Being empty nesters (physically, if not financially) has allowed my wife and I to travel a bit more, and it’s something we very much enjoy. During the Pandemic up until October of 2023, we stayed very close to home. We’d heard good things about Portugal and went for two weeks in October of 2023. We found the country hospitable, interesting and reasonable in terms of cost and did a lot of driving in a never reviewed Renault Captur those 10 days last year. We liked our trip so much that we went back for two weeks in September of this year with the intention of seeing the southern part of the country, called the Algarve, and also driving into Spain for part of the trip.
We drove from the Detroit area to Toronto’s Pearson Airport to take advantage of a less expensive and direct redeye flight to Lisbon on TAP Air Portugal. It was my first intercontinental flight on a single aisle aircraft, which was the Airbus 321 LR Neo. Of note, disembarking from a single aisle aircraft takes a fraction of the time as a widebody Airbus 330 or Boeing 787. This is a huge bonus after a fitful seven hour overnight flight.
The Sixt reservation stated our class was a Fiat Tipo wagon “or similar”. The agent stated he had an Opel Sports Tourer with just 7,400 km on it and asked if I was good with that. As I’ve owned three Opel’s in disguise Stateside (Saturn Astra, Buick TourX, Buick Regal GS), and am for better or worse, a GM fanboy, suffice to say I geek out over Opel’s, once a General Motors brand. Nevertheless, it was a thrill to be given the keys to a real Euro Opel to drive for nearly two weeks.
Opel was, for almost 80 prosperous years, a nearly autonomous General Motors subsidiary headquartered in Russelsheim Am Main, Germany . They made decent and affordable cars for the average European with minimal interference from General Motors in Detroit. A model subsidiary, they engineered and manufactured products tailored to the markets they operated in: Europe, parts of Africa and Asia. They sold their cars sometimes rebadged as Chevy’s in South America or as Vauxhalls in the UK. There were occasional experiments by GM to bring Opel products to North America, very well documented at Curbside Classic. Aside from a few base hits like the Opel GT and Manta in the early 1970’s, Opel’s didn’t translate well here.
After some years where they challenged VW for the Western European sales leadership, in the early 2000’s Opel entered into a long period of struggle. Opel management just couldn’t figure it out, and Opel lost money for 18 consecutive years. Mary Barra made the tough choice to finally fold GM’s hand in Europe, and sold Opel to PSA in 2017. It meant that GM was no longer a fully global car manufacturer, as it had been for generations. PSA’s chairman, Carlos Tavares and his team quickly returned Opel to profitability. In 2021, PSA morphed into the industrial behemoth Stellantis, headquartered in the Netherlands with John Elkann, part of the original Fiat founding Agnelli family, as chairman.
The Astra nameplate has been around since 1991, replacing the Opel Kadett. The current version of Astra, the L, debuting in 2021, is the first one fully developed by PSA/Stellantis post-purchase from GM, and is built in Russelsheim. Its architecture is shared with its platform mate the Peugeot 308. The Astra is also offered in hatchback guise. I have always loved station wagons, and the Sports Tourer is in my opinion has a very striking, sporting and handsome profile with good proportions and attractive rims. This design language carries over to all other Opel models, such as the smaller Corsa, and crossovers like the Mokka , Frontera and Grandland.
There are a couple of engine options offered on the Astra: a 1.2 liter turbo netting out 130HP, a 1.2 Turbo Hybrid and a 1.5 liter diesel. Our was undoubtedly the 1.2 liter and the trim level appeared to be one up from the bottom rung, making this a GS. Automatics are available for the Sports Tourer but this was a six speed manual, which is still the overwhelming choice for buyers in Europe.
Starting sticker price for our car based on Opel Portugal’s website was about 29,000 €, or about $30,500.00 based on recent published exchange rates. The diesel model was the top of the line, starting at $34,200. One can easily option this car up from base trim to get close to $40,000. The Astra was for many years generally in the top 10 in European car sales, but it has fallen off dramatically and wasn’t even in the top 50 last year (#77). The smaller Opel/Vauxhall, however, sells very well and was number six in 2023, besting the #7 VW Golf. #1 in Europe? The Tesla Model Y!
