Written by Luke Wilkinson Published: 6 December 2023 Updated: 8 December 2023

Overview

The electric estate car market is currently quite small. The Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Electric is one of just a handful of competitors that includes the bargain basement MG 5 EV and the mechanically identical Peugeot e-308 SW. There are more electric estates in the pipeline, however, including the Volkswagen ID.7 which is set to hit UK roads in 2024.

If you want a load lugging electric car now, the Astra will no doubt be on your shortlist. And it’s worth considering because it’s comfortable, reasonably quick, it has a maximum range of 256 miles and it’s a little more engaging to drive than its Peugeot-branded sister car.

The question we seek to answer is whether the Astra offers enough practicality over more traditional electric cars like the Tesla Model 3 and MG4 EV, or enough usability to tempt you out of a petrol or diesel estate? Scroll down to learn more.

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What’s it like inside?

Quite nice. Vauxhall has benefitted greatly from jumping onto the Stellantis bandwagon. The new Astra estate is considerably better built than the old model. There’s a good mixture of soft-touch plastics and plush materials in your sightline, and they’re complemented by harder wearing materials the lower down the interior you go.

We like the layout, too. We’re glad that Vauxhall retained physical buttons for the Astra’s climate controls and volume functions. They’re much easier to use on the move than fiddling with touch-sensitive controls on the infotainment system, like you must in an MG 5 EV.

Every version of the Astra supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto but, rather frustratingly, you need to step up to the top-spec Ultimate model before you get a wireless smartphone charger as standard. That kind of defeats the point of the wireless mirroring tech in our book, because you end up needing to plug your phone into the dashboard anyway.

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But if you can look past that minor oversight, you’ll find the rest of Astra’s cabin to be quite practical. The door bins are generous, there are two hidden cupholders on the centre console and you get a huge tray under the infotainment system that can hold even that largest smartphones. That’s not always the case – so a big tick for Vauxhall, there.

Boot space is rather disappointing, though. You only get 516 litres of space with the rear seats in place, which is 11 litres less than you get in the rear of the comparably priced Hyundai Ioniq 5 hatchback. That’s not really good enough in an estate. If you have your heart set on the Vauxhall but need the maximum luggage capacity possible, we suggest you stick with the petrol-powered car. It has 597 litres of space.

Comfort

Mid-range GS and top-spec Ultimate versions of the Astra Electric get Vauxhall’s supremely comfortable AGR-certified front seats as standard. They’re ergonomic seats that have been certified by an independent German association that promotes research into back pain – and they’re designed to relieve pressure on your spine during a long drive.

They’re very comfortable indeed, partly because they’re so adjustable. That means you’re never sit at an awkward angle and place extra stress on your joints. We’re particularly fond of the extendable thigh support on the seat base – it means you don’t need to brace your legs against the bulkhead or tense your thighs to remain upright in your seat.

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Because it’s electric, it’s quite a refined place to be, too. It isn’t much noisier inside than the standard Astra Electric hatch. The only difference we could make out was a little extra boominess behind the rear seats – but that’s because the big empty boot acts like a speaker box, amplifying the road noise at the rear of the car.

Safety

Euro NCAP hasn’t yet crash tested the Astra Electric, but it gave the combustion-engined version of the car a four-star rating. It performed reasonably well in its impact tests., although it doesn’t protect its passengers anywhere near as well as a Cupra Born. The petrol/diesel Astra only provided marginal protection for the adult and 10-year-old child dummies’ chests.

You get a reasonable amount of safety equipment, though. The most basic Design spec features LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors and a suite of active safety equipment, such as automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assist and traffic sign recognition.

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The mid-range GS model adds adaptive cruise control and a 360-degree parking camera, while the top-spec Ultimate model gains a head-up display, a semi-autonomous lane-changing function and Vauxhall’s rather brilliant IntelliLux LED Pixel headlights. They’re great adaptive headlights that do a great job of cutting traffic out of their beam pattern.

What’s it like to drive?

