Saturn Astra: Lost in translation

GM's new imported Saturn compact fails to make up in performance what it lacks in practicality.

Driving points
Driving points
One thing that thankfully remains unchanged from Europe is the steering. Rather than the"wake me when something happens" driving style of many American cars, the Astra's steering is tight, quick and responsive.

It's really strange, then, that the rest of the car seems like it needs a nap. While the front end responds quickly to a twist of the steering wheel, the back end feels like it's being trailered along against its will. In all, the Astra feels flat-footed instead of frisky.

Mind you, the car I was testing was the so-called "five-door" not the smaller, lighter "three-door" version. (In a bit of shady math, car companies insist on counting the rear hatch as a door.)

Also, my test-car was equipped with a four-speed automatic transmission rather than the five-speed manual, which could have added some excitement. With five-speeds automatics now the norm, the Astra's four-speed seemed anachronistic.

To make matters worse, it was slow to downshift. When I insistently pushed down the gas pedal, the Astra would comply by shifting to a lower gear only after a long wait, when the car would finally take off with a roar

The rest of the time, the engine made aggressive growling noises while providing adequate, but not terrific, power.

Last updated January 25 2008: 11:54 AM ET

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Run-down
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.