Inside, it was a sea of mostly black surfaces broken up with comfortable grey fabric seats. The quality of materials and switchgear was good, though there were some hard surfaces here and there. The instrument panel and center screen was vast and very vertical, but all buttons and controls were logical and easy to figure out just hopping in the car for the first time. The phone to car synch was easy as was figuring out how to change the language from Portuguese to English. The back hatch area was perfect for two large suitcases and offered a power hatch door. It did not feel like you were in a penalty box, low rent car. It was hot in southern Europe, 80s and 90s Fahrenheit, and the AC was up to the job.
Over the road, the handling and ride quality was impressive though not really living up to the Sports Tourer name. European roads are of good quality, but when they weren’t the Astra handled bumpy cobblestone roads well. The six speed manual was smooth shifting and forgiving as I wasn’t above the occasional stall on the trip. I didn’t like the auto stop feature, but wasn’t sure it could be turned off. One fantastic feature was the hill assist lockout on the manual. If you are in neutral on a hill, the car will not roll back and allows for a smooth start in low gear. Portugal was very hilly and while I am good with a manual, it would have made for some nervous moments without this feature.
The 1.2 Liter is certainly no fire breather of a power plant. A UK based car magazine reported a 0-62.5/100 kph time of 10.8 seconds in a recent instrumented test. That is rather slow for a modern car, but then again it has to motivate about 3,500 pounds. It did get out of its own way, had adequate merging and passing power, and hums along at the posted 120 kph/74.4 mph on the Autoestrada easily and quietly. Combined gas mileage is said to be over 40MPG, but I think we did better on our 140 mile jaunt returning from Cordoba Spain to Tavira, Portugal. This was a very good thing as a gallon of Super 95 petrol in Portugal was right around $7.00 per US gallon.
Driving in Portugal and Spain definitely keeps you on high alert. There is the stimulus of new surroundings, something interesting around every bend in the road but with the scenery and good road quality, it was quite pleasant. Navigating two tiny underground parking structures under hotels that did not seem to be designed to hold cars was quite…memorable. After our long drive days, I found it somewhat draining having to rely on Google maps 100% of the time and navigating foreign roads and signs.
The Autoestrada has frequent toll gates, which are generally contactless; you slow down going through the gate and a scanner captures the QR code on your windscreen and “bleep”, it goes on your account at the rental agency. When you rent the car, they add an extra 400 euros on our credit card and you settle up the account at time of drop off. I am told that for the average Portuguese driver, it can get expensive to drive highways when combined with the high cost of fuel, so often drivers choose to use secondary non-toll roads over toll roads. Quick aside, the coffee and espresso for $2.00 at a Spanish and Portuguese rest stops far surpassed the bilgewater at Starbucks.
Older GM era Opels, mostly Corsa’s (like the above) and Astra’s were quite numerous on Portuguese and Spanish roads. This is a hot and dry climate, great for keeping vehicles a long time, and few have automatic transmissions to fail. That is all part of it, sure, but Opel must have been doing something right that so many are still on the road.
A question might be: would I buy a car like the Astra Sports Tourer if it was offered in the US? To my eyes, build quality and solidity was excellent and this felt like a quality product. I would say that while I found the Astra to be a charming vehicle, probably not. It was handsome, sporty, economical and had good utility. I would say it’s a far more interesting car than say, a Toyota Corolla or most modern crossovers in the same price range. The hatch and the small wagon body style of cars are still popular here but crossovers are rapidly taking over, as in North America.
The future of Stellantis and by extension, Opel is presently a bit murky. The CEO, Carlos Tavares, once an industry darling, resigned under pressure on December 1st of 2024. Stellantis has 14 automotive brands, including some current laggards like Chrysler (selling only the Pacifica minivan), Lancia and Citroen. Their luxury brands DS (think French Lexus), Alfa Romeo and Maserati are struggling as well. On our shores, after some great years during Covid with Jeeps and Rams selling above sticker price, those brands are presently struggling. Will Stellantis decide to close down lagging brands, and spin off others ? Is Opel safe as a mass market brand in the Stellantis portfolio that still moves a lot of metal? One would think so, but only time will tell.
