The old GM might have been a bad car company, but it was launching some seriously good cars, especially (but not limited to) the ones developed at Opel in Germany. The Opel Insignia is current European Car of the Year, which bodes well for the related Buick LaCrosse and Regal. Now Opel has done it again with the new Astra. Honestly it's one of the best compact hatchbacks made anywhere in the world, a car fit to take on the VW Golf for refinement and driving ability.

But for Americans, the meaning of all this is uncertain. The Astra was originally supposed to provide the basis for a Saturn and a Saab, but GM has jettisoned those brands, as well as Opel itself.

Of course, New GM might well have access to this platform. At this writing, an MOU has been signed with Russia's Sberbank and Magna that will give New GM a 35-percent stake in Opel. How it might use it is uncertain, and even the final signing of the Magna deal is not a foregone conclusion.

The 174-inch Astra has a three-inch-longer wheelbase than its predecessor, the car sold unsuccessfully here as the Saturn Astra. It also has a much more sweeping look. Distinctive elements include arrowhead jewelry in the light clusters, a sculpted blade in the bodyside, and strong shoulders. The photo car wears 19-inch wheels, though our tester has more reasonable 225/50 17 tires.


Click to view GalleryThe interior derives much of its upscale feel and design from the Insignia. The sweeping center stack has finger-friendly switchgear that manages to carry out a wide range of tasks without the need for an iDrive-type controller. Habitability is helped by an array of cabin storage, including a big console bin enabled by the presence of an electric park brake switch instead of a foot-long manual handle.

Ex-GM product czar Bob Lutz used to talk about producing vehicle architectures with the flexibility to use a set of different suspensions, depending on how premium the result needed to be. The Astra is an example. It's the same platform as the Chevy Cruze, but the suspension gets some notable refinements. At the front, it has the same lower control arms as the Cruze, but there are supplementary rebound springs in the suspension to take the load off the front anti-roll bar and reduce understeer. At the rear, the torsion beam axle is supplemented by a Watts linkage, which affords better axle articulation than the more typical (and cheaper) Panhard rod. This design allows the bushings that take the lateral loads to be separated from those that take the longitudinal. The former are stiff -- for handling finesse -- while the latter are soft for ride comfort.Not that long ago I was at a BBC drinks party in the dimly lit, wood-panelled boardroom in Broadcasting House when I noticed a pretty blonde girl on the other side of the room.

Later, I found myself a little closer, and again I was struck by her beauty. But then, as the evening was drawing to a close, I turned round to find she was right next to me and . . . oh, bloody hell — it was Esther Rantzen.

The same sort of thing happened last week as we were preparing to film Top Gear. Loads of cars were being delivered, some for the studio, some for the Stig to take round on the track. But I was distracted from the whirl of cabling and the cackle of walkie-talkies by a sleek-looking silver hatchback. "My," I thought. "That's a handsome brute."

As the morning wore on I kept seeing it and I kept thinking: that really is a very good looking car. And then I had the oh-no moment as I discovered it was a Vauxhall Astra. And not a sporty, low-riding version either with fat tyres and a hint of menace to its spoilers. It was the floury (not flowery) 1.8 litre five-door — the sort of thing you'll rent next time you're at Aberdeen airport.

There's been a bit of a tectonic shift in the world of the family hatchback recently, mainly because of the Volkswagen Golf. For 30 years it's been the solid, well made fallback for those who wanted a taste of the exotic but nothing too challenging. Think of it as Ben Nevis: not as difficult as an Alfa Romeo Everest, but not as dull as a Ford hill in northern Derbyshire.The new version, however, really doesn't seem to have captured anyone's imagination. Some say it's the price, which is steep, others argue that VW has lost the quality plot recently.

I think the problem is that in these exciting times, with credit cards from Fish and Egg, there's no need to buy a medium-size mountain when you can have a waterfall or a volcano. Whatever, I sense the world is full of disaffected Golf owners bumping into street furniture as they roam around, wondering what on earth they should buy next.

These guys are bound to be attracted by the Renault Mégane.

It has a five-star safety rating and a pert bottom, which means it's cold-prickly and warm-fuzzy all at the same time. It's also cheap and well equipped.

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