By: IOL Motoring Staff:
Russelsheim, Germany - Just to prove that sporty estates are not the preserve of the German autocracy, Opel has released details of the Astra Sports Tourer, due to debut in less than a week at Frankfurt.
Like its hatchback sibling, it's built on new, lightweight architecture, with new engines and lots of new gizmos, but the long, slightly arched roofline gives it a more dramatic profiles, as does the divided C pillar.
The Opel whitecoats have exercised their Tardis magic to some effect; the new Tourer is exactly the same size as its predecessor - 4702mm long, 1871mm wide and 1499mm high - but it's up to 200kg lighter, depending on the model and it's significantly bigger inside.
Driver and front passenger have 26mm more headroom, rear passengers an extra 28mm of legroom, and luggage capacity with the 40:20:40 split rear seat-back folded is up 80 litres to 1630 litres.
POWER TAILGATE
And, for the first time on an Astra, as long as the fob for the keyless rentryb and start sytem is in your pocket, a wiggle of the foot under the rear bumper will operate the power-operated tailgate.
The Astra Sports Tourer will launch in Europe with petrol and diesel motorvation from one-litre to 1.6-litre capacity, ranging from 75 to 150kW, including an all-new 110kW 1.4-litre direct-injection turbopetrol four and the recently released 1.6-litre CDTi diesel.
The top-of-the-line 150kW, 1.6-litre EcoTec turbopetrol four will be seen in public for the first time at the show.
GMSA says it considers everything Opel introduces for possible South African release, but that the Sports Tourer's chances of making it here are slim at best.