*NEW Vauxhall Astra GSe 2023 | is this the car for YOU?

overview 00:00
background 00:39
driving experience 02:36
design and build 05:00
market and model range 07:12
cost of ownership 09:32
summary 11:08

Jonathan Crouch writes an in-depth Vauxhall Astra GSe 2023 review. If you want to watch more reviews on vehicles like this Vauxhall Astra GSe 2023, make sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel and comment what YOU want us to review next.

Vauxhall's Astra GSe is the first model from the company's EV sporting 'Grand Sport Electric' sub-brand, a PHEV targeted directly at Volkswagen's Golf GTE. It's a little less of a hot hatch than that Wolfsburg model, but it's not for the want of trying, handling and suspension tweaks aiming to elevate this Astra a little above the usual Plug-in Hybrid family hatch and estate choices you could make.

Background
After forty years of fast Vauxhalls, some great, some not, this apparently is where the company's performance pretensions enter a new electrified era. And on initial inspection of the car in question here, the brand's Astra GSe, it doesn't sound all that promising: 1.8 tonnes of weight, eco-conscious tyres, automatic transmission and an engine from the Stellantis parts bin. Yes an engine. This fast Astra may be the debut model of the marque's new electric performance brand but it isn't fully electric (though these days, you can buy an Astra that is).

Instead, the GSe uses the fastest 225hp version of the 1.6-litre Plug-in Hybrid powertrain already in use in 180hp form by the Astra PHEV. Other similarly-sized Stellantis Group models like the Peugeot 308 and the DS 4 offer the faster of the two versions of this drivetrain with nothing more than an expensive price hike and the models in question have largely stayed rooted to the showroom floor. Vauxhall's been a bit cleverer, re-packaging the 225hp PHEV Astra model with all the GSe tinsel you see in the pictures here to better justify its ambitious asking price.

Students of automotive history might remember that the GSe badge first appeared on Vauxhall Opel models back in the '80s with the big Monza coupe. But then, the letters stood for 'Grand Sport Einspritzung' (German for 'Injection'). Today, the acronym has been reborn as designating 'Grand Sport Electric' and, we're told, here offers us a glimpse into the future of warmed-up Vauxhalls.

Writer - Jonathan Crouch

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