http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/ Autoblog Comments for In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 Saturn Astra XR http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
DUH, the damn thing is too expensive to be an econo box.

Hell its a small car priced like many competitors MID SIZED cars. In other words, over priced to an extreme.

Saturn, boldly going where Oldsmobile did and failed, hell even their logo was shaped the same; probably because they originally were going to be sold under that nameplate]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:06PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 12:21PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
Many Americans think a more expensive car should always be bigger. It makes it tough for Saturn to bring this car here. It makes it tough for Ford to bring the Euro Focus here. It makes it tough for Honda to bring the top-range Euro Civic Si here.

I'm not putting down people who think this way, but if you do feel that money should always buy size, this car will likely not satisfy you.

I am keenly interested in seeing what happens with this car. The Mazda3 is somewhat pricey and has done well and the Audi A3 is very pricey and has done pretty well. I am interested in seeing if rising gas prices make nicer but more expensive small cars a viable market in the US.]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:29PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 2:15PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
Standard features like;
4-one touch power windows, Heated mirrors, Cruise Control, Trip computer, exterior Temp display, Tilt AND telescoping wheel, 4 wheel disk brakes w/ ABS, variable speed wipers with rain sense, dual illuminating vanity mirrors, front, side and curtain airbags, TPMS, DRL, Engine immobilizer, etc... the list goes on man.

These are standard features that are either not available or are parts of option packages on your typical super econoboxes like the Fit, Civic, Corolla, Etc... This car IS a bargain. It's not a Ford, but "Drive One" and see. I drove it a few weeks ago and my ONLY complaints were the lack of power, which I could live with and the gearing ratios in the Manual transmission which could have been spaced a little better IMHO. But neither will keep me from buying an '09 for my wife next year. Hopefully they will make the switch to the 1.4 liter turbo ecotec.]]>Apr 8th 2008 8:53PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 12:06PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
Sky?
That makes two...]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:09PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Umm.. how about (possibly) the best selling hatchback in the U.S. - the MINI Cooper/CooperS. ]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:09PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
All in all I can appreciate that wheels at the corners with very small overhangs make for a fun car to drive, but don't take away my other hobbies please!]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:19PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 12:21PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 2:20PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 2:35PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
In the C&D test, it scored one point behind the brand new bland and generic Snore-rolla for 4th out of 8 cars. Unfortuntely, the car needs a bit more oomph and I am sure it would have scored much higher. However, contrast this with a scathing 8th place by the new Focus.

Note to GM--this is the right direction. Note to Ford--going in the wrong direction so fast it hurts.]]>Apr 8th 2008 2:42PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
Here, the market is split in half, between premium products like the Golf and 3, and bottom-feeders like the Cobalt and Focus. GM has, traditionally, benchmarked Ford and Chrysler (and vice versa) which is why the compact cars we've seen have been so generally awful (I mean, really, how much better did the Cavalier have to be in order to line up against the Escort and Neon). Ford broke the mold with the (expensive-to-make) 99/00 Focus, which was an amazing car (much better than the Civic, and so far ahead of the Cavalier it was embarassing). The problem is that the buyers never materialized and Ford was eating margin dollars on every Focus they sold, while GM reaped the benefit of the cheaper (but still poor) Cobalt/Ion.

Hopefully Saturn does better. They have slightly better demographics than Ford does, but the Focus was a better product, relative to it's 2000 contemporaries than the Astra relative to it's. Saturn is going head-to-head with the 3 and Rabbit, which will be very, very hard to do as, good as the Astra is, it isn't _that_ good.]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:21PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 12:24PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 8th 2008 12:29PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
One being of a rocket and one being of the planet Saturn (or a cursive S) also adds to the similarities.

I still don't buy into his comments slamming Saturn though.]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:32PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/
Hmmmm

$16,495.00 Base Retail for an XE

$21,655.00 For XR 5 with every option

$25,869 2.4L 4-cyl, XRS, 5-Speed Automatic

$21,943 MAZDA3 s Grand Touring 5-Door

]]>Apr 8th 2008 12:34PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/Apr 12th 2008 3:17PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/08/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-saturn-astra/p-locks,windows,Onstar,a basic little car,getting 25 mpg avg.,w/ a lead foot,
And when you shut the door,it doesn't sound like a tin box.3DR-XR.It is the cheapest german car I could find.Had an old one,1973 Opel Manta, drove it till 1999,
Couldn't kill it.]]>May 3rd 2008 12:08AM