It is safe to say that the fourth generation three-door "Astra" is one of the most interesting novelties of 2011. Although the emotions caused by the appearance of the five-door "Astra J", the design of which many called a breakthrough, are still fresh. Another "Opel GTC Paris Concept", shown at the Paris Motor Show, amazed automans with its appearance ... but there were fears that the production car, as is usually the case, will be awarded a more modest design. The Frankfurt Motor Show dispelled such doubts, and motorists were able to contemplate a beauty with chic coupe shapes (although this is a hatchback, of course, in fact) - the new Opel Astra GTC, practically no different from the concept.
Talking about the exterior of the 3-door hatchback Opel Astra GTC, I would like to draw attention to the complete originality of the body in comparison with the "five-door". Common elements include only door handles and an antenna. The overall dimensions of the "GTC" modification are larger: in length + 45 mm (4466 mm), in width + 26 mm (1840 mm), base dimensions + 10 mm (2695 mm), and only in height the three-door is 28 mm less than the five-door relative ( 1482 mm). In addition, the 3-door hatchback has a wider track: at the front by 40 mm and at the rear by 30 mm (for better stability and handling).
Let's move on to the story of the beauty of the Opel Astra GTC. The front lighting technology of a complex geometric shape flows into the bumper with a huge mouth of the air intake. At the extreme lateral points, the "eyes" of the fog lights have found their place. The bumper composition is completed by the lower fairing - "aerodynamic lip". The bumper has such an impressive size that its upper part takes decent centimeters from the hood. Between the headlights there is a neat cut of a false radiator grille with an Opel "lightning". The hood, with two characteristic ribs on the sides and one light dividing one, goes into the windshield, which flows smoothly through the roof dome into a miniature stern door.
The profile of the "sporty three-door Astra J" hints at the serious driving potential of the car. The sidewall is decorated with a branded Opel rib in the form of a club and is complemented by an rib that grows in the area of the doorknob and rapidly extends to the rear of the car. The obscenely inflated wheel arches are capable of accepting rubber with disks from R17 to R20 into their bins !!! The rear pillars of the "GTC-Astra" are visually absent, the sloping roof from above flows into the high waist line of the side part.
The masterpiece design of the stern is decorated with rear lighting technology, echoing in shape with the front, a huge bumper with an integrated diffuser, comparable in size to the third door, which in turn opens access to the trunk with a volume of 380 liters.
The inner territory of the Opel Astra GTC is already familiar to “opelemans” from the 5-door hatchback and “Sports Tourer” station wagon, which have previously appeared on sale. The design of the front dashboard, center console, ergonomics - all unchanged. The quality of materials and the level of assembly of the cabin are high.
Unlike the "usual hatchback", the three-door version is offered on the Russian market in two trim levels: Enjoy and Sport (the initial Essentia is not provided).
Comfortable three-spoke steering wheel (in the Sport package, covered in leather, like the transmission control knob), sports front seats with excellent lateral support and the correct profile. Driving - adjustable in four directions.
Back row passengers will not be as comfortable as in the "regular J'ke". Here the low dome of the roof presses on the top of the head, the high waist line deprives the picture outside the window, and you don't want to get in there. The place behind the wheel is where it pulls with fierce force. Therefore - a few more words about the steering wheel and comfort functions. The initial Enjoy package for the Astra GTC provides the following joys: air conditioning, cruise control, steering wheel adjustment for reach and height, heated electric mirrors, electric windows, alarm, CD 400 radio with seven speakers. The Sport trim is even richer.
Now in more detail about the technical characteristics and test drive "Astra J GTC". The front suspension of this car came from the powerful Insignia OPC (HiPerStrut), and the rear (redesigned) - from the "regular Astra" with a twisting beam and Watt's mechanism. The new front struts here do not rotate with the wheel, this made it possible to level the friction of the suspension elements and improve the contact of the wheel with the road surface. In addition, they have a phenomenal safety margin, as they are designed to work with the Insignia OPC engine (power of which is 325 hp). In addition, the new front struts made it possible to install larger diameter brake discs, as a result of which it became possible to install R17-R20 rims. The characteristics of the rear suspension have also been changed. But Opel's engineers did not stop there either. Underwent deep readjustments of the electric power steering, the result is the adequacy of the steering with responsive feedback. The three-door is distinguished by good handling and predictable behavior in various road conditions, we can safely say - a cut above its "five-door relative." This "sporty pseudo-coupe from Opel" allows you to take turns at high speed, the rear suspension pushes the car into a corner. The driver-car communication (via the steering wheel) tends to be absolute - the engineers managed to significantly raise the bar for handling in this class. Body roll is minimal, the car quickly returns to its original straight-line motion.
Also, this modification has a bonus in the form of the adaptive chassis FlexRide, the sport mode of which is activated automatically during aggressive piloting.
In general, we can say that in the case of the GTC modification, there is an amazing situation: the capabilities of the chassis and brakes exceed the capabilities of the motors that are installed in the car today. This hints that more powerful units may appear over time.
In 2014, Russian buyers have the opportunity to order an Astra GTС with a power unit to choose from four petrol or one diesel:
- Petrol:
1.8-liter ECOTEC® (140 hp / 103 kW);
1.4-liter ECOTEC® turbocharged (140 hp / 103 kW);
1.6-liter ECOTEC® turbocharged (170 PS / 125 kW).
1.6-liter ECOTEC® turbocharged (199 PS / 147 kW). - Diesel:
2.0-liter CDTI ECOTEC® (130 hp / 96 kW).
In terms of gearboxes, the choice is as follows: 6-speed "automatic", 5 or 6-speed "mechanics".
Prices for the 2014 Opel Astra GTC in Russian car dealerships start from ~ 795 thousand rubles for a car with a 1.8 XER (140 hp) engine with 5 manual gearboxes in the Enjoy package. The cost of the Opel Astra GTC 2.0 DTJ (130 hp) with 6 automatic gearboxes in the Sport configuration starts from ~ 978 thousand rubles, and the additional order of all kinds of options will drive the price of the car far beyond 1,000,000 rubles.