The electric Astra Sports Tourer feels much like the standard Astra Electric hatch to drive. The only appreciable difference most owners will notice is a slightly boomier cabin, due to the vast expanse of empty space behind the rear seats. If you really concentrate, you’ll find the Sports Tourer is a touch heavier than the hatch, but it masks its extra bulk well.

The Sports Tourer is 268mm longer than the standard Astra Electric – and 57mm of that extra length is between the car’s axles. That extra wheelbase means it’s a little more comfortable and composed on the motorway, although it does make the car feel marginally less nimble in the corners.

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Still, the Astra is one of the better cars to drive on Stellantis’ common EMP2 platform. It has firmer suspension than the Citroen C5 X and DS 4 which means, if you’re a keen driver, you’ll have more confidence to attack a twisty road, simply because its body doesn’t flop about so much. The Astra’s steering is heavier, too, so it’s easier to place on the road than its siblings.

However, the Astra isn’t as engaging to drive as a Cupra Born or an MG 4 EV – but neither of those cars are available as estates. That means, for the time being at least, if you want an zero-emission estate car that’s sharper to drive than the Astra Electric, you’ll need to splash the cash on a Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo.

The Sports Tourer is powered by the same 156hp electric motor and 54kWh battery pack as the hatch but, despite the extra weight, Vauxhall claims its 0–62mph time is identical to the hatchback at 9.2 seconds. Like the hatch, it feels faster than those figures would suggest, especially at low speeds.

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Around town, it picks up instantly, offering enough torque to nose ahead of most cars at the lights. However, once you approach motorway speeds, the motor starts to labour. Performance tails off as you pass 60mph, which means you need to push the pedal very hard when merging or overtaking.

What’s particularly worrying for Vauxhall is that the MG5 EV (which is currently the Astra ST’s closest rival) can sprint from 0–60mph in 7.3 seconds. Granted, the MG isn’t as composed or as refined as the Astra. It’s far more eager to spin up its front wheels when you accelerate halfway around a corner. But the fact remains that, in a dead heat at the lights, the cheaper Chinese upstart will leave the British stalwart for dead.

Range and charging

The estate’s extra weight doesn’t only dull the Astra’s performance – it shaves away a little bit of its maximum range, too. The hatchback can cover up to 258 miles while the estate only offers a up to 256 miles. That isn’t a huge sacrifice to make for the extra practicality, although it’s still a long way behind the Tesla Model 3. The most basic Model 3 costs about the same as the Astra Electric estate, but it can easily travel more than 300 miles on a single charge.

Charge times for the Astra Sports Tourer Electric are the same as the standard car. It can support DC rapid charging speeds of up to 100kW, which means it can charge from 10 to 80% capacity in 30 minutes. Use a more conventional 7.4kW AC wallbox charger and it’ll take eight hours to completely recharge the battery. If you’re lucky enough to have three-phase power and an 11kW AC charger, the same charge takes just five and three-quarter hours.

What models and trims are available?

You have three models to choose from. The most basic Astra Sports Tourer Electric Design includes 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors and Vauxhall’s Pure Panel infotainment system, which combines a 10.0-inch digital instrument cluster with a 10.0-inch infotainment system.

Mid-range GS models build on this specification with black 18-inch alloy wheels, more aggressive front and rear bumpers, a black roof, a heated steering wheel and Vauxhall’s incredibly comfortable AGR-certified front seats. You also get some extra technology, including a 360-degree parking camera, adaptive cruise control and keyless go.

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At the top of the range, there’s the Ultimate model. It’s loaded with every scrap of equipment Vauxhall can throw at its cars. Upgrades over the GS model include Matrix LED headlights, a head-up display, a wireless smartphone charger, a panoramic sunroof and Alcantara upholstery.

All models have high list prices, which will be initially off-putting to private buyers, but Vauxhall is offering a strong PCP finance package with generous dealer contributions to take the sting out of it, and make these cars more competitive on cost.

Order books for the new Astra Sports Tourer Electric are open now. First deliveries are expected to arrive in Spring 2024. Now click through to the next page to read our final verdict on the car.