|
Petrol: | 1.4 L
Family 1 I4 | 1.6 L
Family 1 I4 | 1.8 L
Family II I4 | 2.0 L
Family II I4 | 2.0 L
Family II turbo I4 () |
Diesel: | 1.7 L
Family II I4 | 1.7 L
Isuzu 4EE1 I4 }} }} The
Astra F debuted in September 1991. With the Kadett E's successor, Opel adopted the Astra nameplate, which was already used by Vauxhall for the Kadett D and E (see
Vauxhall Astra). It was offered as a three- or five-door
hatchback, a
saloon (sedan), and an
estate (wagon) known as the Caravan and available with five doors only, bringing Opel's run of three-door wagons to an end at long last. The Caravan appeared in October 1991, immediately after the original introduction, as did the sporty, 16-valve GSI model with its aggressive bodykit. A
cabriolet was also offered, designed, and built by
Bertone in Italy. Compared to the Kadett, the Astra grew slightly in all dimensions except the wheelbase. The windshield was moved forward by while the roof was extended the same amount at the rear, meaning a significant increase in interior volume. The Astra F received a cosmetic facelift in 1994, accompanied by improved rust protection. This included a new grille with a larger Opel badge, clear front turn signals, new door mirrors (replacing the earlier Kadett E units used on the pre-facelift model), and a generally smoothed-out appearance. While the Astra F finished production in Germany in 2000, Polish-built Astras remained on offer in
Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Turkey, India and Asia with the name Opel Astra Classic from 1999 to 2003. The Astra F consisted of two main revisions and was revised in 1995, with the launch of Opel's new
Ecotec engine. Aside from the South Africa-only 200tS, the lead model was the GSi – a 2.0-litre 16V fuel injected model with , available as a three-door only. It also featured a sports body kit and widened front seats in the interior. However, this was substituted in 1995 and was renamed as
SPORT, although only a limited number were produced and the body kit was removed also and it could be selected with the lower-powered, but more modern '
Ecotec' version, the
X20XEV parallel with the
C20XE. In Europe from 1994 all Astra models were offered with the 2.0 L 16V
Ecotec X20XEV parallel with the eight-valve
C20NE engine, but the three-door and station wagon models could be selected with the
C20XE engine. After the Astra F was replaced by the new generation Astra G in 1998, the so-called "REDTOP"
C20XE engine was also taken out of production.
Gallery File:Opel Astra F rear 20081229.jpg|Hatchback (facelift version) 1991-1994 Opel Astra F GSi 01 Front.jpg|The Astra GSi received a bodykit and alloy wheels File:1994 Opel Astra 1.4i Sportive, rear left (Portugal).jpg|Sedan (pre-facelift) Astra f Caravan.jpg|Facelift version (Caravan) File:Opel Astra rear 20071030.jpg|Caravan (facelift) File:Opel Astra Cabriolet (50578844427) (cropped).jpg|Cabriolet File:Opel Astra F Caravan 1.7 TDS Club interior.JPG|Interior (facelift)
South African models The model was also launched in South Africa in November 1991, where it was produced under licence by
Delta. The "Kadett" name was retained for the hatchback Astras until 2000. The sedan and station wagon models were offered under the Astra name. The Kadett and Astra in South Africa won the title of 'Car of the Year' in two consecutive years (1994 and 1995) even though they were versions of the same car. South African nomenclature was denoted in centilitres, so the Astra and Kadett ranges featured 140, 160i, 180i and 200i models. Models with fuel injection received the "i" designation, while carburetor models didn't. Additional model designation was listed after the displacement with the inclusion of the letters "S" for sport or "E" for executive. Sport trim was typically for the Kadett (hatchback) model and included a different front bumper with spotlights and a rear spoiler. Executive derivatives included a higher specification level than non-executive models. The top variant in the Kadett (hatchback) model was the 200iS which featured a 2.0 SOHC 8v engine producing 95kw while the top spec Astra (sedan) derivative featured a 2.0 16v DOHC engine producing 110kw. The South African lineup also included a unique limited edition variant with a
turbocharged C20LET engine called the 200tS offered in either Kadett (hatchback) or Astra (sedan) derivatives and was only available for two model years (1994-1995) and in limited numbers. The 200tS was built by
Delta Motor Corporation and faster than the then-current
BMW M3 in a quarter-mile drag race. The "t" stands for the turbocharger. The engine was sourced from the 4x4
Opel Calibra and
Opel Vectra and converted from a six-speed, four-wheel drive transmission (
Getrag F28) to front-wheel drive only with a limited slip differential. The 200tS was unique from other Kadett and Astra models as it used a 5 bolt wheel hub (all other cars used a 4 bolt hub), it also featured 16" alloy wheels same as were on Vectra Turbo and Calibra Turbo.
