Espied: Opel takes its refreshed Astra Wagon out for a test drive

Spy photos of the facelifted Opel Astra hatchback leaked online in April this year, and now it looks like the time has come for the manufacturer to test-drive its estate/wagon counterpart.

Based on the pics provided, the new Astra Wagon gets a major front fascia update which includes a mesh grille, a reshaped bumper, and new headlights. The test mule has halogen lights, but higher trims will likely ship with LED lights instead. The rest looks more or less unchanged from the pre-facelift version.

Among other things, we suspect that the new Astra will be getting a broader range of engines to choose from. The “EcoTec D” badge on the trunk lid might mean that the test mule comes powered by a PSA Group mill, specifically the 1.5-liter BlueHDI diesel of the Peugeot 308. Depending on the particular implementation, the engine comes rated between 102 and 130 horsepower (76 – 97 kilowatts).

It has to be said that the Opel Astra series had been long overdue a facelift. Only 158,000 cars found their owners in Europe in 2018, a small fraction of the sales numbers demonstrated by the Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia, and Volkswagen Golf.

Photos: motor1.com