Vauxhall Astra Hybrid on the Motability Scheme

The 2026 facelift gives the Astra a narrower Vauxhall Vizor front panel with an illuminated Griffin badge at the centre. From that badge, an illuminated Compass light signature runs sideways into the slim LED headlights and upwards into the crease of the bonnet, so the car is easy to pick out at night.

A Carbon Black roof, black door mirrors and a roof spoiler are standard on every version, giving a two-tone look without an options list. Seven exterior colours are offered.

GS sits on 18-inch black Pentagon alloy wheels with sports bumpers. Ultimate uses 18-inch diamond-cut Pentagon wheels with grey inserts.

Every Astra Hybrid has two 10-inch screens side by side under one piece of glass: a digital display in front of the driver and a touchscreen in the centre. Satellite navigation is standard, so you are not paying for it separately or relying on your phone.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, which puts your maps, music and messages on the car's screen without plugging anything in.

You can also speak to the car. Say "Hey Vauxhall" and you can set a destination, change the temperature or pick a song without taking your hands off the wheel.

Heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are standard on both trims. Ultimate adds a 10-way electrically adjustable driver's seat with a massage function, a heated windscreen, a head-up display, and a wireless phone charging pad.

Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection is fitted to every Astra Hybrid. It watches the road ahead and brakes for you if you do not react in time, and below 30mph it can bring the car to a complete stop.

Eight airbags are standard, as are lane departure warning with lane keep assist, extended traffic sign recognition and a driver drowsiness alert that watches your steering inputs and suggests a break. Adaptive cruise control is standard too, and on the automatic gearbox it will pull away again from a standstill, which takes the effort out of stop-start motorway traffic.

Front and rear parking sensors come on both trims, and a 180-degree reversing camera is included on GS and Ultimate.

Ultimate adds Intelli-Lux HD adaptive headlights with more than 50,000 individual LED elements, so you can leave full beam on and the system dims only the part of the beam falling on other traffic. It also adds blind spot alert, lane positioning assist, and rear cross traffic alert, which warns you about cars approaching from the side as you reverse out.

The Astra Hybrid pairs a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a 21PS electric motor and a six-speed automatic gearbox, for a total system output of 145PS. It covers 0 to 62mph in 9.0 seconds and reaches 130mph, so joining a motorway or overtaking takes no planning.

There is no plug and no charging cable. The battery recharges itself as you drive and as you slow down, so the car works exactly like a petrol one from the driver's seat.

Around town, the electric motor can take over completely at low speeds, and Vauxhall says the car can run on electric power alone for up to half of city driving. That is where the savings come from, because town driving is where a petrol engine is least efficient.

Fuel economy is 57.6 to 58.9mpg on the WLTP combined cycle, so it uses noticeably less fuel than the petrol Astra on the same journey.