Other markets The Opel Astra also became available in Australasia badged as a
Holden, first in New Zealand in 1995, and then Australia in 1996. These models were imported from the UK. The
Holden Astra name had previously been used on rebadged
Nissan Pulsar models from 1984 to 1989. The Opel Astra's first generation was exported to Brazil from December 1994 as the Chevrolet Astra, possibly because of a lowering of import tariffs.
General Motors do Brasil sent the 2.0-litre, 115 bhp engines to Belgium, whence the completed cars took their way to Brazil. In February 1996 the Brazilian government again changed the import tariff, from 20 to 70% - making the car prohibitively expensive and leading to its cancellation after just over a year on the market. Instead, the locally built Kadett was updated. The second-generation Astra was manufactured in Brazil. Beginning in March 1995, the Astra sedan was assembled in Indonesia where it was marketed as the
Opel Optima. The renaming was done as the global name was already used by
Astra International, a local automotive company and an assembler/distributor of several competing car brands. In India the Opel Astra was assembled for the local market in a joint venture with the
Birla Companies, beginning in 1996. Indian production ended in 2002. The first-generation Chevrolet Astra in Brazil had a
Vauxhall-style front grille featuring a "V", containing the Chevrolet badge. File:K41KGH 1992 Vauxhall Astra Merit 1.4L.jpg|
Vauxhall Astra Mk 3 (United Kingdom; pre-facelift) File:1995 Vauxhall Astra Merit 1.4 Front.jpg|Vauxhall Astra Mk 3 (United Kingdom; facelift) File:1998 Holden Astra (TR) City 5-door hatchback (18852705302).jpg|
Holden Astra TR (Australia and New Zealand)
Awards •
1992 –
Semperit Irish Car of the Year •
1994 and 1995 –
South African Car of the Year Engines == Second generation (Astra G – T98; 1998) == September 1999 – May 2004 (Ireland) }} The
Astra G was launched in Europe in Spring of 1998. It was available as a three or five-door hatchback, four-door
saloon, five-door
estate (in
Opel tradition, known as a "Caravan") and two special versions from 2000: the Astra
Coupé and the Astra
Cabrio, both of them designed and built by
Bertone. The Astra G saw the introduction of a
natural gas-powered engine. Its chassis was tuned by
Lotus and formed the base of a 7-seater
compact MPV, the
Opel Zafira, which was co-developed by
Porsche. Approximately 90,000
coupés were produced. The manufacturing of the Astra saloon and Caravan continued at Opel's
Gliwice plant in Poland after the debut of the next-generation Astra H, with the older model being branded as
Astra Classic in a similar fashion to its predecessor, catering to the lower end of the market. This car was offered in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Turkey with the name Astra Classic II from 2004 to the end of 2009. Apart from European markets, these models were also sold in Australia and New Zealand as the
Holden Astra Classic, until they were replaced by the
Holden Viva (built-in South Korea) in 2006. The Astra G was built as
Chevrolet Astra in Brazil. It was facelifted in 2003 and was sold in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and other
Latin American markets until 2011. The GM Brazilian 2.0 8V
inline-four engine which equips the Astra has the "flex-power" technology, that allows the car to run on both petrol and alcohol fuels, providing 128/140 hp (G/A) at 5200 rpm. A taxi version of the Brazilian sourced model, powered with petrol 2.0-litre engine was sold in Chile as the
Chevy Urban. In 2004, GM's Russian joint venture
GM-AvtoVAZ launched the 4-door version of the Astra G as the
Chevrolet Viva. It was sold through Chevrolet dealers in Russia, while Opel dealers were selling the newer Opel Astra H. Sales were poor from the start due to high pricing: the only version launched was equipped with a 1.8L engine with an above-average trim level, placing the Viva's price above the
Toyota Corolla. A project costing $340 million was selling less than a thousand cars annually (801 cars in 2007); rumours of shutting down Chevy Viva production circulated as early as summer of 2005. GM-AvtoVAZ shut down small-scale production of the Viva in March 2008.
