Shoot for the stars   
   September 15, 2012   
   Jonathan Hawley   
   Drive.com.au   
      
   An old player is tackling the small-car market with the Astra's return to   
   Australian shores. This time it will be wearing a different badge.   
      
      
   The last time the Astra graced Australian shores it wore Holden badges.   
   Built by Opel, for 13 years and three model generations it was the   
   mainstay of Holden's small-car assault. After a three-year hiatus the   
   Astra is back as Opel launches into our market as a separate brand, though   
   one that, like Holden, is part of the General Motors empire.   
      
   The Astra is being thrown into a fiercely competitive small-car market,   
   which accounts for one in every five cars sold in Australia.   
      
   So we've taken the mid-range variant powered by a 1.4-litre turbocharged   
   engine and pitted it against three of its closest rivals.   
      
   They are the Volkswagen Golf 90TSI, with its similarly sized engine; the   
   Ford Focus, which in Trend trim won last year's Drive Car of the Year   
   gong, although we're testing the Sport model; and the Cruze hatch that has   
   replaced the Astra in Holden's line-up yet shares many components,   
   including its underpinnings, 1.4-litre engine and transmission, with its   
   European cousin.   
      
   They're all five-door hatches, all autos and straddle the mid-to-high   
   $20,000 price point.   
      
   May the best car win.   
      
                   R\%/itt   
      
      
   ... Mark Owen: "Hey, did you ever hear anything about that beer?   
   ... Fellow SEAL: "You believed that shit, I bet you voted for change too,   
   ... SUCKER."   
      
      
   --- GoldED+/W32-MSVC and D'Bridge 3.82   
    * Origin: Lone Star Unit - Gulf States Backbone  (1:387/22)