saturn (aka USA)? Jill hasn't really gotten it right since the day she took that job, so I guess nothing comes as much of a surprise.

[Bravada]

why would you launch the Saturn-badged version where people have seen the car for years?

In a desperate attempt to get the "German engineering" message accross. Somehow it works - many people still believe Aura is based on the Vectra.

[montrealvue]

Originally Posted by 351E

Jill hasn't really gotten it right since the day she took that job.

Nice armchair quarterback comment. The Aura is leaps and bounds ahead of the L-series it replaced. On paper, the Astra is miles ahead of the outgoing Ion. If you have driven either of the cars the Aura and Astra are replacing you will see she is in fact doing a GREAT job.

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by montrealvue

Nice armchair quarterback comment. The Aura is leaps and bounds ahead of the L-series it replaced. On paper, the Astra is miles ahead of the outgoing Ion. If you have driven either of the cars the Aura and Astra are replacing you will see she is in fact doing a GREAT job.

The reason its not selling so well is because its a new model, dealers are limited, and people want to wait until they work all the kinks out (Many people don't buy 1st year cars).

[Bravada]

The reason is much more simple than that:

Lack of a four-cylinder version!

[PA Dweller]

The Greenline has a 4 cylinder.