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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
1998. - 2003.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
1998. - 2004.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4149 mm
1735 mm
1439 mm
330 liters
1184 liters
55 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4110 mm
1709 mm
1425 mm
370 liters
1180 liters
52 liters
1998 Volkswagen Golf
1998 Opel Astra

Engine

Volkswagen
1.6 FSI
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1598 cc
110 hp
155 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Opel / General Motors
1.6 X16XEL
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1598 cc
100 hp
150 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1145 kg
10.8 s
192 km/h
9.3 l/100km
5.5 l/100km
6.9 l/100km
166 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1075 kg
11.5 s
188 km/h
10.1 l/100km
6.0 l/100km
7.5 l/100km
180 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 4 gears
1190 kg
11.7 s
192 km/h
12.5 l/100km
6.7 l/100km
8.8 l/100km
211 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 4 gears
1095 kg
13.5 s
178 km/h
11.5 l/100km
6.3 l/100km
8.2 l/100km
197 g/km

Expenses

800 EUR
Price from
500 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the small family car segment and utilize the same 5-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 110hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 100hp engine designed by Opel.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), 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 marginal difference of 7% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, at least on all of the models level. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen, as well as Opel, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. The same official information place Golf as average reliability-wise, and Astra is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as Golf rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.2 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Volkswagen is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.7 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 192 kilometers per hour, 4km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 7.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (39 mpg), in combined cycle.


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 slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. It all continues in the same direction, with Volkswagen offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! It's not difficult to say then that if I'd need to make a choice, it would definitely be the Volkswagen. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. 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.

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