Vauxhall have launched an electric estate & it’s called the Astra Sports Tourer. It shares the standard ICE EMP2 platform as the rest of the Astra range & it features a 54kWh battery. This sends power to the front-mounted electric motor for an output of 156PS/115kW with 270Nm of torque. Competition is quite sparse coming mainly from the Peugeot e-308 SW & the MG5 EV.
Outside
Apart from a tiny ‘e’ on the boot, it’s almost identical to the Astra Sports Tourer. The front features Vauxhall’s latest Vizor headlight & grille treatment whilst at the rear wing-shaped tail lights & a mid-boot back number plate make it stand out from the competition.
Inside
The interior fixtures & fittings are mainly matt black with some black gloss featured in the centre binnacle & on the door window switches. The build quality is very good & we especially like the rectangular air vents.
The dashboard is dominated by Vauxhall’s ‘Pure Panel’ which consists of two 10″ screens behind a single panel, giving the impression of a large uninterrupted display. There are some handy short cut buttons located beneath the touchscreen. In between the front seats there’s an area with twin USB C inputs & a 12v socket. This also contains twin cup holders, the electric parking brake, rocker switch gear lever, Drive Mode switch, armrest with storage beneath & a pop open storage space perfect for your keys.
In the rear there’s a single USB C & twin air vents with small rear door pockets. You also get a fold down armrest with twin cupholders inside.
Infotainment
Vauxhall’s operating system PureConnect, features Pure Panel Pro Multimedia SatNav, 10″ colour touchscreen, 10″ digital instrument cluster, AM/FM/DAB digital radio, Bluetooth & wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. The wireless CarPlay connected to our iPhone in an instant. The screen graphics, response times & ease of use are all very good.
Specification
We tested left hand drive version of the Ultimate model This comes with a head-up display, a wireless smartphone charger, dual-zone climate control, 18″ diamond cut alloys, six speakers, a panoramic sunroof, Alcantara seat upholstery & Vauxhalls Intelli Drive 2.0 suite of safety functions. These include Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Positioning Assist, Advanced Intelligent Speed Adaption & semi-automated Lane Change Assist with side Blind Spot Alert. There’s some electric front seat adjustment, but for moving backwards or forwards you need to use the manual under-seat lever.
Driving modes & range
The Sports Tourer Electric features three driving modes with each giving the car a different theoretical range. When fully charged in Eco mode the range displayed was 276 miles. In Normal mode this reduced to 262 miles whilst in Sport mode, the figure was 250 miles.
As you move down from Sport through the driving modes each one increases the cars brake regeneration. So driving in Eco offers less power than Normal which in turn offers less power than Sport. You can also increase the cars regeneration function by selecting ‘B’ from the gear selector. It will add some valuable extra miles to your range, but it’s not strong enough for one-pedal driving so you will need to use the footbrake to come to a stop.
Performance
Compared to rivals the Sports Tourer is a little underwhelming with a top speed of 105 mph & a 0-62mph time of 9.2 seconds.
Charging
The Sports Tourer features an on board 11kW charger & will charge up to 100kW on a fast charger. So a 20% – 80% charge would take just 26 minutes. Plug-in at home on an AC 7kWh charger like our own Rolec & a full charge takes 8 hours.
Boot space
You get a more than useful 528 litres of storage in the Tourers boot. Fold down the rear seats & this goes up to 1,553 litres. The load space measures 1.03 metres wide making loading & unloading incredibly easy. The boot floor is also usefully flat & there’s space underneath to store your charging cable.
Driving
Having driven the Astra Electric we were expecting the Tourer to be similar on the road. In a straight line it is, but take it on to a poorly maintained road & it doesn’t feel quite as accomplished. Maybe this is because the wheel base is longer or that it’s slightly heavier than the hatchback, but it doesn’t do as good a job of hiding the cars battery weight & tends to fidget over imperfections of which there are a lot in the UK’s road network.
Good news though is that driving in Sport mode, it’s eager when pushed & is especially good fun when you’re driving over decent tarmac or winding roads. The steering is light & the cars balance is very good. You get a typical instant electric hit from the off, but once you reach 50mph, the power peaks & the cars acceleration levels out.
On a main road you can select the Adaptive Cruise Control or Autonomous Driving modes, sit back & relax. Sticking to the speed limit means that you’ll pretty much see the range fall in a ratio of 1:1 as you’d expect. As with all electric cars, if you push-on it will fall faster & faster again in colder weather.
If you’re sat up front, you’ll have no problems getting comfortable. The cabin controls fall easily to hand & the infotainment system graphics & input responses are impressive. We connected our iPhone quickly to Car Play & the drivers instrument cluster neatly displays all of the information in a logical manner. Rear passenger space is better than in the Astra hatch with the longer roof line offering a bit more headroom. Overall it’s a good place to spend time in.
Pros
The Sports Tourer offers an incredibly practical alternative to a boxy electric SUV. It also drives way better than one as well. Fitted with the latest Stellantis 54kWh battery means a competitive 250 + mile electric range. Coming with an board 11kWh charger means faster charging. BIK is just 2%.
Cons
It’s not as accomplished a performer as the smaller Astra Electric.
Verdict
If you really need the practicality of an electric estate, the Astra Electric Sports Tourer should definitely be on your shopping list. It’s fitted with a premium interior that’s easy on the eye & comes packed with a host of tech & safety features to satisfy the most demanding customer. It’s not the most scintillating car to drive at speed, except when you’re in Sport mode. On the basis that range is an electric customers number one priority, the increase to 250 miles, means that it ticks that box too.
4/5
