Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer (2026 – ) review

As with the equivalent Hatch, there are four main powertrain choices for the updated Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, comprising petrol, hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and full electric (EV). Click here for more on the different types of hybrid if you’re not already sure! While none of them re-write the rule book on running costs neither should any version of the Astra Sports Tourer break the bank to live with in normal day-to-day operation, though choosing the most cost-effective powertrain will depend on your circumstances, if you have facility to home charge an electric or PHEV and whether you’re buying privately or as a company car.

Vauxhall has made great strides in improving the reliability of its vehicles. So, the quality of the latest Astra is noticeably stronger and has been on test with owners since it arrived in 2022. However, there are still sporadic reports of electrical gremlins, so we’ll set our expectations to realistic.

Earning a four-star Euro NCAP rating when it arrived in 2022, the Vauxhall Astra is not an unsafe vehicle but there are alternatives with the full five stars if that matters to you. There’s certainly plenty of standard-fit safety gear on even an entry-level model these days, with the grander specifications bundling in more advanced driver assistance systems such as the genuinely useful stuff like blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, among more.

Great news here, as the Sports Tourer seems to ride better than the Hatch. It’s still not perfect, mind you, as the heavier Electric variant has the propensity to occasionally thump onto bumpier road surfaces on its 18-inch alloys. This is likely the rear suspension being tuned to cope with greater loads in the wagon than it would in the regular five-door hatchback but, all-in-all, the Sports Tourer feels the more comfortable and graceful car of the two. With its ergonomic seats and sensible driving position, the Astra Sports Tourer may not be the flashiest choice but it wins on comfort and practicality.

With a much bigger boot and a little more headroom in the back, the Sports Tourer already has the advantage over the Astra Hatch in our eyes. Better yet is a decision by Vauxhall to offer ‘flat’ pricing across the electrified range. This means whether you want the Hatch or the Sports Tourer, and you then accompany whichever body style you’ve gone for with a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or electric drivetrain, you’ll pay exactly the same price for any combination of the above, at each of the three trim levels. And, surely, that makes the nicer-looking, more practical and smoother-riding Sports Tourer a no-brainer decision, right? Especially if you go for the estate-specific colour option of Clover Green, which in our opinion looks even nicer than the already eye-catching Electric Yellow reserved for the Hatch.

The Sports Tourer is no more powerful model-for-model than the Vauxhall Astra Hatch but carries a little more weight, so is slightly more leisurely in its performance. However, the way the Astra Sports Tourer goes down the road is more than adequate for most people’s real-world needs. Our preferred drivetrain is the Hybrid and its electrically-assisted 1.2-litre petrol engine, which offers a reasonable nine-second 0-62mph sprint and around 56mpg fuel economy. This proves more easily attainable in everyday usage than the more optimistic official figures of the PHEV, which are only really possible if you can plug in and run on electric power alone as much as possible.