“The Astra nameplate has been around since 1991, replacing the Opel Kadett.”
For the reader less familiar with European circumstances, it should be noted that the unfortunate green creature in the fourth picture is one of these early Astras (Astra “F” sedan).
The Astra F was very popular here in the UK, a consistent top seller. Apparently if the Honest John website is to be believed there are still north of 160,000 on the road. Astras were the embodiment of practical if slightly uninspiring family transport back when people drove normal sized cars. On this note, and I know I’m preaching to the converted here, the multi story car park at my local shopping town Truro has been closed and condemned. The reason – it was never built (in the Seventies) to accommodate vehicles the size a weight of current SUVs. I hope they are just a fad like tail fins but maybe not.
The Astra is at No. 77?!!! That spins my little brain! Time surely rushes by. Just wow, a mainstream staple now a mild afterthought.
That wagon is a very handsome version of the 308 platform, and I didn’t know it existed.
I strongly suspect a whole heap of European factories are about to be shuttered. It cannot be anywhere near economic to have so many in a saturated market, and I further suspect that all Stellantis stuff will end up being made in France, because of the ownership and management of the company.
Unfortunately, I too would answer the “would I buy” question negatively, both because of personal experience of modern French cars, and because the overwhelming reputation suggests that nothing much has improved. The quality, and hence, reliability, just isn’t up to snuff.
Actually, come to think of it, my direct experience of GM-Opel stuff told me that it just wasn’t Japan-standard either, which is no doubt part of why Opel kept losing money – it deserved to!
That is a wackadoodle dashboard, very interesting. Strong 80s vibes from the rectilinear center stack and passenger dash.
Still a number of nice looking wagons in Europe.
“Of note, disembarking from a single aisle aircraft takes a fraction of the time as a widebody Airbus 330 or Boeing 787. This is a huge bonus after a fitful seven hour overnight flight.”
I’d love it if more airports solved this by using the doors at both ends of the aircraft. Although after hitting a 2-hour immigration queue in Brussels last year, I’ve learned not to be in any giant hurry to get off the airplane.
Two hours! That’s awful. The last two times I flew to the UK (once Heathrow, once Gatwick) the digital passport readers got me through immigration in about 45 seconds.
Almost all European states have been on heightened alert against terrorism for some time. Therefore stricter controls when entering the EU. May be that the situation in the UK is assessed differently..
Terrorism & Brexit. Back in the nineties I used to travel regularly between Plymouth & Roscoff, Brittany on the car ferry. At that time you mostly just got waved through Customs without needing to slow down even. A few times at Roscoff there wasn’t even anybody at the checkpoint. Now your looking at a good hour or more, everybody being checked at both ends of the crossing. The gift that keeps on giving. 😑
Protection against illegal migration is also a big issue. On both sides of the Channel, I think.
The Zaventem airport staff were wheeling in carts of bottle water for people.
It was two hours because for some reason international airport of the capitol of the European Union saw fit to welcome the entire non-EU world with three staffed booths regardless of how many widebodies were unloading that morning. Travel blogs commenters suggested this is a sporadic but not uncommon occurrence now.
Lot of UK and US passengers looking very unhappy in that line. Probably good for us on some level, I suppose. Can’t always feel special.
Also of note was that in the Lisbon airport, for our flight at least, there was no jetway for disembarking. The mobile staircase was brought out and we took an impossibly long articulating bus to the terminal. I’m sure this happens in the US depending on airport. I just haven’t seen it before. Immigration was backed up a bit because it was a busy morning, I want to say we got through in about 30 minutes. I’ve had some bad experiences coming into some countries: 1000 people in the customs plaza in Cancun..about that in Toronto, a few years back when the whole system went down and they had to revert to manual intake. All part of the experience and it’s not worth getting into a tizzy about .
