Vauxhall Astra GTC hatchback (2011-2016) - Reliability & safety
The Astra GTC feels well built and the Astra hatchback on which it’s based is reliable
Apart from its stylish body and sophisticated suspension, the Vauxhall Astra GTC shares many of its components with the five-door Astra hatchback, which is a reliable and well built car. Vauxhall’s record for reliability keeps improving, too.
When it comes to safety, the Astra GTC presents no cause for concern. It scored five stars in the Euro NCAP crash tests and comes with a good tally of active and passive safety equipment.
Vauxhall Astra reliability
Too few Astra GTC owners responded for it to be featured in our Driver Power 2014 owner satisfaction survey. However, the Astra hatchback charted in a disappointing 124th place out of 150 cars. The Renault Megane hatchback did better, but the Volkswagen Scirocco and Peugeot RCZ ended up higher still, in 59th and 20th place respectively.
This isn’t necessarily bad news for the GTC, though. It feels well built, if not in the same class as the VW Scirocco, and the Vauxhall Astra hatchback on which it’s based is a reliable car. Until recently, Vauxhall cars came with a lifetime warranty that covered the first owner for 100,000 miles. The company has now replaced this with a more conventional three-year/60,000-mile policy that’s transferable between owners. It claims this is all most buyers require.
Vauxhall Astra safety
The Astra GTC was awarded the full five stars by Euro NCAP in its crash tests. It scored an impressive 91% for adult occupant protection, although just 79% for child occupant protection. All models come with a full range of front, side and curtain airbags. The two rear outer seats have ISOFIX child-seat mountings. There are tyre-pressure sensors, too, but rear parking sensors are an option only on the top-of-the range BiTurbo diesel model.
Other safety systems provided as standard include anti-lock brakes and braking assistance that will boost your braking effort during an emergency stop. The SRi model also has hill-start assist, which prevents the car rolling backwards and makes hill starts much easier.
