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1.6 A16SHT
Performance (manual gearbox)
Performance (automatic gearbox)
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Virtual Adviser's™ opinion
Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 5-door wagon body style within the same 'Small family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Volkswagen and front in the case of the Opel). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 180hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 200hp engine designed by Opel.
SafetyThe first thing to look into here would be the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests performed on the two cars. Good thing is that both vehicles got tested, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, Golf offers a considerable difference of 11% more metal.
ReliabilityManufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, all the models observed together. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen, as well as Opel, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. Independent research findings rank Golf as average reliability-wise, and Astra is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as Golf rank it on average as 4.8, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.0 out of 5.
Performance & Fuel economyOpel is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.1 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 235 kilometers per hour, 18km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be Astra, averaging around 6 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (47 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 12% difference compared to Golf.
Verdict
Volkswagen appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Golf offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. From there things take a different direction, with Opel offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the Opel. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.