Opel Astra Launch

Yesterday I got invited to the launch of the new Opel Astra range at Kyalami in Joburg. The day promised to be loads of fun from the initial invite a few weeks ago.

After doing the short trip from Durbs to JHB, I met up with Eran Eyal from Springleap & Evly and David Donde from Motormag & the man behind the infamous Truth coffee. After an adventurous trip in a bus to the Kylami race track in Midrand, we were soon treated to a theratrical walk down memory one about how the Opel brand was born.

The show took us through the ages and showed us how we came to know the Opel car today. We were then treated to a look at the new Opel Astras and were allowed a look inside. The Astra comes in a variety of models with a 1.6 Essentia, 1.4 Enjoy and Enjoy Plus (Turbo) & a 1.6 Sport

The cars have been redesigned from the ground up taking into account all  the modern day concerns like carbon emissions and the best fuel efficiency. The car was also designed with safety of passengers in mind with a clever light system ensuring you can see on those dark rural roads.

After a quick lunch with @JustinMcCall & @nafisa1 it was time to take the cars for a spin around the track. I had an opportunity to try all 3 with Justin also taking us for a spin in the 1.4 Turbo. I’m not gonna lie when I say I was a leetle bit paler when I climbed out of that car. But all in good fun.

The consensus between most of the guys was that the 1.4 Turbo took top honours and all the cars handled the cornering and steering perfectly. For me I felt the 1.6 Turbo to be the most powerful with speeds of 120 -140 km/h being reached down the infamous Kyalami mineshaft.

We were treated to a couple of laps around the track with the pro drivers who were overseeing things for the day. Admittedly I was a lot paler when I stepped out of those cars after reaching around 160 km/h INTO some of the corners. But those guys know what they doing, so the ride was awesome.

Overall it was a fantastic day out and the new Opel Astra is really a great car. The “sporty” edge that the car portrays will boost sales amongst the younger market. To be quite honest if I was looking for a new car, I would look at buying one given the pricing. The cars start at around R218,000 for the entry level. Check out http://www.opelastra.co.za for more info about the car

A big thanks to the guys from GM for the invite to the day, was well worth the trip up and loads of fun :)