Gallery Opel Astra G rear 20101017.jpg|3-door Opel Astra 1.6 Selection (G) – Heckansicht, 21. Juni 2011, Heiligenhaus.jpg|5-door Opel Astra Classic 1.4 Twinport.jpg|
Saloon Opel Astra Caravan 1.6 16V Selection (G) – Heckansicht, 28. Mai 2011, Düsseldorf.jpg|
Caravan Opel Astra G Cabriolet rear 20100801.jpg|
Cabriolet Opel Astra G Coupé Heck.JPG|Coupé 2004 Vauxhall Astravan Envoy CDTi 1.7 Rear.jpg|Astravan Opel astra G 3T opc.jpg|Opel Astra G OPC
Markets File:1998 Vauxhall Astra CD 16V 1.8 Front.jpg|Vauxhall Astra Mk4 (United Kingdom) File:1999 Holden Astra (TS) CD 5-door hatchback (2015-07-10) 01 (cropped).jpg|Holden Astra TS (Australia and New Zealand) File:Chevrolet Viva.jpg|Chevrolet Viva (Russia)
V8 Coupe in DTM The Astra G series Coupé was used for the silhouette
racing cars in the
DTM series. These DTM racing cars are purpose-built race cars with barely any parts taken from the road cars except for lights and door handles. The car's bodywork featured
gull-wing doors that were each supported by two
gas struts. The racing cars were powered by 4.0L V8 engines with nearly .
Opel did poorly during several seasons of DTM as only
Manuel Reuter placed significantly in the championship once, taking second in the inaugural season in 2000 before withdrawing at the end of 2005, but the car was also used to win the
24h Nürburgring in 2003.
Xtreme The
Astra Xtreme, a
concept car presented at the 2001
Geneva motor show, was a single-production
V8-powered Astra based on the G-series Astra
DTM. Like the DTM racing car, it featured a
V8 engine, producing ,
gull-wing doors supported by gas struts, carbon fibre panels, and race-specification interior with
five-point seatbelts.
Gallery File:IAA 2001 173 - Flickr - Axel Schwenke.jpg|Opel Astra G OPC Xtreme File:IAA 2001 175 - Flickr - Axel Schwenke.jpg|Rear view
Stock Car Brazil The season of 2005 also joined the history of Stock Car. In addition to the category becoming multi - the first time the Mitsubishi Lancer ran alongside the Chevrolet Astra, on 30 October 2005, 40 cars with Stock Car V8 engines performed an unprecedented race outside of Brazil worth points for the championship. It was a round to the side of TC 2000, the main category of Argentina and in July had run in Curitiba (Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba). The Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez got a crowd of 70,000 people. Giuliano Losacco was the winner, with Mateus Greipel second and
Luciano Burti third. The engine was a V8 Chevrolet 350 imported from the United States by JL, similar to that used in Busch Series, the second category of NASCAR, equal and limited to . The automaker GM was sponsoring the category, providing the fairing of the Astra, making room for other manufacturers to enter the category with a low investment.
Safety == Third generation (Astra H – A04; 2004) ==