Opel Astra 2009 Hatchback

Pros: Elegant sporty design. High quality material interior with red additional lighting on the door. Leather chairs with white decorative trim. All passengers praise the interior of the car. My model has a nice daytime and night-time central display in a modern design.
There is a possibility to change for the sporty and touring modes. Changing these settings changes the tone of the interior from white to aggressively red in sports mode.
Sport mode with lower speeds and harder suspension. Touring mode sets the car's speed smoothly to shifting speeds smoothly moving along the road without feeling any roughness. A tremendous rest away on the road - cruise control and touring mode allow you to enjoy a carefree ride. On the highway engine is very economical 4, 5 liters per 100 km. The car easily accelerates by overtaking without problems. I've driven a trailer ant it doesn't significantly affect dynamics and fuel consumption.
I did not like to use the sport mode because the engine was running at high revs and there was no need to use it. The automatic transfer box is a robot. In daily routine it operates only in D and R modes (6 steps). If you need to drive in extremely difficult conditions or mountains, you need to switch to manual mode and you can drive at reduced speeds.
A special design is for lowering the backs of the rear chairs - this can be done by opening the rear door and pressing the switches. They are located near the door. No need to look where to find them. Can be folded each seat individually. Folding the seats creates a perfectly smooth surface for transporting or sleeping.
The headlights follow the steering wheel movements. Turns turn on additional turn lighting
can set the mode when locking the car door, it illuminates the road to the house. After a minute the lighting switches off.
If you go deeper into the onboard computer you will find many different interesting settings.
The good thing is a handsfree speakerphone that connects to your phone via Bluetooth. Once connected, the phone can be carried in a bag or pocket. Your phone's call log is displayed and all call control can be done via the on-board computer. The conversation can be done from the cabin without removing your hands from the steering wheel. Perfect audibility.
The radio has a very good station reception - you can cross all Latvia listening to the radio.
The audio system can read MP3 discs, connect the phone and other external media via cable.
The car has good climate control when it works window fogging is not a problem.

Cons: 1) Low clearance! In urban conditions, front often hits the ground.
2) In city mode high fuel consumption 8 - 9 liters diesel.
3) It is caused by heavy starting of the junction, lack of dynamic breakthrough when needed,
4) VERY LOW UPPER WINDSCREEN LOCATION. When approaching the intersection line, you cannot see the traffic lights. It is VERY disturbing - has stop at least 5m faster than usual. The front sides also have an awkwardly wide window support and a small side window. VERY LIMITED SIDE VISION. But you can get used to it.
Helps sensors front and rear. Sensors differ in tone and sound intensity.
5) Seats are low on both the first and second rows and the distance between rows is small with a tall person sitting in the front with little space behind. For tall people, it is difficult to get in the cabin because the roof is low - as is the case with the sporty design. The head hits the roof. I think 5 people would not be comfortable traveling longer. It can be said that the cabin is quadruple. The car is recommended for young people, or for families with young children.
6) Luggage racks lacked convenient shelves to place bottles, side shelves are small and narrow. It is not clear what they are for. Only a book or document folder can be placed there. I stored all tools and other belongings under the hinged cover in the recess before the spare wheel. There are still small recesses in the side wheel arches.
Also the glove compartment is awkward. The center is occupied by a shelf with a service book. When opening the door, there is no place even to put on thicker winter gloves. There is a small niche with a flip-flap near the steering wheel, but it is credit card wide. I couldn't put my purse there. I store there customer cards from the filling stations. There is nowhere to put the glasses, although the manual shows a flip-up lid before the light in the ceiling couldn't open anything there.
8) Very awkward is the cruise control control, which is located in the center of the steering wheel and can be engaged by pushing the thumb down for a longer period of time, but it distracts from the road. It is wise that the cruise control has a + or - switch that can change speed without depressing the accelerator pedal.
9) Various data can be seen on the center display behind the steering wheel, as well as an electronic accurate speed display. The problem is, if the on-board computer detects a problem, a message appears on this display. This obscures the speedometer reading and the message must be manually disabled. If the problem cannot be solved all the time, you should manually disable pop-up messages. There are news that can only be cleared by a dealership and it can cost you good money for diagnostics.