They really just brought us a basic Astra with a few options, in hatchback form.
I still think that teh 3dr is HOT!! If I had the financial means, Id have an Astra 3dr for daily and a Camaro SS RS as...the other daily.

As for Insigna, they wouldnt dare bring a car like that here as a Saturn.
The Insigna offers more gear then the CTS does. But I think that GM doesnt think we will enjoy the European design, and that it will have to be watered down for American consumption.

 

In case you hadn't noticed, our dollar is in a rather deep hole right now. That makes goods imported from Europe quite expensive. So, GM had to limit the amount of options for the U.S. Astra in an attempt to keep costs down. They weren't going to certify the dozen or so engines that are available worldwide for the U.S., so we got a fairly middle of the road engine both performance and gas-mileage wise. So, we get the basic car with a handful of options. Next generation Astra for the U.S. will probably be built in the U.S. resulting in a car that can be sold less expensively.

The Astra hatch is by far the bestselling version of the car worldwide. The sedan is sold in relatively few markets comparatively. Nothing in the last two posts really changes the fact that GM brought the car people asked for, but now they don't want it. "Oh, it's a much more refined, better handling and truly European car, how much? Wait, you mean it's $7,000 more than an Ion? Nevermind..."

I agree on the advertising front, if people knew about it that would help. It would also help if there were some incentive interest or lease rates, but there's nothing at all on the car right now.

Nonetheless, after bringing people just the Euro car they asked for and not being able to meet their extremely meager 20,000 car a year expectations (about 1/5 of what Ion was selling) I'd guess GM is leery on bringing us all of the features of an expensive European sedan for a Saturn.

 

It looks a little 'Maxima-ish.'

Nice though.

Jeff

 

We actually only got the na 1.8 because its the only gas engine in Astras lineup that can be paired with a automatic transmission .

The new Insignia is a sweet car , even the base model with 16" hub caps in refrigerator white looks good , ditto to the bottom of the barrel base interior . To bad we wont see much of it ...maybe something that ressembles it a bit thats a mechanical clone of the Malibu . That calibur of car might just knock the midsize market in the USA on its a$$ .

 

But would people buy it? Or would it sit like the Astra. If it's every bit as nice as it looks and a great performer, but encroaches into Acura territory price-wise, will anyone buy it?

The Astra is probably second on my shopping list if for some reason I can't get the Camaro, our Saturn dealership treats us great, but GM has a ways to go on convincing people that they can make cars that are worth a higher price, not just bargain basement alternatives.

 

The Astra is not a very nice car IMO. I sat in one while my friend bought his Aura. Interior screams cheap in almost every way imaginable. The outside looked nice. And I didn't drive it so I can't comment on that but still...

 

The interiors of the Civic and Corolla are pretty cheap as well. The Rabbit has a better look and feel inside, but will probably be less reliable than any of the other three.

 

How exactly does it scream cheap? I found the materials to be soft (door pads and dash too) and the seats in the Astra XR are fabulous. The only thing that makes it look cheap imo is the monochrome driver's info screen that replaces the color screen navi in the european version. It doesn't look any cheaper than a new corolla or civic imo.

 

I didn't feel any material in there on the dash or doors that felt remotely soft or high quality. the seats were decent. I hated the strange angle that the dash sloped down... especially in the center.

Civic and Corolla have far nicer interiors IMO. I'm not exactly sure how else to quantify it.

While I was there I also realized the Sky has a terrible dashboard and mostly cheap plastics as well.

My friend's Aura was a pleasant exception those, as was the Outlook I saw there.

 

I agree with you on the sky and the outlook but i found the aura to have a mix bag of good and bad materials. Some materials you expected to be soft that were hard and vice versa. I think the interiors in the civics look better but the instrument panels are as hard as can be, same goes with the corollas i've seen. The astra's dash definitely have a soft feel imo but could look a little better. It's an improvement over my Cobalt anyways!

 

Which materials in the current Civic and Corolla interiors are the ones that feel soft and high quality? One of my coworkers has a Civic and everything in there is hard. Design is a matter of preference. Some people hate the split display in the Civic. Our local Toyota dealer has Corollas on their lots for 18k that have manual windows and wheelcovers. Um, no.

This is true. The Solstice/Sky dash is just a huge swath of plastic.