When I flew out of Lisbon in 2021 we had to walk across the tarmac to the plane.
Then we had to sit there on a hot afternoon whilst they unloaded all the luggage because they had taken someone off the flight after they had checked them in.
Entirely avoidable and very unpleasant.
The Astra name was first used by Vauxhall when the Kadett went FWD in 1979, UK sales starting in early 1980. Conveniently this distanced it from the previous RWD model which was sold as Chevette and continued alongside until 1984.
GMH hung the Astra badge on a Nissan., Stellantis should have left Chrysler to just die of natural causes, Opel at least looked like it had a future.
“Opel at least looked like it had a future.”
To be honest, I don’t really believe in this future. Stellantis has too many brands that are “too close together.”
Peugeot, Fiat, Opel/Vauxhall all serve the medium to lower “no nonsense segment”. In a broader sense, Citroen and Alfa Romeo can also be classified here (both brands have long since stopped fulfilling the promise associated with their trademarks). This means you have at least three brands too many. Peugeot and Fiat will not be allowed to die in terms of ownership. Citroen and Alfa Romeo also have a certain chance of survival in order to caress the respective national soul with “history”.
Nothing like that at Opel/Vauxhall. Especially since “German Engineering” has lost a lot of its traction as a sales argument. At least since the Diesel-scandal (thanks, VW ! ). Well – maybe it always was a little bit overrated …
I agree.. while there people who have brand loyalty most of their brands are in competition with each other. Maybe the answer is a rationalisation of brands and factories, otherwise the future may be bleak.
Opel was profitable in the years before the sale. However, GM deliberately bled the company dry.
A number of vehicles that GM marketed worldwide were developed on a contract basis at the Opel Technology Centre – which received only the minimum costs from GM.
In return, Opel had to pay licence fees to GM for each of these vehicles produced.
When Opel, after the sale to PSA, was freed from this licence profit-shifting scheme, the company was suddenly – completely surprisingly – in the black. Surprise, surprise.
The Astra you had as a hire car is pretty much the best example of a car I would never buy, and as a hire car donkey in foreign countries would want to leave as soon as possible after arriving at a destination.
The interior is a coal mine that makes you wonder what the designer(s) do for a living – and brings to mind the line from Woody Allen: ‘I don’t know what you’re feeding yourself, but try not to get it through customs’. (or so…)
At least the display in the centre, which is absolutely ‘necessary’ today, is halfway integrated into the dashboard – and not the usual Stonehenge design.
Whether Stellantis will discontinue brands is not a question.
The question is which ones can be ended and which ones must not be ended. The governments of the respective countries will also try to have their say.
It didn’t work at Buick but at this point Chrysler/Dodge are so product starved and there is so much overcapacity in Europe I would Outbackize this and bring it over with a goal of 30k or so units. Probably need a better engine though.
Aside from a few base hits like the Opel GT and Manta in the early 1970’s, Opel’s didn’t translate well here.
The Kadett B sold quite well in the US, becoming the #2 import behind VW for a couple of years, 1967-1969 IIRC.
I visited Portugal in 2021 for my nephew’s wedding to a Portuguese woman.
They told us it wasn’t worth getting the toll pass, but this was wrong, it’s inconvenient slowing for the toll booths.
Taking the non toll roads is a personal choice, there is more to see, but takes a lot longer and the tolls aren’t huge anyway.
BTW the Dacia Sandero has regained no.1 slot in the sales chart.
As to Stellantis and the future of it’s brands and factories. Based on what the predecessor PSA did only the factories in France are safe, and those in Italy because of the Agnelli shareholders. Peugeot/Citroen didn’t have an effective brand strategy before they acquired Vauxhall/Opel; Fiat has been reliant on it’s home market and the 500 for years.
I think it’s unlikely that many European manufacturers will survive the switch to electrification, the rise of Chinese manufacturers and the likely tariff war that seems to be brewing.