This is General Motors’ brand new Opel Astra GTC revealed more than two months ahead of its world premiere at the 64th International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany, in mid-September. The newest member of Opel’s ever-growing Astra family will go on sale across Europe including the United Kingdom, where it will be available as a Vauxhall, later this year. Recent reports also suggest it may reach the States under the Buick banner.
GM’s European subsidiary is confident about its new Astra GTC with Vauxhall going as far as to claim that it will “lay down the gauntlet to VW’s Scirocco and Renault’s Megane Coupe with a heady mix of dynamic excellence, dramatic design features and competitive pricing”.
The production version of last year’s Paris Motor Show concept GTC sports a far more athletic appearance than the rest of the Astra range thanks to the uniquely designed body that includes a more rakish roofline. According to Opel, the only elements the GTC shares with its five-door and estate siblings are the door handles and roof aerial as even the wheelbase and tracks are different. Compared to the five-door Astra, the ride height of the GTC is lowered by 15 mm while the wheelbase grows by 10 mm, from 2 685 to 2 695 mm and both tracks are wider, at 1 584 mm (+ 40 mm) in front and 1 588 mm (+ 30 mm) in the rear.
Opel and its sister brand Vauxhall say the Astra GTC is a more driver’s car than the five-door model, as the company’s engineers having made several changes to the chassis, including the adoption of the HiPerStrut (High Performance Strut) setup used on the 239 kW Insignia OPC instead of the standard McPherson suspension. At the rear, the GTC continues to use a Watt’s link axle, while as an option, Opel offers the fully-adaptive FlexRide chassis control system with a choice of three settings – Standard, Tour or Sport.
Moving on to the available lineup at launch, the Astra GTC can be ordered now with a choice of four engines. However, Opel said more powertrains will be offered around its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show adding that the sportiest versions including the future high-performance OPC model will follow in 2012. For now, diesel options are limited to a 2.0-litre CDTI common-rail turbo unit delivering 121 kW and 380 N.m of torque in overboost function. It is fitted with a diesel particulate filter and a six-speed manual transmission, plus a new Start/Stop system. With this engine, the GTC can reach 100 km/h in 8.9 seconds en route to a top speed of 210 km/h, while returning a combined fuel consumption of 4.9 L/100km, with corresponding CO2 emissions of 129 g/km. The most powerful engine is a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol unit with 132 kW linked to a six-speed manual gearbox offering the GTC a top speed of 220 km/h. A 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine available with 88 kW and 102 kW completes the petrol lineup.
